Attempting Elizabeth Read Online Free Page A

puppy.
    “How are you doing?” 
    “Fine, thanks.”
    “I, uh, I wanted to say sorry about last night.”
    I glanced over at him. His face was bright red. I hoped it was from embarrassment and not that he was going to have a heart attack before we were even a hundred feet up the trail.
    “Okay.”
    Rick didn’t look fully satisfied with my answer. “I just wanted you to know, I mean, I don’t usually just grab girls’ asses...I mean, not that you don’t have a really nice—”
    “Rick,” I cut him off. “Apology accepted. There’s really no need to discuss it further.”
    There was a low rumbling sound from in front of us and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at Mark's broad back. Was he laughing? That’s just what I needed. Him overhearing Rick’s incredibly uncomfortable discussion of my butt and its grabable merits.
    The day had started out crappy and was spiraling quickly out of control.
    I spent the next half hour in silence, darting suspicious glances at the trees. I was just waiting for a Rodent of Unusual Size to burst from the dense foliage and attack. If I even saw a hint of a whisker I was going to drop my backpack and run, screaming, back down the mountain. As far as I was concerned, everyone else could just fend for themselves.
    Our destination turned out to be a little picnic area. Tori had packed sandwiches and carrot sticks in little baggies and doled them out before we headed up the trail so everyone was carrying their own sandwich weight. When we finally arrived at the flat, grassy picnic spot I was covered in sweat, probably an unbecoming shade of light purple, hungry, and grumpy. This had been a stupid idea. Even if I’d had a spectacular view of Mark's backside and calves all the way up the infernal mountain. It was not worth the price I was paying.
    I sprawled down on the grass as soon as I realized we were stopping.
    “I may never move again,” I informed the brilliant blue sky above me. “Just leave me here to die.”
    “It might help if you stretched out a bit. If you just stop suddenly your muscles will tighten up.” Mark's shadow partially blocked out the scorching sunlight, but I didn’t bother to look over at him. I’d seen him a few minutes ago, looking calm, cool, and not out of breath in the slightest. 
    “I’d argue that I don’t have muscles, but you can probably hear them screaming from there, so that’d be pointless.”
    Mark laughed. It sounded like warm honey. Okay, that’s obviously stupid, and my brain had most likely been fried by the heat and the lack of oxygen at this elevation. But if warm honey had a sound, it would totally sound like Mark's laugh. In spite of the heat, I felt a not entirely unpleasant shiver race up my spine.
    “I’m planning to die here, anyway. So it doesn’t really matter if I die with cramped up muscles or not. Dead is dead.”
    “True. But Rick seems a chivalrous bloke. He might take it upon himself to carry you down the mountain if you’re unable to walk.”
    I scrambled to my feet so quickly that I felt all of the blood leave my head in a rush and swayed in place.
    This time Mark's laugh was full-bodied and loud as he grabbed my elbow and steadied me. “Easy there.”
    I was pretty sure he was laughing at me. I pulled my arm out of his large hand and rubbed my elbow as if he’d burned me. I’m not usually so sensitive, but this man made me feel completely off-kilter. I’d been in his presence only a few hours total and managed to always appear at my absolute worst. “I’ve got it, thanks,” I said stiffly.
    He shrugged, his face a mixture of confusion and mild annoyance. “Yeah, sure.”
    I made my way over to where Tori was spreading out a picnic blanket. I was going to stick to her like a burr the rest of the afternoon, using her to insulate me from the guys. Rick kept looking at me as if he was starving and I was a handy granola bar. It made me uncomfortable. Mark had resumed his nonchalant ignoring of me. It