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said to take their minds off the grueling uphill hike.  
    “It’s not nearly as exciting as what you do. I’m in advertising. I try to sell people things they don’t need.”  
    Becker grinned. An apt—and surprisingly honest answer.  
    Lacy launched into an explanation about the rigors of her day-to-day life that sounded exactly like his. “But I’m ready for a change.”  
    “Like?”  
    “Like working in a low-pressure job so I can savor life instead of making it a competition.”  
    “Are you competitive in everything?”  
    “Yep.” Lacy smiled saucily before taking off up the steep incline.  
    He chased her. She won. This time.  
    They stood atop the rise, wheezing, staring at the never-ending sea of greenish-black pine trees.  
    She sighed. Sipped from her canteen and handed it to him.  
    “What?”  
    “I’d hoped to find a Super 8 on the other side of this hill.”  
    Was she sorry she’d listened to him? Especially when he had no idea what he was doing? He was winging it as far as forging a way out of the mountains.  
      She trusts you. Don’t let her down.  
    Becker wiped the water from his chin, passing back the canteen.  
    “Let’s keep walking. Never know what’s over the next rise.”  
    Once they’d returned to the shaded woods, she said, “Tell me about your mother. Is she still into that ‘New Age’ crap?”  
    “Yes.”  
    “Is that why you are the way you are?”  
    He knew Lacy meant his persona as a mountain guide, but he answered honestly. “I’m the way I am in spite of my upbringing.”  
    “She doesn’t approve of your chosen field?”  
    “No.” His mother was half-Irish/half-Lakota Sioux. She’d expected him to help run the family pub after college. Becker preferred to pursue other goals. Now that he’d exceeded his own expectations, he was ready for a new direction in his life. Taking the summer off to help his cousin launch a new venture was shaping up to be the best decision he’d made. “Does your family think you should abandon the ad biz?” He picked up a branch blocking their path.  
    “No. That’s why Cat made me the bracelet. To remind me I’m in charge of my own destiny.”  
    Before Becker could respond, Lacy wandered into a patch of sunshine. He watched her poking around in a cluster of low bushes.  
    “What’d you find?”  
    “Raspberry canes.” She held out her hand. Nestled in her palm were tiny red fruit.  
    “How does a Manhattanite recognize a raspberry bush?”  
    Lacy blushed. “My grandmother lived outside of Spearfish. We used to go raspberry picking in the Black Hills the summers I stayed with her.”  
    “So you do have some wilderness skills.”  
    “I thought I did until that time I got lost and my parents forbid me from visiting Grandma again.”  
    Becker froze. “You got lost?”  
    “Ah. Yeah.”  
    “What happened?”  
    “I wandered off. Grandma thought I’d gone back to the house. She didn’t realize I wasn’t around until it was dark.” She kicked the dirt.  
    “Then it was too late to search so I spent the night in the woods alone scared out of my mind.”  
    “How old were you?”  
    “Nine.”  
      He grasped her by the upper arms. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me this before?”  
    “Because my parents accused me of getting lost on purpose just for the attention. I didn’t want you to think the same.”  
    Another thought notched his guilt. “Did your ex-boyfriend know you’d gotten lost in the woods as a child?”  
    Lacy nodded.  
    “And yet he still booked you on this wilderness hiking trip?”  
    “Yes. He’s probably at base camp laughing that I’m missing.”  
    “He’s there ?”  
    “Yes. Waiting to go in the next group. Instead of canceling, I moved my trip up a week.”  
    Becker’s hands fell. He stared at the stubborn tilt to her elfin chin. He spun away to hide his mortification. Jesus. He’d acted the super-macho asshole,