Awakening Book One of the Trust Series(59)

“Thank you for the offer, but no. Besides, you are helping me. I needed a break, even if it’s just for a day. My father assured me that he has our legal department working on this as we speak, so nothing is on hold.”

“Good.” She did not want to have him linger on his unfinished work. “The next mile is supposedly really challenging.”

She stood up and winced, her right foot felt as if a blister were rubbing right against her boot. Declan reached out to steady her. “You okay?”

“Damn new hiking boots. I should have known better. I think I have a blister.”

“Let me look.”

“No, I’ll be okay.”

He looked at her pointedly. “Caitlyn, I can help. Just let me take a look.”

She plopped down on the ground, defeated by her own stupidity. Declan untied the boot, removing it gently. He rolled up the leg of her jeans before stripping her wool sock. Together they examined the angry red welt that was now forming on her heel. “Damn.”

“It’s a blister alright.” He grabbed her ankle.

“What are you doing?” Declan's large hands began to massage her foot, a pleasing tingling sensation replacing the pain. Her heart began to race just a little quicker as she watched him.

“Healing the blister.” She focused on the way that his hands made several passes gliding partly up her calf muscle before trailing its way back down to the arch of her sole. Finally, his fingers rested on her heel for several minutes, and she didn’t speak, not wanting to break his concentration. “There. Done.”

She lifted her foot, twisting the ankle at various angles, inspecting it. The heel was still red, but the welt was not raised anymore and the pain was virtually gone. It was much better than anything she could have done. “Amazing.”

He reached into his backpack, handing her a small package. “Here is some moleskin. It should help prevent the blister from coming back. Let me know if you start getting a blister on the other foot.”

“Thank you.” She wanted desperately to ask if she did get another blister if he could teach her how to heal it herself, but she wouldn’t. Declan definitely needed a day off and truth was, she probably did too. So she bit her tongue, applying the moleskin. “You ready to keep going?”

“Only if you are.”

The trail quickly turned to rock ledge, and Caitlyn found herself scrambling almost vertically up the granite, silently thanking Declan for healing her foot. Her calves were burning and it was with great relief when they finally reached the summit an hour later. She plopped down, taking a large swig of her water. Declan joined her thirty seconds later.

From where she sat, she could see the sleepy town below, the outlines of the Trust compound so far away. It almost felt like a dream to her, these past five months, the whirlwind romance of Garrett, the daily structure that was Declan’s regimented training.

Declan took the words out of her mouth. “It’s like you can breathe up here, isn’t it? Like your life doesn’t have so many expectations placed on it.”

Her eyes slowly took in the beautiful canvas laid out in front of them. “Exactly.”

“Just me, the trees, and the mountain.”

She nudged him playfully. “Hey! Don’t forget about me.”

“Oh no, I could never forget about you.” He sipped his water, attempting to stifle the smile that was tugging at the corner of his mouth. He leaned back, lying down to stare at the clear blue sky. “It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

She copied him. “What is amazing?”

He motioned at the blue azure above. “Out there. There are all these stars, all these possibilities for life and other cultures out there and we have barely begun to scratch the surface of our own exploration. At night, I love to just stare at the stars and think about us coming across another planet, just like our own, with intelligent life forms on it, waiting to start a new age of peace. When I begin to feel full of myself, I look at the sky or the stars and realize just how insignificant I really am.”

Caitlyn continued to lie down, but her head was now turned to Declan while he continued to speak. He did not realize that she was staring at him at first; he kept talking, sharing his intimate thoughts and beliefs about the world.

She found that she loved hearing him talk. The relaxing timbre of his voice, the steady cadence; the way that she knew that he truly believed with every fiber of his being what he was saying. When he talked about making the world a better place, Caitlyn wanted to go out and help him make it a better one.