Amber glanced across the desk at River, tawny and sun-kissed and lean and utterly, completely natural. She had dirty blonde hair under a faded army green ballcap, ponytail pulled through the back, festooned with the same evergreen and sunset Healing Hikes logo that adorned the walls and brochures and even the mousepad on her desk. Her eyes were a cool, frosty hazel, her body fit and lean in an outdoorsy way beneath her clingy green Healing Hikes T-shirt and skimpy hiking shorts. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, smooth and flawless and utterly, absolutely captivating in every possible way.

Even her voice was lean, a no-nonsense tone to match her bangin’ all-business body as she huffed, “I mean, you act like I’m taking you out there to do hard labor, Amber.”

Amber felt a vague thrill every time River said her name. It had only been a few weeks since she and her husband -- scratch that, ex-husband -- Dylan had agreed to a formal divorce, but many long, aching, hurtful months more since they’d slept together. Closer to a year, in fact. If she was being honest with herself, that is. The unusual dry spell -- despite having had multiple affairs while they were married, Dylan had always had an unusually healthy sex drive -- plus a complete and utter life reboot, had Amber feeling not only emotionally vulnerable, but sexually fragile as well.

She’d had fleeting girl crushes throughout her life -- who hadn’t, really? -- but Dylan’s betrayal had her feeling raw, wounded, and suddenly open to new discoveries in ways she’d never allowed herself to more fully explore before. River, she realized, was everything Amber wasn’t: fresh, young, confident, radiant, naturally breezy and sexy.

As.

Hell ...

Amber squirmed and confessed, “I just, I’m usually a hotel pool, room service, spa day, pamper myself kind of gal, that’s all.”

River gave her a good once over in reply, top to bottom and back again, the kind of savory glance that made Amber’s pink cotton panties instantly damp in a way Dylan never had. Not even once. “I can see that, but ... perhaps there’s a reason your friends came to Healing Hikes for your present?”

Amber nodded, not quite ready to tell River what that reason was yet. She immediately wondered why, then scrubbed it from her brain. They’d only just met, after all, and it wasn’t River’s job to heal her overnight. Or even in three days out in the wild. Maybe she really did need a few nights away from it all, under the stars, communing with nature, yada yada. “Yes, of course, it’s just ... fine. It’s fine. I’m fine, really.”

River paused before blurting, “If I may, Amber? You don’t ... seem fine.”

For once, Amber didn’t deny it. “Oh, I’m far from it, but I think this will be good for me. Really, I do.”

River’s desk chair creaked as she shifted gently from left to right. Then she favored Amber with a softly radiant smile. “So, am I to presume that brand new backpack is also stuffed with brand new things, enough for one day out on the trail?”

“You may, and you’d be right.”

“May I ask what’s in there?”

“You mean, like search my bag?”

River scoffed with a most unladylike snort that sent another shiver through the moth balls in Amber’s underpants. “This isn’t the airport, Amber. Jesus. I just ... obviously you’re going to need more than a light pack for three days on the trail, so ...”

Amber shrugged the ridiculous pack off her shoulders and slid it across the desk. River took it begrudgingly. “Okay, I mean ... show and tell would have been fine, but ... let’s see what Little Miss Room Service packed for a day hike, shall we?” Her voice had taken on a playful, singsong lilt that hinted at the budding sorority girl just inside the au natural, granola-eating hipster in the desk chair.

Amber blushed pleasantly at the slight ribbing, finding she enjoyed River’s snarky personality almost as much as she did the way her small, pert breasts pressed against her clingy green shirt. “Okay, well, for starters ... is this a whole carton of granola bars in here?”