“Are we there yet?” you whine, holding onto your side.

Ahead, Krystal turns around and gives you an incredulous look.

“You kidding? We’ve only been hiking for half an hour!”

You grimace and shade your eyes with your hand.

“Yeah, but like it’s a hundred degrees out here and we’re climbing up a mountain!”

Krystal places her hands on her hips and glares down at you.

“First of all, this is a hill, not a mountain. Second, it’s barely eighty. I purposefully chose this time to hike because it’s still cool!”

You hang your head and try to look pitiful. It seems to work because you can hear Krystal clambering back down to you. She places a finger under your chin and lifts your head up. The sun haloed behind her along with her white shirt makes her look like a Greek goddess.

“Looks like I’m going to have to give you some…motivation,” she coyly purrs as she leans in closer to you.

You gulp and try to remember why you didn’t want to do this hike. But the scent of her clouds your senses and makes it difficult to think.

“So, tell me why you don’t want to hike?” she whispers, lips brushing against your jaw.

“Er…because it’s hot and I’m getting sweaty?”

You feel her lips twist into a smile as she places an arm around your waist, drawing you closer into her.

“But it’ll be worth it to get to the top of this hill. And I promise afterwards, I’ll buy you ice cream and give you a cold shower.”

“Um…”

Krystal plants a kiss against the side of your neck. You involuntarily shudder.

“So will you just give this a shot? We only have to hike for another thirty minutes. You’re already halfway there.”

“Er…”

She starts trailing kisses across your cheek, stopping just at the corner of your mouth. The feeling of her lips dragging against your skin drives you crazy and it takes all your willpower to stay on your feet.

“Please? Will you do this for me Amber?”

This is too much. Your knees grow weak.

“All right,” you concede.

Krystal laughs and then gives you a serious kiss on the mouth. But before you can really get into it, she pulls away and you’re left making out with the air.

“Follow me then!” she chirps as she continues up the mountain.

You groan but follow her, spirits slightly higher than they were before.

--

An hour later, you finally spy the summit. Krystal definitely gave a shorter estimate of the hiking time to get you to agree to this. Although, did you actually give your consent? It feels like she coerced you into hiking, but at the same time, it wasn’t like you entirely despised how she motivated you. In fact, she had to motivate you five more times just to get you to this point.

“Almost there!”

You grunt and hoist yourself up the last boulder. Krystal pulls you to your feet and you’re suddenly standing on top of the world. Below, the immense desert landscape extends into the horizon. Scraggly trees and sparse vegetation dot the desert floor. The morning light gives the sand a pinkish hue, a gorgeous contrast against the cloudless blue sky.

“Damn,” you breathe.

Beside you, Krystal gives you a self-satisfied smirk.

“Worth it?” she casually says.

You turn to look at her.

“Yes, most definitely.”

She smiles and opens her arms. You walk right into them and hold her close. Even though she feels sweaty, she still smells just as sweet. You breathe her in as you take your time to admire the landscape.

But all too soon, Krystal pulls away and points back down the mountain.

“Let’s go.”

“What? But we just got up here!”

“Yeah, cause it took you triple the time to hike this trail. If we don’t go now, we’re going to be climbing down in one hundred twenty degree weather.”

That sounded like literal hell. You immediately turn and start hightailing it down the slope.

“Careful! Amber, let me go first!”

But just as Krystal shouts that warning, your foot slips and you feel yourself plummeting down the rocky face of the mountain.

“Ahhhh!”

Brambles tear at your clothes as you skid down on your . You try to brace your hands and feet against the ground but you’re going way too fast and ev