Irresistible Bachelors: Books 1-5 by Landish, Lauren (bts books to read TXT) 📕

“What? What kind of plan?”

I whisper quickly to Cassie. “I’m thinking about pretending to be hurt—”

“OW!” Cassie cries, her ankle twisting as she falls to the ground. “It hurts! Fuck my ass, it hurts!”

I kneel down next to her, trying to move her ankle, and she screams louder. “Damn it, Cassie, I wanted a fake fall, not a real one!”

“It was an accident!” Cassie says, but even as she does, I hear movement on the trail. The guys are coming back, and below us, I hear Wesley hurrying up to our position.

“Hurts!” Mo Mo repeats, squeaking and beating its wings when Wesley arrives. “Fuck my ass, it hurts!”

“Are you all right?” I say, ignoring the squawking bird. I feel bad for Cassie, and I feel even worse knowing this was just what I’d planned to pretend had happened. That would have been fucking low.

“What happened?” Tony asks as the guys come back, both of them sweating. Tony looks at the whimpering Cassie with concern.

“She fell and twisted her ankle,” I say, feeling guilty that I’m just a tiny bit jealous of the worry in his face. Seriously, why the hell should I feel that way?

“Let me see.” Wesley says with concern. Cassie whimpers as he checks her ankle. “You’ve got a sprain. It doesn’t look so bad, but you should probably stay off it.”

Tony and Caleb reach down, helping Cassie to her feet. “I think I can make it,” she says bravely, attempting to walk, but with every step, she winces a little bit. Finally, she looks up, tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think I can make the hike.”

Wesley looks disappointed, but he nods. “Don’t worry, it happens.”

“What do we do? Do we all go back down?” Tony asks, looking at me and Wesley.

“Just go on without me,” Cassie tells him. “I’ll go down slowly. I’ll be fine.”

“No, I’ll take you down,” Caleb says. “But don’t get too used to it.” With little effort, Caleb picks Cassie up and tosses her onto his back like a backpack.

Cassie grins, running her hands over Caleb’s arms and shoulders. “Ooh, I need this for the rest of our stay! Let’s go, horsey!” she says, kicking him lightly in the ass with her good foot. “Giddyup!”

“Don’t make me drop you,” Caleb threatens. “And for your information, I’m no horse, even if I am built like one from the waist down.”

“I will join you for the rest of the way up the mountain,” Wes says, cutting in as we watch Caleb and Cassie make their way back. “Let’s resume, shall we?”

We start up the trail again, and I find myself focusing on the scenery. I have to. Tony starts striding ahead more and more, and even as I push harder, my legs and my lungs burn. Still, even as it hurts, I’m swept away by the beauty as we climb higher and higher, emerging at the top to find a clear plateau that is windswept and clear. Tony’s ahead of me, but I still stop, what little breath I have left taken away. “It’s like I’m on top of the world,” I whisper, looking up at the clear sky, the green grass all around me, and the ocean off in the distance. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

Wesley clears his throat, and I hurry, reaching the rose bush just as Tony clips a single flower off and hands it to Wesley.

Wesley turns to me, and I bite my lip before shaking my head. “No offense, but we’re all here. I might as well leave the flower on the bush. They’re beautiful and I don’t want to clip them.”

Wesley nods. “I’m going to head back down and check on Cassie. You two stay if you want. If you’re not back by lunch, I’ll come and find you. I’ll announce the winner then.”

He leaves, and Tony and I look at each other, not sure what to say. The land is beautiful, and eventually, we just walk together into the shaded forest that borders the clearing. Following the sound of more water, we find another mountain pool, where we sit down, soaking our bare feet. “I wonder if Caleb is still alive?” I say, breaking the silence, “Or has Cassie killed him by now?”

“Oh, she’s not that bad, is she? She’s got spirit. How did you find her, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” I reply, laughing. “My boss hired her, and until this, I’ve never really known her outside work. What about Caleb?”

“We were friends when we were kids, and my brother hired him,” Tony confides. “I’ve been having some bad luck, and Oliver thought Caleb could . . . well, he could help me turn things around.”

The more I see, the more I like Tony. He’s not perfect, even if his body is, and it makes him even more attractive. He’s trying to be a good man, which is so sexy to me. Gulping, looking to change the subject, I look around the little pool we’ve found. “Have you noticed, it seems like every time you find what you swear is the most beautiful sight you’ve ever seen, you turn the corner and there’s something that tops it? This place takes my breath away.”

Tony nods, looking around the clearing. “The waterfall’s smaller than down below, but I like the way it bubbles as it hits the pool. It kind of looks like someone pouring champagne.”

I giggle, laughing. “Please don’t say like one of those cheesy ass champagne fountains of glasses like you see at parties.”

Tony laughs, shaking his head. “No. It just looks like someone is pouring champagne into a glass.”

I look over, amazed at the poetry in his thoughts. “Wow, you really surprise me.”

“Well, be prepared for another surprise,” Tony says before he suddenly pushes me back. I go tumbling into the pool, which is a lot cooler at the bottom that at the top. Thankfully, it’s not that deep, and I come up sputtering.

“You son