Page 30 of Ranger's Secret

She's right, but I can't just stand here and watch everything fall apart. I catch up to Ms. Chen halfway back to the main camp, Delaney trailing behind me.

"Ms. Chen, please wait," I call out.

She stops but doesn't turn around immediately. Her eyes find mine, and whatever warmth was there before? It’s gone. Buried.

"This is exactly the kind of behavior Trailbound cannot be associated with," she says before I get a word out. "It’s inappropriate and frankly disturbing."

"It was role play, just two consenting adults who have known each other for years. I promise you."

"Role play." She says with disgust. "In a public place where anyone could have stumbled across you. Including other program participants."

"We were far from camp…"

"You were engaged in sexual activity while serving as the head ranger of this program. She was competing for my company's business." Ms. Chen's voice gets sharper with each word. "The optics alone are completely unacceptable."

Delaney tenses beside me, but I push forward. "Delaney earned that account through her own merit. Her ideas, her passion, her expertise. What's between us personally has nothing to do with her professional capabilities."

"How can I possibly believe that now? How do I know she didn't use your relationship to gain an advantage?"

"Because you know her work," I argue. "You've seen what she can do. You said yourself that her passion comes through in everything."

"Her passion for what, exactly?" Ms. Chen cuts me off. "For conservation? Or for seducing authority figures to get what she wants?"

I step forward, anger flaring hot in my chest. "Don't you dare talk about her that way."

Delaney's hand on my arm stops me. "Jagger, don't."

Ms. Chen looks between us. "You don't represent the kind of people we want to work with. The account goes to Sterling Creative." She pulls out her phone. "And I'll be having a conversation with your boss about tonight's... activities."

She walks away before either of us can respond, leaving us standing in the middle of the trail like the wreckage of a particularly spectacular car crash.

"Fuck," I breathe, running my hands through my hair. "I'm so sorry."

"Sorry doesn't fix this. Sorry doesn't save my career."

This is my fault. All of it. I pushed for this week, convinced her to give us a chance, destroyed everything she's worked for.

"You didn't do anything wrong," I tell her. "That puritanical woman has no right to judge what we do in private."

"We were in the middle of the fucking forest, Jagger. Where anyone could find us. Where shedidfind us."

She shakes her head, backing away like she’s trying to physically escape the weight of what just happened.

“It’s my fault. I asked for this tonight, but I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be around you. I don’t even know who I am right now. Why I even ask for things like this. This isn’t me. It’s like I’ve turned into some unhinged sex maniac.”

Her voice cracks on the last word, and shame flickers across her face.

“This is so much more than sex between us. You know it,” I say.

"You don't get it." She wraps her arms around herself. "You don't understand what this means for me."

"Then explain it to me."

"I blame myself," she continues, not looking at me. "I should have known better. I should have been stronger."

Each word feels like a knife between my ribs. She's talking about us like we're a disease she caught, something she should have been able to resist.

"What we have isn't a mistake," I tell her, moving closer. "What happened tonight was bad luck, bad timing, but it doesn't change how we feel about each other."

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