81Riley attempted to concentrate on his computer. He assumed it would be a little difficult with the rush of finding treasure coursing through his veins, but with everything going on around him... It was an unmistaken failed attempt; there was no doubting that. He was going to blame this lack of focus on Torree McKenzie. She was Ian's insanely cute, incredibly friendly, undeniably gorgeous, obviously Scottish, and seeming flawless girl friend. He felt like he was proving every single stereotype formed against men right, but goodness he just found her alluring.
He had a twinge of jealousy go through him every time Ian called her honey, babe, or anything to that. God, Riley get a grip! You're acting insane! He barley knew the girl…. But every time she spoke he felt the knot inside his stomach tighten. He was falling hard and quickly for her accent.
Torree sat on the edge of the back seat leaning closer to the front where Ian and Ben were seated, she was not even attempting to pretend like she would rather be upfront with them. She was more than a little intrigued by the whole treasure hunting idea and she was non-stop asking Ben questions the whole ride.
That was at least until Ian gave her a look and she sighed and slumped back into her seat, disappointment was clearly evident on her face. She twiddled with her fashionably booted feet. As it would turn out, a woman who was approximately 5"2' (perhaps an inch taller) would not be able to sit completely upright and have the soles of her touch the bottom of a snowmobile.
As Ian and Ben talked and she sat silently her level of boredom was growing with each passing second. On the plus side, Riley was finally able to give approximately sixty percent of his attention to the tracking program on his laptop.
When Torree reached over and tapped him on the shoulder, he eagerly turned to where he was facing her. Part of him held some unrealistic and somewhat silly hope that she was going to profess some undying love towards him and she felt nothing for Ian. Needless to say he was just as shocked when she just stuck her tongue out at him. He raised an eyebrow at her with a small grin. The childish demeanor was quite cute and made her much more obtainable (at least in his mind).
"It's your turn." She mouthed to him silently.
He just crossed his eyes for a few seconds. Then smiled towards her when he watched her face light up with a breathtaking smile. Torree tucked her long, wavy, auburn hair behind her ears and wiggled them. A woman with hidden talents... He could appreciate that.
Before he could think of something equally as impressive, he looked back at her and noticed her attention was now focused on the back of Ben's seat.
"I was thinking about Henson and Perry, crossing this kind of terrain with nothing but dog sleds and on foot. Can you imagine?" Ben asked Ian. Ben was clearly in awe of their will and strength.
"It's extraordinary." Ian agreed.
A quiet but audible beeping erupted from Riley's program but, with a few pushing of the buttons he was able to get the persistent noise to stop.
"Are we getting closer?"
"Assuming Ben's theory is correct and my tracking model's accurate we should be getting very close… But don't go by me, I broke a shoe lace this morning." Riley answered obviously busy with something else.
Her quiet giggle was a testament that someone got his joke. It also drew his attention away long enough to notice the confused expression on Ben and Ian's face. "It's… it's a bad omen." He explained further a little surprised Torree was the only one beside himself to know what it was. They were out there looking for treasure based on a series of ancient and intricate clues... Surely they knew a few pieces of trivial and useless information.
"Should we turn around and go home?" Ian asked sarcastically.
"Or we could just throw him out here." Ben suggested with a laugh.
"Ha ha… ok." Riley replied bitterly.
"Oh Riley, you're not missing that little, windowless cubicle we found you in, are you?" Ben asked teasingly.
"No, no, absolutely not." Riley chuckled.
As the words left his mouth his computer began to beep again. This time a little more frequently and louder. Curiosity must have taken over Torree. She slid over to towards Riley. He wondered if it had been her intention to practically mount him, but the next thing she said to him suggested otherwise. "Sorry." She whispered to him. The feeling of her warm breath on his skin sent a shiver down his spine.
"N-not a problem." He whispered backed.
She smiled and looked backed at his screen, judging by the worded 'TARGET REACHED' she made a guess, "I think we're here."
"I was about to say that."
A/N: Obviously, I own nothing except our lovely leading lady: Torree. Okay, so first off I want to apologize for how long it's been since an update was posted and now that I do update it's a rewrite :/ but my main reason is I did have a lot of hope for this story, but my writing style has changed so much since I first published it and reading back… I just didn't like it. However, I feel like restarting (keeping everything basically the same, but just adding too) is going to keep me motivated to continue updating and eventually finish this story (: I am dreadfully sorry that it's been so long, but I appreciate everyone's support immensely and I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who has been kind enough to follow, favorite and review! That definitely was the main reason I wanted to get this back up and running!