Page 4 of Brave Horizons (Barrington Billionaires #19)

ALEX

There was no way to make this seem any more glamorous than it was. These were the deep woods. No people. No lights. No creature comforts at all... just actual creatures. Still he knew well enough to at least sound positive.

“You can’t see it now but there’s a river that runs past those trees. It opens up behind there and you get an amazing view of the mountains.”

“What lives out here?” she asked, her eyes trying to follow his headlights now that they’d parked. She squinted to see what might be lurking beyond where they lit.

“It won’t matter. We’ll be set up in a way that nothing will bother us.

My mother put a bag of clothes together for you.

It’s mostly over-sized shirts and a bunch of my sweatpants from middle school.

It’s a good thing she keeps everything. Those should fit you.

Once you get to your next destination, I’m sure they’ll be able to stock you up better. ”

“What lives out here?” she repeated, putting her arm out and grabbing his shirt before he could step out of the car. He sank back into his seat and closed his door.

“Well, there are osprey, bald eagles, and beavers.” He shot her a coy smile. “Salmon and frogs too.”

“Sorry, let me ask a different way. What lives out here that would want to make us dinner?”

“I don’t think there are any animals out here that would want to cook for us. We’ll have to make our own dinner.”

“Alex,” she scolded, holding her breath as she waited for the real answer.

“So there are some other things that live out here. Bears. Wolves. Moose. Cougars and bobcats.” He crinkled up his forehead. “But nothing is going to bother us. I’ve been camping in this area for years and as long as you respect the space and follow the rules you’ll live.”

“Were you not listening earlier?” She finally let his shirt go. “I’m not good at following the rules. I’ll screw it up and be a bear’s breakfast.”

“You won’t. I won’t let you. Just follow my lead. It looks a lot more daunting because it’s the middle of the night. When the sun rises, you’ll look around and fall in love.”

The words hung awkwardly between them until she laughed and broke the tension. “If this is your attempt to get me to swoon...”

“You’ll fall in love with the view. I’m much harder to love than these mountains, trust me. I’ve got a long line of women who can attest to that.”

“Long line?” Topeka asked, her shoulders relaxing a little.

At least he could accomplish that small change with being self-deprecating.

And it wasn’t really a lie either. There was a grittiness to his job, a fierce physicality that meant he had to be locked in.

If something took his attention away from the task at hand, people could die.

That’s how an oil rig out at sea worked.

You couldn’t stop to check your text messages or have a video call to say goodnight every evening.

When he was on the job, the job was his life.

The people he’d dated needed more than he could give.

“It’s not the kind of line you see outside the store when the latest cellphone comes out, but there’d be enough to convince you the mountains are easier to fall in love with.”

“Mountains, men... I don’t think I’ll be falling in love any time soon. There are a lot of things I won’t be doing. Like sleeping.”

“You’ll sleep. As a matter of fact, you’ll probably sleep a hell of a lot better out here. Once you get used to sleeping on the ground and tuning out the weird noises, you’ll sleep like a baby.”

“Have you met a baby? I think that’s exactly how I’ll sleep. Up every couple of hours crying.”

He laughed louder than he expected at the image. She wasn’t wrong. The simile made no sense. “You’ll be alright. Why don’t you stay here while I get things set up?”

“No I need to pull my weight. I can’t sit in here and watch you fight the bears.

” She straightened her back as if she were suddenly ready to rumble with whatever came up in nature.

He reached across her lap to the glove box and she gasped in a way that broke his heart.

She was jumpy. The kind of jumpy people got when they were truly worn down to raw nerves.

“Sorry,” he blurted out, flipping the glove box open, grabbing his gun and then snapping it shut just as quickly.

It was astonishing that he, a six-foot-three stranger who could absolutely destroy her if he wanted, was her best hope.

He couldn’t imagine giving that amount of power away.

Being at his mercy still didn’t sit completely right with her and he would have to keep that in mind.

No lunging in her direction. No making her any more uncomfortable than she already was.

“Where’s mine?” she asked, eyeing the gun closely.

“Can you shoot?”

“I’m from Texas. My dad didn’t raise any wilting flower.

He has his flaws—” she paused and shook her head.

“That’s the understatement of the century.

But he did one thing right. He made me strong.

He made sure I could fight. Protect myself.

I never expected he’d be the enemy I’d have to defend myself against.”

“You should carry a weapon out here. However, I need to make sure we’re on the same page with gun safety. In the morning we’ll do some target practice. Clean the weapons. Then I’ll be fine with you carrying.”

“Thanks,” she answered and he couldn’t be sure if that was sarcasm. Having to ask permission probably felt like shit.

“Sorry, it’s a habit. You go out on enough deployments and you start to realize you want to make sure the person next to you with a weapon knows what they’re doing. Otherwise the consequences are hard to live with.”

“Is that why you work out on rigs?” She was finally stepping out of the truck and he did the same. The question took him off guard. Mostly because he didn’t know the answer.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know a ton about working out on oil rigs. You’re out at sea. I’d imagine the elements are brutal. It’s isolating. Rough work, right?”

“Yes.”

“So why do you do it? And don’t say there weren’t any other options. You seem like someone who gets what they want. If you wanted something different, you’d have it. So why did you pick that as a job?”

“I thought it would be a good fit.” He moved to the back of the truck and reached for their gear, too distracted to make a decent plan of what needed to come out first. “I wasn’t ready to go back to the real world.

Not full-time anyway. The rigs are their own little ecosystem.

A lot of the people on them have served too.

So you get to keep some of the order and systems you’re used to. ”

“And it’s life and death sometimes, right?” She grabbed a bag and slid it toward her, following his lead of grabbing gear.

“It’s a dangerous job.”

“But the people you work with depend on you. If you’re not on your game, someone can die.”

“Yes.” His answer edged out slowly like someone creeping out onto thin ice. He felt like she was leading him somewhere he wasn’t ready to go. Like the ground wasn’t strong enough to hold him.

“A hero complex,” she replied with a knowing little nod. The moonlight was bearing down on her like a spotlight but it still wasn’t enough for him to fully read her intention.

“What do you mean?” He slung a few bags on the ground and yanked the tent from the truck. He still hadn’t let her know they’d be sharing a tent. He assumed she’d see that soon enough. Maybe now that she knew what lived in the woods, she’d consider it a win.

“I was trying to figure you out. Why you would do all this for me. For anyone. You’re one of those guys who loves it.

You get a kick out of the power. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining.

You’re saving my life. I just think it’s good to know why someone does what they do.

What makes them tick. Like I said, that was a big part of my job. Figuring people out.”

Alex stood dumbfounded for a long moment.

Not reaching for more gear. Not trying to set up camp.

He just stared at her. “Are you serious? You think I get off on this shit? That’s not it at all.

I served my country. I help out the Kinross organization.

I’m on that rig for weeks at a time. And I’m out here in the middle of the night with you.

But it’s not because I crave some kind of hero worship.

If you think that then you must have been shit at your job. That’s not me.”

He turned his back on her and started laying the tarp out where the tent would be going.

The accusation for some reason hit hard.

It was important to remind himself that she’d been through hell and it was far from over.

She was tired. Terrified. There was a good chance she’d never have said anything like this if the circumstances were different.

And most important, she’d be out of his life in a few days.

If she needed someone to lash out at, he could take it.

“It’s not an insult,” she argued, dragging the heavy bags toward him. “We all have our things. The world needs heroes.”

“The world needs a lot of things,” he answered as he started to put the tent together.

That was second nature, he could do these steps when his mind was rushing with a torrent of thoughts.

“I don’t want you to think I’m some kind of macho asshole who loves to throw my weight around to look tough.

I’m not out on the rig because I want to look like a badass.

I’m out there because...” The thought evaporated.

The words gone. The rest of the sentence not there.

“Sorry. I wasn’t trying to get you to fry a wire in your brain. It’s an old habit. That microscope I use to analyze behavior and anticipate what might come next. What you might want.”

“I just want to get this tent up. Get the supplies secure and then get some sleep. It’ll all look better in the morning. Then you’ll be on to the next stop. This will merely be a blip on the radar. You won’t need to figure me out at all.”

“That doesn’t look so hard,” she said, eyeing him as he threaded the poles through the tent. “Where’s mine?”

“We have one tent,” he said, feeling a little better about being able to put her back on her heels a bit. She’d done a hell of a job doing it to him. “We might need to move quickly. It might not seem like it but I packed light. One tent makes the most sense for what we’re doing out here.”

“It’s just—” her words were cut short by the sound of a snapping twig over to their right. She couldn’t likely tell how far it was but he could. It wasn’t anything too big and it wasn’t as close as it sounded. “What was that?” she asked.

“We’re good,” Alex said, holding up a reassuring hand. “It’s a little critter. Nothing serious. Let’s get the tent set up. The food can stay in the truck in the bear-proof containers for now. We’ll unpack that in the morning.”

“Can we sleep in the truck? Or better yet, the bear-proof container?” All talk of his hero complex and one tent screeched to a stop.

“Sleep sitting up in the truck and you’ll be a mess in the morning.” Alex chuckled at her suggestion. "I promise, the tent is safer and more comfortable than the truck or the bear-proof container.”

“It’s made of cloth. Is it bear-proof cloth?”

“I’ve been doing this a long time. First, is location.

I chose the campsite carefully, ensuring it’s a good distance away from the creek and any obvious animal trails.

Setting up camp too near water sources or animal paths increases the chances of encounters.

Here, we're more isolated from their usual routes," he explained.

“What else?” She seemed to be taking some comfort in the explanation so he went on. “I have some motion activated lights and bells I’ll hang around the perimeter. The noise and sudden light can startle animals and keep them away. Also scent management is important.

We store any toiletries, including toothpaste and lotions, with the food in the truck. Anything with a scent can draw animals in. Best to keep it all away from the tent.”

“Hopefully they don’t like the smell of pickles because I haven’t been able to get it out of my hair yet.”

“Is that what that is?” Alex asked with a chuckle. “I’m been trying to figure it out.”

“That was my ride to you. The guy was nice but I’m going to smell like dill the rest of my life.”

“It won’t be enough to draw anything our way. It’s no big dill,” he said, choking the words out through a hardy laugh.

“You didn’t seriously say that.” She rolled her eyes and shoved him a bit with her shoulder.

The punctuation of his bad joke had them working in relative silence, interrupted only by the occasional rustle of leaves or snap of a twig.

Alex could feel Topeka's nerves vibrating through the air, but he kept his focus on setting up camp efficiently.

Topeka followed his instructions, holding the fabric taut and securing the stakes into the ground.

Once he had everything as secure as possible, they crawled into the tent, each taking their respective sleeping bags. Topeka settled in, still visibly uneasy. Alex could feel her tension in the confined space, and he knew it would take time for her to relax fully.

"It's going to be alright," he said softly, turning off the lantern. The darkness enveloped them, and the sounds of the night grew more pronounced. "Just try to sleep. Tomorrow will be better. Pretend you’re camping with friends."

“I’m going to pretend I’m in a hotel and listening to the sounds of nature rather than being stalked by it.”

As he lay there, Alex's mind drifted. He thought about the strange turn his life had taken, about Topeka's sharp observations, and about the responsibilities he felt so keenly.

He couldn't deny he did take some satisfaction in being able to help, in being someone others could rely on.

But it wasn't about hero worship. It was about doing what needed to be done, about making sure people were safe.

He listened to the sounds of the forest, the rustling leaves, and the distant calls of nocturnal animals. Slowly, his own breathing steadied, and he began to drift off, his last conscious thoughts focused on the task of keeping them both safe through the night.

And a fleeting moment of missing Topeka even though she hadn’t left yet.