Page 21

Chapter 20

“This way,” Mari whispered, pointing at the waterfall. They’d been running for the last hour and now that the sun was cresting the eastern horizon, she heard a drone somewhere overhead. She just couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from. And she still had no idea why two armed people were after her and Colin. “If we wade through there, we won’t leave any tracks.”

Colin nodded, then to her surprise, scooped her up before he stepped into the knee-high waters, his long legs making a lot faster strides than hers ever could have over the jutting rocks. Her stomach flipped as he held her close, his big arms wrapping around her tight. She wanted to burrow into him, close her eyes and block out this nightmare.

He was moving fast, his body vibrating with tension as they hurried toward the pounding waterfall. It wasn’t huge, but it completely spanned the front of the twenty-foot-wide rock face and—

She held her breath as he rushed through the pounding water, the shock of the cold stunning her.

The rush of the water was louder on the back side of the falls, but not terrible .

“Stay here,” he said, though it was hard to hear over the pounding falls, and set her on the jutting base of rock that ran the entire length under the falls.

When she nodded he dumped his backpack on the smooth rock next to her, then disappeared back behind the curtain of water.

Now her own tension ratcheted up as she waited, counting the seconds until his return. One, two, three… She got to forty-five seconds by the time he reappeared.

Relief punched through her immediately at the sight of him, his T-shirt molded to his chest and abs. He ran his hands through his hair to get some of the wetness out, then stripped off his shirt, setting it on the rock next to her.

“Did you see anything?” she asked, trying not to stare. Now was definitely not the time to be checking him out, but come on. She had eyes. And he was gorgeous. She deserved a medal for sleeping next to him last night without doing anything.

He shook his head. “No, but I could hear a drone in the distance. I couldn’t tell which direction, but I think this is a good place to hang tight for a while. We can’t outrun drones in this terrain. The trees are getting too thin.”

“Should we wait until dark again?” She hated the idea of just staying in place like sitting ducks, but could also see the appeal of hiding out here.

“I think we might have to. I couldn’t see you at all when I was out there, at least from my angle. That’s what took me so long, I wanted to see if the two hunting us would spot us. And since we walked over rocks to get here, there are no tracks. This is a solid place to hide out.”

More mentally exhausted than physically, she nodded. “I don’t hate this idea.”

“How much food do you have?” he asked as he unzipped his own wet backpack.

Shivering against the cold and wet of her clothes sticking to her body, she unzipped her own and pulled out her plastic bag of protein bars. She’d also tucked her cell phone and a few other things into the gallon Ziploc bag. “Four protein bars. Not bad.” She was running low on water but had two bottles. As she pulled out one of the bars, her cell phone slid out onto the rock.

“Shit.” She went to grab her phone as it plunged down into the pool of water below. “Balls,” she muttered.

Colin plucked it out of the water and set it far behind her even as she started scooting away from the edge, dragging her stuff with her. The ledge was about ten feet back, more than enough space for them to spread out.

“Can’t believe I did that,” she muttered.

“It’s fine. I’ve still got my cell.” He looked at his own, frowned. “Not that it matters, because there’s still no signal. Here.” He handed her the bar she’d dropped on the rock, then took one for himself. “Let’s eat, then stretch out and try to get dry and warm. And I swear this isn’t a line, but if you want to get out of your wet clothes and curl up with me, it wouldn’t hurt to share our body warmth.”

She snort-laughed even as her teeth chattered. “Hopefully mine’ll still work when it dries out.” It was touted as being water resistant but time would tell. Without the warmth of the sun in this cold, damp cave, there was no way she was getting warm without him. Or even dry. “Fine,” she managed to get out, the cold overwhelming.

Even though she felt vulnerable, she stripped down to her bra and panties and was immediately glad not to have her wet clothes sticking to her. And if she was being really honest with herself, she was glad she had on matching undergarments, even as she inwardly berated herself.

So not important !

Colin took over, wringing out her clothes and setting them next to his in a corner that looked the dryest. And he wasn’t a perv either. No sneaky looks, something she appreciated. Apparently she needed to be more like him, because she was struggling not to stare at his chest. And arms.

And lower.

Nope. Closing her eyes, she laid her head on her wet backpack and sighed. “This sucks.”

She felt his big body moving in behind her, then he wrapped her up in all that strength and warmth, and god, she couldn’t remember ever feeling this safe and protected. She was so used to taking care of herself—hyper-independent as her friends liked to say—but having a partner in all this was unexpectedly wonderful.

“I’m glad you’re here with me,” she whispered, wondering if he could even hear her.

He shifted slightly behind her and dragged his backpack under his head. “I’m glad I’m with you too. If you think you can get some sleep, go for it. I’ll stay awake.”

She nodded as a wave of exhaustion swept through her with a vengeance. They’d woken up in the middle of the night only to go on the run from gun-wielding assholes. Then they’d had to run again when they’d been spotted. And even though she hated to admit it, she was tired. Just bone-deep exhausted and scared out of her mind that those strangers would find them, and shoot them.

Would anyone even discover their bodies? Would their would-be killers give their families closure, or would they dump them somewhere no one would ever locate? She shuddered at the thought and Colin’s grip around her tightened.

“It’s going to be okay,” he murmured right next to her ear.

A shiver rolled through her, and going on instinct, she turned in his arms, ignoring how uncomfortable she was against the rock.

He sucked in a breath as she wrapped her arm around him, going skin to skin, her skimpy bra not much of a barrier.

“Is this okay?”

He let out a strangled sound, but that was a definite nod.

And okay, she liked his reaction. If anything, it took her mind off the outside world and the shitstorm that was awaiting them if they left too soon.

But that wasn’t what this was about and she knew it. She was attracted to Colin in a way she’d never experienced before, and had been for far longer than she wanted to admit. She just plain liked him as a person. And as she wrapped around him, warmth spread throughout her entire body, her nipples pulling into tight points against her bra cups at the intimate contact.

Slowly, she slid her hand up and down his back, savoring the feel of all his strength underneath her fingertips, wondering what she was doing and how far he’d let her go. And if he would touch her, relieve the ache pulsing between her legs.

When his big hand settled on her hip and tightened, heat flared in his gaze as he looked at her. “What are you doing?”

“I don’t know,” she whispered, but he must have heard her above the falls.

“Your timing sucks.”

She shrugged even as a grin tugged at her lips. He wasn’t wrong. But actual death might be at their doorstep and they had nowhere to go right now. She didn’t want to die without tasting Colin Lockhart. She had been fighting her attraction to him forever, denying herself what she really wanted, and was tired of the battle.

As if he read her mind, he groaned and crushed his mouth to hers .

He tasted like the chocolate protein bar and now she was forever going to associate chocolate with his kisses.

She tried to be quiet, but didn’t think it mattered considering the deluge of water pounding down around them. They couldn’t hear anything outside this little cavern so no one else could hear them.

She nipped his bottom lip, grinned as he rolled his hips against her—and felt his very real reaction. Oh god, that gave her a rush, knowing that he was reacting to her. And who knew how much time they had, if they’d even make it out of here.

He wasn’t looking at her like she was his best friend’s kid sister. Nope, he was holding on to her and kissing her like he’d been dying to. The exact way she’d fantasized about for ages.

And when he slid his hand up to cup her breast, started teasing her nipple through the wet fabric, she might have let out a moan. A long, needy one.

She was grateful for the waterfall, hoped it covered how desperate she must sound. Because she was absolutely desperate for more of him. The man got under her skin in a way no one else ever had. And it wasn’t like she was going to analyze that, but good god, she wanted to take some pleasure from him if this was their last day on earth.

As he rolled her hard nipple, she palmed the front of his boxer briefs, enjoyed the way he jerked against her, pushing into her touch. Oh yeah, he wanted this as much as she did, and she could already feel heat building deep inside her, a release on the horizon if she could just stop thinking and let go.

Maybe, later, once they were hopefully out of this mess, she’d second-guess herself, but right now they deserved to find pleasure in each other.

Thankfully he didn’t pull back, didn’t try to slow things down. Instead, he slid his hand lower, lower, until he delved between her thighs and began teasing between her already slick folds.

She jerked against him as he found her clit, began rubbing in tight little circles. That desperation from before was next-level now, her need building as he continued teasing her. She threw one leg over his outer thigh to give him better access as she dipped her hand down the front of his boxer briefs.

When she squeezed his hard length, he reacted with his whole body. Oh yeah, he loved that. So she did it again, then began stroking him in hard, even strokes as he did the same between her legs.

It didn’t take long until she was coming against his long, talented fingers in the quickest, rawest orgasm she’d ever had. She shouldn’t have been able to come like this on a rock-hard surface while they were running for their lives.

But this was Colin, the man who’d starred in her earliest fantasies.

Tearing his mouth from hers, he buried his face against her neck and groaned as he came against her hand in jerky, wild thrusts.

She wasn’t sure how long they lay there like that, but eventually they pulled back and she wondered if things would be awkward. But instead, he kissed her long and sweet before he tugged her to him.

“Let’s clean up, then rest,” he murmured against the top of her head.

And she was more than okay with that. She had a feeling she’d be able to actually rest with him holding her.