Page 6

Chapter Six

HADLEIGH

“ H ow are your feet holding up?” the handsome mountain man asks, entangling his fingers with mine to help me up a steep break in the trail.

Tiny shivers of desire shuttle up and down my arm at his touch, and my lower core tightens. The animal magnetism of this virtual stranger remains undeniable. I want to feel his strong hands other places, everywhere, claiming me as his.

Get your brain on straight and focus, Hadleigh. This man’s your rescuer. Quit objectifying and lusting over him.

But the closer we get to the top and safety, the more my body surrenders to unadulterated yearning.

Swallowing loudly and straining to focus, I say, “I’m trying not to think about my feet.

” In truth, every step is another rush of adrenaline until we reach higher ground and safety from the river raging below.

Thunder booms overhead, and lightning cracks. Far too close for comfort. I don’t know much about survival in this kind of weather, but hanging from a rocky cliff above fast-flowing water probably isn’t a great idea.

“When we find shelter for the night, I’ll clean and massage your feet, bandage them if needed. Okay?”

His words touch me. I didn’t know men like Hudson even existed, apart from my dad. “Thank you, but you don’t have to.”

“I want to,” he says darkly.

My foot slides off the edge, but Hudson’s right there, protectively holding me against the cliff.

“Steady now,” he growls. “We’re almost there, Hadleigh. Stay with me.”

I whimper, panic washing over me again. I’m learning to sit with it, push through despite my insides crumbling.

Hudson reaches out to push a stray hair from my cheek. My face burns, and I look away, trying to hide the blush.

He encourages. “Almost home free.”

“Okay.”

With a few more steep steps, Hudson pulls me to the top, and we both collapse onto the ground.

The wind swirls around us, and thunder booms. Disappointment rushes me, the distance between us mere feet, yet an impassable gulf.

I long for his arms, wondering if the closest we’re ever going to get was on the cliff when he comforted and talked me through my fear of heights.

A flash of white light fills the darkening sky. “Fuck!” Hudson exclaims. “Come on.”

Jumping to his feet, the air sizzling with electricity, he grabs my hand and pulls me up.

Removing his leather jacket, he wraps it around my shoulders.

The tender move warms and reassures me despite the electricity flashing overhead.

“I would’ve offered this to you earlier, but I was afraid it might make you slip on the climb. ”

“Thank you,” I whisper.

He grabs my hand, dragging me into the woods, sprinting against the storm. My stomach knots and twists, thinking about where Hudson and I would be now had he not forced me to take the trail. I owe this man my life multiple times over.

Adrenaline and fear course through my veins, pushing me further than stamina ever has. I wonder if it’s the same for this brute of a man. I can’t imagine it is. He moves through the woods with a robust grace, like it’s second nature.

Another percussive clap shatters the atmosphere, followed by a burst of light. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“See that dip in the terrain?” Hudson points, rushing toward a small grouping of short trees. “Lone trees and tall trees tend to attract most of the action. So, this is where we need to be.”

“What about that overhang?” I ask, eyes straying towards a cluster of rocks with a space beneath.

“No good in lightning. We must spread out, crouch down, and minimize our exposure to the ground. Like this.” He demonstrates, getting as low to the ground as possible on the balls of his feet. “Cover your ears if it helps,” he adds, the creases deepening in his forehead.

Never have I seen a more gorgeous man in my life.

He’s all strength, stamina, and survivalist knowledge, and it’s sexy as fuck.

As a SoCal girl, I never knew I could find a tatted, motorcycle-riding mountain man so attractive.

I crouch a distance from Hudson, mirroring his body positioning, and feeling lonely and vulnerable.

I long to melt into his arms and feel his mouth on mine.

“Once this passes, we’ll find shelter,” he yells.

I nod, eyes squeezed shut. “Remind me to wear something other than a little black dress on our next date,” I tease, covering my ears as thick sheets of rain pelt us, and the sky crackles and crinkles overhead.

“If I do things right, you won’t wear anything at all on our second date,” he replies throatily.

His words stun me, making me do a double-take.

Hudson smiles naughtily, and my insides officially melt into gooey, useless warmth. A good guy with the confidence of a bad boy? Hell, yeah.

Thunder shakes the ground, and lightning fractures the sky.

Fraught minutes pass as I count the time between booms and strikes, realizing the storm is directly overhead.

I tremble and shake violently, trying to hold still and maintain the position Hudson showed me.

I feel naked, laid out, and helpless before nature.

Popping and cracking sounds a distance away. I turn my head, watching an old, rotten widowmaker tree topple in a cloud of splinters.

I look up, my eyes locking with Hudson’s snapping green ones. Death and destruction surround us as the gale blows, and the river in the gorge roars. Chaos crashes and smashes overhead. Despite everything, sparks from his gaze simmer, lighting my skin and igniting my need.

“How you can be so goddamned hot crouching on the ground during a lightning storm, I’ll never understand,” Hudson calls across the distance between us.

My mouth quirks as another boom and crash sound nearby. Over the howling wind, I reply, “I could say the same about you, you know.”

He looks genuinely surprised, pleasure written on his face. But the raging storm interrupts the interlude, forcing us both to drop our gazes and turn inward, focusing on survival.

For the second time today, nature crushes me, rendering me tiny, insignificant. My body trembles uncontrollably at the sublime. I focus on individual breaths, completely embodying this breathtaking, terrifying moment. Time stands still.

But then, it begins again. Slowly. The distance between the thunder and lightning increases, and the auditory trauma dissipates.

Hudson drops down onto his knees with a groan. “That’s not a position a forty-two-year-old should hold indefinitely,” he laments, rubbing his knee.

“Forty-two? You seem way younger.” I drop onto all fours, breathing rapidly.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. How old are you?” he asks, scowling.

“Twenty-four.”

He nods. “Am I too old for you?”

Raising my chin defiantly, I add, “Not at all. I’m so done with immature guys closer to my age.”

He chuckles, rising to his feet and stepping towards me, offering a hand. “Good thing because I’m pulling out all the stops on this first date of ours. It’s one near-death experience after the next.”

“Never a dull moment with you.”

“I hope to change that, Hadleigh. Shelter’s up next and hopefully, some peace and quiet.”

“Like a cave or something?”

“Hopefully, better than that.”

“Anything sounds good right now.” I snuggle into his leather jacket, aroused by the thought that this touches his hot, hard flesh. God, he makes me thirsty. My pussy throbs, nothing rational behind this powerful, undeniable desire.

The burly mountain man beelines for me, and my throat tightens. I swallow loudly, eyes rounding as he stops in front of me, pulling at one side of his jacket.

Is he reading my mind? Ready to dive headlong into passion with me in the wild heart of the deep woods? God, I hope so.

Unzipping the inner pocket, his simmering eyes never leave mine. He pulls out his cellphone, turning it on.

I frown.

Dammit.

“Give me a moment to call the sheriff’s department, and I’ll find out what’s going on, how close we are to rescue, and where we go from here.”

I nod, leaning against a tree, tired beyond all reason, disappointed, and needy as my pussy greedily throbs. What in the hell is wrong with me? I sink slowly to the ground, noticing the pounding ache of my feet as I let off pressure.

I read an article once about how when people go through a life-or-death situation, they often feel an unrestrained urge to fuck. Almost as if celebrating their continued existence.

I don’t know if it explains my current state, but considering I’m a virgin who’s never been especially interested in any man, it’s the only way I can explain the magnetic pull of Hudson. Or how my mind twists and turns, naughty visions filling my head.

I can’t stop thinking about his mouth on mine, his fingers in my hair, our bodies tangled and writhing. And his cock buried so deep that it feels like we share the same body.

The pain between my legs feels excruciating, and guilt burns my cheeks as I eye the mountain man a distance away.

Never have I needed anyone so thoroughly.

I lick my bottom lip, heart racing, as I wonder what he tastes like and what his thick, throbbing cock would feel like between my legs and my lips.

But despite the flirty words flowing between us, what’s to say the mountain man feels what I do? Maybe he’s acting interested to distract and encourage me.

It’s not like I’m probably his type, plus-size and soft in every place supermodels are hard and sleek. And I have to remind myself, thanks to the earlier wardrobe malfunction, he’s seen it all—thick thighs, rolls, cellulite, dimples, every fleshy bit of me.

Hudson talks to someone, and I draw closer, eavesdropping. “Yeah, Hadleigh Bardot’s safe with me. We climbed out of the gorge and are in the wilderness somewhere near the Jumbo Falls Trailhead.”

A long pause follows.

“Understood. But can you do us a solid?” he asks.

I absorb his gorgeous face, guessing what the other half of the conversation sounds like.

“Can you point us to any nearby structures or cabins to shelter in for the night?”

Hudson bandies back and forth about distance and direction from the river and gorge until he ends the call with a satisfied grunt. Turning to me, he says, “We’re within thirty minutes of an old hunting lodge. You think your feet can hold out?”

“Whatever it takes,” I say resolutely. Curving one foot towards myself, I stare at the pulsating, bleeding, dirty sole embedded with little bits of sharp granite.

Hudson eyes the other, grimacing. “You climbed out of the gorge on bloody, cut-up feet? You’re tough as fucking nails.”

“The granite gravel on the trail was sharp. But it had to be done.”

He nods, running his hand over his beard. “I still don’t know how you managed to get to the bank after going over the cliff in the Lincoln. I nearly drowned, and I had a serious headstart and a thorough understanding of the river’s trajectory.

“I used to longboard the Pacific with my dad, which helped. Getting worked by waves, dragged to the bottom by the leash, even cracked on the head by the board taught me a lot about surviving choppy water. Never thought I’d use those skills in Northern Idaho, though.”

“Wait, you surf?”

I nod.

“Me, too. Back in the day, as a Marine stationed in San Diego, that’s all I did in my free time. I’m a shortboard guy, though.”

“I’ll forgive you this once,” I tease.

Kneeling in front of me, he digs a water bottle out of his backpack, gently washing the dirt and granite out of the cuts in my soles.

I hiss and hold my breath, sensation kicking me in the ass with improved circulation.

My throbbing calf joins the plaintive party.

The disinfectant stings, and I bite the knuckle of my pointer finger.

Hudson lets my feet air dry as much as they can, despite the drizzling rain, before bandaging the worst spots.

Then, he removes a pair of wool socks from his bag and puts them on one at a time. “Let’s give this a try. The socks should provide minimal protection. But they’re slippery, so be careful not to twist an ankle. If the pain gets to be too much, don’t grin and bear it in silence.”

“Why not? What can you do about it?”

I catch myself getting lost in the warm, lusty swirls of his green eyes—rugged, virile, and handsome. The juncture between my legs tightens, improved blood flow making me acutely aware of how much my body craves the bearded hunk.

“I’ll carry you,” he says.

I chuckle. Apparently, this guy’s also delusional. “Carry me? I’m no lightweight.”

“I was trained to carry fellow Marines. Leave no man behind. Slinging you over my shoulder would be a piece of cake. My pleasure. Now let’s push through to the cabin before night falls.”

“Is search and rescue coming for us soon?” I ask, pulling my knees against my chest and wrapping my arms around them, reluctant to stand on my aching feet again.

“They’re tied up rescuing people from flash flooding in and around town. So, it’s up to you and me to get through the night.”

“As long as I have you, I’m not worried about anything,” I confess, watching how the words soften his gaze.