Page 3 of Pining for the Ranger (Shadow Mountain Forest Rangers #1)

Ivy/Laura

Warmth surrounds me and I’m the coziest I have ever felt sleeping on the ground. I’m so comfy I nuzzle into the heat, a hum falling from me in contentment.

A growl from behind me breaks through the drowsiness. As consciousness takes hold, I go stiff as I realize the heat is coming from a hard body pressed into mine from behind me. One with an equally hard shaft nestled into my butt.

My heart thunders and my breaths come in shallow pants as I attempt to remember where I am and who is behind me.

“Easy sweetheart, I promise you’re okay. This was the fastest way to get your body temperature up.”

The rumble of the deep voice caresses my back as his breath whispers across my ear, sending shivers down my body. Big rough hands skate across my skin, both heating me and causing chills at the same time.

What in the ever loving hell is going on? Never have I felt like this from a touch before.

At least I’m pretty sure I haven’t? It doesn’t feel familiar.

My eyes pop open to a fire blazing only a few feet away. The rush of water fills the air. A tan sleeping bag encloses the two of us together.

A thick tan arm with veins roping over it, pulls out of the bag, unzipping it.

The man climbs out from behind me before zipping it back up.

My mouth goes slack when I get an eye full of all the hard muscle dusted with light hair, which quickly disappears as he pulls on clothing.

Disappointment runs through me as it vanishes from view.

Shoving aside the irrational thought, I sit up, clutching the puffy material to my chest. “Who are you, and where are we?”

“I’m Boone Jennings. We’re off the Jasper Falls trail on Shadow Mountain. Do you remember what happened to you?”

My lips pull in as I attempt to recall how I ended up here. Panic comes over me, my breaths coming faster and shallower as I realize I don’t remember.

“Hey, breathe with me. In two, three, four. Out two, three, four.”

He continues talking me through the soothing cadence for several more breaths as he squats beside me. His piercing blue eyes hold mine captive as his hand rubs circles on my back, helping to chase away the fog threatening to pull me back under.

My body instinctively relaxes back into his touch.

“That’s better. So I take it you don’t remember then?”

I shake my head.

“Okay, how about your name? Can you tell me that?”

My mouth opens to answer before snapping shut when I realize I have nothing to give him. I bite my lip, my eyes falling closed as I focus on my breathing so I don’t panic again. When I open them, he is watching me carefully.

“I don’t know.” I whisper.

His head nods. “Okay, well, I need something to call you. Any suggestions?”

Again I shake my head, too overwhelmed as I search my blank mind for something, anything at all, which might give me a clue about who I am or what I’m doing here.

Lips pursed, he studies me for a minute.

“I’m thinking I should call you river since that’s where I found you, but that’s more of a male’s name.

Your beautiful green eyes remind me of the color of ivy, though.

How does that sound? You like Ivy? Because there’s no way I can go with something as plain as Jane, the standard for someone who is unknown.

There is definitely nothing plain about you, sweetheart. ”

My cheeks heat at his words as I roll the name Ivy around in my head before shrugging. “I guess it sounds fine. You’re right, it is much better than Jane.”

“Now we have that settled. How are you feeling? We have a few miles to hike to get out of here so I can get you to a hospital.”

Pausing, I take stock of my body for the first time since waking.

There are aches and pains I had yet to notice, almost as if I’ve been tumbling around in an industrial dryer.

My limbs feel like weights are holding them down and I feel lethargic, making a hike sound daunting, but it seems as if I may not have much choice.

Time to pull up my big girl panties and do what needs to be done like I always do. My eyebrows pinch and I frown at the thought, which feels so very familiar. Like it’s something I often think to myself.

“What is it?” Boone asks.

Glancing up, I see him studying me. “I’m not sure. Something I thought felt familiar. I’m sore and tired, so I’m not sure how fast I’ll be able to go, but sitting around here isn’t getting us out any faster.”

“No worries, we’ll go your speed and I’ll be with you the whole way to help. Your clothes aren’t completely dry, so you’ll have to wear damp pants, but you can wear my jacket on top at least to help keep you warm.”

He hands me his jacket, then reaches to retrieve my pants from where they lie on the ground.

As he turns away, I pull on the jacket. I can’t help but deeply inhaling the heady, manly scent lingering on the fabric before zipping it.

The scent sending tingles to places which shouldn’t be active at the moment.

After it’s zipped, he spins back towards me as if he was waiting for me to cover myself.

When I push myself up, I’m thankful he grabs my arm to help steady me.

“Here, hold on to my shoulder while I put your pants on.” He squats and I rest my hands on him as instructed.

Lifting my left leg, he slides the pant leg on before we repeat the process with the right.

Chills form on my legs where his knuckles trail my skin as he pulls the material up.

I’m so distracted by the sensation I don’t even notice he’s buttoning and zipping my pants for me until he stands back up.

I guess it’s not like he didn’t see it all when he undressed me.

He turns to his pack and pulls out a pair of thick gray socks. “These will be nice and dry.”

I lift my feet one at a time so he can put them on as well. Then he does the same with my hiking boots. Once they’re secure, he points to a nearby large flat rock.

“How about you sit here while I pack up and put out the fire?” Digging in his pack once again, producing a half filled ziplock bag before handing it to me. “Here are some snacks for you to eat while you wait.”

Holding my elbow, he keeps close as I move to sit on the rock he indicated.

Rifling through the bag, I pull out a brownie protein bar and a bag of mixed nuts.

Peeling back the wrapper, I bite into the chewy bar.

Not my favorite, but it helps with the hunger pangs.

Again, the familiarity of the thought has me pausing.

I have a favorite peanut butter protein bar.

Looking down at my boots, I see they have scuffs from use. Given the fact we have to hike a few miles must mean I walked here, so I must be a hiker. Which makes sense because it felt familiar waking up on the ground.

Munching on the provided snacks, I ponder how I ended up in the river while watching Boone roll the sleeping bag up and scoop water from the river to put out the fire.

It doesn’t take long before he is turning back to me. “Ready?”

I hand him the ziplock bag, “As I’ll ever be.”

He plucks out some jerky and nuts before stowing it in his pack and slinging it on his back. Grabbing my arm, he helps me over the rocks and through some brush back to the trail, where true to his word he goes my speed the entire way.

He doesn’t hurry me, and his hands never stray far from my body. I can’t say it bothers me in the least. In fact, he makes me feel more safe and cared for than I have in a long time. I don’t know how I know this, but again, there’s an innate feeling telling me it’s true.