by Rachel Lacey
“Business,” he answered. “I had a meeting in LA this morning, one in Reno tomorrow.”
“Hope it can be rescheduled.”
“I hope so too.” Because a million-dollar deal was on the line.
“I guess we should get some sleep, huh?”
“Sure.” But he wasn’t the least bit sleepy. Hungry, yes. Horny as hell.
The darkness around them now was complete. He could only see the faintest outline of Isa’s shape next to him in the shelter. The pine bedding that had felt so soft when he’d first spread it out felt hard as stone now and itchy against his bare lower legs. Maya was taking up most of his foot room. It was damn cold in here too, but there was no way he was snuggling up to Isa—especially not while he was still sporting a highly inappropriate semi for her.
It promised to be a long, uncomfortable night.
Isa woke with a start, disoriented as she stared into the impenetrable darkness around her. Her body shook from the bitter cold, and a dull ache pulsed behind her right eye because…plane crash…stranded…in a makeshift shelter with a sexy stranger. Right.
Something rustled nearby, and she heard the unmistakable sound of an animal sniffing.
It was outside their shelter. Like, right outside!
Nate must have heard it too, because the next thing she knew, he’d rolled on top of her, pressing a finger to her lips. Fear flooded her veins, a combination of hot and cold that made her skin prickle and her heart race.
She envisioned a bear ripping their shelter apart to enjoy his midnight snack. Or worse, a mountain lion. Her chest heaved, flattening her breasts against Nate’s hard, muscular chest. If she wasn’t about to be devoured by some terrifying nighttime creature, she might take the time to appreciate the way his body felt on hers, so big and warm and—
The creature outside scuffed against the wall of their shelter with its paw, and Isa’s heart did its best to claw its way out of her chest. She held her breath to keep from screaming. Nate had gone rigid above her, silent and unmoving, but she could feel his heart pounding against hers.
The animal outside whined, pawing again at the branch behind her head, and two things clicked into place in Isa’s brain at the same time—that was a dog’s whine, and Maya’s familiar form was no longer stretched across her feet.
“It’s Maya,” she whispered, jittery with relief.
Nate’s body relaxed against hers, but he made no move to get off her. “You sure?”
“Pretty sure.” She was also pretty sure that her leggings were paper thin, and that hard thing pressing against her hip was Nate’s—
“Flashlight sure would be handy right now,” he breathed against her neck.
“Mm-hmm.” Her pulse pounded in her ears.
Nate reached over. She heard a rustling in the branches behind him, then Maya crept into the shelter. “Gave us quite a scare,” he muttered to the dog.
Maya curled up at their feet with a sigh.
Somewhere in the process of letting her in, Nate’s body had shifted, and now there was no mistaking his erection pressed against Isa’s belly. A warm ache grew between her thighs.
“Sorry.” He lifted his hips.
“Don’t be.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and kissed him.
His lips were warm and soft, and they parted readily, inviting her inside. She clung to him, kissing him with an urgency that bordered on desperation. His tongue moved against hers in a delicious rhythm that melted away all her fear and uncertainty, replacing them with hot, liquid lust.
Nate lifted his head. “Isa, what are we doing?”
“Kissing?”
“You told me earlier you aren’t the kind of girl to take a guy to bed on the first date.” He rolled to the side, breaking the contact between them.
“I’m not.” She struggled to catch her breath. Between thinking she was about to be eaten, and then sharing that blistering kiss with Nate…
“I won’t deny I’m attracted to you,” he said, his voice deep and gruff. Hearing him without being able to see him made the whole thing about a million times sexier. “But I don’t think we should let adrenaline get the better of us and do anything we might regret in the morning.”
4
Nate woke cold, bleary-eyed, and grumpy. It had taken him six months to secure this meeting with his would-be new client in Reno, and now it might all go up in smoke because he had, well, gone down in smoke.
Sometime during the night, Isa had snuggled up against him—no doubt she was as cold as he was—and now her ass was pressed firmly against his morning wood.
Not. Helping.
He had it bad for beautiful Isa Delgado, which was a damn shame because since his divorce, he was only interested in sex for no-strings pleasure, while Isa was clearly looking for more. She was entirely too sweet for the likes of him.
Reluctantly, he shifted his hips away from her. A lot rested on today. He wanted to hear a search and rescue chopper whirling overhead, but the forest around them was silent. Too silent. Why weren’t the birds chirping?
At his feet, Maya lifted her head and let out a low whine. Nate knew how she felt. He had a bad feeling as he slipped out of the shelter, as careful as he could not to disturb Isa. He walked to the rocky outcrop beside the lake, taking in the smoke-filled sky above. Either the wind had shifted, or the fire had drawn closer, or both.
It was a double dose of bad news because choppers wouldn’t be able to spot them from above through all that smoke, and it was no longer safe to hang around waiting to be rescued. He bent to rub Maya, who had followed him out.
Isa walked toward them through the trees, looking beautifully rumpled from their night in the woods. He reached out and plucked a clump of pine needles from her hair.
“Good morning,” she said with a shy glance.
Was she regretting their midnight kiss? “Morning.”
“That’s not good, right?” She gestured toward the sky. A thick wall of smoke obscured the far side of the lake and the mountain peaks beyond.
“Nope.”
“What should we do?”
“Rescue protocol says we should stay put and wait for them to find us, but with that fire coming at us? I think we might need to get moving and try to rescue ourselves.”
She stood there for a few seconds, sucking in deep breaths, fear swimming in her wide brown eyes. Then she swallowed hard and nodded. “I agree.”
“Okay, then.” He tossed her a granola bar and ripped open another one for himself. Four of their twelve bars were now gone, but he still thought it wise to put some food in their bellies to help them put as much distance between themselves and the fire as possible.
Too bad the granola bar did little to ease the hunger clawing inside him.
Isa fed another handful of dog food to Maya, and then they packed up. He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, and she shrugged into her backpack.
“I saw a stream over that way when I was looking for stuff for the SOS sign yesterday,” she said, pointing to the left. “It seems to be heading away from the fire, and sticking close to water is always a good idea, right?”
“I think it sounds like the way to go,” he agreed.
With a nod, she led the way. They crossed the rocky shoreline of the lake to the stream she’d found. It was perfect for two reasons. First, water always flowed downhill, which meant that hopefully it would lead them out of the mountains. And also, water from the swiftly moving stream ought to be okay to drink. Boiling it would be better, but he’d rather risk drinking it than go thirsty.
“One thing you should know about me,” Isa told him as they left the lake behind.
“What’s that?”
“I’m stubborn to a fault. And I’ve decided that we’re getting out of this in one piece, which means I won’t stop until I make it happen.”
He grinned in spite of himself. “All right, then.”
She scrambled over a boulder and hopped down to the stream bank. “How far do you thi
nk we are from civilization?”
“Honestly? I have no idea. The Sierras are full of hiking trails. If we’re lucky, we could stumble on something today.”
“We haven’t been very lucky so far.” She glanced over her shoulder at the curtain of smoke behind them.
“I disagree. We walked away from a plane crash in the middle of some seriously dangerous terrain.”
“That wasn’t luck,” she said. “That was skill. Your skill.”
“Partially.”
They walked in silence for a while. The stream had leveled out, and they were able to walk along its pebbled edges with little difficulty. Maya trotted beside them, sometimes bounding off into the bushes after a critter that had caught her eye. Nate hoped the dog caught something. He and Isa might be able to forage for edible plants while they were out here, but Maya would be on her own once the dog food ran out.
“Oh, look!” Isa called out. “Cattails. Les Stroud says they’re pretty tasty and nutritious.”
“You’re big on your Survivorman, aren’t you?”
“Call me an armchair survivalist.”
“Well, Miss Armchair Survivalist, you just might save our butts out here, so nice going.”
“Thanks.” She tossed him another shy smile.
They reached the area where the stream widened into a marshy expanse, allowing the cattails to grow. Nate took off his shoes and socks and stepped into the cold muck barefoot. He pulled out his Swiss Army knife, but the first cattail he grabbed came right out of the mud with little resistance. So did the second.
“Grab a bunch,” Isa said. “We can take them with us.”
“Yes, ma’am.” In a matter of minutes, he had an armful of cattails and waded back with them to shore. “So which part do we eat?” His empty stomach gurgled hopefully.
“The whole thing’s edible,” she told him, “but I think you’re supposed to soak the roots to get the starch out or else they can give you a stomach ache, so maybe we should start with the stems.”
She took a stalk from him, and he set the rest down on the grassy bank. She tugged at it, and the outer layer came off, revealing a shoot inside that looked somewhat like celery. Following her lead, he removed the outer layer from more of the shoots. When they’d finished, they had a sizeable pile. He used his knife to slice off the roots and set them aside.
Isa picked up the remaining shoots and walked over to the water to rinse them. Since this was her idea, he decided to let her keep on leading the way. She washed them all and laid them on a flat rock, then handed one to him and took another for herself.
“Here goes nothing.” With a quick smile, she bit off the end, chewed, and swallowed. “I might not be a fan if I wasn’t so hungry, but you know, it’s not half-bad.”
“All right then.” He took a hearty bite of his cattail. He’d expected it to be mostly flavorless, like celery, but it tasted more like a cucumber. A bitter cucumber. He was too hungry to care. He devoured three stalks, while Isa did the same.
Maya pounced in and out of the remaining cattails, looking very wolf-like with her thick, gray coat out here in the wilderness. She emerged with a small snake in her mouth. Isa let out a squeak, jumping backward.
He steadied her. “I’m glad she was able to catch herself some lunch.”
“Will she eat it, you think?”
“We’ll see.” He watched as the dog played with the snake before finally settling down to business. She chewed and ate the whole thing. “Good girl,” he said softly.
“We’re off to a good start,” Isa said as she helped him wrap up the rest of the cattails and put them in his duffel bag. She glanced up at the smoky sky. “If only we knew we were moving in the right direction.”
“What if I climb that tree and have a look around?”
Isa looked at the tree Nate was pointing at. It was tall and straight, with plenty of branches. “Don’t you dare fall and get hurt.”
He gave her a mock-hurt look. “You underestimate me. I was a Boy Scout.”
“Be careful.” She watched as he gripped a branch and hauled himself into the tree. At first, she was just enjoying the view of his very fine ass as he climbed, but the higher he got, the more nervous she felt. If he fell…
She did not want to do this on her own.
Plus, she kind of liked his rich, plane-flying ass. A branch snapped, and her heart jumped into her throat. But Nate was still climbing, and he was ridiculously high.
“See anything?” she called.
“A lot of trees,” he yelled back.
Trees. Well, she would rather he spot a luxury resort around the next bend, but trees were better than fire, in any case. Nate stopped near the top of the tree and spent several minutes craning his head in all directions before he started back down.
“Well?” she asked when he’d finally reached the ground.
“Good news and bad news. Good news is that I see a lot of smoke behind us but no flames. Bad news is that I don’t see any signs of civilization anywhere, and there’s a cliff up ahead of us.”
“A cliff?” Her stomach tightened.
“We’re going to have to leave the stream and skirt around it.”
“All right.”
“Better get moving. The sun’s directly overhead, which means our daylight hours are half-over.”
She turned and led the way. Truthfully, she was exhausted and more than a little bit disheartened by Nate’s news. Her head ached and so did her stomach. She might have overdone it on the cattails, but she’d been so hungry, she’d barely tasted them.
They came around a bend, and the cliff Nate had spotted came into view. It was a sheer drop, at least a hundred feet. The water roared as it plunged over the waterfall to the rocks waiting below.
“I feel like I need to send a little boat over it,” she said. “Just to see what happens.”
He gave her an incredulous look. “A boat?”
“A stick boat.”
“You’re something, Isa Delgado,” he said with a smile, shaking his head.
“Something good, I hope.” She grabbed a nearby stick and chucked it into the center of the stream. Then she crept close enough to the edge to watch it fall. The stick disappeared from sight as it went over, popping up about thirty seconds later in the middle of the pool below. “Sweet!”
Behind her, Nate chuckled. He took a long drink from his water bottle, then bent and filled it from the rushing water before them. Isa did the same. Then they turned around and left the stream behind.
And that was scary.
They plunged through heavy undergrowth, pushing their way into the forest beyond. Overhead, a hawk called, and she shivered. It sounded somehow ominous out here.
“What I wouldn’t give for a big slice of pizza right now,” she said to break the silence. Just thinking about it made her mouth water and her stomach grumble.
“Only a slice?” Nate gave her an amused look. “I could eat the whole pie.”
“Mm, pie…with ice cream on top. Or, even better, a whole plate of my mom’s homemade churros.”
“I’ve heard of them, but I’ve never had one. What are they like?”
“Heaven,” she answered with a smile. “They’re crunchy on the outside but melt-in-your-mouth soft inside. Like a stick of fried dough, rolled in cinnamon sugar.”
“Sounds delicious.”
“If we make it out of here—” She pressed her lips together. She’d almost said she would make a batch for him, but she and Nate didn’t know each other in real life. “When we get out of here, you should try them.”
“I’ll be sure to.”
They walked on, picking up speed as the undergrowth thinned out around them.
“My mom’s specialty is raspberry soufflé,” he said after a few minutes. “It’s so sweet, I can only eat a few bites, but damn is it delicious.”
“I love soufflé.” And all this talk of desserts was making her even hungrier. It had been a full twenty-four hours now since the crash,
and they were no closer to being rescued. Maybe even farther now that they’d left the lake behind. She forced back the panic swelling inside her chest.
She couldn’t stop thinking about her family back home in Anaheim. By now, they must know that her plane had crashed. She tried to imagine how she’d feel in their position, if one of her sisters had gone missing like this…the fear, the worry. If only she could let them know that she was all right. Why hadn’t they stumbled across a hiking path or at least seen a rescue plane by now?
They reached a gentler version of the cliff they’d left behind. It was still pretty steep, though, and dotted with boulders of various sizes. Carefully, they began to pick their way down the incline. Isa kept her focus on her feet, shaking off her melancholy thoughts. She stepped onto a rounded rock, and the ground seemed to give out beneath her. She grabbed wildly for Nate’s arm as she pitched forward, but her fingers grasped only air. Her face smacked into the pine-strewn earth, and then she was tumbling like the stick she’d tossed earlier toward the bottom.
5
“Isa!” Nate skidded after her as she tumbled toward the bottom of the slope. His heart plunged right along with her. By the time he’d reached her, she was sitting up, eyes wide. He dropped down beside her. “Are you okay?”
“I—I think so.” She was covered in leaves and pine straw, her face scratched and bleeding.
He brushed a hand against her cheek. “Scared the life out of me when you fell.”
“That makes two of us.” She trembled beneath his touch, her face pale.
“Sure you’re okay?”
“I probably don’t want to count how many scrapes and bruises I just got, but I don’t think it’s anything more serious than that.”
“And you said you weren’t lucky.” He extended a hand to help her up.
She took it and yelped with pain. “Might have landed wrong on my arm.”
“Okay. Better let me check you over. The good news is that we have a first aid kit, so hopefully I can patch up anything that needs patching.”