by Susan Stoker
“I do know that. What about exercise?”
“What about it?” she asked.
“Do you do it?”
Zoey sighed again, and her gaze slipped away from his. “If you’re asking if I’m secretly a triathlete or something, you’re going to be disappointed.”
Bubba didn’t like that he’d embarrassed her. He put a finger on her chin and gently turned her face back to his. “I have a feeling nothing you do could disappoint me.”
When she rolled her eyes again, Bubba internally sighed in relief. He liked her subtle snarkiness.
“To answer your question, I don’t work out regularly. I don’t like the gym, I feel too self-conscious there, working out next to the super-buff men and women who frequent the one in Juneau. But I also don’t have a car, so I walk a lot. The house I was renting from your dad was a few blocks from his own, so when I went over to help him, I walked. When I had to go into town, I rode my bike.”
Bubba nodded in satisfaction. “That’s great.” At her look of disbelief, he went on. “Seriously. Walking in Juneau isn’t exactly easy. Maybe you forgot that I lived there too. Dad’s house is at the top of that huge hill, and I know from firsthand experience that it’s not easy walking up there. And if you biked into town, you had to go up and down several hills. That will help a lot out here.”
Zoey bit her lip and looked around. “Mark, we’re in the middle of nowhere. We don’t even know what direction Anchorage is in. How in the world do you think we’re going to get there? We can’t walk. We were in the air for an hour!”
Bubba could hear her working herself into a frenzy, so he reached into one of the pockets of his cargo pants and pulled something out. He held it in his palm so she could see, and said, “We won’t have to walk all the way. Eventually we’ll run into someone. And I’ve got this.”
Zoey looked down at his hand, then back up at his face. “You have a compass?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” he asked flippantly. When she didn’t smile, he got serious. “It’s been beaten into my head to be prepared for just about anything. I might not have my duffle, but I promise that we aren’t going to starve or freeze.”
She swallowed hard. “Do you think we’re really alone out here? What if whoever planned this hid someone out here to make sure we didn’t make it out alive?”
Bubba had already thought about that. “Honestly? I hope like hell they did.”
Her eyes rounded, and she stared at him as if he’d suddenly grown three heads. “What? Why?”
“Because I could capture them and make them tell me who the hell’s behind this. They’d probably have supplies I could pilfer, as well. Maybe even a satellite phone.”
“You sound so sure of yourself,” Zoey said after a beat.
“That’s because I am. Zoey, I’m a Navy SEAL.”
“I know.”
He shook his head. “But I don’t think you really understand what that means. Most of the time our missions include sneaking into foreign countries and either rescuing innocent civilians from the bad guys or killing HVTs.”
“What’s an HVT?”
“High-value target. I’ve been taught how to survive in the hottest deserts and the coldest arctic terrains. I know how to kill with my bare hands, just as I know how to make fire with two sticks, shelter from just about anything, and how to evade capture. I can’t promise this will be all that much fun, but I can promise that I will get you home. Do you believe me?”
Instead of immediately agreeing, Zoey studied him for a long moment. Bubba had no idea what she was looking for or what she saw when she looked at him, but he stayed silent and willed her to trust him.
“So what you’re really saying is that this is nothing more than a normal camping trip or something for you?”
Bubba couldn’t hold back the chuckle. “Well, not quite. When I camped with Dad, we always had a tent and a cooler of beer. But if no one else is out here trying to kill us, then yeah, it’ll be a walk in the park to get us to civilization—no matter how far that walk might be. We might be dirty and smelly by the time we get to where we’re going, but we won’t be starving to death, we won’t be freezing to death—thank goodness it’s not the middle of winter—and we definitely won’t be cowed by whoever thought they could get rid of us.”
“I’m always cold,” Zoey told him matter-of-factly.
“Pardon?”
“I’m always cold,” she repeated. “That’s why, even in September, I’m wearing boots, a long-sleeve shirt, and had my fleece wrapped around my waist. I don’t know why, I just am.”
“I’ll do my best to make sure you’re comfortable.”
Zoey sighed. “I’ve been camping exactly two times, and didn’t really enjoy it.”
“You haven’t been camping with me,” Bubba told her.
As he expected, Zoey rolled her eyes. “I see the navy taught you humility.”
Bubba chuckled again then held his hand out to her in invitation. “Come on, let’s get our bearings and make a preliminary plan.”
She immediately put her fingers in his, and Bubba realized that her hand did feel quite cold. He covered it with his other hand, trying to warm her up.
“Only a preliminary plan?”
“Yup. I’ve been trained to not only create a Plan A, but B, C, D, and E as well.”
“Right. Of course you have,” Zoey said. Then she straightened her shoulders and gestured to their left with her head. “By all means, lead on, oh great Navy SEAL warrior.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a smartass?” he asked as he gripped her hand tighter and led them away from the lake.
“I’m not. At least, I wasn’t until you came along.”
Bubba couldn’t help but smile at that.
This entire situation sucked. More than sucked. But it could’ve been a hundred times worse if he’d been stranded with anyone other than Zoey Knight. The longer he was around her, the more he remembered how much he liked her in high school. And while he was being honest with himself, he was looking forward to getting to know her better as they figured out where the hell they were and how to get back to Anchorage or Juneau. At least there was one perk to this situation.
He honestly wasn’t too worried about roughing it for a while. They’d be uncomfortable, but he had enough confidence in his abilities to be sure they’d eventually make it home.
Whoever had thought to get rid of them had seriously underestimated him. And he hadn’t been kidding when he’d told Zoey that he almost wished someone was out here trying to kill him. He could turn the tables and get more supplies, maybe even a vehicle and a phone. But he had a feeling the pilot had randomly chosen the lake she’d landed in. That it hadn’t been planned out in advance.
He’d thought she was acting a little weird, but it had taken him too long to figure out what was going on.
Suddenly remembering that he’d promised to call Rocco the moment he landed, Bubba smiled. For once, his paranoid teammate’s insistence on checking up on everyone was going to work in his favor. When Rocco didn’t hear from him, he’d definitely try to figure out why. Between him and the rest of his team—and their computer-expert friend, Tex—he and Zoey would be home in no time.
He hoped.
As he tightened his hand around Zoey’s when she stumbled, Bubba had a feeling his life wouldn’t be the same after this little adventure. Whoever had wanted him out of the picture had also targeted Zoey, and that was something he couldn’t forgive.
As if she could read his thoughts, Zoey squeezed his hand and said softly, “This sucks, but if I had to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, I’m glad it’s with you.”
Chapter Four
Zoey had no idea how much time had passed, but she was already over this impromptu hiking and camping trip. She was trying her best to stay positive, but as each hour passed, she became more and more discouraged and scared.
The only thing she was thankful f
or was the fact it was early fall instead of the middle of winter. Instead of tromping through the wet undergrowth of the forest, they could be trying to make their way through a foot or more of snow.
Thinking about snow made her shiver. Even with all the walking, she was still cold. Zoey thought it was probably because she couldn’t stop thinking about where the hell they were going to stop for the night. She’d have to sleep on the ground and would probably freeze to death. She wasn’t even going to think about the bugs and snakes that might decide to take up residence in her clothes.
“Stop thinking so hard,” Mark said.
She rolled her eyes. She was walking behind him, and Zoey knew he was purposely walking much slower than he might’ve if he was alone, just so she could keep up.
Zoey stopped where she was and put her hands on her thighs as she bent over and tried to get control of her emotions. She was hungry, tired, cold, and scared to death. For a while after they’d started, her adrenaline had allowed her to forget about the severity of their situation, or at least put it in the back of her mind, but as time went on, and as they’d walked for miles through a freaking forest in the middle of nowhere, she couldn’t help but let her doubts and fears creep in.
“Zoey?”
Mark’s tone was gentle—and almost her undoing. He put one hand on her upper back and the other gently grasped the base of her neck, massaging.
Zoey closed her eyes. Why couldn’t he be a jerk like his brother? “You need to stop being nice to me,” she told him without standing up straight.
“Not gonna happen,” he said.
Zoey sighed. “Then maybe you should just go on ahead and find help and come back for me.”
He moved in front of her, then forced her to stand up. He kept the hand on the back of her neck, putting his other fingers under her chin and making her look at him. Zoey didn’t know what to do with her hands, so she hesitantly put them on his chest.
He opened his mouth to say something, but she blurted, “God, you’re so warm!” before he could get anything out. The heat radiating from his chest almost scorched her poor frozen fingers, but it felt so damn good.
In response, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him so they were plastered together from hips to chest.
Zoey moaned and turned her face so her nose was smooshed against his pecs. Of course, that meant she couldn’t breathe, but who needed air when there was this much warmth to be had?
She felt him chuckle, and she moaned a complaint when he shifted her so her cheek was against his chest instead of her face. He had one hand on the back of her head, holding her to him, and the other was pressing her lower back closer. She couldn’t have easily gotten out of his hold, not that she wanted to go anywhere. He was like a living, breathing electric blanket.
“I’m not leaving you, Zoey,” he said after a minute. “Why would you think for a second that I would? Do you think so little of me?”
He sounded hurt, and Zoey hated that. She shook her head against him. “No. But I’m slowing you down. I bet you could be miles farther by now if you didn’t have to constantly wait for me or keep checking to make sure I haven’t fallen flat on my face. You could go on ahead and find whoever you can and come back.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Mark said firmly. “That’s not how this works. A SEAL doesn’t leave a teammate behind.”
“I’m not a SEAL,” she said immediately.
“Maybe not, but I’m still not leaving you. Look at me, Zoey.”
Reluctantly, she tilted her head back and stared into his whiskey-brown eyes. She had the weird thought that he had the longest lashes she’d ever seen on a man.
“I need you to listen to me. To really hear me. Are you listening?”
She nodded.
“We’re in this together. No matter what, we stay together. We have no idea what will happen, and I need you as much as you need me. This isn’t a one-sided thing. You’ve been doing amazingly well so far. I’m impressed, and believe me, I’m not easily impressed.”
“I’ve fallen several times, and the only things in my pockets are a pack of Life Savers and a receipt from the crappy hamburger I ate before getting on the plane,” she said with a raise of her eyebrow.
“You might’ve fallen, but you got back up. Each and every time,” Mark said. “I’m not blowing smoke up your ass when I tell you that I’ve been in situations very similar to this…walking through a jungle trying to get to an extraction point with someone we’ve rescued, and the person we’re rescuing has no interest in helping themselves. I know this is hard. It sucks. Majorly. But you’re doing great. And I’m fairly sure you have no desire to see whoever was behind this succeed. Right?”
Zoey sighed. He was right, dammit. “Right.”
“We’re in this as a team, Zoey. I need you to have my back, and I’ll have yours. Okay?”
“Sure,” she said. “If a bear finds us, I’ll throw a piece of candy at him and hope that’ll distract him long enough for us to get away.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said with a smile, then let go of her chin.
Zoey immediately buried her nose back into his shirt and sighed as the warmth from his body seeped into her face.
Mark didn’t move for several minutes. Letting her soak up his warmth and rest. Taking a big breath, she forced herself to step away from him but couldn’t stop the involuntary shiver that went through her body after losing his warmth.
He frowned. “You really are cold, aren’t you?”
Zoey shrugged. “I think my core body temperature has been permanently affected from living in Alaska. I told you that I’m always cold.”
“I’ll do my best to keep you warm,” Mark said.
And of course, Zoey’s mind immediately went into the gutter. She knew she was blushing, but tried to blow it off. “I’ll be okay. We should probably keep going. Are we still headed south?”
For a second, she thought Mark was going to ask what she was thinking as he studied her face, but he eventually nodded. “Yeah. The last thing I want to do is head west. We’d run straight into that mountain range, and I’m not sure either one of us is up to any mountaineering anytime soon.”
Looking to her left, Zoey saw the large mountain peaks above her head through the trees. “No, I think I’d prefer to stay down here,” she agreed.
They began to walk once more, and, as if Mark knew she needed something to keep her mind off of where they were and what they were doing, he asked, “So…what have you been doing for the last decade, besides helping my dad out?”
Zoey chuckled. “Wow, that was an open-ended question,” she complained.
Mark turned his head and smiled. “Got anything better to do at the moment?” he asked.
“Actually, I had a hair appointment, but I guess I’m gonna miss that,” she quipped.
Mark chuckled back, and Zoey realized how much she loved hearing him laugh.
“Right, well, after graduation, I went to the community college there in Juneau and got my associates degree in business. I didn’t particularly enjoy the classes though and wasn’t sure what else I wanted to do. I got a job in one of the tourist shops down near the cruise ship docks, and that keeps me busy in the summer.”
“How did you start working for my dad?” Mark asked.
Ducking under a branch and jumping over a puddle, Zoey went on. “It was after the shops had all closed for the winter one year. I ran into your dad in the grocery store. Literally, I ran into him with my cart and knocked him down. I felt terrible, but he was really nice about it. I insisted on helping him get his groceries to his car, then offered to cook something for him in apology. I knew who he was; I’d seen him at graduation with you and Malcom, and occasionally around town. He only agreed to let me cook for him, I think, because I admitted I’d walked to the store, and he was trying to be nice and figure out a way to give me a ride without forcing me. Anyway, I made him stuffed peppers that night, and he offered me a job on the spot. I start
ed that week, cleaning his house and doing general chores. And over the next few months, we became good friends.”
She stopped talking, wondering how much Mark wanted to hear. She didn’t want to say anything that would make him sad.
“Go on,” Mark urged.
“I…I know you guys didn’t really get along. I don’t want to say anything out of line.”
“Is that what you think? That we didn’t get along?”
“Well…yeah. You never really came home to visit, and Malcom said you two had a falling out and that was why you were never around.”
“I loved my pop more than I can say,” Mark said without turning around. “I admit that I should’ve come back at least once after I left, but I didn’t stay away because of him. Not really.”
“Then why?”
Mark sighed, and Zoey felt bad for asking, but eventually he answered. “Because I was afraid that I’d just continue disappointing him. I knew he wanted me to work with him. All through high school, he talked about me taking a job at Heritage Plastics and working my way up the chain to eventually be his vice president. I didn’t even get a college degree. I couldn’t bear to see the disappointment in his eyes when he realized that I’d never be interested in doing what he does. He’d talk about all the stuff his company was working on and my eyes would glass over. I couldn’t think of anything worse than sitting in a cubicle, or worse, working in a factory.”
Zoey frowned and ran a few steps to catch up with Mark. She put her hand on his arm and tugged, forcing him to stop. He turned around and looked at her questioningly.
“Mark, Colin was so proud of you.” When Mark looked at her skeptically, she squeezed his arm tighter. “Seriously. I know you didn’t email all that often, but when you did, he’d tell anyone and everyone about how great you were doing. He bragged all the time about you being a SEAL, and how you were out doing the hard work so people like him could sit on his butt and sell plastic.”
She saw Mark swallow hard before asking, “Yeah?”
“Yeah. He didn’t care less that you didn’t have a degree. He was as proud of you as he could be.”