“You don’t have to look so surprised. I have goals. I care about the environment, about the people.”
She’d almost blown it by reminding him of his yearbook quote. “That’s great.”
* * * *
Trace wanted to stay around and watch the sexiest woman alive put up the tent, but he had to take a leak and clear his head. It would be easy to zip open her sleeping bag tonight and get a taste, but where would that get him? He doubted she’d complain if they had sex. Hell, from the way she let him explore her mouth at the base of the cliff, she wanted it as much as he did. In fact, he bet she’d be good with a threesome, given how well she accepted the two sex toys. He’d never seen anyone take to them so fast.
“I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Sure.” She smiled and his cock hardened.
Pines, firs, and scrub dotted the landscape, so finding a place to be by himself wasn’t difficult. His life seemed to be at a crossroads. He’d steeled his heart against finding someone to love his whole life. His father’s abuse of his mother made him fear he’d be the same way. While he’d been considerate and relatively gentle with his women, none had turned his insides out like Diana had. There was something about her that reminded him of his past, of how grand things used to be before Dad started to drink and turned violent.
Trace took a leak and was heading back, when he thought he heard someone or something cry out. His body went on full alert. The sound didn’t come from the direction of the campsite. It was probably a bird. As a kid, he often heard peacocks cry, sounding like they were calling for help. He’d never seen any up here, but he’d never come at this time of year either.
A path led further west. He followed it for a bit until he came to the edge of a ravine. He looked out at the setting sun. Peace descended on his soul. He loved the mountains and the clean air. He didn’t miss the big city, where the hustle and bustle tightened every nerve.
There. It was that sound again.
He stepped further down the ledge and stilled. Someone was down there in the basin. It was a small figure curled up on the ground. His breath hitched at the memory of that terrible time that had gone so terribly wrong.
Chapter Six
It was happening all over again. When he was in Iraq, there’d been a girl in need. His fingers tingled as his gut clenched. “Hello?”
The person didn’t move. Shit. The path down was steep. Without shoes and ropes, the sheer decline might result in him falling, but he was willing to try if it meant saving her.
“Can you hear me?” he shouted, hoping the prone person was merely sleeping and wasn’t in need of rescue. He called a few more times while he mentally figured the safest way down.
Feet sounded behind him on the path. Diana and Jack raced up.
She nearly collided into his back. “What happened? I heard you yell.”
Trace pointed at the prone figure, and her body tensed. “Oh, my God. I need to get down there and help her.”
He grabbed her arm. If anything happened to Diana, he’d never forgive himself. “I’ll go.”
“No. I’m trained. I can’t afford to have you get injured, too.”
She made sense, but his need to atone was great. “Jack. Call 911. I’ll go back to the Jeep and lead them up here. They’ll never find their way without help.”
“On it.”
“Stay with Diana and see that nothing happens to her.” He faced her. “Jack kept up his medical certification. I never got around to it. He’ll be more of use to you.”
“Great.” She could use the help. “I need to collect a sleeping bag to keep the person warm until help arrives, along with some water and medical supplies.”
They all rushed back down the path to the campsite. From her bag she pulled out a roll of orange tape. “Trace. Label a tree each time you come to a fork. It’ll be pitch-black by the time the rescuers arrive and bring a flashlight.”
“I’m good. I spent two years in the service. I’ll be careful.”
“Wait.” She dug a hand in her pocket. “Take the keys. You might need to drive the car.”
“Good thinking.” He leaned over and kissed her. “Take care.”
* * * *
The softness in Trace’s voice nearly undid her. He cared not only for her but for the injured person below. A bit of her heart would always be devoted to this man.
The moment Trace was out of sight, she refocused. Jack and she rounded up gear in a controlled rush. She didn’t have to issue a single command. He seemed to know exactly how to handle the emergency, moving quickly and with purpose.
When they got back to the tall cliff, she made sure her pack was secure and began the slow descent down.
After a half a minute, rocks pinged off her helmet. What the? She looked up. Jack was partway down the cliff.
“Jack, you can’t come down here. You aren’t experienced enough.” Though he had seemed to master the art of climbing in just one afternoon, this slope was tricky even for her. Too bad she hadn’t brought more rope, which would have made the descent safer.
“I can help you.”
She could use a calm head, but it wouldn’t do any good if she got stuck down in the ravine with one more person injured. He appeared anxious to help, and given he was more than halfway down, climbing back up wouldn’t be any safer.
“Okay, but go slow.” She didn’t need to add further warnings as he took care to look before he stepped.
Once at the bottom, they ran to the prone figure and knelt by the girl’s side.
Diana lightly touched her shoulder. “Are you okay?” The light shake brought a moan. Good. She was conscious, though barely. “Can you tell me your name?”
No answer. Crap. Jack held the girl’s head steady while Diana set her light on the ground and did a full body scan for blood. He’d probably been scared shitless climbing down the steep decline, but he never gave up. Hell, she’d been scared, and she did this kind of thing for a living.
“Find anything?” he asked a moment later.
“Other than some scrapes and bruises, all her external cuts have dried.”
“Doesn’t mean there isn’t internal damage. Can you tell if the mechanism of injury was due to the fall?”
She looked around. “I don’t see a helmet, and I didn’t find any cuts on her scalp, so maybe she didn’t come down the way we did.”
“I don’t see any other entrance.”
His logic made sense. “Maybe she tripped over a rock or passed out from something else.” She ran the light over her scalp and face again to make sure she hadn’t missed something. From her smooth skin, the girl looked about sixteen.
“Check her leg. Looks like her femur is broken.”
It was at an anatomically incorrect position. “You’re right.” She checked for a distal pulse. “I can’t find any. Damn.” She’d have to traction it into position to make sure blood flow wasn’t impeded.
“I’ll help you roll her over. On a count of three. One, two, three.”
Together, they smoothly got her on her back. “Good thing she’s unresponsive. Otherwise, the poor thing would be screaming in agony.”
After carefully repositioning the leg, the girl moaned, whether due to increased pain or relief, she didn’t know.
“We need to splint that leg for when we move her,” he said. “I’ll see what I can find.”
She loved how he rose to the occasion, not complaining, but doing what he needed to be effective.
A strong, cool wind blew across the small ravine. At nine thousand feet, even in late October, it got cold. Diana pulled out her sleeping bag and placed it over the girl’s body. To keep the victim’s head from moving, she put rocks on either side of her face. They might not be comfortable, but given the victim could have fallen, she didn’t need to be thrashing about.
She took the girl’s vitals and noted them, along with the time in a small SOAP notebook she always carried.
Less than ten minutes later, Jack returned wit
h several long, straight sticks.
He held up some cut saplings. “We can use these to tie the splint together.”
“Good thinking. I always carry duct tape, too.”
Between the two of them, they worked in unison, securing the split. When they finished, she sat back on her heels. “It’s the best we can do for now.”
The girl moved a bit, but the rocks held her head steady.
“Let’s see if we can get her to drink something,” Jack said.
The fear in his voice tore at her soul. Since when did he learn to care so much for others? First he joins the Peace Corps, and now he’s willing to risk his life for someone he doesn’t even know. People changed. She had, and so had the men.
“Let’s try not to move her too much. Dribble some water in her mouth,” she said.
The girl managed to swallow a bit of the liquid but not enough to hydrate her.
“How long before help arrives, do you think?” he asked.
“If we’re lucky, they’ll use a helicopter. Hold this.” She handed him the water bottle and dug through her pack for her flares. She always kept two for emergencies.
“Sweet. You are a Girl Scout.”
His tone held admiration. “Never know when you might need them. She checked her watch. “Trace left about an hour ago. It’ll take him that long to get to the car. If he’s able to convince them to bring in a chopper, when we hear an engine, I’ll light this flare.”
“You’d think her parents would be out looking for her.”
“Maybe they are, or the other campers she must have hiked with. No one would come alone unless they were running away.”
Diana took another set of vitals before settling down to wait. “Same as before. That’s good.” She stuffed her book and pen back in her pack. To get her mind off the patient for a while, she changed her focus to them. “So, tell me about Trace. What was he like as a kid?” She kept one eye on the girl.
The sun had finally set and the scant remaining light illuminated part of his face. His eyes widened. “We’re sitting under this beautiful sky, and you’re asking me about Trace?”
She sighed. “I figured you wouldn’t want to talk about yourself. I was trying not to be nosy.”
“In that case, I’ll tell you the whole story, since we grew up together. We attended high school in Flagstaff, and then played football at Arizona State.”
She knew that. “Very cool. Then what?”
“As I mentioned, I went into the Peace Corps for two years, while Trace enlisted in the army.”
She wasn’t surprised he’d enlisted. She bet Trace would have a lot of tales to tell about his experiences if she could ever get him to talk. “Did you like the Peace Corps?” This was a dumb question, but she didn’t want to give away the fact she cared about them or that she’d tried to find out what happened to them over the years.
“Yes and no. It was highly rewarding but also frustrating. Seeing so many people suffer can leave a permanent mark on your soul.”
He was a kind man. “And after the Peace Corps?”
“I went into business with Trace.”
Now there was a surprise. “Doing what?”
“We started an online dating site called Findamate.com.”
Two of her friends used that site. “Wow. What happened?” Surely, they weren’t involved in the business today. The girl moaned, but she settled quickly.
“We sold it. Got a good deal, I suppose. After we left, the company pumped a lot of dough into advertising, and it really soared.”
“What made you quit the world of big business and come to the resort?”
He picked up a stick and drew something in the ground. “The rat race of trying to keep on top of things finally got to us. We realized we were Western boys who didn’t like the daily grind. We both love the outdoors and had earned enough money to enjoy ourselves without working hard.”
He made sense. Ending up at the resort would be perfect for two men who were highly sexual, though she didn’t want to think about how they got their daily release.
“Are you both happy?” She could tell Jack was, but Trace still seemed troubled.
“You interested or something?”
Dare she tell them that since meeting them, her life outlook had changed? They made her realize that an intense connection came around but once in a lifetime. They’d always been her lifeline when depression hit.
“Yes.” She looked over at the victim, whose continued soft grunts assured her the girl was still with them. In another minute, she’d take another set of vitals.
Jack scooted closer, picked up her hand, and kissed her palm.
She pulled it out of his grasp slowly. “You don’t know where that hand has been.” Her rock climbing gloves were full of sweat and dirt.
“I don’t care. I want you, Diana.” His voice came out breathy.
Dear God, he was serious. Her mouth opened to respond when the sound of helicopter blades sliced through the night sky.
“Shit.” Jack jumped up, and she fumbled for the matches to light the flare.
“Give me those.”
“Here.” He seemed steadier than her.
Seconds later, the flare burst to life. Jack waved the light in the air. The helicopter must have spotted them, for the direction of the flying bird changed. In all her years as a rock climbing instructor and as a guide, she’d never had need for emergency services.
The helicopter moved closer, the sound deafening. Given they were in a ravine, she didn’t think the chopper would be able to land or even get close.
“We’re sending down a basket.” The megaphoned voice sounded like God giving a directive.
Jack held up a thumb. “We need to lift her. You take the head, and I’ll lift her body. On my count.”
This was the tricky part, but at least the girl wouldn’t remember much of the experience, given her state. The basket neared, and she and Jack worked in tandem to lift the girl and place her safely in the mesh cage. Diana tucked the sleeping bag around the girl and prayed she’d be okay.
They stepped back and gave the go signal. In seconds, the girl was inside the chopper and the noisy machine disappeared into the black night.
“I’m glad she’s in good hands.” Jack continued to watch the white dot as it traversed the sky.
She ran a hand down his arm. “Thanks for helping.”
He nodded, as if it was all in a day’s job. “We better head back. Trace should be on his way.”
Maybe it was better that they hadn’t started kissing. Getting hot would have added to her frustration, and there was no way they could have had sex with the chopper about to arrive.
They both gathered their gear. The hard part would be climbing up the rock face in the dark. “Jack, you go first. I’ll shine my light on the rocks where I think would be easiest place to climb.”
His lips pressed together, probably thinking about whether his ego could take direction from her. “Okay. When I get to the top, I’ll guide you.”
“That works for me.”
His ascent was slow and steady. He took all of her directions without question and made it to the top rather quickly.
“Good job,” she called up. “You’re a natural.”
She couldn’t see if he smiled, but she imagined he was damned glad he’d made it. True to his word, he kept his light on the path as she climbed up.
They arrived at the campsite only a few minutes before Trace did.
He was out of breath. “They come?”
“Yes. She’s safe.”
“Thank God.”
He dropped to the ground, looking more out of sorts than she would have expected from a former soldier. Something must have happened to him in the past to create such distress. He dropped his head in his hands.
“She’s going to make it.” Not that she could tell for sure, but there was no use being negative.
“I was so worried.” He dragged a hand down his face. “My phone kept cuttin
g in and out. I didn’t think I would be able to explain where you were.”
“We had flares. That helped.” She didn’t want to minimize his contribution.
She sat next to him and placed a hand on his thigh. He looked up. “Did something happen like this before?”
He straightened. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
The pain in his voice cut right through her. “It might help to let it out. I’m a good listener.”
He gently turned her face so their lips were inches from each other. “It’s not easy to open wounds, but if you tell me why you really came to the resort, I might be willing to tell you why seeing that little girl all crumpled on the ground ripped me apart.”
She couldn’t move or breathe. A tear formed in the corner of her eye at the sadness coming from him. Mr. Brave had a hard shell and maybe a too-soft center. Could she tell the two men she always thought she loved that she too was broken? Would that even help? She had to give it a try, especially if would get Trace to open up.
“I was lonely.”
He lowered his hand and leaned back on his elbows. “I don’t believe that for a moment.”
“Why? Because you think I look okay? It’s not that easy to find someone you can relate to, talk to, bare your soul to.” He should know. He was gorgeous and yet he had no one, as far as she could tell.
Trace was silent for a moment. Even Jack kept his thoughts to himself.
“Maybe you’re right. There are things in life you try to keep buried, and that means you need to build a shell around your heart to protect yourself. Each year, that shell grows harder, doesn’t it?”
Wow. He understood. “Yes.”
He dropped his head back and looked up at the stars. She wanted to rub his arm or kiss him to show him how much she cared, but he looked too fragile.
“What was it about the girl that made you so upset?” That seemed a safer topic than the one she wanted to ask, which was why he’d appeared distant and sad at times in high school.
He sat up. “Not even Jack has heard this story, so maybe it’s time I do get it off my chest.” He picked up a stone and chucked it. “I’d been sent over to Iraq. We were in a small village where the women were gentle and the children innocent. The terrorists showed up one night and took no mercy on anyone. Gunfire erupted everywhere. The sounded was deafening. Walls crumbled, people screamed. My God, I’d never seen anything like it.”
Monroe, Melody S. - Deception Fantasy [Fantasy Resort 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 6