Unexpected Hero (Skyline Trilogy Book 1)

by Willow Summers

  “Not your type? Karen’s body shape is more your speed?”

  “I’m not an easy man to bait.”

  Jenna moved hair away from her face with the back of her hand, ashamed. He was trying to help her and didn’t deserve her prickly responses. “Sorry—defense mechanism. But you’re right; my self-defense instructor says that all the time.”

  “You should listen to him. And I know all about defense mechanisms.”

  “Old habits die hard,” she said again.

  They passed into silence again, letting the sounds of the night fill the comfortable void. Jenna ate until she was full, and then made sure to stuff in the vegetables and meat so Chuck didn’t try to force-feed her. He’d just have to deal with the leftover bun.

  She handed her plate over when Chuck held out his hand, he tucked them away, and they sat looking out at shadowy trees sprinkled with moonlight.

  Chuck had been right—he was an extremely unobtrusive sitting partner. Jenna felt relaxed without the need to fill the space with words. She would sit there all night if she could. Unfortunately, she figured that soon they’d be missed if they hadn’t been already.

  She moved to get up, and he jumped up and offered her a hand. “My, my, Ranger Charlie, you are quite the gentleman.”

  “I was raised in the South. We respect our women there.”

  “Is that before or after you condemn them to the house to bear your children?”

  “Before. After we marry them, we put them with the livestock and other breeding mules. Why, is that not how it’s done in New York?”

  “Har har.”

  “My mother would have been jealous of your lifestyle. She got married young to a conservative army man. Her place was in the home with the chillen. It wasn’t where she belonged. But she made a place for herself. Made it seem like her choice. She ruled with an iron fist, but she loved us all unconditionally.”

  “And she knew you loved her. That was probably enough.”

  “It had to be. She had no choice.”

  Jenna’s heart went out to him. She couldn’t imagine that life, and he obviously liked strong women. The cage hadn’t just been around his mother.

  “You talk of her in the past tense.” Jenna softly bumped off him, feeling the comfort in his contact.

  “She died a few years ago.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  In the dim moonlight, she saw him shrug.

  “My mother died when I was five,” Jenna said, lightly rubbing against his arm as they moved. She almost wanted to wrap her hand around his forearm like they did in Jane Austen’s time. “I had a new stepmother by the time I was nearly seven. My dad needed someone to raise me. Ethel was that person. Turned out she couldn’t have kids of her own, so she always held it against me.”

  “Family.” There were volumes spoken in those three syllables. Jenna wholeheartedly agreed. She hated hers.

  Jenna and Chuck were hovering beyond the edge of darkness around the camp. They could hear the voices and laughter floating out of the clearing, but Jenna didn’t want the magic of the night disturbed. She felt comfortable. He was a stranger, true, but when she talked about her stupid life and crappy problems, he listened.

  It was probably because he was an outsider, and that she could walk away from this vulnerability in a few days and not look back. Maybe it was the velvety darkness and the peaceful scenery masking the problems and deep-rooted insecurity. Whatever it was, she was opening up, and it hadn’t happened for a long time. It felt good.

  And unless she was completely mistaken, it was the same for this closed-off mountain man. She sensed a deep well of hurt in him. She knew what it was because she had that same well. She wanted to compare. Then she wanted to cry and be held.

  Dare to dream. Back to life.

  The morning dawned bright and clear. A little too soon, maybe. Lewis had been convinced that Jenna had cheated on him last night with the scary guide, and had to be coerced to pull his pants down. When they had finally closed their eyes, it was well into the small hours of the morning.

  Team Red sat around a square makeshift camping table heaped with potatoes in various stages of preparation. They’d been instructed to peel and chop what would become home-style potatoes. Large gas stoves had been set up on the grills, heating, ready for when they had finished.

  Jenna’s hands stilled. They’d been taking this opportunity to hash out some ideas for the building. “I’m just not seeing what you’re saying, Ada.”

  Ada’s hands stilled as well. “A bridge around—”

  “There is no way that would work.” Mike set his knife down. He turned to Jenna. “She’s trying to say that she wants—” His eyes rounded as they shot upward. Without another word, he scooped up the knife and snatched a new potato.

  Everyone else’s faces lowered quickly as knives moved with vigor.

  “Dang it, Ranger Chuck is behind me, isn’t he?” Jenna looked around at the downturned faces. She got stiff nods.

  “The camp would like to eat breakfast sometime this morning. Everyone else is done with their prep,” Chuck said from behind her.

  She half turned, ready with a cutting remark that dried up on her lips. His commanding presence shocked into her body. She tingled even as the hairs stood up on the back of her neck. She had always loved to try and tame the wild boys, but this person in front of her was no boy. He was six feet three inches of solid muscle, standing with his feet spread apart and his eyes boring into hers. He looked like a drill sergeant, and was not only intimidating, but physically terrifying.

  As she always did when someone scared her shitless, she started laughing. “Sorry, Ranger Chuck, just talking shop. We’ll get these out pronto.”

  “See that you do.”

  “Yes, sir.” It tumbled out of her mouth like a numbered lottery ball.

  He nodded once and strode away, as if he expected that title. Like he expected her to fall in line.

  “Sir?” Erika asked with a glint in her eye.

  “I would ‘sir’ him, too. That guy freaks me out.” Mike started chopping faster.

  Ada trapped her slippery potato on the table and slashed at it. The knife opened a line of red through her finger. “Ah!” She flinched and held it out, staring at it like it had turned green and started sprouting.

  “Oh no! Get that away from me. No!” Lewis jerked back, his gaze rooted to the blood dripping down Ada’s finger. “I can’t do blood.” He gagged into the air while wrestling with his chair. The legs were stuck in the weeds, though, rooting him to the table. “No!” As if a snake was climbing into his lap, he thrashed, shaking the whole table. “No!”

  A crack rent the air. The metal card table twisted and bent, dumping a clump of chopped potatoes into Mike’s lap.

  “What the—” Mike flung his hands up while staring at his crotch in disbelief. “These are two-hundred-and-fifty-dollar pants!” He shoved the collapsing table to the side as Lewis gave a yell and fell to the ground. The table bent like an animal dying with a metallic scream to match.

  “Just wrap it,” Erika said, reaching over Mike to try and get to Ada. “Is it deep?”

  Ada clutched the finger closer to her face, shaking like she’d been shanked and was on her death bed. “I don’t know! I don’t know!”

  “Mike…get out…of the way.” Erika tried to step around Mike. Her foot hit potato and slipped, dumping her body into his lap.

  “Damn it! You’ll rub it in.” Mike wrestled with her. “Get off.”

  “Help me up!” She stood and slipped again, shoving him backward. “Help!” Her feet saw the sky and they both went over, crashing into the ground.

  Jenna, on the opposite side, and not caught in camping equipment, got to the wailing and hysterical Ada unscathed. As she grabbed the finger to take a look, Ada’s eyes went skyward and her body dropped.

  “She’s fainting,” Jenna yelled, trying to catch the woman.

  Ada’s finger waved, releasing one tiny droplet of blood.


  Splat, right onto Lewis’s pant leg.

  Lewis’s eyes widened a split second before he heaved, spewing the contents of his stomach all over Mike’s feet. Erika shrieked and started crawling away from the vomit as Mike stared in horror at what would probably ruin his pants if the potatoes didn’t.

  Dale saw an opportunity. He lunged off his chair, around the crumpled table, and reached toward the lower end of Erika’s butt, hand low, like he was aiming for cooch.

  Ada forgotten, Jenna dropped the limp woman and grabbed the table by the side. With a mighty fling, she ripped the table out of the way and kicked with all her might, catching Dale in the ribs. He staggered like a drunk before correcting. A maniacal light flared in his eyes, dousing the dull look of pain. A sneer coated his face and he moved quickly, faster than she would’ve thought. Hand out to cup her breast, body leaning forward to bash through any obstructions, his focus was clear: to feel up the surliest woman of them all.

  She didn’t even think; her uppercut sliced through the air. Fist meeting chin, she put all her weight into one solid punch.

  His head whipped back, but his body kept on coming, leading with his chest, but would probably land first with his groin. A disgusted sound strangled her throat as she tried to bring her elbow down, but it would be too late. She’d get his crotch on her new pants.

  Suddenly she was in the air, ripped backward. Her butt hit the ground, chattering her teeth and jarring her. Dale completed the fall onto his back, his legs kicking out, one catching her shin and leaving a slash of dirt. Two strong and defined thighs stepped in front of her before kicking Dale’s legs away. Ranger Chuck to the rescue.

  “Get him,” Mike hollered, launching himself at Dale.

  Chuck caught Mike mid-leap, his big back bulging with muscle. “Settle down now.”

  Erika was still crawling away, a line of potatoes in her wake. Lewis was nowhere to be seen.

  It took Chuck and the other guides thirty minutes to get everyone into separate corners, Ada bandaged up, and Lewis coaxed into Ada’s presence. The potatoes were ruined, as were most of the clothes they were wearing, and the whole camp was starving. A decision was quickly reached by the entire group of combined teams that New York would never be preparing food again. They were on cleanup duty for the rest of the week.

  Jenna couldn’t decide if Chuck wanted to wring all their necks or laugh hysterically. Being Chuck, he did neither. The only reaction he showed to all the pandemonium was to say, “Eventful trip.”

  Halfway through the day, they were trekking through the forest once again. Jenna’s boots were killing her, but she wouldn’t give in. She’d once walked a whole day in four-inch heels a size too small. She could handle this.

  As the group slowed to a stop on the path, fanning out in front of her around a halo of sunlight, Jenna was letting her mind slip, wondering how Don was doing with getting the plans pushed through. The sound of Chuck’s voice, calling her name, cut through her thoughts. He motioned her over. “Miss Anderson, look at this, please.”

  Steel was under those words. He was trying to sound polite to hide the command. She wasn’t buying it.

  They’d been playing versions of this game all day, starting with that mistaken “sir.” As far as she was concerned, it was admitting that someone else was the boss of her, and she did not do that. Hadn’t since she was eighteen.

  As far as he was concerned, that had been a green light to keep bossing her around. When he realized she wouldn’t do as he said, he started getting creative. He’d tried manipulation, raising his voice, staring her down, and finally, he’d tried leaning over her with fiery eyes and flexed muscles.

  She’d laughed in his face.

  Granted, the laughter was her never-failing defense mechanism that allowed her body to exhaust pent-up nervousness caused by him scaring the ever-loving shit outta her, but since he wouldn’t physically hurt her in front of all the witnesses, she pretended to have the upper hand.

  And now he was trying a razor blade hidden in a chocolate. Sweet meets steel.

  “I’m good,” she said, turning away. Just like she was “good” when it had come to the trail of ants, or “good” when it had been the falling leaf, or “super” when he’d insisted she check out the ugly bug.

  “Miss Anderson,” he said again, his voice dropping an octave. Warning tingles spread through her.

  “You need to see this, Jenna,” Erika said with her eyes fastened to the ground in front of her.

  She would ignore Chuck, but not Erika.

  The group opened up for her.

  “Oh holy fuck!” It felt like she jumped ten feet straight up in the air.

  Chuck reached out faster than lightning and grabbed her shoulder to keep her still.

  There, in front of them, was a giant snake curled into a ball, sunning itself in the middle of the path.

  “This is a diamondback rattlesnake,” Chuck said quietly. “Does everyone know what that is?” He paused for the nods. “Currently this snake is sunning to get warm. He is not here to hurt anyone, and he doesn’t want to be bothered. But, and that is a big but, if you get too close, he will get irritable. If he is bothered enough, he will strike. Does everyone know how to tell if the snake is irritable?”

  “He’s attached to your leg?” Mike ventured, inching backward.

  “That would be an advanced stage of irritation, certainly. We would like to avoid that, of course. The diamondback will warn you by rattling his tail. If you will all step back, I will show you.”

  The group nearly fell over themselves making room for Chuck the snake charmer. He got a stick and put it on the ground in front of the snake. The snake stayed quiet. The humans all made a noisy inhalation.

  Chuck stepped closer to the snake. Suddenly a loud zzzzzzzzzzzz sound filled the air, the tail shaking nearly too small and fast to see.

  Chuck calmly and slowly stepped away from the snake, but the tail remained active. He took another step back, and then another. The group was backing up with him, not wanting to be between him and the snake, regardless of how far away they were.

  The noise cut off. The group collectively exhaled.

  “Okay,” Chuck said. “You see, he didn’t want to hurt me. He wants to mind his own business, get some sun, and go home. If you hear that sound, you should freeze, identify where it is coming from, and slowly back away. If you are bitten, do not panic. The worst thing you can do is panic, because that speeds up your heart, which in turn speeds up the rate the venom moves through your bloodstream. You should remain calm and get help. There are not many incidents where people die from a rattlesnake bite. All guides have bite kits, and each of your packs does as well. However, a guide knows how to use the kit, so it is best if one of us assists you. Any questions?”

  Everyone emphatically shook their heads.

  “Great. It’s time to stop for lunch, so please follow me around the snake and we’ll pop a squat near the large grove of trees up ahead.”

  Chuck led the way, the rest hesitantly following, all eyes on the snake. Erika fell back with Jenna. “Did you see how calm and in charge he was with that snake? If I didn’t have Phil, I’d totally hit that.”

  “Yeah, he’s pretty hot.”

  “Pretty hot? The guy is a goddamned legend! Have you checked out his butt? You could bounce a quarter off it.”

  “I was looking more at his abs and chest.”

  “Or his biceps.” Erika fanned himself. “Phew. Phil is so lucky I like him. If my phone worked out here I’d be tempted to text him to tell him so.”

  Jenna hesitated, remembering the many times she’d had to laugh to keep from running. “He’s hot, but do you get the sense that he’s a bit…intense?”

  “Yes!” Erika put the back of her hand to her forehead and pretended to swoon. “He’s all manly and dangerous. Gets my blood pumping. Dang, I wish my phone worked!”

  Jenna dropped her pack and sat on the ground in relief. She wanted to take off her shoes
but didn’t have anything else to wear but flip-flops.

  “Miss Anderson, can I speak with you?” Chuck asked as he approached.

  Jenna wished, just once, he would let some emotion through that damn poker face of his so she would know what was coming at her. Besides a man that walked like a panther, of course.

  “Talk,” she said, mimicking him from yesterday.

  “I’ll see myself out,” Erika said, wandering away.

  Chuck crouched next to her, his eyes boiling. Double, double, toil and trouble…

  “What is the malfunction?” he asked in a semblance of calm, but clearly with his control barely in check.

  “I’m a woman. We’re born this way.”

  He sighed slightly as he looked at the others. “How can I fix this?”

  “What’s there to fix?”

  His eyes got a shade darker. Anger. His large body was humming with it. He looked like he wanted to pick her up and bash her head against a tree.

  Jenna gulped even as she tried to look unaffected.

  He visibly calmed himself and slowly lowered into a sitting position directly in front of her. “I would like to apologize for offending you. Sometimes my manners are a bit brusque and obtuse, but please know that I am working on the problem, and regret making you uncomfortable.”

  She grinned. “It sounds like you’re reading off a cue card. Make a lot of women cry, do you?”

  Though his face didn’t change, his shoulders dropped a little, relaxing slightly. “Women cry and men get offended.”

  “How often?”

  “Usually when someone does something stupid.”

  “And you think I am stupid?”

  “Acting stupid. There’s a difference.”

  “Ranger Charlie, that is not very nice. I should file a formal complaint.”

  “Please stop calling me Charlie. Bob, Chuck…hell, Cheryl if you want, but not Charlie.”

  “Why do you let what’s-her-face call you Charlie?”

  “Jealous?” There was a mischievous twinkle in his eye that set her heart stuttering. He sobered quickly.

  “Call me Pandora,” Jenna said, intrigued.