Chapter Sixteen
Scott’s expression in the firelight was grim, but he peeled down to his long underwear and slid in beside her. With the bag mostly zipped it was a tight fit, but if they spooned together they could manage. It was comfortable even, and much warmer.
Those classes she had taken had taught that this was what people did to survive in the cold.
But they never talked about the intimacy of lying with her bottom snugged against his crotch, his very evident erection pressed against her in a way that had her struggling to control her breathing.
She wriggled, trying to get comfortable, and heard his gasp.
At this rate, neither of them was going to sleep tonight.
She reached back and took his hand and wrapped his arm around her, his fingers splayed across her stomach. “Maybe this isn’t such a good idea,” he said, his voice soft in her ear.
“Are you saying you won’t respect me in the morning?” She meant it as a joke, but part of her was serious. If she gave in to desire and had sex with him tonight, would it jeopardize her job?
“I will always respect you,” he said. “But how will you feel about me?”
She wanted to turn and face him, to try to read the expression in his eyes.
But that was impossible to do in the confines of the sleeping bag.
“Scott, I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow,” she said.
“All I know is that right now, I want you.” To make sure he got the message, she guided his hand down, toward her crotch.
He cupped her hard, and she caught her breath before releasing a long sigh.
He kissed her neck, and his tongue traced the line of her collarbone. “Maybe I’ve been harder on you than everyone else because I was afraid of how much I’m attracted to you,” he said. His voice was low and rough, abrading her nerves. She squirmed against him, and he squeezed her hip, stilling her.
“You’re…attracted to me?” she asked, the last word a squeak as he gently rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger.
“I’ve had dreams about you.” He slid his hand beneath her shirt and cupped her breast.
“What kind of dreams?”
“Inappropriate ones.”
All she could do was moan as he slid his hand down her body, coming to rest between her legs once more. When he didn’t do anything more, she ground against him. “I need you to touch me,” she said.
He pressed his forehead against the back of her head, breathing hard. “I want that. More than anything right now. But are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure.” When he didn’t answer, she added, “We’re two consenting adults.
There’s nothing in our employment contracts that says we can’t be together, and it’s certainly not against the law.
And if you do ever try to take advantage of me at work—my dad’s a lawyer and he’ll sue you for everything you have. ”
He laughed, a deep, sexy chuckle that had her squirming back against him.
He slid his hand beneath the waistband of her long underwear bottoms and began to fondle her.
She closed her eyes, seeing stars. He was kissing her neck again, doing amazing things with his fingers.
Then he slid one finger into her, and she dug the nails of one hand into his thigh.
He stilled. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked.
“You’d better not.”
He laughed again and began to stroke and fondle in earnest, until she was gasping, back bowed against him. “You feel amazing,” he said, his lips against the back of her neck. Those whispered words, and his skilled touch, were her undoing. She climaxed hard, straining against him.
He held her for a long moment before he slid his hand to rest over her stomach once more. She was warm clear to her toes, but feeling a little guilty, too. She tried to reach back for him, but he stilled her hand. “Let’s just stay like this,” he said.
“That doesn’t seem fair.” She could still feel his erection, hard and insistent.
He blew out a breath. “We don’t have a condom, and we don’t have room in this sleeping bag to do what I’d really like to do. I can wait.”
This simple statement left her momentarily speechless.
The men she had been with before were not ones to wait.
She was more often the one waiting on them, and sometimes left unfulfilled altogether while they snored beside her.
“I’ll make it worth the wait, I promise,” she said, then felt embarrassed at the boast. As if she were some femme fatale.
He chuckled again, a sound she was growing to like very much. “I’m sure you will,” he said. He pulled her close. “Now get some sleep.”
SCOTT WOKE AS gray light was just beginning to filter through the trees.
It had stopped snowing, and overnight the fire had died down.
At least the campfire he had built had died down.
He was still burning for Lily, who slept deeply, curled against him.
He carefully lowered the zipper on his side of the sleeping bag and eased out.
The cold hit him like an electric shock, but staying in there with her would have been worse torture.
He pulled on clothes and began poking at the fire.
Lily groaned and rolled onto her back. “What time is it?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “Early. Stay there until I get the fire going.”
She ignored him and wriggled out of the bag, then gasped as the cold hit her. She hurriedly dressed while he tried not to watch, though his gaze kept drifting back to her slender form. “I’ll be right back,” she said, and moved off into the woods.
When she returned he had the fire blazing, and it was his turn to move into the woods to relieve himself. While he was there, he circled their camp, looking for any sign of a predator—human or animal. He found none.
“Breakfast is coffee,” she said, and nodded to the cup of snow she had set beside the fire to melt.
His stomach growled, but he nodded. “We should reach Axis Ridge in a couple of hours,” he said. “Then we can drive to the resort.”
“I would have thought someone would have come looking for us by now,” she said.
“The weather yesterday made searching difficult,” he said. “But it’s clear now. They should be able to get a helicopter up. With luck, they’ll spot us on the road. That will speed things up.”
They drank their coffee and packed their belongs. Scott was putting out the fire when she grabbed his arm. “Listen!”
He stilled, ears straining. At first he heard nothing, then thought he heard a distant bark.
Then an ear-splitting whistle almost deafened him. He looked over to see Lily, pinkie fingers hooked in the corners of her mouth. She whistled again. “Shelby!” she shouted.
A commotion to their left had them both moving in that direction.
The blonde Malinois burst into the clearing and almost bowled Lily over.
Hunter was right behind her and leaped into Scott’s arms. He staggered back and hugged the dog tightly.
Until now, he hadn’t allowed himself to admit how worried he had been about the dog.
“Lily!” Jackson staggered from the woods. He was disheveled and pale, tears streaming down his cheeks.
Lily rushed to embrace him. “Oh, Jackson, I’m so glad to see you,” she said. “We were so worried.”
“I… I got lost,” he sobbed. “I… I thought I’d never…never see you again.”
Scott was already raking up coals and feeding wood onto the fire. “You’re safe now,” he said. “Let’s get you warm, and you can tell us what happened.”
He put warm rocks from the fire under the boy’s feet, and Lily wrapped her sleeping bag around him. They heated water and gave him a cup of weak coffee. “You won’t like the taste, but drink it,” Lily said.
He drained the cup and held it out. “Can I have some more? And do you have anything to eat? I’m hungry.”
Scott’s own stomach rumbled again.
“I’m sorry, we don’t.” Lily rubbed the boy’s shoulder. “But by tonight you should be home and safe and eating whatever you want.”
Scott hoped she was right. Nothing had gone their way lately. “What happened after we ran from the top of the ridge?” he asked. “We looked and couldn’t find you.”
“I looked for you guys and couldn’t find you!”
“Where were you?” Lily asked.
“I don’t know. After Scott was shot I just ran as fast as I could.” He frowned at Scott. “You were shot, weren’t you?”
“I was, but fortunately for me, the bullet hit something in my pack. It knocked me over, but I was okay. But in getting away from the shooter, I lost my pack.”
“What did you do when you couldn’t find us?” Lily asked. “How did you spend the night?”
“Shelby and Hunter found me,” he said. Both dogs looked up at the mention of their names.
Scott had given them water, and they had laid on their sides in the snow, exhausted.
“They both came running up and stayed with me. I was hoping they would lead me to you two, but they didn’t.
I wandered around looking for you and they stuck with me.
Then, when it got to be too dark to look anymore, I found a hollow space at the base of a big tree and crawled into that.
The dogs lay on top of me.” He smiled a little.
“It was kind of like sleeping under two heavy, furry blankets, but they kept me warm. And they made me feel less scared.”
“Good dogs!” Lily reached out and stroked each dog in turn. “They must be really hungry, too.”
“Not as hungry as I am,” Jackson said. “One of them caught a squirrel, and they ate it.” He wrinkled his nose. “It was gross, but I was so hungry I almost tried to get part of it.”
“Good dogs,” Scott echoed Lily’s praise. Despite Hunter’s name, he had never thought of his pet as a predator. He supposed even a tame dog still had wild instincts.
Jackson finished his second cup of coffee and handed Scott the empty cup. “Are the shooters still after us?” he asked. “Have you heard from my dad? Or the sheriff?”
“I lost the sat phone when we ran down the ridge,” Lily said. “But it doesn’t seem like anyone has been following us.”