by Lane Parker
Honestly, I knew the altitude was kicking my ass since I lived pretty much at sea level. Technically, it was around two hundred and fifty feet above sea level in the Los Angeles area. So I was basically a flat lander. Sure, I was drinking a ton of water, and I hadn’t planned on walking all that far. Especially not during my first day of acclimating to the altitude. Unfortunately, I’d ended up doing a marathon hike at seven or eight thousand feet, which was wearing me out in a hurry.
I stopped, taking a look at the endless expanse of trees and rocks.
Maybe I’d misheard what that guy had said.
I was a little distracted by his face.
After all, it wasn’t like I was expecting a gorgeous man to appear out of nowhere. Okay, I was stubborn, but the last thing I had wanted to admit to a really hot guy was that I was stupid enough to get lost when I had a map, and a compass.
After living in Hollywood for so long, I had an image of what a guy who lives in the backwoods might look like, and it definitely wasn’t him.
Yeah, he had the requisite mountain man beard, but it had been trimmed up enough that he didn’t look like a cult leader of some kind.
He had dark, curly hair that fell to his collar. Thick eyebrows that were furrowed and intense above a strong, straight nose. All that dark hair set off his tanned skin, flushed with work, and his eyes were—blue, and sharp, and dark. I’d had the crazy idea that he could see right through me, which is why I’d avoided looking directly at him as much as possible. Above the beard, his wide, perfect cheekbones had reminded me of a work of art.
When he’d taken off the flannel, his strong arms had flexed and stretched. Deliciously. Even at a distance, the fact that he was hard and muscular was perfectly visible. I’d had to force myself to look away from that completely ripped body of his, too.
I cursed and put the sexy wildness guy out of my head because I realized I’d gotten distracted…again.
Rocks went sliding under my feet. Bigger ones fell past me, close enough to make me pretty damn nervous. I tripped on a root, barely catching myself before I fell flat on my face.
It sounded like twigs were snapping behind me, around me.
Maybe my idea of the woods was too Hollywood, but it wasn’t hard to imagine being followed by some... beast.
But what kind of asshole would send someone into danger like that?
Wait... am I in danger? Umm…no. Not at the moment. If a predator was following me, I would have been dead by now. I shrugged off the whole idea of being in peril and kept walking.
This isn’t possible. It can’t be. Smart women do not get lost while taking a walk.
Problem was, I was out of my element.
A lot of my friends and coworkers had done this back-to-nature thing to unplug.
Of course, they hadn’t been without their phones for one second while they were doing it, and their social media feeds had been full of artful snaps of roaring fires, and cute little hiking outfits.
“Maybe I would have been better off going to Central America like Yasmin,” I grumbled aloud.
My friend’s retreat in Costa Rica had helped her enormously. She came back so rested, so relaxed, so moisturized. Better than any spa treatment, she’d said, and the humidity was supposedly so good for her skin.
I’d been tempted to do the same destination as she had.
But really?
Costa Rica, though?
Really far.
Tropical storms.
Big bugs.
No, thanks.
I’d found something a little closer to home. Sufficiently different from my every day in Los Angeles. But not so far that I couldn’t run back to Hollywood in case I had a dire emergency at work. After all, my whole life was all about work.
Jesus! I wished I was in Costa Rica right now.
I wasn’t so sure that I wouldn’t rather be lost in a jungle instead of the damn mountains.
Big bugs versus potential mountain lions and bears… The choices were starting to look like a toss-up. Hell, at least I’d survive the big bugs, even if they were incredibly disgusting.
As I forced myself to move on, I kept hearing things around me.
Steps?
Movement?
I’m being paranoid. I probably get that way when I’m lost and terrified. Thing was, I didn’t usually wander around in the wilderness wondering if I was going to be lunch for a hungry cougar.
“Just relax, Keeley. Go for a hike. Enjoy the silence and give your brain a chance to breathe,” I said aloud in a dry tone, thinking about my conversation last night on the phone with my friend, Yasmin, and the shitty advice she’d given me.
Easy for her to say from the comfort of civilization, with food delivery and streaming video at her fingertips.
I’d since discovered that the silence wasn’t very enjoyable for me. In fact, it was stifling. But fuck knew that I needed some time relaxing somewhere. I was worn out. Sucked dry. I worked all the time, the city was a grind, the traffic sucked, and I was just… tired.
Tired of all the plastic people in Hollywood.
Tired of running myself into the ground to try and measure up to somebody else’s expectations.
Tired of producers and directors taking all the credit for staying within our budget and schedule while I busted my ass to make them look good.
It’s not like I was trying to be someone I wasn’t—some eighteen-year-old aspiring actress, or a sixteen-year-old model. For starters, I was twenty-nine, and being in front of the camera was not for me. Never had been.
I just wanted to be an improved version of myself.
Not so tired.
Not so disillusioned.
Not so…empty.
For example, I’d had a day off a few weeks ago. One day off. I’d had no idea what to do with myself.
Do I even have hobbies anymore?
I cursed when I started to imagine I was hearing footsteps…again.
I could have sworn that I’d heard pine needles shuffling, and twigs crunching in the trees. I looked around to see if I should be really afraid—if there was a bear or coyote out there—
My paranoid thoughts ended when I suddenly tripped over a ridge in the ground. I fell right on my ass and into the dirt.
“If there’s a coyote out there watching me, he’s got to be laughing by now,” I mumbled as I got back on my feet and started brushing the dirt off my jeans.
And then, I saw it.
The trail. I’m on the damn trail.
I’d accidentally stumbled onto a tiny, worn path without even noticing.
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm dampened as it dawned on me that it didn’t look like the trail I was supposed to be on. The path was going up the mountain steeply.
The beautiful jerk at the cabin said it would go down.
Okay, so I had a choice to make. Which way? Listen to the jerk and keep moving down, or follow the trail up?
What do I really know about the hot guy from the tiny cabin anyway? For all I know, he could get his kicks by screwing with people. I need to decide what to do myself.
My days were spent making choices for everyone else—budgets, limitations, hires, fires. Generally, I didn’t make all that many choices in my personal life.
I paid to have everything taken care of for me, because I never had time to take care of myself. The laundry was sent out and sent back. Someone cleaned up all my messes for me. I lived on takeout, which was sad, because I was actually a very good cook. I even had someone to water all my plants.
If I had to keep the plants alive? It would end up being mass murder because of my black thumb.
I was single again, which wasn’t a good thing for me at the moment. I hated to admit it, but I felt really…lost.
I’d never wanted to be the girl who needed a boyfriend. But I had come to depend on my ex. Too much.
He had made all the decisions—choosing what to eat, where to go out, how we spent our valuable free time. Unfortunately, most of o
ur off time was spent on the phone because of our busy careers. Not intimate. Too busy. Still, it had been easy for me, as long as I just rolled with it.
Then one day, I just couldn’t roll with it anymore.
I realized that having everything decided for me wasn’t what I really wanted.
That’s how I’d ended up here. By God, I’d been determined to find my independence.
Find myself.
Figure out what I really wanted from my life.
I’d desperately needed to discover how I could get back to the old Keeley who existed years ago. The one who liked to read books, indulge in time with friends, and the Keeley who knew how to enjoy a peaceful day reading. And how to make a damn decision without letting someone else decide how my day was going to happen.
So far, my quest for independence hadn’t exactly had a great beginning.
But I had a choice now. A personal choice.
Go up the trail or go down?
I was going to listen to my own thoughts for a change, like Yasmin had recommended.
I’m taking the trail. Screw that guy. Trails are what I’m supposed to be on, and it’s the only damn trail I see right now.
Decision made, I started working my way upward, scrambling around huge rocks, climbing higher, small rocks falling behind me with every big step. After some struggling, I was out of breath. I turned around to see what was behind me now. The valley was below, spread out like spiky green Astroturf. Higher up, I could finally see the trail I was actually looking for, down in a gap in the trees.
Dammit!
I was really close to it. That certainly made me feel better. Maybe I could find a way out of here, and down to the ranger station. If I was lucky, maybe I’d get a ride with a hot ranger, and rest my aching feet.
I shivered as I heard a low rumble, like faraway thunder.
What. The. Hell.
I knew it wasn’t thunder because it started to get louder quickly, and it didn’t stop.
Dirt and stones started tumbling down from the trail above.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t. I was too busy trying to process exactly what was happening.
The falling rocks got larger, sharper, and I still couldn’t go anywhere.
The rumble started to get closer. It felt closer.
Suddenly, a jagged slab slid down at me like it was on wheels. I gaped at the earth that was literally moving.
I knew I needed to move fast, but I never got the chance.
In a heartbeat, I was on the ground, pain raging up my leg. There was dirt in my mouth and eyes, and stones continued to roll over me, slamming into my ribs and arms.
I felt like I was being buried alive, and I was panicked, but I was helpless, unable to stop what was already in motion.
And then, finally, the rumbling of the earth…stopped.
“Can you hear me?” It was an urgent call that broke through my confusion and pain, a male voice.
I can hear you. I just can’t talk because my mouth is full of dirt. Help me. Please help me!
Tears sprang to my stinging eyes as I realized I couldn’t speak. All I could do was cough, trying to clear my airway.
“Shit,” the voice said gruffly.
I could hear that curse so well that I knew he was close, and I was frustrated that I still couldn’t get any words out of my mouth.
I wanted to sob with relief when he crouched down beside me and quickly dug me out of the pile of debris I’d been half-buried in.
“There’s more coming down. I’ve got to get you out of the way, now.” His voice was calm, but insistent and urgent.
Without another word, he lifted me like I weighed nothing. My head lolled back. My arms were aching, but I wrapped them around his neck anyway.
I needed some kind of anchor. Some kind of safety. And at that moment, the unknown man with an obviously strong body was both of those things for me.
He cradled me protectively, and he moved so fast it was almost frightening.
I heard more rocks coming, that thundering noise that I knew I’d never forget. He was right. The mountain wasn’t going to stop moving. In fact, it sounded like the whole damn thing was going to topple down on top of us.
My vision started to clear, and I could see that we were moving among the trees like we were on an obstacle course.
My leg hit a low hanging branch as he raced away from the falling rock and debris, and then—thwack.
Finally, some sound was able to leave my mouth: I let out a squeal of pain.
His blue eyes turned down to look at me, sharp and dark.
My brain finally processed who exactly was rescuing me.
It’s him. Hot guy at the cabin.
Then, everything went black
Chapter Three
James
This is a bad idea. But what in the fuck choice do I have.
I couldn’t leave the idiot female to die in a crush of rocks and falling earth.
I kicked a pile of books out of the way and set the woman down on my bed. She was passed out cold. Her shirt was ripped, her jeans were muddy, and there was a bloody stain seeping through the denim at her shin.
Not that I cared whether my bed got dirty. But something told me she was the kind of woman who wouldn’t be happy about all those stains.
Honestly, she didn’t seem like the kind of person who should be out here at all.
Hell, what do I know? She was a complete stranger—who was now in my bed. And was now my problem since I’d just allowed her to break into my solitary state.
I should have just tossed her into my truck and dropped her off with the rangers. That rockslide, though…
Never seen one like that in the years I’ve been here, and I’ve seen some bad ones. Fucking nightmare scenario.
The rock fall was so close to the road. I kind of had a feeling we were fucked.
We were probably blocked from every road out of the valley.
The only thing there was to do was check the forest service radio and see what they knew.
The woman passed out on my bed could very well need medical attention. Yeah, I could patch up wounds, but what if she needed more than that? She’d definitely gotten beaten up by the rocks during the slide. She could have a concussion, broken ribs, internal injuries.
I growled in frustration.
I turned my radio to the local service frequency. It hissed and crackled while it found the signal, and a tinny voice came through. It was just an automated broadcast, an out-of-date weather report.
I tuned to an open frequency and made a call, reaching out to whoever might be listening. The rangers usually picked up.
Of course, if they were already busy at the rock fall site… they wouldn’t.
And…they didn’t.
All I got was radio silence.
I didn’t have a phone here. I never needed one, and the possibility of getting a signal sucked in this area, too. No internet service, either. Most of the time it didn’t matter much.
Usually, I was alone, and I didn’t need any help. I didn’t want any.
I turned to look at the woman. I scowled as I realized she hadn’t moved.
Following her had been a bad idea from the start. I hadn’t meant to. In fact, I refused to go after her at first. But some damn compulsion had forced my legs to move in the direction she’d gone.
That wasn’t the kind of thing I did. Ever.
But the memory of her sweet thank you had turned in me like a knife. I’d been sending her out alone, and lost, and she thanked me for it with a wave and the most damn adorable smile I’d ever seen.
I grunted as I looked at her, still shocked that there was anybody in my bed other than…me. I have no responsibility for anyone except myself. That was something I had to learn the hard way, years ago. And yet…
She hadn’t insisted that I take her anywhere. The woman was probably stubborn, refusing to depend on someone else, even though she’d actually needed more assistance than she’d asked for
when she’d waved goodbye to me.
I knew what that was like.
I didn’t ask anyone for anything, either.
So I’d followed her out of curiosity, mostly.
Inadvertently, because I was the only one around, I’d probably saved her life. Hell, I was pretty certain I did. The woman had been defenseless, like she had no idea what was happening to her. She hadn’t even known when to move her ass out of the way of the next slide.
She’d also managed to put herself beneath the road line. Granted, the way out of here for me was more like a two-track. It went up before it went down, and she’d gotten directly beneath the portion that ascended right before it turned into a sharp descent down the mountain.
Actually, it had been a damn good thing that I’d followed her.
However, just because I’d rescued her because I had no choice didn’t mean I wanted her here in my cabin.
Following her was an aberration. A fluke.
I’d hung back from her as she hiked on down to the valley, just to make sure she found the trail. Then, I’d planned on leaving. I didn’t want it to seem like I was… stalking her.
But she just kept veering off the path I had given her.
And then she’d gone up.
Why in the hell would a sensible person do that?
It was like she wasn’t even paying attention. Even though her situation was dire, I was pretty sure she hadn’t known that. I had no idea where her brain had been, but it hadn’t been hyper-focused on finding her way back to her accommodations. She’d been wandering around like a city girl who had no idea what kind of danger she’d be in if she couldn’t find her way out of the forest before dark.
Okay. I get it. Her thoughts had been somewhere else. No one comes out here alone unless they’ve got a lot on their mind.
I knew what that was like, too.
But holy hell, a person couldn’t lose themselves in other thoughts when they needed to get back to their cabin before nightfall. And she’d obviously gone far off the beaten path without a single thought to her own safety.
With the big rocks up on the ridge there near the road, and the water from snow melt loosening everything…
She should have avoided being under the road line. She should have done her research before even walking out into the woods at all. She should have taken the directions I gave her to keep herself out of a dangerous situation.
