by Kim Baldwin
“I’m sorry you’re leaving,” she said.
“I can’t imagine why,” Megan murmured. “I’ve pretty much been nothing but trouble since day one.”
“That’s not how I’ll remember you.”
“No?”
“Nope.”
“So how will you remember me?” Megan asked.
“I’ll remember you with great fondness,” Chaz said honestly. “And…as a very tempting opportunity missed.”
“Thank you for saying that.” Megan felt a pang of regret run through her over what might have been. “I won’t forget you, Chaz. I can’t tell you what this trip has meant to me.”
The raft scraped up against the gravel bank. “Okay, ladies,” Sally said. “We’ve arrived.”
Chaz gave in to the impulse to hug Megan good-bye while she could, but before she pulled away, she planted a brief kiss on Megan’s cheek. “It’s been nice knowin’ ya, Megan,” she whispered.
It could have been a flippant remark, but the shaky timbre to Chaz’s voice revealed the sincere emotion behind the sentiment, and Megan was slightly shocked by it. She really has feelings for me. And I find this out now? She felt a rush of panic, like this was a critical moment and she should say something else, but what?
“Need some help getting out?” Sally said, stepping onto the shore. Justine was there too, and the others were pulling up their kayaks.
Megan craned slightly to see Chaz’s face. Her expression was impassive. Their moment of intimacy had passed.
Chapter Fifteen
Chaz radioed for help while Sally and Justine set up a tent for Megan so she’d be more comfortable, especially if the bugs picked up. Right now a pretty stiff breeze from the north was keeping the winged piranha at bay, but it was bringing with it cooler temperatures and an ominous darkening of the low clouds above them. Chaz figured the rescue would be at least a couple of hours away, so they planned to have an early dinner here. Once Megan was picked up, they could proceed downriver to their campsite only a bit behind schedule.
Chaz had described Megan’s symptoms to a doctor they’d patched her through to and had given the Alaska State Troopers their GPS position. Now she was on hold, awaiting an ETA for the rescue team. The steep mountains surrounding them and the hilly terrain made it a dicey place for a plane to try to land. It would have to be an extraction by helicopter.
“Hello, Chaz, are you there?” the female dispatcher said into her ear.
“Yes, I’m here.”
“We’ve just gotten a weather advisory that’s grounding all planes and helicopters where you are. A nasty front is building north of you and is headed your way.”
What else can go wrong?
“The choppers north of you are already grounded, and the ones to the south are too far away to reach you before things really go bad,” the dispatcher continued. “It will start as rain, but turn to sleet and maybe snow.”
“Any idea when all this will hit?”
“On radar it looks like two or three hours. This may last awhile. Doesn’t look like we’ll be able to get to you until sometime tomorrow at the earliest.”
“Understood. Thanks for the advisory. I’ll be in touch.”
“What do you want to do?” Sally asked, drawing her own conclusions from the content of the conversation and the expression on Chaz’s face.
“Well, I’d rather get the group through the next stretch while the weather holds and the light is still good. The river goes into another long, steep canyon, and it will be awful dark in there once the sun gets low. There’s a much better campsite beyond it with room for all the tents, and a cooking area and everything.”
“You want us all to go?” Sally asked dubiously.
“No. We can’t move Megan anymore. The raft is just too rough on her. I think you and the others should go on ahead. You lead, Pat takes the rear again. The river isn’t too bad between here and the campsite—it’s the next clear patch of tundra, you can’t miss it. Two hours, tops.”
“Okay. And you?” Sally asked.
“I’ll stay with Megan until the chopper gets here. Then I’ll catch up with you.” She glanced over at the tent. The rest of the women had made Megan comfortable inside, in her sleeping bag, and were gathered around talking to her. “Shall we make sure this plan is okay with everybody?”
“You got it,” Sally said.
Once Chaz had explained the plan and everyone had agreed, there was a frenzy of activity as the women, minus Chaz and Megan, prepared to get underway again to beat the weather.
The rest of the Broads in Broadcasting all took turns poking their heads in the tent to say good-bye. Last one up was Justine.
She gave Megan a conciliatory frown. “Sorry you gotta go home, Meg.” She glanced around and her eyes fell on Chaz’s gear—sleeping bag, personal items, the case that held her concertina. “But this might not be all bad. Am I wrong, or did it seem like you two seemed a lot chummier in the raft?”
Megan smiled. “Well, I got her to admit she is interested in me. And we’re here overnight, so I may work on her again.”
“Work on her? I know what that means. You’re joking, right?” Justine stared at her incredulously. “Look at you! You can’t seduce her! You’re hurt! You’re being airlifted out of here!”
“Well, I may have somewhat limited mobility, but I’ll manage, wait and see.”
“So did you decide that maybe you did want something more with this one? What about that no-one-night-stands thing?”
Megan shrugged. Yeah. What about that? It was a question she’d avoided thinking about. But if she wanted Chaz, perhaps she had to think about it, and fast. She didn’t really have to think very long, before she realized she very much wanted Chaz for more than one night.
Their earlier admissions, when they thought their separation was imminent, were impossible to take back. It was out there, now—the fact that they both felt this tremendous attraction. And now they were going to be trapped together for at least several hours.
“I should get going,” Justine said before Megan could work up a reply. “Good luck. I hope the weather doesn’t get too rough.”
Megan thanked her and, as soon as she was alone again, shifted around to make herself more comfortable, which was at best a relative concept. Her friends had cushioned her head, neck, and sore shoulder with some extra clothes, and Chaz had gotten the okay from the doctor to give her ibuprofen from the first-aid kit. It was beginning to kick in. She was warm, and dry, and as long as she didn’t try to move around too much, it wasn’t half bad.
On her back, her sleeping bag tucked up to her neck, she began thinking about what she would say. By the time Chaz crawled into the tent, she was ready.
Chaz lay down on her side, facing Megan, propped up on one elbow. She was still fully clothed except for her boots and her jacket, which she’d tossed into a corner.
“I’ll make us some dinner in a while,” she said. “Before the weather hits. How are you feeling?”
“Fit as a fiddle and ready for love. Isn’t that the expression?”
That got a smile out of Chaz.
“So did you mean it when you said you view last night as a missed opportunity?” Megan asked.
“When I said that, I thought you’d be leaving in a couple of hours, and I wouldn’t get the chance to talk to you again.”
“Does that make a difference?”
Chaz hesitated. “Not really. No.”
“You have an opportunity now.”
“Megan, you’re injured.”
“We can work around that.”
Chaz laughed. “With the way this trip has been going? No. No way. You’d end up paralyzed for sure.”
“Funny girl,” Megan huffed. “At least kiss me. You have to kiss me.”
“You’re a shameless hussy,” Chaz said.
Megan laughed. “And from your smile, I’d say you like that in a woman.”
“Apparently, I do indeed.”
“I’ve
had the hots for you for days,” Megan said. “And from the way you kissed me back, it was kind of clear the feeling was mutual. You’re a great kisser, by the way.”
Chaz blushed. “I didn’t…and won’t…deny I am really attracted to you. I’ve been…unprofessionally preoccupied with thoughts of you since day one.” She ran one hand absently through her hair, brushing it back out of her eyes. “And that kiss certainly didn’t help matters.”
“In that case…” Megan closed her eyes and pursed her lips for a kiss.
“Megan,” Chaz groaned. But she leaned toward her, all the same. “You’re injured. I mean it. It’s not happening.”
“So you mean if we could, you would?” Megan said.
“Probably. Yes. You’re very hard to resist.”
“You’ve resisted so far,” Megan reminded her, her face in a pout. “And left me in a pretty…frustrated state, to say the least.”
“Welcome to my world.” Chaz smiled. “You have only yourself to blame for last night. You were deliberately flaunting your ass at me as we walked back from seeing the herd.”
“Was I?”
“You’re going to make this a very difficult evening, aren’t you?”
“Not if you kiss me,” Megan said. “Then I’ll go easy on you.”
That got another laugh. “You’re incorrigible. I think I should go and fix us some dinner before you get me into trouble.” Chaz grabbed her boots and jacket and headed for the door of the tent.
“You’re only delaying the inevitable, you know,” Megan called after her. At least I sure hope that’s the case.
*
Not long after, Chaz returned to the tent and crawled inside. “Much as I hate to move you, we can’t risk having any food in here,” she said, kneeling over Megan. “I’ll help you outside, and we can eat and take care of anything you need to, before we turn in. All right?”
“Okay.” Megan started to try to raise herself up, but immediately a burst of pain exploded in her shoulder, taking her breath away. “Damn,” she complained, sinking back against her pillow.
“Wait. Let me help you.” Chaz leaned down and wrapped one arm beneath Megan’s shoulders. As she helped Megan sit up, she put Megan’s good arm around her neck.
Megan’s cool hand anchored itself right at the pulse point where Chaz’s neck met her shoulder. Chaz’s heart started beating faster, stronger, pounding away in her chest. Surely Megan could feel it through her fingertips.
Their faces were only inches apart, and there was a moment, the two of them frozen in suspended animation, gazing into each other’s eyes, that seemed to go on forever. Chaz was lost. Kiss her, you fool, every fiber of her being screamed. But she feared that once she started, she’d never stop. It no longer mattered whether they had an hour, a night, or a lifetime. Were it not for Megan’s injuries, they would most certainly make love tonight.
With a shaky breath, she looked away and broke the spell. Without a word, she unzipped Megan’s sleeping bag and put her boots on for her, then helped her out of the tent and to her feet. Once they were both standing, Chaz released her grip and stepped away one foot, then two.
“You almost kissed me again,” Megan said.
“You have to stop flirting with me,” Chaz protested. But it was evident from the tone in her voice she was enjoying the exchange.
“Flirt? Me? I never flirt,” Megan said with complete seriousness.
Chaz laughed.
Megan took two steps until they were standing nose to nose. “I seduce, yes. But I never flirt.”
She leaned up to give Chaz a long, teasing kiss on the sensitive skin of her neck, just at the very place where it hit her the hardest, and she felt it to her toes. She clenched and unclenched her fists, struggling for control, trying desperately to keep her arms from wrapping around Megan like they so ached to do.
“God, Megan,” she stuttered, trying to catch her breath. “What are you doing to me?”
“If you don’t know then I must not be doing it right,” Megan said, leaning up for another one, this one longer, sexier, wetter, her tongue a brief caress. Their bodies were only an inch or two apart.
Chaz felt her knees begin to give out from under her. “Jesus, God, please stop,” she said, in a voice she didn’t recognize. “I have a responsibility to take care of you, and you’re making it completely impossible for me to do that.”
“I think you’re taking excellent care of me.” Megan made no move to either increase the distance between them or close those maddening final inches. “I have no complaints whatsoever, except for that whole you-won’t-kiss-me-again-yet thing.”
“Dinner,” Chaz muttered weakly, retreating another step, unable to bear the sweet torture of Megan’s warm exhalations against her neck any longer.
Megan rolled her eyes. “Yeah, keep telling yourself it’s not going to happen, Chaz. Maybe you can get someone to believe it.” A low rumble of thunder could be heard far off in the distance. “I guess I can hold off until after dinner,” she said playfully, and headed toward where Chaz had set up their cook stove.
They sat beside each other in their camp chairs and ate pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts in a light parmesan sauce, both of them warily watching the northern sky and an ominous wall of dark gray clouds that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Chaz was beautiful under any circumstances, Megan decided. But sitting there, with the snowcapped mountain peaks starkly outlined against the stormy sky behind her, she was breathtaking. You’d think that after a week out here roughing it, the woman might look disheveled or something. Without makeup, hair dryer, and all the other usual beauty accoutrements she was used to, Megan certainly didn’t have her usual confidence about her own presentability.
But she doubted Chaz could look any more stunning than she did at this moment, her chestnut hair slightly tousled, hazel eyes moist from the stinging wind, cheeks flushed, and that melt-your-heart smile. She was beautiful in the way that the Alaskan landscape was, rugged and independent. Unadorned and untamed.
“You look like you belong here,” Megan said aloud without meaning to, wistful wonder in her voice.
“I do belong here.” Chaz’s eyes swept the landscape. “I don’t feel whole…fully alive, in the city. It seems like such an artificial existence to me, in many ways.”
“Where do you live?” Megan asked. “Don’t you work in Fairbanks?”
“Yes, I teach biology at the university. But I live forty miles outside the city. I’m pretty isolated. My nearest neighbor is six miles away.”
“I live in a condo overlooking Lake Michigan. There are probably four or five hundred people in my building.”
There was silence as the differences in their worlds sank in.
“Do you miss it?” Chaz asked, in a way that suggested there was significance to the answer.
Megan pursed her lips and thought about that for several moments. “Yes and no.” One side of her mouth twitched upwards in a half smile. “I’m surprised at how much I actually enjoy this camping stuff. But I will admit that the first day or two out here, I did really miss that long, hot shower in the morning. And my nice feather bed. And I would have said my triple-shot cappuccinos, but you’ve made this trip entirely tolerable on the coffee front, I must say.”
“Speaking of, would you like an after-dinner espresso?” Chaz said.
“I’d like that very much, thank you.”
“How about your job? Do you miss that? I expect it’s pretty exciting to work at a television network.” Chaz measured coffee and water and put the espresso pot on the stove.
“I like it, most of the time,” Megan said. “It’s different every day—you never know what’s going to happen. A quiet day can explode in activity at any moment. That’s a big plus for me. I get bored easily. And…the money’s good, and I get to travel. Meet interesting people.”
“You’re a vice president, aren’t you? Quite a bit of responsibility and stress goes along with that
, I expect.”
“Stressful is the right word for it. I don’t miss that part, for sure. Most of the time, I probably work…let’s see, fifty-five to sixty hours a week.” Megan could feel her whole body tense up at the thought of returning to her old routine. “Seventy or more, when there’s something major happening on a weekend. I’m on call 24-7.”
“Ugh. That’s awful.” Chaz shook her head. “I can’t imagine being cooped up in any office ten or twelve hours a day, seven days a week, no matter what the job. I’d go nuts.”
“It can get old,” Megan admitted. The long hours wore her down sometimes, to be sure. More often, in recent months, if she dared admit it to herself.
“When do you have any time for yourself? I mean, working sixty or seventy hours doesn’t give you much time for anything but sleeping and eating.”
Megan pondered the question. It was the same thing Justine had been trying to tell her for months. Maybe it was time to start listening. “I guess I hadn’t thought about how hard I’ve been working in a long time. This trip is the first vacation I’ve taken in…hmm, I guess it’s been more than five years.”
“Five years?” Chaz was wide-eyed in disbelief. “Seriously?”
Megan was a trifle annoyed at Chaz’s reaction. Like hard work and getting ahead was a terrible thing. “I have a very important position these days,” she said defensively. “It’s difficult for me to get away.”
“Oh, I’m sure it is,” Chaz hastened to add. “I just…feel bad for you, that’s all. Even if you enjoy your work…which you obviously do…it’s got to be tough not to have time for yourself, and the ability to get away now and then to really relax and recharge yourself. Get away to a place like this.” She poured their espressos and handed one to Megan. “Mind if I make a personal observation?”
“No. Go ahead.”
“If I might say so, you seem—despite your injury—a lot more relaxed and happy now than when you started this trip.”
Megan sipped the espresso. “Mmm, this is delightful,” she complimented Chaz. “And I guess you could say that’s a fair assessment.”
