“My buddy Luke actually discovered it by accident. He likes to prank people, and one time he thought it would be funny to put just enough Gatorade in my Spam to give it a weird flavor. He thought if it wasn’t enough that I noticed the colored liquid of the Gatorade, but enough to flavor the meat, that I would take a bite without noticing and then spit it out in disgust. Well, I didn’t notice the Gatorade, but I did notice the change in flavor. And instead of spitting it out, I loved it. Then he had to try it, and he loved it, too. Now everyone on our crew eats Spam this way. Everyone except Charlotte, that is. She still refuses to try it, so you’re already braver than her.”
“Ha, I’m not sure I’m braver than a smokejumping chick, but I will admit that Charlotte is missing out by not trying this.”
Hunter gave Riley a shy smile, and opened his own can of Spam, pouring some of the Rain Berry flavor Gatorade over it. “Well, Charlotte’s very brave, but so are you. You don’t have to jump out of planes to be brave. There are a lot of ways to show courage. I think that coming out here to spend time in the wilderness by yourself instead of sitting around and moping was brave. You should have planned a little better for the possibility of getting lost, but, hey, it all worked out in the end.”
Riley blushed, and, this time, there was no heat from a wildfire to blame for her reddening cheeks. She quickly looked down at her Spam and Gatorade mixture and muttered a weak “Thank you.”
“Hey,” Hunter said, reaching over and putting his index finger under her chin to gently lift her face back to where they were eye to eye. “Don’t hide that pretty smile. When someone gives you a compliment, it’s because they recognize how kick ass you are. No need to feel self conscious about that.”
Riley smiled and blushed again, but, this time, she didn’t duck her head away. She held Hunter’s gaze as he kept his finger under her chin, and her heart pounded as he looked deep into her eyes with his churning, deep green eyes. They sat there, looking at each other for several moments, and Riley thought for sure that Hunter was going to kiss her. But then he dropped his finger, and the moment passed.
“Anyway,” he said. “I think you’re plenty brave enough. No need to be a dumbass like me and jump out of perfectly good airplanes to prove it.”
Hunter went back to shoveling food into his mouth, and Riley followed suit, acting as if nothing had happened between them. On the outside, she looked calm and collected, but just beneath the surface, her emotions were churning just like his eyes. He had lit some sort of spark inside of her, and she had a feeling that not even a smokejumping firefighter was going to be able to put out this blaze.
Chapter Five
Hunter wanted to wait out the hottest part of the day under the shade of the rocks, and Riley certainly didn’t intend to argue with him about that. After they finished eating, they lay down out of the sun’s reach to rest. Riley was still recovering from the exhaustion and excitement of the day before, and she fell asleep on the cool, shaded ground almost the moment she shut her eyes.
A few hours later, she once again awoke to Hunter’s voice and gentle shaking.
“Hey, wake up, sleepyhead,” he said. “It’s getting late in the afternoon. We should try to make some progress on our hike now that the sun is less intense.”
Riley nodded blearily, and stumbled to her feet. Hunter had already put his jumpsuit and gear back on, so as soon as Riley rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, they started moving again. Hunter seemed even more chipper than he had been that morning, and Riley wondered again where he got his energy.
As they walked, Hunter called out his plan to her over his shoulder.
“I talked with Ian on the radio while you were sleeping. As long as I’m taking us in the right direction, which, hopefully I am, we should hit Klamath River in less than two hours. If we follow the river south for a day or so, we should run straight into the visitor center at the southern end of the forest. The river flows right by it. From there we can get a ride out of here. Walking along the river will give us a plentiful supply of water, too, because I have a portable water filtration system in one of these bags here. We can safely drink even the river water.
Riley nodded, forgetting that Hunter had his back to her and couldn’t see her nonverbal response. She wondered what would happen when they reached the visitor center and were hauled out of here. Would she and Hunter say goodbye, never to see each other again? Would these three days they shared be the extent of their time together? The more the hours with Hunter ticked by, the more Riley had started to feel that she didn’t want to go back to her life without him. But she wasn’t so sure that he felt the same way about her. He’d had a clear chance to kiss her during lunch today, and he had passed on it. Maybe she was imagining the chemistry between them. Maybe she just wanted to put him on a pedestal since he had saved her life.
As they continued hiking, and the shadows started growing longer, Hunter fell silent. Riley took this silence as a confirmation that her assessment had been correct—Hunter had no interest in her beyond helping her get safely back to civilization. As a firefighter, that was his duty. He was just doing his job. She should just enjoy the friendship they would share over the next few days, and not try to overanalyze every little thing Hunter said or did.
Less than half an hour later, Hunter pointed in front of them. “There it is,” he said in an excited voice, turning back to grin at Riley. “We found the river. From here all we have to do is just follow it out to safety. Go us!”
He held his hand up for a high five, and Riley obliged him, although she had not done anything much to speed this little mission along. Hunter looked up at the sky, and then back at Riley.
“How would you feel about setting up camp here for the night? We could probably keep going another hour or two, but I don’t think it will make a big difference in the grand scheme of things in how quickly we get out of this forest. I’m beat, and I would imagine you are, too. I wouldn’t mind just calling it a day and relaxing for a bit.”
Riley nodded. “Sounds good to me,” she said. She actually felt surprisingly energized after her nap back at the rocks, but she certainly wasn’t going to rush Hunter to get them to the visitor center. More time in the forest meant more time with him before they had to part ways. Besides, even though the hottest part of the day had passed, the air still felt hot and heavy, and it would probably remain that way until after the sun had fully set. Hiking during the early morning had felt much better than this.
Hunter started unloading all his gear again, and Riley shook her head in wonder at how cheerful he was while taking off the large bags and unzipping his jumpsuit. If she had been the one dealing with all of that gear all day, she would have been a grumpy mess by now. But Hunter didn’t complain as he stepped out of his jumpsuit and stretched out his limbs.
“I don’t know about you,” he said, “But I’m going to take a dip in that river. I’m a dirty, sweaty mess, and I don’t know how you’ve managed to be polite enough not to mention yet how awful I smell.”
Riley laughed. “I’m sure I don’t smell any better. I’ve been wearing the same dirty, sweaty clothes for three days now.”
Hunter grinned like a little kid and took off running toward the water. “Last one in is the rotten egg!” he shouted, as he splashed into the river before Riley even had a chance to kick her shoes off. After she removed her hiking boots, she followed him at a slower, tentative pace, and stuck one foot in the water.
“It’s a little chilly,” she said.
“Oh, come on,” Hunter said. “After all that hot hiking, it feels good.”
He waded out to the middle of the wide river, where the water came up to his chest. Then he disappeared under the water for several seconds before bouncing back up with a whoop. Riley slowly started wading out to him, giving her body time to adjust to the chill of the river. When she was a few yards away from him, he swam over to her.
“How do you like it?” he asked
“It feels good. It’s ni
ce to get some of this dirt and sweat washed off.”
“If you like it so much then why are you taking so long to go under?” he asked.
“What’s the rush? We have all evening,” she said, crossing her arms defiantly.
In response he pounced on her without warning and dunked her below the surface. It only took a moment for her body to adjust to the cool shock of the river water, but her eyes and nose filled with water from the surprise dunk. She shrieked as she came back above the surface, and lunged at him to return the dunk. But he had anticipated this, and jumped quickly out of her way.
“You rascal!” Riley exclaimed, trying to lunge for him again.
Hunter laughed, a rough belly laugh that bubbled up from deep within him. Riley had no chance of catching and dunking him, but she was enjoying the game. She put in a few more good faith efforts to dunk him before giving up to focus on washing the dirt and soot out of her hair. She pulled out the pony tail holder she’d been using and let her long, dark brown tresses cascade around her shoulders. The strands were curling up a bit on the ends like they always did when they were wet, and Riley worried that her hair was going to become hopelessly tangled She had lost everything she brought with her in the fire, including her comb. But she could deal with tangled hair, if it meant getting rid of some of the smoke smell. That awful smell had permeated everything—her clothes, her hair, and even her skin still smelled like the fire.
Riley became so preoccupied with washing out her hair that she didn’t notice Hunter was watching her. When she finally looked up and saw him staring at her with churning green eyes, she stopped short.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just your hair. It’s so long. And beautiful.”
Riley smiled shyly. He had the same look on his face that he’d had earlier when she’d thought he was going to kiss her. She dropped her eyes to his lips and licked her own, trying to give him the hint that she would welcome the chance to experience his arms around her and his mouth on hers. But he turned away abruptly and then disappeared under the water again.
Riley sighed. Despite his tough, confident exterior, Hunter seemed very unsure of himself when it came to showing a girl he liked her. And Riley was sure this time that she hadn’t imagined or misread the longing look in his eyes. He wanted her, but something was keeping him from going for it. Maybe he didn’t want things to be awkward for the remainder of their trip out of the wilderness. Riley could have tried to push him a little bit, but she didn’t want to be the one making the initial move. After the fallout from her last relationship, she wanted a guy who was willing to show her that he was really into her. If Hunter’s feelings weren’t strong enough to overcome the worry of rejection, then were they really strong enough to last in the long term? Riley wasn’t so sure, and she definitely wanted something long term. She wasn’t the kind of person who could just sleep with a person and move on like it had all been a fun little exercise. She got too attached too quickly. She loved too fiercely.
Riley frowned and walked up to the rocky shore of the river while Hunter dunked in and out of the water. She tried to tell herself again to just enjoy the easy friendship they had out here in the woods. Take the time for what it was worth, and don’t try to push things, she told herself.
When she reached the shore, she stripped off her shirt and shorts, leaving her in just a bra and underwear. She wanted to really wash out her clothes and get as much of the dirt and grime out of them as possible, and the best way to do that was to take them off completely and scrub them with her hands. She knew that stripping down to her underwear would probably catch Hunter’s attention, but she tried to tell herself that she wasn’t doing it to show off her toned body to him. She just wanted to get her clothes clean.
Yeah, right. She knew that, despite her determination that he needed to be the one to make the first move without her helping him along, she’d be disappointed if he didn’t react to her curves.
And he did react. But not quite the way she had hoped. His eyes flitted over her body, filling with desire, and then he turned his back to her abruptly.
“Good idea,” he said, and started pulling off his own shirt. Riley sighed. For some reason, Hunter was determined not to give in to the craving he obviously had for her. Maybe he had a girlfriend waiting for him. That must be it. What an idiot she was, sitting out here thinking that a guy as sexy and sweet as Hunter was actually single. She looked up from rinsing out her own clothes to see him leaning over in the water to step out of his pants as well. He was left wearing nothing but a black pair of boxer briefs.
When he stood up straight again, with his bare back facing her, Riley gasped. Hunter swung around to face her, thinking that something was amiss.
“What is it?” he asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Your back,” she said. “It’s the same one from my dreams.”
His face turned serious, and he directed his piercing green eyes at her like a pair of lasers. “What do you mean, the same one from your dreams?”
Riley suddenly felt embarrassed, but she had already said something, so she had to explain. “I have this recurring dream, where I’m chasing this guy through a field. I want to catch him, but I’m never quite fast enough. I always wake up right before it feels like I’m about to reach him. And his back looks just like yours. It has that same weird scar that you have across the back of your left ribcage.”
Hunter’s eyes widened and he looked at Riley with the most intense expression she had ever seen. “It’s true, then,” he said softly.
“What’s true?”
“We’re fated to be together. I kept trying to push away everything as a coincidence, even though my b—… I mean, even though I felt strongly within me that you and I were meant for each other. But if you feel it, too, even as a human, then there’s no way I’m imagining this. We’re fated for each other.
Riley furrowed her brow. It sounded like he was trying to tell her that he liked her, although he was choosing some weird expressions to do so. And as much as she was attracted to him, his spiritual wishy-washy vibes were a bit much. Attraction was all chemistry and hormones, not some pie in the sky spiritual force.
“I don’t really believe in fate,” Riley said.
“Well, fate believes in you,” he said.
Riley blinked, and stared at him in silence for several moments. She wasn’t sure whether she wanted to roll her eyes at him or splash through the river toward him and jump into his arms. Honestly, she kind of wanted to do both. He was acting a little strange, but, damn, he was still so hot, and his eyes were still so sweet. It was becoming nearly impossible to hold back the feelings of passion for him that bubbled up every time she let her eyes graze over his body.
Hunter balled up the shirt and pants he was still holding, and chucked them onto the shore. Then he motioned to her.
“Come here,” he said. His voice was filled with a mixture of tenderness and urgency. Riley felt her heart starting to pound as she began walking slowly out to the middle of the river. He held out his hand to her when she got closer, and she took it as she closed the last few feet between them. He pulled her in close to him and wrapped his arms around her, stroking her tangled hair with his hands. Every time he hit a knot, he would gently wriggle it out with his fingers.
Riley felt her stomach filling with butterflies at the softness of his touch. The cool river water flowed over them as the sun above them faded from the intense heat of the day into the gentle warmth of the late afternoon. She hadn’t realized until this moment just how much she had wanted to be here, in Hunter’s arms. With her head against his chest, she could hear his heart beating. Every thump sent little waves of desire through her. The intensity of the feeling overwhelmed her, and even scared her a bit.
When Hunter looked down at her and started leaning in, presumably for a kiss, she tilted her head away from him a bit and tried to defuse her strong feelings a little bit by making a joke.
�
��This isn’t exactly fair,” she said lightly. “You saved my life. It’s not like I can just say no to you.”
Hunter’s eyes turned serious. “Don’t say that,” he said. “You can say no any time you want to. If you don’t want this, then tell me now and we can go back to being completely platonic friends, no hard feelings.”
Riley turned her face back toward him, taking a deep breath. She studied his eyes for a few moments, then took a leap of faith.
“I don’t want to be just platonic friends,” she said. “I want you to kiss me.”
He didn’t need to be told twice. He leaned his head down, and put his lips on hers. The warmth and softness of his kiss surprised her. She would have expected a man as big and muscular as Hunter to feel rough, but the only thing remotely rough about him was the two-day-old stubble on his chin. It tickled her face in a delightful way, sending happy little tingles up and down her spine. He slipped his tongue into her mouth, and let it run over her tongue with a smooth, rhythmic motion. Riley’s heart raced with excitement as he slid his hands down her back and rested them against her lower back, pressing his groin against her. She could feel his erection pushing against her, large and solid.
She felt herself melting into him as the charred forest around them disappeared. She could only see him. He took his time kissing her, and she enjoyed the moment as the water gently flowed around them. Nothing mattered in that moment except being with him. She forgot about all of her worries back home. She forgot about looking for a new job, or about how she would pay her bills when her savings ran out. She definitely forgot about her ex-boyfriend. She even forgot about the fact that just yesterday she had almost burned alive. She could only focus on Hunter’s skin against her skin, and his tongue against her tongue. She felt her whole body tingling at the immense pleasure of his hands running over her.
A Spark to Bear (Fire Bear Shifters Book 2) Page 4
