“I need to get up,” she said, the discomfort building inside of her.
“No you don’t. This is nice right here.”
He wasn’t understanding, and Cambria wasn’t interested in dancing around the issue any longer.
“I have to go. I can’t hold it anymore. Please let me go, Egan.”
Her chuckled as he released her,
“Why didn’t you just say so?” he asked, but she was already vaulting out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.
He rolled out of bed, checking the time before he started packing their things in the back packs. His was quite a bit bigger and much heavier, while hers only contained her clothes and the money she’d stolen from him.
Egan was still walking around the room packing, completely nude when she walked out of the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and started working the brush through her thick curls, but she was fighting a losing battle. Her hair was a mess and needed more attention than she could provide at the moment.
“Here, let me,” he said, coming up to stand behind her.
She handed him the brush and looked at him in the mirror.
“Seriously? Why are you still naked?”
“Do you like it?”
“No. Put on some clothes.” She was lying, and they both knew it. But he was right behind her, and his proximity was making it hard for her to concentrate.
He ignored her, gently working his way from the bottom of her hair until he’d worked the more stubborn tangles out. His touch was so tender that Cambria could hardly feel it as he pulled the bristles through her hair. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of being cared for with so much affection.
When he finished, he set the brush down on the long counter and leaned over her shoulder to gently kiss her on the cheek before quickly walking away. He got dressed in a hurry, taking their things to the car while she gathered her wits about her.
She heard the engine start and quickly grabbed her brush, noticing for the first time that he’d grabbed her toothbrush and paste when he’d walked away.
Cambria made one more sweep of the room, making sure that they hadn’t left anything behind. She left the room key on the desk and pulled the door shut behind her.
Jogging the final steps to the car, she climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up. Egan smiled at her and put the car into gear.
“What do you want for breakfast? It’s going to be the last hot meal for a long while.”
“Pancakes.”
“Pancakes it is.” He pulled onto the empty road and headed towards their destination, eyes open for a place that would be serving pancakes as the sun rose behind them.
CHAPTER NINE
A little less than an hour later, Egan stopped the car and put the keys on the dashboard. A very full Cambria stepped out of the car and admired the mountain before them. It was beautiful, but it was also rugged.
It wasn’t going to be an easy hike.
Egan walked passed her, nudging her playfully as she stood in awe.
“Time to work off those pancakes,” he quipped, heading directly for the first outcropping of giant boulders. He began climbing from one to the next, moving quickly from ledge to ledge with ease.
By the time Cambria walked to the base, he was already to the top.
“Toss your bag up.” He was sitting on the edge, looking like a naughty little boy with his mischievous grin.
She threw the bag as hard as she could and he caught the strap with one leg. He watched her climb, taking the same path he had. Cambria was struggling, but she was determined to wipe that smug grin off his face.
The last boulder was the tallest. As hard as she tried, Cambria couldn’t get up it without help. She grabbed his outstretched hand and allowed herself to be pulled up.
They stood on the top of the boulder, side by side, and Cambria was blown away by the beauty before them. The dusty, bleak boulders had hidden a shallow valley that sloped up through the trees to the mountain top. The view was breath-taking and more beautiful than she could have imagined.
Just on the other side of the boulders was a short drop to a trickling waterfall that filled a tiny stream. Egan climbed down, holding his hand out to help Cambria as he went. When they reached the bottom he turned north, keeping to the edge of a large meadow that ran between the opposite tree lines.
They passed several signs warning them to turn back, but Egan didn’t even slow down.
“It says ‘no hunting, hiking or camping beyond this point’,” she pointed out.
“It does.” He was unconcerned, continuing on without pause.
“It says that there are dangerous animals in this area.”
“Also true.”
She was starting to get worried. The signs were clear, listing wild buffalo, mountain lions and wild longhorn as animals that roamed freely in the woods.
She caught up to him, grabbing his arm and forcing him to stop.
“I’m on board with hiding out until all this has blown over and they’re not looking for me anymore, but I don’t want to be a longhorn’s next meal.”
Egan looked at her, his expression incredulous a moment before he burst out laughing.
“Do you know what a longhorn is?”
“No.”
“It’s a cow. With big horns. The only thing that might eat you alive in these woods is a bear.” He paused for a moment, looking her up and down slowly, “Or me. You’re safe with me.”
“I doubt you’re much help against a mountain lion, to be honest.” She looked around the nearest trees, feeling a bit paranoid to be out in the open.
“One, they’re not typically spotted in the area we’re headed to, and two, I’m a tiger shifter. I’ve got this under control.”
She couldn’t argue with his logic. He grabbed her hand, still carrying her pack on his shoulder over his own pack.
“We have a long way to go and we need to get there before the sun sets so I can set up camp.”
She allowed him to continue holding her hand as they walked, enjoying the feel of it wrapped around hers.
“So, you know all there is to know about me, but I don’t know about you. How did Laskin even find you?”
“You don’t mince words, do you?” she laughed. “I guess it’s only fair that I share, since you’ve been so forthcoming.”
Cambria was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out the best place to start. Coming up empty, she decided to start from her first memory.
“My parents hated me for as long as I could remember,” she began, “even when I was just seven. They never let me go to school, convinced that I was too stupid to learn anything with normal kids.”
“What made them say you weren’t normal?”
“I have a speech impediment, and I tripped on my words a lot as a kid. My parents said I was so dumb I couldn’t learn English.”
Egan took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He hadn’t heard even the slightest hint of a speech impediment, nor was she too dumb to go to school. Egan would lay money that she would have gotten straight A’s if she’d attended school. He had a feeling her parents had pulled her out of school for selfish reasons.
“They beat me a lot, blaming me for everything that went wrong. I did all the chores, hunted for food in the swamp near my house, and I tended the family garden. When we had visitors, mama made me hide in the woods. Sometimes, all night.”
Egan sucked in a breath and let it out slowly but he didn’t interrupt her. He had a feeling no one had ever listened to Cambria tell her story. In the quiet solitude of the vast wilderness before them, he wasn’t about to take that away from her.
She talked for hours, telling him everything that had ever happened to her in heartbreaking detail. When she started talking about the night Laskin had found her, he realized that she didn’t understand what had truly happened that night.
“You do know that the tiger you ran into was Laskin, right?”
“I guess a part of me always did. I couldn�
�t figure out how Laskin had fought off the tiger, and I didn’t think there was any way that it would just leave me there after I passed out. But he was so against shifters that I had to believe he was human, I guess.”
Cambria choked on a soft sob that surprised her. She hadn’t planned on crying about Laskin, and she swiped angrily at the tears that were suddenly streaming down her face.
Egan stopped her, pulling her into his arms and holding her as she sobbed.
“It’s okay to cry over him. He saved you from the hell you were living in. Even though he was an awful man, he was very kind to you and took you in when you were in desperate need. It’s okay to mourn that loss.”
Cambria couldn’t believe her ears. Laskin and Egan were sworn enemies; Egan’s own brother had been the reason that Laskin had revealed himself to the brotherhood and lost his life. Yet, here he was, showing compassion for Laskin that Laskin would never have shown him.
She breathed deeply, enjoying his embrace a moment longer before pulling away.
“Thank you. Thank you for letting me love the man I thought he was.”
“Nothing will ever change what he did for you. If he were here right now, I would thank him myself. Without him, I probably wouldn’t have you.”
He tilted her chin up, kissing her tears away before dipping down to capture her mouth in his. His mouth was hot and sweet, gently kissing her pain away. Cambria leaned into him, deepening the kiss and letting herself live freely in the moment. For the first time in her life, someone cared more about her feelings than their ulterior motives. Egan hated Laskin, yet he acknowledged that the man had been instrumental in protecting her life.
Cambria had never known anyone capable of seeing things as clearly as Egan did.
Egan broke away first, wiping away a single, lingering tear with his thumb.
“We’re almost there. If you see a place you like once we get over that ridge, let me know and we’ll set up camp.” He kissed the tip of her nose and held his hand out to her.
She took it, walking up the final incline to their destination. When they topped the ridge, Cambria was stunned by the untouched beauty of the woods around them and the valley in the distance below.
The sun was setting steadily behind them in the west, but she could see the wild bison in the distance, grazing on the lush, green grass between the mountains. To the north, the mountain reached higher, sloping gently for a bit before climbing steeply to the peak.
A narrow stream flowed from the north, winding through the trees before dropping over the edge into a short waterfall.
“Right here,” Cambria said. “If I’m going to stay somewhere for a long time, I want it to be right here.” She sat down on a low, flat boulder, stretching her tired legs and taking in the scenery for a moment.
It had been a very long day.
“Excellent choice,” Egan said. And he began setting up camp before the last of the sun’s rays faded from the sky.
Cambria watched him work from perch on the rock, enjoying how his body moved as he moved from one task to the next. The wind was light, but already there was a bite to the air.
“How cold does it get up here?” She rubbed her arms, trying to warm up a little. Egan tossed his heavy jacket to her and she gratefully wrapped it around her.
Pulling a narrow tent off his pack, he went to work setting it up while she watched him. His jacket was warm, and it smelled like him. Checking to make sure he wasn’t watching, Cambria inhaled the scent of him.
She looked up and caught him looking at her, a satisfied smirk on his lips. Cambria rolled her eyes at him, snuggling deeper into the jacket and trying to ignore Egan.
“Can you take a break from enjoying my jacket and help me with this tent?”
He chuckled at his own joke, clearly enjoying himself too much.
She slid down from the rock and began helping him without direction. She’d pitched a few tents in her short life. This tent was a little sturdier, made for colder weather and long-term use. But she’d known when he purchased it that he was planning on staying in the woods for at least a month, maybe more.
They worked closely together, setting the tent up in between trees so they could secure it firmly against the wind. There was no more than a few inches between each side of the tent and a tree. More than once, Cambria passed so close to Egan that their bodies touched, sending shock waves of pleasure through her.
If Egan noticed her response, he didn’t mention it. For that, she was extremely grateful.
The small, camouflage tarp that Egan had purchased was secured above the tent with heavy twine. Egan put one side higher than the other, making sure that any rain would drain down the hill and not into their tent. The color would prevent anyone spotting them from the air, letting the rangers know that there were campers inside the big game area where they didn’t belong.
A second tarp was stretched out beneath the tent, sticking out a few feet on the door side so they wouldn’t track dirt in with them. Cambria was surprised by how prepared Egan really was. He’d obviously been planning this for some time.
They finished just before dark, and Cambria helped Egan place their sleeping bags in the tent before they arranged the packs and jackets inside. Cambria looked into the tent and looked at Egan.
“I thought this was a two-person tent.”
“It says ‘one to two-person.”
She nodded. Cambria wasn’t willing to believe that this was a mistake on his part.
“It’s going to get cold every night, and we can’t build a fire. You made it pretty clear last night that you don’t mind cuddling.
She elbowed him and he laughed, the rich sound echoing gently in the silence. If Cambria had been frightened of Egan, the vast emptiness of the mountain would have terrified her. But the more time she spent with him, the more she realized that he was the sweetest man she’d ever met.
A bright light flashed in the distance, and the following thunderclap was so loud that Cambria was certain that the ground shook beneath her feet. An instant later, the sky opened, bringing forth a deluge like nothing Cambria had seen in Florida. In that instant, they were both soaked to the skin. Cambria was about to climb in the tent when Egan stopped her.
“If we go in like this, we’ll soak all of our stuff and we’ll be miserable all night.”
He didn’t even let it sink in before he started pulling off his clothes, throwing them over a low-hanging branch. He took his boots off and turned them upside down, jamming them between a pair of branches before peaking his wet jeans off. Cambria watched him for a beat before she followed suit, though she left her bra and panties on. Soaked or not, she wasn’t getting into the tent naked with Egan.
Egan laughed at her as he slipped out of his underwear and hung them up with the rest of his clothes. He stepped into the tent, unzipping his sleeping bag and slipping inside. He unzipped hers for her, and began rummaging through his bag for dinner.
Cambria jumped into the sleeping bag and slid down until she was covered to her chin. She was already quite cold.
They ate in silence, but Egan watched Cambria closely the entire time. She was shivering now and then, though not as badly as when they’d first come inside. Her long hair was nearly dry, but wearing wet clothes wasn’t doing her any favors.
When she finished, Egan opened his sleeping bag.
“Come here.”
Cambria wanted to protest, but she was too cold to care. She slid out of her sleeping bag and into his. Egan reached around behind her, unclasping her bra and laying it flat on her sleeping bag to dry.
“Panties too,” he said, not giving her a chance to argue. Cambria peeled the wet fabric off, laying them beside her bra and zipping herself into Egan’s bag.
The storm raged on outside but Cambria didn’t care. Egan was warm, his sleeping bag nice and toasty compared to hers. He pulled her against him, rubbing his hands over her to chase away the cold.
She moved even closer, slipping her limbs between h
is until it was impossible to tell when she ended and he began.
Egan lay on his side, facing her. His arms were wrapped around her, holding her tightly. Her breasts squished against him and she could feel his arousal pressing against her leg. Everything in Cambria screamed that he was the enemy, a shifter and not to be trusted, but she pushed those thoughts aside.
Her entire life, she’d been told what to do and what to think. For once, she was going to follow her heart and think for herself
She ran her hand down his side, slowly stroking his hot skin. Her hands were still slightly cold, and the sensation caused him goosebumps wherever she touched him. Cambria heard his breath catch softly, but she ignored him. He’d been leading them for the last few days, she was ready to take the reins.
Her fingers traced a line to his hip, dipping down between their bodies to tease the flesh around his swelling manhood. Egan held perfectly still, his body almost rigid as she drew circles with her hands, moving closer but careful not to get too close.
Egan groaned, the need building inside him, even as he fought to control himself. He’d waited so long to have her, and he wasn’t going to spoil the moment.
She could feel him tense as he struggled to control himself, and she felt so empowered. He didn’t move to hurry her along, and he didn’t demand that she follow his lead. He simply let her move at her own pace, at the mercy of her whims.
A girl could get used to this, she thought.
Tiny fingers wrapped around his rigid shaft and he moaned softly in her ear. Her hands were warmer, but still chilly. The effect sent shivers through his body and Cambria delighted in the power she had over him. Slowly she stroked, squeezing and twisting until he started to move against her in spite of himself.
She let go of him, working her way back up his abdomen and chest. Lightening flashed and the tent lit up like daylight for a moment before plunging them into darkness once more. Egan caught her lips in his, kissing her slowly and deeply while she explored his taut muscles in the dark.
Egan stroked her back and shoulders, trying to hold on to his self-control while she leisurely explored every inch of his body. She moved against him, using her body to tease him as the storm raged around them.
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