And they clung to each other for what seemed like forever.
Chapter 8
It wasn’t quite dark when they finally walked back into the lodge, but the sky was well on its way there.
“I am going to soak in the tub until room service brings dinner,” Summer said as they waited for the elevator.
“I may join you,” Ethan said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close so he could kiss her temple. “For a little while there, I didn’t think we’d make it back.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, for a little while there, I didn’t either.” The elevator arrived, and they quietly boarded and rode in silence up to their floor. When the doors opened and they stepped out, Summer let out a little squeal as Ethan scooped her up in his arms. “Ethan! What on earth are you doing?”
“What I’ve wanted to do all day,” he said as he fumbled for the room key. Once they were inside, he let Summer slide down his body before backing her up against the wall and covering her mouth with his.
Summer wrapped her arms around him and felt Ethan’s hands roam up and down her body until they landed on her bottom. He gently squeezed and then lifted her until her legs wrapped around his waist. She purred and rubbed herself against him and almost cried out when he lifted his mouth from hers.
“All day,” he panted, kissing her cheek, her throat, “even when I was angry and scared about what was going on, all I could think about was making love to you.” And then his lips were back on hers, kissing her, loving her, devouring her.
“I wish you would have,” she said after some time. “When we fell asleep on that blanket, I dreamed of waking up and making love with you—out in the middle of the forest. It was a very sexy dream.”
“How about a very sexy reality?” he whispered, one hand coming up and cupping her breast. “We may not have the forest above us, but I can guarantee you it will be even better.”
“Guarantee?” she moaned as her back arched and her head ground against the wall.
“Guarantee,” he growled and carried her over to the bed. “Let me prove it.”
And he spent the next hour doing just that.
* * *
“Food’s here,” Ethan called out as he took the room service tray from the hotel waiter and closed the door.
Summer stepped out of the bathroom in her robe and her hair up in a towel. “I know it’s wrong to be eating a bacon cheeseburger at eleven o’clock at night, but that just adds to the appeal.” She giggled. “Is that wrong?”
“Definitely not,” he said and set the table for them.
Summer was walking across the room when she spotted her cell phone. “I really need to call Gabriella. She’s probably worried sick about where we are.” The light in the upper left corner was flashing, so she knew she’d either missed a call or a text. She scrolled the screen and frowned.
“What’s the matter?” Ethan asked.
“It looks like I missed a call from my dad, and Gabriella was trying to get in touch with me. A lot.” She looked up at Ethan. “I knew she’d be worried.”
“Did she leave a message?”
Holding up her hand, Summer dialed her voice mail and listened. And paled. “Oh my God.”
“What? What is it?” Ethan was immediately beside her as she sat down on the bed. “What happened?”
“I…I’m not sure. Something about Zach and the climb.” She quickly clicked out of voice mail and called Gabriella. “I don’t care how late it is, I have to know what’s going on.”
“Oh my God, Summer! Where are you? Are you all right?” Gabriella said as she answered the phone.
“Me? I’m fine. What’s going on? What happened?”
“Where have you been? I’ve been calling you all afternoon and all night! We were supposed to meet for dinner!”
Summer quickly relayed the events of the day, including their close call with the moose.
“Yikes. That must have been scary!”
“Oh, it was, it was. I’m sorry that we worried you. But what’s going on? Has something happened to Zach?”
Gabriella sighed. “Okay, there’s kind of bad news, bad news, and really bad news. Which do you want first?”
“Just tell me!” Summer demanded.
“Okay, the tour company called your father because…there’s been an accident on the mountain. We don’t have all the details yet.”
“Oh my God!” Summer cried. “What happened? Is Zach okay?”
“We don’t know yet. Once he hung up with the company, he tried calling Zach and Ethan. He didn’t know that Ethan had decided against going on the climb so I had to be the one to tell him that.”
“Oh no…”
“Then he said he couldn’t reach you on the phone, so I told him that I’d try, and then when I couldn’t get in touch with you after a couple of hours, I got really worried and…called your dad back.”
“What did you tell him?” A sense of dread swamped her.
“I told him everything. That we were here in Glacier Bay and so was Ethan and that the two of you had disappeared and I had no idea where you were!”
“You didn’t!”
“What was I supposed to do? The two of you were supposed to be back hours ago! For all I knew, something terrible had happened to you!”
Summer let out a breath. “Okay, okay. I get it. What did my father say?”
“Um…”
“Gabriella?”
“Let’s just say that he’s on his way to Alaska. With Ryder, James, and your uncle. And he’s not happy.”
“When is he arriving?”
“Well, I had no idea where you and Ethan were, so there wasn’t anything I could do to delay them, and they’re heading directly for Denali. I asked around with the concierge and found out that we can get a flight out of Juneau tomorrow that will take us there as well. It’s a tiny plane, but he said that flights go out of there regularly.”
Summer’s mind was spinning. Where was Zach? Was he hurt? What was she going to say to her father about her and Ethan?
“If you’d like, I can make the reservations for us for first thing in the morning. We’ll probably arrive the same time as your family.”
“You’re not on the clock, Gabs,” Summer said. “We can—”
“I’ve already talked to the concierge and so he has the information. I’ll just tell him to go ahead and get it scheduled. I’ll call you back in a little bit with the times.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Ethan had risen from the bed and had been pacing as Summer talked. When she finally hung up the phone, he stopped. “What happened?”
She told him what she knew. “We won’t know anything more until we get to Denali.” She paused. “I should probably call my father and give him one less thing to be freaking out about.”
“Do you want me to call him?”
She shook her head. “No. But he’ll probably want to talk to you anyway.”
“No doubt,” Ethan murmured and walked over to the table where their food was. Taking the lid off his plate, he grabbed his burger and took a bite. His appetite was pretty much shot, but he knew he needed to eat as a necessity, considering all they’d gone through that day and what they were going to be facing in the morning.
He couldn’t imagine what could have gone wrong on the mountain and could only pray that it didn’t have anything to do with Zach and the fact that his leg wasn’t fully healed.
He could hear Summer talking to her father and knew he’d better prepare himself for his turn on the phone. Robert Montgomery could be a real hard-ass at times, and Ethan had a sinking feeling that a lot of questions were about to be hurled at him and none of them were going to be pleasant.
“He wants to talk to you,” Summer said quietly as she held her phone out to him.
“Thanks,” h
e said with a weak smile and took the phone. “Hey, Robert.”
“You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do,” Robert Montgomery snapped. “Why the hell aren’t you on that climb with Zach? And what the hell are you doing with my daughter?”
Ethan took a steadying breath and stepped away from Summer. “I decided against going on the climb for a lot of reasons, Robert,” he began. “I realized my heart wasn’t really in it. I know I probably should have said something sooner, but…it didn’t really hit me until it was time to go.”
“Did you think Zach was ready for it? The climb? Because Summer thinks he wasn’t.”
“Honestly? I don’t. I think he needed more time to get in shape. His leg wasn’t fully healed no matter what he said.”
“And you couldn’t stop him?” Robert demanded. “You’re his best friend! Why didn’t you stop him?”
“Robert, I tried! Summer tried. He wouldn’t listen to anyone. You know how stubborn Zach is; he thinks he’s invincible.”
“No, you could have stopped him, and Summer should have. I know she has some training with that…yoga stuff she does. She should have talked to his doctor and made sure that Zach didn’t get clearance to go.”
“It’s not her fault, sir. Summer did everything she could to stop Zach. He wouldn’t listen.”
Robert grew silent. “And what about you, Ethan? What are you doing in Glacier Bay with my daughter?” His words were laced with barely concealed rage.
“I had no idea Summer and Gabriella were planning on coming here. I decided to stay in Alaska while Zach was on the climb and planned on meeting up with him when he was done. It was a complete surprise to see the two of them while we were all out whale watching. But…” he began hesitantly, “we’ve been spending time together. We were out hiking today.”
“Is that all it is? Just out hiking together, or are you messing around with my daughter?”
“I don’t think that’s something we need to talk about right now. What time are you arriving in Denali tomorrow?” It was a risk to blatantly change the subject, but Ethan felt it was necessary. He wasn’t going to be bullied by Summer’s father right now, no matter how much he loved her.
“This isn’t over, Ethan,” Robert said curtly. He gave Ethan their flight information and told him they’d talk more tomorrow before hanging up.
“Well, that went well,” Ethan murmured and handed the phone back to Summer. He sat down at the table and finished what was left of his dinner. He slouched down in his seat and looked over to where Summer was standing and held out his hand to her. “How are you doing?”
She took his hand and sat down next to him, a tear rolling down her cheek. “You know what’s funny? No one in my family takes me seriously most of the time. And now? Now all of a sudden I’m being blamed for not doing more to stop Zach because I knew his leg wasn’t ready for it. They all laughed at the idea of me studying yoga, and all of a sudden they believe in my skills. It’s crazy.” She wiped another tear away, but they began falling in earnest.
Ethan reached out and pulled her onto his lap and held her close while she cried. “It’s going to be all right,” he said quietly. “Everyone’s just upset right now. He just wasn’t thinking.”
“Yes he was,” she said against his shoulder. “My father’s always thinking. He thinks it’s my fault that Zach’s hurt.”
“We don’t know that he’s hurt, Summer. We just know something went wrong. And even if he is hurt, it’s not your fault.”
Summer rested her head on his shoulder for another minute and then reached out and snagged a french fry from his plate. Ethan helped her off his lap and into her own chair. Uncovering her plate, she began to pick at her food.
“You really should eat. It’s been a long day, and I’m sure we’re going to have to be out of here early tomorrow to meet up with everyone in Denali.”
“I know you’re right.” She took a couple of bites of her burger and even managed to eat a couple of fries before Gabriella called back. Ethan took the call while she sat back and listened. He hung up a minute later. “Well?”
“We’ve got a seven a.m. flight. A car will be here to pick us up at five thirty. We need to get everything packed up tonight and try to get some sleep.”
Summer nodded and knew that no matter how hard she tried, sleep was going to be elusive tonight.
* * *
Summer was ready to scream by the time the plane finally came to a halt the next morning. Never had a flight seemed so long to her. There was a car waiting for them as soon as they stepped down, and within minutes, their luggage was loaded and they confirmed that the rest of the Montgomerys were scheduled to land within the hour. Robert had requested that Ethan, Summer, and Gabriella go on ahead of them to meet up with the head of the tour company.
Ethan had been particularly quiet during the flight. He had made several calls from the airport but managed to keep it quiet and didn’t talk about them once he hung up. But now that they were finally close to their destination, her curiosity got the better of her and she needed to know exactly what they were getting themselves into.
“Has there been any news?” Summer asked as the car pulled away from the airport. Ethan didn’t look at her, and his silence spoke louder than any words could. “Ethan?”
He turned toward her, his expression grim. “A brief message came through. Several climbers…fell. The transmission ended after that and, unfortunately, the weather is too unstable to get a helicopter up to them yet. All we can do is wait.” The look of utter devastation on Summer’s face was almost more than he could bear. He was just about to speak when Gabriella interrupted.
“Well, that’s not good enough, dammit!” Sitting up straighter, she reached for her executive bag, pulled out her tablet, and began researching emergencies like this. “What kind of company can’t keep a signal with its people? How could several climbers fall? What weather conditions prevent professionals from keeping everyone safe?”
“It was a freak storm,” he said dejectedly. “No one saw it coming.”
“But they are professionals,” Gabriella countered as she tossed her tablet aside on the car seat. “They are supposed to be prepared for things like this. How could this have happened?” Gabriella hated the tremble in her voice, hated that they were there and had to deal with this at all. Most of all, she hated not being in control.
“We won’t know until they can get up there and rescue them. Getting angry isn’t going to help matters, Gabriella. You’ll need to remember that when we meet up with the tour people.”
She glared at him. “I’m not going to sit back and be fed a line of bull, Ethan,” she snapped. “If something doesn’t sound right, you can be sure I’m going to speak up. Zach deserves to have us all down here fighting to get him the hell out of there and make sure he’s safe.”
Summer had been sitting back and listening for as long as she could before her own temper flared. “That’s enough!” she yelled and then took a moment to let everyone calm down. “We’re all a little freaked out right now, but arguing amongst ourselves isn’t helping anything. Let’s go meet with these people and ask them what we want to ask and go from there, okay?” Ethan and Gabriella both nodded. The remainder of the drive passed in silence.
Once they arrived at the tour company’s office, however, the three of them walked into a loud, chaotic scene that only got louder once they all started asking questions. Summer’s head was spinning with all of the commotion, and finally Ethan let out a loud whistle to get everyone’s attention.
“I’m Ethan Reed and I’m looking for Mike Rivera!” Several things happened at once: the noise level went down a bit and a tall, harried-looking man stepped forward and held his hand out to Ethan. “Mike?” Ethan ventured a guess.
“Good to meet you, Ethan. I’m sorry about the circumstances.” He nodded to the opposite side of the room. “Let�
��s go into my office where it’s a little quieter.” Without thinking, Ethan took Summer’s hand and pulled her along with him. Gabriella followed behind them. When they were all seated in the office, Mike sat down behind his desk and addressed them all. “Is the rest of your family on the way?” he asked, and Ethan nodded. “I cannot even begin to imagine what you’re feeling, but let me tell you that we are doing everything we can to get to the team.”
“When will that happen?” Ethan asked.
“We’re working with a team of meteorologists right now to figure out when our best chance is of getting up there and getting everyone out before the weather turns again.”
“And what are they predicting?”
“The window of time we need and the window of time where there’s a break in the weather aren’t working to our advantage. We need two to three hours to get up to where the team is, evaluate injuries, get everyone loaded on the helicopters, and get back down. Right now, we’re looking at weather conditions that are only going to allow us maybe an hour to get it all done.”
“Can’t you at least try to go and get the injured climbers?” Summer asked. “By waiting, you could be endangering the lives of those who are injured even more than they already are.”
Mike shook his head. “Our experts are evaluating—”
“You could drop off supplies for the rest of the team,” Summer interrupted. “Get them blankets, food, and working communication equipment.”
“I can understand your concern, Miss…”
“Montgomery. My brother Zach is up on that mountain. All of this waiting isn’t cutting it, Mr. Rivera. We need to get someone up there now. You’ve already lost an entire day with your waiting-for-the-weather tactic. You need to take action!”
“Summer,” Ethan warned.
“No, I’m serious!” she cried. “If climbers are injured and the weather is treacherous, then you need to be doing something actively right now to get them out!”
Mike Rivera looked to Ethan for help. “Summer,” Ethan began patiently. “They know what they’re doing. They need to make sure no one else gets hurt; you can’t just send people out into a storm.”
Meant for You Page 12
