Sunset Flare

by Shannyn Leah

  “Fine.” She threw her hands in the air. “You win. By default.”

  He stared at her.

  “What are you waiting for? Get in. The faster we leave, the faster I can get the hell away from you.”

  Mission accomplished. Easier than he’d expected. He’d been prepared to jump on the hood if she decided to mow him down.

  Foolish girl.

  Heading to the passenger’s side, he snatched his now dust-coated shirt from the ground and pulled it over his head.

  He grasped the door handle, only to find it locked.

  Damn woman.

  He knocked on the window and yanked the handle. “Izzy....?”

  “Who’s the popsicle now?” She shouted through the rolled up window, a snicker on her lips, purpose in her eyes. The tires spun, spewing gravel and dust behind them as, once again, she planned on taking off.

  Crazy Caliendo!

  He pounded his fists on the roof of the car, hearing a little scream from her open window. Taking advantage of her distractions, he dashed to her side of the vehicle, and he stuck his hand in the window, grabbing the steering wheel at the same time her foot pressed on the gas.

  “Stop it! Gunner!” Slaps and grunts greeted him. “You’re going to kill us both.”

  Her foot applied more pressure to the pedal and his feet stumbled, but he managed to keep up with her. “Pull over.”

  “No.” Her shriek was deafening.

  He reached in to pull the keys out of the ignition. She swatted his hands and pounded on his arm. Her hand jerked the wheel and he jerked it back. The battle proceeded as they advanced to the end of the driveway. Once she turned onto the straight road ahead he would surely lose her and be stuck in the middle of nowhere for the night. But as they approached the end of the driveway, lights of another car flashed, zooming straight in front of them.

  Izzy screamed.

  Gunner winced.

  Luckily Popsicle had enough instinct to crank the wheel away from smashing directly into the other vehicle. Not so lucky for Gunner, the force sent him flying from the car.

  He skidded across the gravel, tumbling and rolling to a stop. Shooting to his hands and knees, he watched Izzy’s car veer away from the driveway. Scrambling to his feet, he watched in horror as the car plummeted down the ditch. The other car sped off leaving him no time to question what another vehicle had been doing on Caliendo property. He heard the crunch and caught sight of the back end of Izzy’s vehicle jerk abruptly.

  Impelled down the ditch, his feet did a rocky slide that coordinated with his hammering heart. He yanked on the door but found it still locked.

  Shit.

  Taking a quick glance inside, he sighed with relief that the seat buckle was still strapped across Izzy’s chest. However, she lay unmoving. Reaching through the open window, Gunner unlocked the door, and jerked it open only to have it smack against the dirt hill.

  He cursed.

  “Izzy, hey.” Back through the window, he turned her face to look at him. Her eyebrows squinted together, and then her eyes blinked as she began to wake up. His hands roamed over her shoulders, checking her arm for any indication she may have injured herself. As far as he could tell, she hadn’t damaged anything.

  “There was a car.” Her strangled voice pushed passed her lips, low and jagged.

  “I saw it.”

  “No one comes down here.” Her eyes still hadn’t fully opened. “It’s private property, gated off.”

  More than likely it had probably been local teens fooling around. Had it been her family, they would have stopped at the sight of another car.

  “Don’t worry about the car. How are you feeling?”

  “Like you forced me off the road and I totalled my car.”

  A smile stole his lips at her sarcasm.

  “Your body. How’s your body?”

  She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. He ignored the rise and fall of her breasts through her still damp shirt. “I’m fine.”

  “Can you move your arms?”

  She lifted both arms demonstrating their working condition.

  “Your legs?”

  She sighed. “Aren’t you more concerned about the car blowing up?”

  Panic flooded him. “Why? Do you smell gas?” He hadn’t smelled gas, but his thoughts had been focused on her safety.

  “Car explosions always happen in the movies. Limbs flying everywhere.”

  He chuckled. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  “I’m tired. Maybe I could sleep and you could drive us home. I’m sorry I tried to leave you. I wouldn’t have turned around.” His lip rose at her blunt honesty, but her fatigued state worried him. “I might have told Anton.” She sighed. “But, not likely...” Her eyes swept closed.

  “Izzy, no.” He grabbed her chin to face him. “Hey, you stay awake with me. Do you hear me?”

  Her perfectly primed, gorgeously arched eyebrows, knitted together. Her eyes peeked open. “Of course I hear you, you’re shouting at me.”

  “You might have a concussion. Don’t go to sleep, okay? Stay with me.”

  He reached across and unbuckled her. With the snap of release, she caught his arm and her confused brown eyes were suddenly mere inches from his. “Why do you care? I was leaving you here.”

  You’re erratic. Impulsive. Your spur of the moment gets you into trouble and after the fact...I think you regret it.

  He didn’t say any of those unfiltered thoughts. “You’re not dying on my watch, Caliendo.”

  “Oh...” She broke their eye contact with a sigh of what sounded like a whole lot of disappointment that didn’t settle well with him.

  “Come on,” he grunted.

  She squeezed his arm. “Maybe underneath your wall of bad attitude you’re just a nice guy.” Her hand loosened. “I know all about building walls.”

  He’d never been a “good” guy. Maybe he hadn’t been nasty back in the day, but he’d been damn selfish.

  “Do you think you can climb through the window?” At her small nod, he clutched her under her arms, and supported her weak body as she balanced onto her feet like a confused child. He pulled her almost limp upper torso out the window and then dragged out her legs. Her feet dropped to the ground with a soft thud. He steadied her, but her knees buckled and his arm caught her waist.

  “I got you.” Her head aligned against his chest, one arm around his neck, and the other hand dropped at her side. At the top of the ditch, he sat her on the ground. She wavered slightly, her hands rested shakily on the grass at her sides, keeping her somewhat upright.

  “Wait here,” he said.

  Izzy hands flew forward, desperately grabbing handfuls of his shirt. Her eyes widened, obliterating her hazy stare and, instead, filling with panic. “Where are you going?”

  Gently wrapping his hands around hers, he rubbed warmth across them to ease her reaction. “You’re shivering, still wet and we’re without reception. We’re spending the night here. I’m assuming the cabin doesn’t have anything usable so I’m checking your car for clothes, blankets, food...anything we can use for the night.”

  Her grip tightened as she scrambled against her unwilling feet to stand. “No, no, no,” she repeated.

  “Izzy...” He gripped her shoulders, planning to reason with her, but her name hardly passed his lips before her frenzied fingernails were clawing through his shirt. He winced as the sharp points scraped his skin. Her mumbling, incoherent sentences continued while her frantic movements knocked them both off balance.

  “I just want to go home. Can’t we reverse the car? Or walk. I can walk. I will walk. Let’s go back and get the canoe. I can’t stay here.”

  Her hands wrapped around him, clutching his neck with a deadly grip, her chin painfully digging into his shoulder. His gut told him her uncontrollable shivers against his body had nothing to do with the damp clothes she wore or her soggy hair tangling across his face. She clung to him like a wet cat.

  Gunner didn’t pry
about her reaction. Demanding crucial information about her past at this point would be useless and her past wasn’t his business. But he could relate to fear, he recognized it, understood it. While he hid from the world in the seclusion of the woods, Izzy dodged away from the solitude. The signs were all there. Her reaction when they’d stopped the canoe at the camp, her jerky movements at every sound and her reaction now topped the cake. Something had happened to her in the confinements of the woods. Her reaction could be over-exaggerated after the accident, but, regardless, she was petrified.

  Against his better judgement, he wrapped his arms around her, petting the back of her hair and consoling her. For a long while they stood together as one, but he didn’t speak until her shivers no longer raked at her body and only a slight, cool tremble remained.

  When her breathing steadied, he asked, “How far is the drive from here to your house?”

  “Twenty minutes.”

  That was likely over a five-hour walk.

  “How did your car get here?”

  “It’s not my car...”

  He pulled away to look at her. “What do you mean it’s not your car? Whose car is it?”

  “Carl’s.”

  Gunner groaned. “We just smashed up your dad’s car?”

  “I didn’t want them driving my car. I like my car too much to plough it down these gravel side roads. I had a couple of employees drop Carl’s off for me. They do this every year.”

  “With Carl’s car?” She nodded. “And he doesn’t notice?”

  “If he does, he’s never said anything. They’ll come back before sunrise to pick it—us—up.”

  A couple of employees weren’t going to do it. They would need a tow truck to rescue Carl’s car.

  “If we start walking to your house now, we’ll arrive at about the same time as they get back from here. It’s smarter and safer to stay here and wait for morning. We have shelter and we can build a fire.” Although sleeping in the cabin seemed almost as dangerous, they needed to get out of their wet clothes.

  “I can’t.”

  “I live in the woods. You’re safe with me,” he assured her.

  “I don’t even know you.”

  Gunner cupped the side of her face. “Maybe not, but I promise, you’re safe with me. No harm will come to you while I’m here. You have my word.”

  Izzy covered his hand with hers. He felt her soft thumb mindlessly rubbing his skin, and watched as she mulled over his words. Finally she gave a curt nod and said, “Okay...and thank you.”

  Her teeth clamped on her bottom lip as her eyes dropped to his mouth. Without looking back at him, she leaned in and gently caressed his lips in a light kiss. It wasn’t long, or aggressive, didn’t demand anything in return and, when they pulled apart, he grinned at her and whispered, “That wasn’t code for sex.”

  She let out a breathy chuckle and another shiver. He needed to build them a fire to dry by, but first he needed to see what supplies Carl kept in his car.

  Chapter Sixteen

  PAST HER THROBBING head, Izzy felt a swoosh of dizziness whenever she moved. She never moved far away from the fire Gunner built outside, or more specifically, the man himself and the safety net he promised.

  He thought she was crazy, but who didn’t? And since when did what other people thought about her matter anyway? Right now, she felt as crazy as he, no doubt, pictured her.

  “When I was young, I got lost in these woods.”

  Why did she say that out loud? Who cares what he thinks? But she did.

  She pulled the blanket he’d retrieved out of the car tighter around her shoulders. She only wore her bra and underwear beneath while her clothes dried by the fire.

  She glanced over the rippling muscles of his bare shoulders, reminding Izzy what her hands felt like gripping those biceps. She knew he only wore his briefs underneath the towel wrapped around his waist. The heat stirred desire inside her and coated her fear with his presence.

  She tore her eyes away and kept talking. “It’s not a secret or anything. I mean, the entire town came together to search the woods for me. These woods.” She paused as a rush of emotion washed over her.

  Breathe.

  “I guess I’m just jumpy in the woods.” She didn’t dare look at him, but felt his stare burning into her soul.

  “How long were you gone?”

  Izzy shrugged. “I don’t know. It was a long time ago. I don’t talk about it anymore. I don’t even really think about it.” She glanced at him then, and his one raised eyebrow indicated he didn’t believe her. “What?” she snapped.

  “Your living quarters is surrounded by brush.”

  “So?”

  “So, you’re telling me, after the reaction you had earlier, that you never think about it?” Each sarcastic, critical word out of his mouth tore down a brick from the safety wall he offered.

  “Yes.” Her curt answer would normally end most conversations. Apparently, Gunner didn’t take the hint.

  “What happened while you were missing?”

  “What do you think happened? I wandered.”

  “You wandered?”

  “What is this? The third degree? An interrogation?”

  “You tell me.” He looked at the flickering fire, mixing the coals about with a stick. “You’re the one lying. Why even bring it up just to lie about it?”

  Point for Gunner. Irritating.

  “Need I remind you, you don’t even know me enough to analyze me or know whether I’m lying or not.”

  “I don’t have to know you after witnessing your panic attack at the thought of being stuck here.” He straightened, and leaned the stick against a log he’d rolled over to sit on. He folded his arm across his chest, finishing the interrogation look.

  Hot, he looked hot.

  Focus, Izzy.

  “Either something horrendous happened to you in those woods while you were lost or...”

  “Or what?”

  “You tell me.”

  “You want to know what happened, go read the archived newspapers like everyone else. My life is an open book.”

  Izzy turned away and leaned closer to the fire.

  “Jerk.”

  From her peripheral vision, she could make out the side view of his handsome face. After stripping away his resting bitch face and rigid body, his handsomeness shone through. He seemed relaxed while she felt frantic. If only his tranquil confidence would ease her agitated nerves.

  She hadn’t realized she’d begun to stare again until Gunner stood, letting the towel fall to the ground. He stood wearing only his briefs.

  She felt her mouth drop open as she watched the fire’s shadows flicker down the length of his muscular, toned frame. Scars, that had to have once been deep, travelled the parts of him he usually kept covered. She hadn’t noticed them in the hot tub. Everything had happened too fast, rushed, with no real exploration. Everything about him distracted her long enough for him to step away from the fire.

  Panic rose up in her chest, cutting off her air supply, clouding her throat shut and suffocating her.

  “Gunner!” Her cry came out strangled as she leapt to her feet and bounded toward him, grabbing his arm. “Where are you going?” The second sentence sounded clearer.

  “To the bush.”

  “You can’t leave me here. I’m sorry. It was a long time ago. I would rather not talk about it and drudge up what happened.”

  Oh lord, she was begging. When had she become so desperate?

  He touched her hand, a soothing gesture not lost on her. “I’m not leaving you here. I’m taking a leak. The bathroom inside the shack isn’t in working condition.”

  “Oh...”

  “I’m going to the edge of the bush, but I won’t take my eyes off of you.”

  Izzy scrutinized the blackened open area. She shuddered at the thought of someone lingering in the bush. Only such speculations were that of a silly little girl’s imagination, created under exceptionally bizarre circumstances. N
ot her. Not anymore.

  “I’m going to come with you.”

  “Izzy...”

  Her world crashed before her. How could she argue with this man and win? He didn’t understand. After being lost, she’d spent her life out of these woods and now, here she stood, foggy from the accident, exhausted from the walk, and cold from the water.

  “It was horrible—” The words were out before she could stop them. “—and it took me years, like ten years, to go back into a bush. And never alone. Never on this property. I only started going to the camp to spite Robert. My anger at him drove me, overrode my fear. Plus, I had Abby, and she never left me alone in a bush. Never. And now, I’m here, with you. Tired, cold, and...” She took a deep breath, loudly blowing it out. “I’m terrified, alright? I said it. Strong, fearless Izzy is scared. There was someone on this property today. You saw the car. No one drives on Caliendo property. So just take me. I won’t look. I promise.”

  Izzy felt heat rise in her cheeks and hoped the darkness prevented him from knowing how embarrassed she felt. She’d already seen everything he’d had to offer and had even gone back for seconds.

  “Fine,” he huffed. “And while we’re there you can go pee, too.”

  Pee in a bush? First of all, gross. Second, did he not hear a word she’d just said? He would have to watch her pee in a bush to make sure her imaginary fear didn’t swallow her whole.

  Izzy let go of his arm and made a face. “Don’t be disgusting. I’m not peeing in a bush. Gross. Grass on my butt and ants on the ground. I have my dignity.”

  “Clearly.” He moved around her and picked the blanket up, tossing it at her. “Wrap yourself up in this.”

  In that moment, Izzy remembered only her white lace bra and underwear covered her body.

  Lovely.

  “Just lead the way, woodsman.”

  Gunner obeyed her and moved straight to the edge of the bush. Her ears strained in every direction, her eyes flickering to each noise, and her heart thundering so loudly she was shocked she could hear anything.

  “Izzy? Do you think I could have my arm back?”