Explosive Attraction - By Lena Diaz Page 0,6

jerk in what he thought was a nod.

He lowered his hand.

“What do we do?” she whispered.

The fear in her voice had him looking at her face. She was deathly pale beneath the splotches of mud smeared across her skin, but she wasn’t falling apart in a sea of tears as he would have expected. She was tougher than she looked.

“I’ll have to shoot it,” he whispered back, already hating what he had to do. They were both in this gator’s territory and she was probably just as scared as Darby.

He snaked his right arm beneath him in the mud to his holster. Empty. He swore. “My gun’s gone.” He could only hope it was lost in the marsh, not in the hands of the man he’d handcuffed seconds before the crash.

“Can you call for help?” Darby whispered, her terrified gaze locked on the gator.

“My phone’s waterlogged. Already tried. How bad are you hurt?”

“I think I can run, if that’s your real question.”

“Then I guess we’re going to run. Not straight, though. That gator is faster than we are, but only in a straight line. We’ll have to zigzag to have any chance at outrunning her.”

“Her?”

“Most likely. That mound of mud she’s on looks like a nest. She’s protecting her young.”

The gator hissed again, and swished her massive tail as if preparing to charge. Rafe circled his left arm around Darby’s waist and braced his right hand beneath him. The gator was too close to give them time to stand and run. This was going to be close, very close.

“We’re going to roll to the right on the count of three. No matter what we hit or roll through, keep rolling until I stop you, understand?”

She cringed as the hissing got louder. “Okay,” she squeaked, her voice so low he barely heard her.

“One, two, three!” He jerked her out of the mud, rolling her body with his out of the gator’s path.

The alligator charged, its snapping jaws narrowly missing Darby. She screamed again and clung to Rafe. He rolled over and over with her clasped to his body until they were a good twenty feet from the gator. He jumped to his feet, lifting her out of the mud and grabbing her hand. The gator turned and came at them again. Rafe yanked Darby’s hand and they zigzagged out of the gator’s path.

Another hiss and a splash sounded behind them.

Rafe looked back but didn’t see the gator anymore. He pulled Darby to the left, just in case, keeping up their zigzagging pattern as they ran through the marsh into the surrounding cover of trees.

“I think we lost her.” He slowed since Darby was gasping for breath and struggling to keep up, stumbling every few steps.

She immediately stopped and collapsed onto the ground. “I can’t run anymore,” she gasped, her chest heaving. “My feet, my...everything.” She closed her eyes, drawing in deep, shaky breaths.

Rafe drew a few choppy breaths himself, adrenaline surging through his body. He took a good look around, feeling naked without his gun. He couldn’t see the water now. They were deep in the marsh, with spindly oaks and palms surrounding them. But they were still in gator territory, not to mention water moccasin territory. This time of year snakes were in abundance, and could be hiding just about anywhere for an unwary foot to find.

Even more of a worry was the man he’d handcuffed. A determined man might be able to contort himself enough to work his cuffed hands over his rear and his legs to get his hands in front of him, which meant he’d be able to use that gun if he found it. Rafe had looked for him right after the crash, but he’d abandoned his search when he heard the gator hissing and realized Darby was in trouble.

He glanced around one more time before crouching next to Darby. She’d mentioned her feet hurt, and he could see why. The high heels she’d been wearing earlier were long gone and the bottoms of her feet were scraped and bleeding. No telling what she’d stepped on while fleeing across the marsh. The mud could hide anything from oyster shells to broken beer bottles. At the very least, she probably needed a tetanus shot.

“I’ll carry you. There should be some houses close by.” He put an arm around her waist, but she grimaced in pain.

He immediately let her go and gently lifted her suit jacket, frowning at the splotches of blood darkening her side. His hands tightened