LOST WITH YOU - Lisa Ann Verge Page 0,37
dangerous, post-sex. The less chattering they did, the better. She didn’t want to hear words like expectation or commitment, even if he’d been referring only to the expedition.
Her fingers danced down the front of his shorts and found what she was looking for. With a groan, he stopped her exploration by digging a hand under her knees and hauling her off the log. Dappled sun hit her eyes as he carried her high, as he stepped across the clearing toward what, she didn’t know, until the bark of a tree bit roughly into her back. Dylan dropped her legs and pinned his hard body against hers for leverage. He fumbled between them, and soon her shorts hit the ground. He captured her mouth, and all she was aware of was the warm sun, the fresh air, and the man hauling her bare legs apart to fix her knees around his waist.
No, this thing between them, it wasn’t about commitment. It wasn’t about expectations.
She had nothing to worry about at all.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Seventeen Days Out
Dylan took what comfort he could in the knowledge that a map of the terrain was developing in his head. The forest he and Casey had been exploring for six straight days tended to funnel them northwest rather than northeast, as he’d hoped. Whenever they ventured more easterly, they kept coming upon a marshy area he was sure bootleggers wouldn’t portage across, considering the weight of the crates of whiskey they’d carry and the softness of the ground. Every other direction led to a thicket of impenetrability. But today, he’d woken up with new determination. He’d kept mum about his upcoming plans as he chose the path he’d mapped earlier, the one that brought them the farthest. He didn’t want to debate his decision with his flagging partner. But now that sundown was sifting through the trees, she’d gone dead silent. They were still far from their original camp. Unable to hide his intentions any longer, he came to a stop not far from the trickle of a stream, bracing himself for an argument as he turned to her.
She’d tucked her hands under the straps of her pack. Her flushed face shone with exertion, and the skin of her cheekbones pulled tight with weariness. But her brown eyes showed no weakness as she looked up at him, full of questions. She was so beautiful right now, so damn strong. He kept thinking she’d reach a breaking point, but the woman had a will of steel. He wasn’t lost in these woods, but he sure as hell was lost in her.
She said, “Dylan?”
“We’re not going back to the old camp tonight.” He kept his voice easy and even. “Instead, we’re camping here.”
There it was, a flash of panic, though she squelched it with a quick swallow.
She said, “I can walk more today. We still have time—”
“Better to save our strength and set out tomorrow.”
She strangled the straps of her backpack. “We’re lost.”
“No.” His fingers itched to wipe a faint smear of dirt off of her cheek. “But if we were, wouldn’t that be good? You said trouble makes for good copy.”
Her jaw quivered, though she held it tight. “I need some truth here, Dylan.”
“We’re not lost.” She was terrified but trying to hide it, so he spoke the truth with conviction. “I know exactly where we are.”
She nodded, swallowing hard again. Her elbows shifted as she adjusted the weight of the pack on her back. “So the northern river network is farther away than you think.”
She was a ninja at deflection and distraction. “Technically, it shouldn’t be more than a day’s walk from Owl’s Head Rock. Portages aren’t usually that long. But we’re covering more area than we would need to, in search of some sign of the path.”
“You think that if we camp here tonight, we can venture farther tomorrow and maybe find a marker.”
“A river,” he corrected. “I figure if we find a river, any river, we can then follow it back to map the most direct route between the two river systems.”
“You’re giving up the idea of finding markers?”
He didn’t want to answer that, but he frowned and nodded. They were days off schedule, and there was no going back. If they didn’t find the northern river network soon and finish the trail, his family would be worried.
She shrugged the pack off her back. Relief sifted through him. Dylan figured that Garrick, in the same situation, would have eventually agreed, but not without a lot more