Lindsay and I exchanged a glance before we both rushed to her side. I got to her first, dropping into a crouch and discreetly checking her for injuries while I spoke. “Hey, sweetheart. Do you speak English? What happened? Are you okay?”
She shook her head, her lower lip trembling as she answered Lindsay instead of me. “I got lost. I can’t find my mom or dad anywhere.”
Her voice was heavily accented with an Australian lilt, but at least she understood us. Lindsay gave me a worried look before lowering to her haunches next to me. “Where did you last see them?”
“They were asking about the waterfalls at one of the kiosks. I didn’t mean to go so far away from them.”
“Can you remember which way you came from?” I asked. “Were you going uphill or downhill?”
“Down.” Her lip trembled again. “But there’s a fork just up there and I can’t remember which way to go.”
“That’s okay,” Lindsay said soothingly. “This is Jaxon and I’m Lindsay. You did the right thing by just standing still when you realized you were that lost.”
“We’ll help you find your parents,” I said. “What’s your name?”
“Tammy.” Her voice shook. “I’m not supposed to speak to strangers.”
“I understand,” I said. “We’re not going to hurt you, okay? There are a lot of people out here even though we seem pretty alone at the moment. Neither of us will lay a hand on you, and if you feel unsafe with us at all, you can scream and scream. Someone will definitely hear you and come help.”
“How do I know you won’t stop me from screaming?” she asked.
Smart kid.
Shifting on my heels, I extracted my phone from my pocket. “Do you know your parents’ cell number?”
She nodded and I handed the device over after unlocking it. “Call them and ask them where they are. You can talk to them while we walk. How does that sound?”
“Good.” She sniffed, already dialing a foreign number.
When her parents answered and heard her voice, they were so frantic that I could hear them from a couple of feet away. Tammy explained what had happened and whose phone she was using, then gave us the name of the hut they’d returned to when they couldn’t find her.
Apparently, they’d already called for help.
Unzipping the backpack, I found the map we’d gotten at the bottom of the trail and quickly located the hut. I couldn’t pinpoint our exact location, but I gave Tammy the name of the trail we were on, and she relayed the information.
Five minutes later as we were heading up the hill, a tear-streaked couple came running around the corner and swept the little girl up in their arms. They thanked us profusely for taking care of their daughter and left shortly after to call off the help they’d summoned from the authorities and search-and-rescue.
“You’re actually quite good with children,” Lindsay commented once we were alone on the path again.
“I don’t like seeing people looking lost or hurt.” I raised my shoulders and pushed my hair off my face. “It was nothing really. Just coming up with a plan to let her know she was safe with us until we could find her parents.”
“It might have been nothing to you, but it meant everything to them.” A thoughtful expression came onto her face before she looked up at me with a mischievous smile forming on her lips. “Come with me.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, following her when she disappeared off the trail and wound her way through the wide trunks of the trees surrounding it.
“I want to do something spontaneous,” she called.
When I walked around the tree her voice had come from, she was topless and in the process of shimmying out of her pants. My jaw slackened as I drank her in, raking my gaze over her nearly naked chest and all the curves on display.
My dick stirred again, and this time, I didn’t ignore it. A grin spread on my lips as I took the step separating us and pushed her up against the tree. “I thought you weren’t a fan of sex in public.”
“So did I.” She smirked as she pushed her hands under my shirt, her fingertips trailing along my abdomen. “But seeing you in white-knight mode was seriously hot. I didn’t think you’d object to me having a change of heart about it.”
“Keep your sneakers on,” I growled as I bent my head to nip and lick at her neck.