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  “Okay then, it’s going to take us at least a full day of hiking to get back to the Park Service. So let’s see what we can use here and head out,” I say to her. Trying to remain calm and not show her how anxious I am as I glance around the campsite. Her felon was prepared for a damn war. The Gessatti’s must have really had him running scared.

  “I need to take the body with me, or I don’t get my fee,” she whispers. I look up at her, shocked. She’s worrying about getting a dead man out of the woods and I’m concerned with getting her out alive. Really?

  “Shit Kel, I’ll give you the damn money, I need to get you out of here safe and alive. Especially with those two fuck ups still out there. They blew up our helicopter for Christ sake. They aren’t playing around. Turning her back to me, I see her shoulders shake.

  Stepping towards her, I wrap my arms around her. She turns to me, tears threatening to spill down her face. I kiss her forehead like I used to when we were younger. She immediately pushes me away, trying to back away from my embrace. Her defenses go up.

  “This is about the reputation of our business Mitch. My father and I have worked hard on it. If I come back empty handed, no one will take me seriously. I’m a woman. It’s already hard for them to think I can handle myself.” Bringing my hand up, I stroke her cheek, and lower my mouth to hers. Ten long years I’ve waited to taste her again. Licking along her lips, she sighs, her mouth opening, inviting me in. Devouring her, I thrust my tongue into her mouth, kissing her, tasting her. My other hand pulls her body tighter against me as I shift my hips. She moans between our mouths and I squeeze her ass, knowing full well she can feel my erection between our bodies. She wraps her arms around my neck, fingers lacing through my hair. I pull back, looking into those beautiful brown eyes and they seem to be losing some of their iciness. As suddenly as the kiss happened, she’s backing away again. Before I can react, her hand flies up, slapping me across the face. Standing there dumbfounded, I hold my jaw.

  “What the hell was that for?” I ask her.

  “I’m not a god damn toy for you and your brother to play with! I’ve spent ten years trying to forget you. You can’t just waltz in here and kiss me like that. Especially at a time like this. Do your job Mitchell and get me out of here!” Storming away from me, she begins digging through bags near a tree. There is a stab of pain in my chest. I watch as she lays a few guns and grenades down. Shaking my head, I turn towards the boxes of food this guy stored. I lay out some cans of vegetables and beans, a loaf of bread, peanut butter and some jelly. This guy must have planned on being out here a long time. He has a whole house full of things here. Reaching into the large crated box, I dig around in the food. Underneath a pile of cans, I find a large duffel bag. It’s heavy. Opening it, I quickly determine that it needs to go with us. I heft it out of the box and throw it over my shoulder.

  A backpack lands on the ground next to me and I look up. Guns strapped to both her legs, and a shoulder holster, Kel looks like one sexy as sin warrior. She has a backpack thrown over her shoulder and looks towards the sky.

  “I have two blankets in here, in case we get caught out here tonight. I also have four grenades, these guns and two extras for you. They aren’t like your Sig, but should work if we need them. I say we find these assholes and get them, then worry about getting out of these woods.” She lays down two Ruger SR9’s.

  “Hey, how come you got the Glocks and I get these pea shooters?” I ask, trying to joke with her, hoping to lighten the mood. A wise person once told me, ‘You want to get laid, tell a woman she’s hot. You want to fall in love, make her laugh’. It’s true. Kel and I used to laugh all the time and we were in love. I know that the kind of love we had can’t just disappear like she did. It’s got to be in there somewhere and I plan to find it.

  “Because I’m more comfortable with Glocks seeing as how that’s what I was carrying. Stop whining like a bitch and let’s get moving. You may want to grab that can opener and rope too, since we’ll need to open the food and we need to tie up these jerks when we find them.” She stalks away, picking up a few bowls, cups and bottles of water on the way. Stuffing them in her pack, she zips it, throwing it over both shoulders and stands there watching me. I hurry to finish packing the join her. She’s determined and I know there’s no fighting her. She wants these assholes and I’m going to help her get them.

  “Okay genius, where do we go?” I ask her.

  “Seeing as how they blew up the copter, how much you want to bet they are somewhere near there, waiting to ambush us? Like we’re stupid enough to come running? They had to have seen the news copter.”

  “Really? You think that even with seeing the other copter land that they’re still waiting?” I ask her. They may not be smart, but they aren’t that stupid and there’s no way of them knowing that we weren’t all on it.

  “What do you suggest Mr. Ranger man?” Her voice is loaded with sarcasm, but it makes me smile.

  “I think they want the money your felon hid, so they’re going to look for his camp site. I say we hide near those rocks over there, and draw them to us.” I point to the pile of rocks between the trees and the creek water. I can see her thinking about it. Grabbing her hand, I leave her no options. I drag her towards the rocks and deposit my bags. Leaving her there, I run back to the clearing and try to restart the fire this guy had going earlier. As it starts to flame, I throw a log and one of the bloody shirts we used on her father over the flames. This causes a thick smoke to billow into the air. I hurry back to her, and hunker down.

  “Now what?” she asks quietly, leaning into my ear. I can feel her warm breath on my neck.

  “Now we wait Sugar. Got any ideas how we can pass the time? Because if not, I do.” I flash her my grin that Dodge calls the ‘Panty Dropper’. Apparently the effect it has on women is well known but still works. Except Kel is immune to it. She rolls her eyes and leans against her pack, trying to get comfortable.

  Two hours into waiting, we’re both getting uncomfortable and stiff. As I’m about to stand and stretch, I hear someone stomping through the trees. These guys are idiots, they can be heard a mile away.

  “Papa said we have to find that money before we can head back.”

  “But Ricky, I’m tired. We been out here all day, and I’m sweating. My shoes are ruined and I got blood on me, come on, we got shot. Papa will understand.”

  “Paul, if you don’t shut up, I’m going to leave you out here. You almost blew me up with that stupid helicopter. You were supposed to wait to shoot the gas until I got next to you. You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you when we were back there.”

  “Why did Billy have to come out here? Why didn’t he run somewhere nice, like Cancun? What if the money isn’t up here.”

  “Someone’s up here. Maybe that bounty hunter chick knows where the money is. We saw the fire. She can’t be that smart. Plus that other copter only had four people on it. The pilot, the news chick and two others. Someone’s still up here.” Listening to these two go back and forth, I realize just how wrong I was about Ricky. He’s not completely stupid. I look over at Kel, she’s fuming about what their saying. She moves as if to stand, and I wrap my arm around her waist, dragging her down to my lap. Crushing my lips over her mouth, I kiss her. She stiffens under my touch, then wraps her arms around my neck, kissing me back. Her taste is almost like I remember. Soft satiny lips, sweet little mouth. Her soft moan sounds thunderous to my ears. Pulling away, I let go of her waist, and raise my finger to my lips, signaling her to be silent. She shifts herself on my lap and my dick instantly gets hard. She’s breathing heavy and her breasts are rising and falling in my face. Startled by the noises coming from the campsite, I slowly move her off my lap, leaning over to see around the rocks. The Gessatti boys are looking through what supplies we left down there. Watching, waiting for the time to react, my muscles tense. Like a cat on the prowl, ready to pounce on my prey. Before I can move, a growl erupts from near us.

  Kelli’s eyes grow wide as sh
e looks at me in fear. Quickly, my gaze scans the rocks above us, and sure enough, there stands a sleek tan puma. As the feline lowers on its haunches, growling at us, I slowly raise my gun. Before I get a chance to aim, a shot rings out. Pieces of the rock above us rain down on our heads. The cat lets loose one last growl then turns and runs. But, now we have bigger prey heading our way.

  “Kel,” I whisper, “Get your bag and be ready to run.” She nods, hitching the pack up over her shoulder. Risking one last peak around the rock, a bullet flies by my ear as I duck back around.

  “Now, run!” I shout as I hear the Gessatti’s getting closer to us.

  “Stop, come back,” I hear Ricky shouting. His labored breath shows he’s too out of shape to keep up with us. As I launch myself off the rocks that shielded us, I turn back to help Kel only to find her rushing past me. I follow suit and haul ass, heading south, back towards the water. For ten minutes, we run, every now and then I glance back, checking for our enemy.

  “Okay Kel, stop a second. They aren’t back there,” I say to her, breathlessly. Placing my hands on my knees, I lean over, as I try to catch my breath. The shot to my arm is messing with my abilities. My adrenaline has drained me. I’m normally faster than this. I must have lost more blood than I thought. This is insane. We have no way to reach anyone. Dodge said that the boss isn’t sending anyone else out here, and these assholes not only blew up our chopper, but are now trying to shoot us. Neither of us thought to leave the sat phone with me and Kelli. I plop down on a log, watching her as she paces back and forth.

  “We need to get out of these woods,” she says to me. Her breathing is hard, and I’m entranced by the sight of her chest heaving. What I wouldn’t give to run my fingers over her nipples, watching her shudder as she falls apart at my touch.

  “Snap out of it Mitch, what are we going to do?” I slip the map out of my pocket, trying to gauge where we are.

  “Okay, it looks like we’re around here. We can follow the creek to here,” I point out. “It’s about a two mile hike, uphill. Then when we reach this rock formation, we can go around it, and start heading north. The park ranger fire tower is only a few miles from there.”

  “Let’s go then,” she says, her demanding voice drawing me to jump and follow her.

  “You do realize we can’t hike when it’s dark right? It’s going to be dark in about two hours. I say we head out and camp at the rock formation.”

  “Are you kidding me?” she says, her voice getting louder. “You know what kind of animals are in here? We don’t even have my tents anymore! They were on my horse, that are now lost somewhere out here. Not to mention, I want to get away from you. I’m not spending the night with you Mitch.”

  “Sure Sugar. You’re not sleeping with me. I get it. Used to be a time it’s all you thought about, though you would never admit it. I remember how your face used to blush at every touch. That shy smile, when we kissed.”

  “Knock it off Mitch. The past is that, the past. Let’s worry about getting out of here.” Putting on my serious face, I nod at her.

  “There should be some caves in the formation. People are always coming out here to climb through them. We’ll be fine. I’ll take first watch so you can sleep and then you can take the second. We’ll be fine.” I had grabbed one of the sleeping bags from the camp, just in case we needed it. Now it’s looking like a great idea. We’re definitely going to need it. I watch as she pulls a pack of smokes from her pocket, her hand shaking as she tries to light up.

  “When did you start smoking Sugar?”

  “Mitch, it’s been ten years. I’m sure there’s a lot about me that has changed.”

  “Yeah, well you can’t smoke that. It’s too dry here. You could start a forest fire and that’s the last thing we need right now.” With an aggravated sigh, she throws the smoke down, stepping on it, making sure it’s out. She flails her arm out to the side, as if telling me to take the lead, then crosses her arms over her chest. She’s so cute when she pouts. Her blonde hair blowing in the slight breeze, flowing out behind her. My angel. Smiling, I stand and begin the hike to where we’ll be staying overnight.

  Chapter 6

  Kelli

  This is worse than I thought. My father and I spent a week in these woods and never had a problem. Now within five hours I’ve had a rattler scare off my horses, my dad’s been shot, my skip is dead, and I was nearly eaten by a puma. Not to mention my rescue and way out of here was blown up, I’ve been shot at and now, now I have to spend the night with Mitch. I need a smoke. Really? Mitch, of all people. Did I do something wrong in my life? Does karma hate me? As we hike, I can’t stop thinking of how things used to be. How that lanky teenager he used to be, made me feel. How his arms wrapped around me nicely, the way his soft kisses made my belly flop. The way our bodies just fit together perfectly. We never went all the way, but I had dreamed of it often enough.

  “Stop it,” I whisper to myself. Not paying attention, I walk into something hard and nearly fall down. Strong arms wrap around me, heat flowing into me from the small contact.

  “Did you say something Sugar?” Mitch says, his husky voice sending shivers through me.

  “No, get your hands off me,” I say, trying to regain some of my pride. He laughs, not letting go. “Stop touching me so much.”

  “You used to love when I held you,” he says, pulling my body closer against him. I can feel the hard planes of his muscles press against me. His heated breath on my ear. Inhaling deeply, my senses almost shut down, he smells amazing. Spicy and woodsy. Very masculine. Putting my hands on his chest, I try to push away.

  “Don’t tell me that you haven’t thought about me or missed me at all. I can see it in your beautiful eyes Kel.” Finally letting go, I stumble back a step. Ignoring his comment, I push past him and keep walking.

  As the sun begins to set, the woods get darker. I wish I had my pack. Stupid horses. No flashlights, no camping gear. Just a few guns and some food, and those stupid grenades. Mitch and I have been walking for so long, I feel like I’m going to drop. I guess I’m not in as good of shape as I thought. I’ll have to make sure I step up my training and workouts when I get home. If I get home. Who would have thought it would take this long to walk two miles. But the dense brush and trees have hindered us almost all the way. The creek bed is sloped too much to be able to walk there and if we get any further into the trees, we risk stepping on snakes.

  “There, see it?” Mitch grabs my arm, stopping me. I see the rocks rising out over the trees. Sure enough, there are a few dark openings I can already see. Caves. Ugh, please don’t let there be any bats. Another fifteen minutes and we’re there, standing in the black opening.

  “Let me see that lighter,” he says, holding his hand out. I drop my zippo in his hand, and stand back as he walks into the hole. The small light quickly disappears. Within a minute, he comes back, without his backpack.

  “It’s only about ten feet deep. I’m going to grab some fire wood if you want to hang out here.” He walks past me, climbing back down the rocks. With the sunlight almost gone, I scan the area, watching for animals and dirty Italian men. It’s the longest ten minutes of my life. Mitch returns with an arm full of branches and twigs.

  “I’ll get a fire started, then head back out for some more to keep it going for the night.” Nodding, I follow him into the cave, holding my lighter up for us to see. He piles the wood near the opening of the cave.

  “We’ll set the fire here so that the smoke doesn’t choke us up.” The lip extends out past the cave opening allowing for the smoke to freely flow into the sky without filling the cave. I stand back and let him get it going. As the branches take, the cave brightens. I look around. No bats, no hidden animals and it’s a little warmer. Without the sun, the temp has dropped at least a few degrees and will most likely get colder by the morning. Shivering, I rub my arms. I wish I had my coat with me. This long sleeve shirt just isn’t warm enough after night fall.

  “Throw your bag
down and come sit near the fire. I’m going for more wood. There’s also a sleeping bag on my pack you can use if you’re that cold. Unless you want me to keep you warm?”

  Rolling my eyes, I ignore him. Dropping my bag, I pull out two cans of baked beans and a can opener. The small pot that we brought has a rubber handle and I should be able to just hold it over the fire to heat it up. I’m so hungry. I haven’t eaten since breakfast. With a sigh, Mitch leaves as I set about getting our supper ready. When he comes back, he drops a pile of larger branches and begins breaking them. I stir the beans and smile to myself. I remember Mitch taking me hiking and swimming in the woods around the ranch. Every time his parents weren’t around, we’d have a full day to hang out and spend time together. I remember the first time we kissed was on one of those days. Deep in the woods, surrounded by nature.

  “What has you smiling Sugar? The thought of spending the night with me?” I glare at him, mad that he ruined my moment. If I’m honest with myself, I am. I like the thought of him being here with me. I feel safer, like I’ll make it out of here in one piece. Not that I can’t take care of myself, but this is a little over my head. Even after all these years, my feelings haven’t diminished that much. I’ve spent my time just screwing and leaving men in my wake, afraid to let any of them in to my heart or my head, and it’s his fault.