Watching the procession of expressions that passed over the stranger’s face within seconds, Destiny let his voice drift over her. The low, masculine tone betrayed a hint of an educated upbringing, along with a citified quality. Pulling out from his gaze with a jerk of her head, she fixed her attention on his arm. She remembered the piece of tattered cloth she’d found on the blueberry bush, and his ripped flannel shirt shouted trespasser!
Biting her inner cheek, to keep a sudden surge of rage from ruining the moment, the effort didn’t last.
“You!” she cried. “You saw me bathing under the falls.”
Clenching both hands into fists, she stared right through him. Her earlier desire for this man had turned to anger at his transgression. Her face must have exhibited her changed feelings, because he lowered his head and answered her accusation with a groan.
“I am so sorry. I’ve never hiked this trail, before today. My co-workers made me promise not to miss Opportunity Falls, which I found by accident. If not for the singing, I would have walked right on by.”
When his whispered words sunk in, she scolded herself. After all, the man just apologized. Again.
“Miss?”
She shook off the anger in order to turn her attention back to the problem at her feet. He looked hurt, and they were far from civilization. She couldn’t leave him here, no matter how she felt about him spying on her.
“Ah, we’re pretty far up the mountain,” she answered, finding her voice. “Cell phones don’t work around here. I’ll help you up, and we’ll see if you can walk.”
She hoped her words sounded logical. She certainly couldn’t carry him.
“Okay. I tried crawling toward that huge stump. If I can get up on that, then I can see about standing.” The stranger turned his eyes back to her, brushing hair off his sweaty forehead.
Without another word, she eased down on one knee, motioning for him to use her shoulder for support. He barely suppressed a groan as she rose with him. An unladylike grunt escaped, as she dragged him across the trail. She sat him on the mossy log, smiling as he let out a deep sigh. His jeans, dampened by the muddy ground, sculpted to his body.
“My left knee is throbbing.”
The way his eyes burned through her, she wondered if more than his knee throbbed. Maybe she ought to turn on her heels, run straight home, and leave him here to fend for himself.
Doesn’t the guy deserve it, for what he did to me?
Then she came to her senses. Here sat a handsome, albeit older, man with trembling hands and a physique worth drooling over. She turned away from his gaze, as heat bloomed beneath her cheeks.
When she’d gained control of her reactions, she returned his gaze. Noting his pale face, she worried about shock, because he didn’t look well at all. She was at a loss.
What should I do to help him? I wish Josie was here.
Her best friend, a paramedic firefighter, would know exactly what to do. When the injured man inhaled another deep breath, her heart thudded in her chest. Smiling at him, so as not to appear lost and helpless, she brushed mud and leaves from her knees. No sense scaring him.
The strange man groaned, then turned away from her. She assumed his injury caused him pain.
She crossed her arms over her chest, and stared at his chiseled profile. Lines on his forehead, and at the corner of his mouth, proved he suffered.
Beautiful…what a strange term to use concerning a man, especially when some might say his chin is too square and his hair is too long.
She wanted to kiss his pale lips, forcing some color to them. A sudden yearning to rub his arms, warming him back to life, made her heart thump. An image of him lying in her bed, with his brown locks feathered across her plump pillow, snapped her back to the present. Waving off such lusty thoughts, she leaned over and ran fingers across his scalp, checking for other injuries.
His hair glided over her fingers like a curtain of moist silk. After quietly sweeping bits of twig and grass from the strands, she ran her hands down both arms, searching for wounds. Under the shirt he’d ripped on the blueberry bush, his arm shook, but except for superficial scratches, she found no injuries. She stood and found her voice, once more.
“You must be chilled from sitting in the mud, so we best get moving. Your hiking boots will support your ankles, as we head down the trail,” she said, as her gaze swept over his muddy jeans. Spying the bulge between his legs, she gasped.
Josie had once told her that trauma victims sometimes suffered an unwarranted erection, so he might be hurt worse than she’d realized. She had to get him down her mountain, fast.
Her gaze roamed back up to his face, but his eyes locked on hers. He must have seen her slow perusal of his body.
“Jesus,” he groaned.
She bit her lip, internally seconding his words. She arched her eyebrows when he adjusted his position on the log. I wonder if he’s in pain from parts of his body other than his knee…or groin.
“I hope you don’t pass out on me.”
His face paled. “Believe me, miss, that is the last thing I’d want to do with you.”
Cocking her head to the side, trying not to read anything into his reply, she forced aside serious thoughts. “We need to get you back to civilization. Darkness and cold come quickly, on this side of the mountain. And, you need to see a doctor.”
When his eyebrows rose, she knew she’d caught his attention.
“If I can get to your waterfall, I’ll soak my knee in the pool.”
“Do you think dipping your leg in cold water can fix the problem? Nope. Unwise. Getting in and out of that pool would be impossible.”
“Why? I’m sure it’s—”
“What it is, is slick with moss.” With both fists on her hips, she asked in a slightly sweeter tone, “Does your knee feel cool or hot at this moment, sir?”
Licking his lips, he found his voice again and said, “My name is Jacob Oliver. Please call me Jacob.”
“Jaaacob.” Destiny dragged out the pronunciation of his name as she glanced skyward.
“I guess the waterfall idea is out,” Jacob said, when she didn’t move. He shifted his position on the log. “To answer your question, miss, my knee feels cold, probably because my jeans are soaked.”
“Getting you to a hospital is the right course.”
He sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “I hate hospitals, but I guess you’re right. I’m not thinking too clearly at the moment.”
“Then we need to start down the trail. Always a chance we’ll meet other people, but in the meantime…”
Jacob sat still, but his gaze followed her. She walked off the trail before finishing her statement. Crashing through the underbrush, she walked until she knew she had disappeared from his sight. Her body’s reaction to his voice, starting with her swollen nipples and ending with a body-wide flush of pure heat, was not something she cared to share.
“I’m making you a basic crutch,” she called out, as she thrashed about. “And, call me Destiny. I’m Destiny Blake.”
***
With all the noise, Jacob barely caught her name. Branches cracked and leaves rustled, while small animals high-tailed it out of her way. Chattering squirrels raced up huge pines, and several rabbits hopped past him, and his stump. When he spied flashes of tan skin, and her blonde braid, his aching body reacted.
God, this girl would make a dead man hard.
When she reappeared with a long branch, he couldn’t look away. She wore no makeup. She didn’t need any. Delicate gold earrings hung from dainty ears, and she had the deepest blue eyes imaginable.
He let his gaze slide down her body, and glimpsed squared shoulders and taut muscles under her mud-spattered, yellow shirt. Two taut nipples jutted out, the soft fabric barely concealing their beauty.
“She’s braless,” he sputtered.
“Did you say something?”
The young woman stopped in front of him. His cock went rigid as a tree trunk, adding a different sort of pain to the mix.
“No, just clearing my throat.”
There’s a time and place for a throbbing erection. This isn’t it.
He hadn’t even shared a regular conversation with this woman. He required her help, so he’d better not scare her away.
“Just breathe and relax,” he muttered. These irrational thoughts could turn into a problem. Air whistled past clenched teeth with an irregularity not caused by his injury.
He turned away, but kept one eye on her, while she peeled twigs and dry leaves off a five-foot-long tree branch.
No panty lines, either.
She must have jumped into her clothes to chase me down. Brave, or just plain stupid? What if I was a rapist, or a serial killer?
His mind blanked out on the present situation with swift intensity, reliving that long ago night, even though he didn’t want to remember the sobbing, near-dead woman he found lying in an alley…
…in the rain, bloody, beaten, both battered eyes swollen shut…it was so hard not to retch. Nothing I’d seen had affected me like this. Then she moaned.
I lifted her head and wiped blood and gore from her mouth, pushed wet hair away from her broken face…murmured useless words of comfort. She opened one bruised eye a fraction, and peered up at me…satisfaction?
She whispered the name of her attacker, that she’d sworn out a restraining order against him only the day before…cradling her in my arms, fighting the urge to find the bastard and pummel him into a bloody mass…knowing she needed me with her…
“Stole…my…car…” she gasped and managed to recite the make, model, color, and license plate. Her last words.
Her last breath on my face made it personal. My mind whirled with the need to avenge this complete stranger, lying dead in the rain, with my tears mingling with hers, until I realized I’d seen such a car. I saw the bastard drive away as I arrived!
…speeding away in my patrol car the moment backup showed up… blinding rage consuming me…manifesting in fingers that gripped the wheel and in thigh muscles that bunched and strained with a need to make my patrol car go faster.
I pressed the gas pedal to the floor. The shrill of the siren led the way, as I threw caution to the wind, making me careless, driven to find the guy…unable to shake the image of the tears on the cheek of his victim, blind to the road ahead…to the bridge.
The screech of twisting metal…the winding down of my car’s siren…sure I was dying...the smattering of raindrops on my face, blackness…then nothing…
“Wait,” he whispered, “these memories belong in another time. Another place.” He shook his head to clear the cobwebs, and opened his eyes. Pain throbbed between his temples, so he focused on the young woman standing nearby, working on the branch.
She trusts too easily.
After they reached his car, he’d lecture her on the proper way to stay safe.
Fool. You aren’t a cop anymore. Leave her be.
The branch split into a ‘Y’ at one end. She wrapped a fluffy yellow towel around the fork then handed it to him.
“This should help.”
“Thanks.” Afraid of what her touch would do, he pushed his body up to prove he didn’t need her help. Pain shot up his leg from his knee to his groin. Wincing, but silent, he fit the crutch under his armpit. Her sweet scent warmed his body, as shivers of pleasure slid straight to his groin, counteracting the pain. He inhaled. Her fragrance seemed familiar.
Even standing in the shade, Jacob’s pulse raced and his forehead dripped with sweat, while she stared at him. Did she also find it difficult to keep her mind on the task at hand? Such a thought made him feel better, but the pain in his knee, and below his belt, forced a groan to escape.
Her eyebrows rose in obvious concern. Guilty feelings grew, but he couldn’t find the words to explain. His tongue tangled in his mouth. Luckily for him, she spoke first.
“This towel should make the crutch more comfortable, and I’ll walk next to you on the trail, when I can. Can you carry your backpack?”
“Yes, but I really need a drink of water. Can you get the bottle out of my pack for me? I can’t reach it.” He hated sounding helpless. When she bent over to search through his pack, affording him a closer view of strong thighs, disappearing up into her damp shorts, he groaned.
She straightened, and opened the bottle. She handed it to him, and he gave her a thankful nod. Sharing, they both took deep gulps.
She then helped him slide his arms through the straps of his pack. With casual nonchalance, she wiped her palm on his forehead, mopping the sweat away.
“Your skin is too warm. I hope you don’t get feverish. It would be dangerous for you to collapse on the trail. I’d have to leave you then go find help.”
Would she leave him? If she did, he might die. He didn’t want to die alone, on this strange mountain, in the middle of New Hampshire, and he found he didn’t want her to leave his side. Ever.
Where did that thought come from?
As a college professor, he should turn away from the attraction of what he assumed was a local college student, as soon as humanly possible. That feat topped his list.
Right after he managed to will his erection away.