Like he’s picking up on it, Linc moves closer and hugs my leg with his fifty-pound body. My breath freezes in my lungs and then it starts again as I lean down and pat his head. My brain focuses again and I sigh.
“Thanks, buddy.” With a little yip that doesn’t fit the size of him, he bounds down the hill with the single-minded focus you’d expect from any rescue dog out there.
He’s not and immediately rocks skitter under his feet and he howls in frustration when he can’t get where he’s going as fast as he wants.
A limp hand falls out of the car window and my heart races but then it settles and I flex my jaw, grinding my teeth.
“Stop being such a pussy. Get down there and help that woman.” And to add a little more imperative to my own orders, another slide of rocks skitters down the hill and I see the car rock slightly against the tree holding it in place.
“Oh fuck,” I hiss under my breath. I drop my pack and rifle down on the ground and then tie some rope from my pack onto a tree and carefully lower myself down the unstable hill.
“Hey, are you okay in there?”
A soft moan is my only answer and I grimace. I get closer and closer to the vehicle and there’s something almost familiar about it. It’s not new. It’s older. And there’s a bumper sticker on the back of it that says, “My brother’s fighting overseas so you can ride safe. You’re welcome.”
I know that damn bumper sticker. My heart sinks to my toes and then races out of control.
“Mari! Hey, are you in there?” I’m close enough now to see in the vehicle and I’m desperately hoping that I’m wrong and she sold the damn car.
But what the hell would that person be doing up here?
Hell! What’s she doing up here? Is she here to find me?
My unruly heart pounds out of control as I picture her here for me. d
But that can’t be. I know when she left she told me that she’d never be back. And she hoped that I stepped on about a million legos in my bare feet.
That’s a cruel curse to put on a man by the way.
I get to the window and all my hopes and fears collide. “Marina,” I breathe, reaching out a shaking hand to push her silvery-fair curls off her forehead. There’s a gash in the pale skin that’s oozing a slow trickle of her blood and my stomach turns over, fighting not to throw up.
I hate blood. Have since I got home. Just another little trick that I got from my military service.
She moans and her lovely, ice-blue eyes open, dazed and pain-filled and my whole body goes white-hot.
“Jeremiah. Why the hell can’t you live someplace normal, you bastard?”
A harsh laugh bursts out of me even as she closes her eyes and slips away again.
“Okay, Linc.” I glare down at the dog panting at my feet. His tri-colored coat covered with dirt and leaves. “How the hell am I supposed to get her out of there and up the hill to my house?”l
Tongue lolling, he leans over and slurps at my hand. Grimacing, I wipe it off on my pants.
“You are not even remotely helpful.”
I swear to heaven the damn dog grins at me and then he heads back up the hill and sits down to stare at me.
Apparently his job is done.
Sighing, I eye the unconscious woman and then open the door and yank her ass out, throwing her over my shoulder, grunting when my feet shift under me.
She doesn’t move but her ass is right in my face and the craziest urge to reach over and bite it hits me. Brand her with my teeth. Mark her as mine in the most basic way possible.
Muttering under my breath, I head up the hill, my hands clinging to the rope as I carefully pick my way up and up.
And when I reach the top, sweating like I’ve run a marathon, I grab my things and trek to my cabin, which is fairly close. It should only take half an hour to make it home.
And then I’m going to have my dream woman, the one woman I’ve fantasized about forever, living with me until we get her car fixed.
