She pressed her lips together. “You…astound me, Liam Pendragon.”
I pulled her until she lay on top of me, tracing her hip with slow circles, my other hand threading my fingers through her hair. “And how do I astound you, beautiful?”
“You keep reading my thoughts,” she whispered.
I pulled her face to mine, giving her a tender kiss. “You never answered my question.”
“What was the question?” she asked in between kisses.
“Shouldn’t we at least try?”
She pulled back, her violet eyes serious. “Yes…I think…I?—”
“Hello!” someone called out in the distance. A male voice I didn’trecognize.
We both sat up abruptly.
“Who is that?” she asked, gripping my arm. “More poachers?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
We remained still and listened, the voices and footfalls coming closer. It sounded like a large group.
“Hello!” he called again. “Is anyone in that tent?”
“Cerise?” an older feminine voice called. “Are you in there?”
I turned my head to Cerise. Her eyes were wide with panic. “That sounds like my mother…”
My heart almost burst from my chest. The rescue party was here. They had found us. And Cerise’s mother was with them.
She scrambled in the tent as if she was searching for something. “Shit. Shit.Shit!”
“I’ve never heard you curse before,” I said, trying to lighten the mood. “Well…except when you were begging me to fu?—”
“Liam, this is hardly the time for jokes. What do we do?” she whispered harshly. “We’re both in here naked. Our clothes are out there. Oh this is bad.”
“At least we’re finally being rescued.” I tried again to ease her stress, but she was panicking.
“But I wasn’t expecting mymotherto be with them,” she hissed.
I grasped her face and forced her to look at me. “You’re a grown woman, Cerise. Who cares what your mother thinks?”
But I saw the trepidation in her eyes. I was already losing her. It was like she was reverting back to who she was before this trip. We hardly had any time together.
And now our bubble was about to burst.
“Don’t let her make you feel badly about going after what you want,” I urged.
But she just sighed and shrugged.
“We can hear you whispering,” the man said. “Are you two the missing professors?”
“Wrap yourself in a blanket and we’ll step out of the tent,” I said quietly.
Her hands shook as she stood and did as I said.
“You go first,” she said.
