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“Paige? Sweet Jesus,” he groaned rushing over to her. “God, baby I thought I’d lost you.”
“Not that lucky, you’re all stuck with me still.”
“And I’ve never been happier to find that out,” he said covering her mouth with his and showing her exactly what she meant to him.
“Why aren’t you on the chopper?”
“There was no way in hell I was going to leave here without you. You should know that by now baby girl.”
“Mmm…” she sighed as his hands roamed over her body as he assured himself that she was safe.
“How? When I looked over there were flames everywhere.”
“Yeah, it was close and my ankle hurts like hell but I lowered myself enough so I could shift some rocks and get my foot out. At that point the fire was starting to gain on this side so instead of going up I went sideways.”
“I don’t care how you did it. I should have never left you baby girl; never let you leave me.”
“Joel don’t…”
“I have to baby. I need you to know how much I loved you. How much I still love you, Paige.”
“If you keep saying things like that to me, we’re likely to put on a hell of a show if Caleb can make it back for us tonight.”
“Perhaps I should try and find us somewhere more private to discuss the proposition of that further.”
“I won’t argue, not really,” she said surprising herself. What was one more night really? It wasn’t likely to change anything. She was still going to leave him once they were back home. It was only fair to the both of them.
Chapter 20
“Earth to Paige…we’d better get dressed. The wind’s died down so Caleb should be able to get back out here to pick us up.”
“Mmm…” she sighed reluctantly sitting up. “Stop looking at me like that Joel.”
“I can’t help it; you’re too gorgeous for your own good.”
“Well as you said Caleb will probably be back anytime.”
“First I need one more thing.”
“What’s that?”
“This,” he said pulling her close and kissing her until her entire body tingled and hummed to life again. “Alright, get dressed before I can’t control myself.”
Paige laughed as she pulled on her clothing and hurried up to the peak. Joel stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her dropping light kisses on her neck and ears as the sound of a chopper grew. The ladder dropped down and she hooked her harness to the rope hoping her ankle would hold up until she was inside.
“Can you make it?” Joel questioned.
“I’ll be fine. I climbed all the way up here on it, didn’t I?”
“You did but this is a bit more difficult.”
“I’ve got it.” She just hoped she did.
She started climbing clenching her jaw every time she had to put weight on her ankle. Her body was shaking as she reached the top and she wasn’t sure she could find the strength to push herself inside the chopper.
“Need a hand?” Craig said as he and Jesse appeared in the doorway and hauled her in.
“Don’t have a death wish huh?” Jesse asked wrapping his arms around her and helping her to a seat. “Why didn’t you tell us you were hurt we could have sent the basket down for you.”
