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It didn’t matter that we were in the middle of the Maine wilderness and it would be dark in a couple of hours. All that mattered was that I’d found her. She’d found me. And we would get out of this together.
Chapter39
Hazel
“My ATV is up there.” He pointed upstream and tugged on my hand.
I followed, ready to get the hell out of these woods and doing my best not to limp, but it only took three or four steps for Remy to notice.
“What happened?” He pushed a strand of hair behind my ear.
I shrugged, looking down at my torn, bloody jeans. “This is just a scrape. But I think I sprained my ankle.”
“I need to get you out of here. But first, tell me what happened.”
I grimaced. He was not going to like this. And frankly, I was too tired and too scared to tiptoe through the details.
“After you left, men showed up with ATVs. They had guns.”
Remy worked his jaw back and forth, his fists clenching. “Did they hurt you?”
I shook my head. “I got away. Slipped out the door. They wouldn’t have seen me at all, but I went back.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You went back?”
I pressed my lips together and shrugged. “Yeah. I climbed a tree and took some photos. Video too. They were loading up the stash and the supplies. But then I kind of fell out of the tree, and that got their attention.”
He rubbed his face with both hands. “So you escaped undetected and then ran back toward the bad guys with the guns?”
“When you say it like that, it sounds stupid. But I was a safe distance away and in the tree.”
“You climbed a tree?” he asked, his head cocked.
“You’re not the only one who can do it, you know. Jesus. I was raised in Maine.”
“But you did it with a sprained ankle?”
“No, the ankle sprain occurred after falling out of said tree.”
He didn’t respond, just stared at me, open-mouthed, before crushing me into a massive bear hug. “You are an infuriating, brave lunatic of a woman. Do you know that?”
I couldn’t speak. He was still clutching me for dear life, with his massive arms locked tightly around me.
He finally let go, slinging my arm around his shoulders and supporting my weight. Then he led me toward the ATV. “So they saw you.”
“Yes. So I ran like hell and hid in the forest. When they were gone, I headed southeast until I found a creek, figuring I’d hit Lake Millinocket sooner or later.”
“How did you find your way?”
I tugged on his sleeve so he’d stop. Then I pulled the compass pendant out of my shirt. “I used the compass. Since great-grandpa Pierre used it up in these parts, I figured it would help me too.”
“God, I fucking love you,” he said, dipping down and taking my lips with his.
Deepening the kiss, I sank into him, letting him support me for several moments. Then I pulled back and looked up at his beautiful, earnest face. We were lost in the woods and dirty and tired, but I couldn’t hold it in any longer. This man was mine, and I was his, and there was no denying this.
“I love you too,” I said softly, watching the smile spread across his face.
We made it back to the ATV, drank the last of the water he had in his backpack, and took a few deep breaths. He turned the key in the ignition and pushed the starter, but it sputtered and then died.
