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“Come on.” Cameron grabbed her hand and ran toward the trees next to the river on the far side of the meadow. By the time they reached the trees, they were drenched. They stood underneath a large pine, its towering branches offering a little protection.
“Do you want to call Kyle? He can pick us up here in the meadow and we can try again tomorrow.”
He saw her squeeze a wolf pendant around her neck. “As enticing as a warm bath and soft bed sounds, I can’t leave Marcie out here any longer than she has to. No. I’m not going back empty-handed.”
He grinned. “That’s my girl.”
Her lips twisted. “I don’t know whether to be please or annoyed by that.”
The rain slowed and almost came to a stop. “Let’s keep moving.” Cameron blazed a trail toward the soaring granite cliffs they could just make out through the thick forest.
Head down, she followed close behind him, moving quickly before the next onslaught hit when suddenly she ran into the back of him. “Whoa, now.”
Arms out, he steadied himself to keep from toppling forward into the river. On the other side, the cliffs soared toward the sky.
“Do you see what I see?” He pointed across the river, and about ten feet up was a shallow opening. “That looks like a great place to stay the night. River on one side, rock cliff at our back.”
“Yeah, but how are we going to get up there?” She looked at the opening.
“We can cross over there.” He pointed to some rocks across the water. “The opening is not quite big enough to be called a cave and high enough up we shouldn’t have to worry about wolves or bears hiding inside.”
“I don’t know about that, but so far it looks better than tying ourselves to a tree.”
Cameron laughed and turned up the river and started walking along the shoreline heading toward several large rocks in the middle of the creek.
“They look slippery,” she said.
“Come on, I’ll hold your hand.” Cameron jumped from the shoreline to the first boulder. He wobbled a little bit, then found his balance and held out his hand to her. “Okay, easy does it.”
“I suppose I’m already wet,” she mumbled and jumped to the first rock, grabbing his hand. He kept his grip strong and steady. A few more leaps and they were on the other side. The opening was higher up on the rock face than it first appeared.
Cameron gestured forward. “You go first and I’ll catch you if you fall.”
“Then who will catch you if you fall?”
He smiled. “I won’t fall.”
“Famous last words,” she said, then quickly scaled the wall and entered the cave.
Cameron climbed in next to her, pulled out his flashlight, and shined it around the cave. “Empty.”
She looked at him, eyebrows raised.
He shrugged. “You never know.”
The interior was bigger and deeper than he expected. As soon as the rain stopped, Cameron climbed back out of the cave to gather wood for a fire. Before long it was crackling in the center of the cave.
“Oh, that feels so good,” Becca said, shimmying out of her wet jeans.
He tried not to look at her long legs or how silky smooth her skin was as he too got out of his wet clothes. He couldn’t think about her that way; it was too dangerous for them both. She worked for him. It was his job to keep her safe. Not only that, but she had an uncanny ability to sense what he was thinking and his desire for her was the last thing he wanted her to know about.
She stripped down to her underwear, removing everything else, and pulled a dry t-shirt out of her pack and slipped it on. She shivered as her hair dripped onto the dirt floor of the cave.
He stoked the fire and she moved close to him. He pulled a blanket out of his pack and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Thank you.”
He put his arm around her and pulled her close, hoping to warm them both. She was soft, and her scent tickled his insides. “You know, we need to be on top of our game. Emerich isn’t playing around,” he said more to himself than to her.
