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I try to put pressure on it again, but the pain is too much. “What are we going to do?” I ask, feeling a tremor of panic. “I can’t walk on it. You should go on without me,” I say, sounding braver than I feel. “You can have them send someone to get me.”
“Bullshit,” Josh says immediately. “I’m not leaving you here in the jungle alone. I’ve seen that horror movie, too,” he adds, with an exasperated smile, before turning his back to me, and bending down. “Hop on.”
I blink.
“Limited time offer, Donavan,” he adds. “It’s not like you haven’t already taken a ride.”
Flushing at the memory, I scramble onto his back, and then Josh is striding through the meadow – in the wrong direction. “Wait!” I yelp, clinging on around his neck. “The trail is back that way.”
“And I told you, there’s shelter this way.”
I’m in no position to stop him, but when we round another thicket of trees and find the solid outline of the ranger hut up ahead, I almost wish we hadn’t. Because when Josh finally sets me down on the porch, and opens the door, his smile is unbearably smug. “I’m ready for that apology,” he says, helping me inside.
I look around. It’s a bare, one-room hut. Empty, and dusty… but dry.
“You were right, Josh,” he continues, teasing. “Thank you, Josh. I’m sorry for ever doubting your superior navigation skills.”
“Are you done?” I ask, trying to take my sandal off, but pain shoots through my ankle again and I whimper.
“Whoa, easy there.” Josh says, guiding me over to the corner. He helps me sit on the dusty floor, then crouches down. “Let’s take a look.” He gently eases the sandal off, then presses and rotates my ankle while I try not to cry. “It doesn’t seem like it’s broken,” he reports, glancing back at me. “It’s probably just a sprain.”
His hands are gentle: soft on my cold, wet skin, and when our eyes lock, there’s a heated look in his eyes that reminds me just what those hands are capable of…
Yes, please.
I drag my gaze away and check my cellphone again. “I have half a bar!” I report excitedly, my heart leaping…. before it flickers out. “Damn,” I sigh, slumping back. “It’s gone again.”
“Must be the storm,” Josh says, moving to sprawl on the floor beside me. “We should wait it out, and get a clear signal once the rain stops.”
“How long will that take?” I ask him.
He grins at me, looking amused. “Why? Worried you won’t be able to resist me?”
“Sure,” I reply dryly, even as my pulse beats faster from his nearness. “If there’s one thing that does it for me every time, it’s a selfish, arrogant, drowned rat.”
We settle in to wait.There’s no getting really comfortable, not when my muddy clothes are sticking wet to my skin, and there’s no furniture here in the hut, but it’s a relief to be out of the rain with a roof over our heads.
“I’ve got water, a protein bar, and a muffin from breakfast,” Josh reports, rummaging in his pack.
I check mine, producing whatever I grabbed from the abandoned picnic. “One orange, a kombucha, and three chocolate tea cakes.”
We spread them on a napkin, and dig in. “See, I know how to treat a woman,” Josh says cheerfully, offering me half the protein bar. “Not bad for a second date.”
“Excuse me?” I ask. “When was the first?”
Josh lifts an eyebrow. “You, me, a bottle of bourbon in my room last night… unless it slipped your mind, what with all those orgasms.”
I flush. “That wasn’t a date,” I say firmly. “A date is dinner, and conversation, and romance.”
Josh points to our pathetic picnic spread. “There’s your food, here’s the conversation.”
“And romance?” I smirk.
He rummages deeper in his pack. “Aha!” he declares, producing one of the candles from the blessing ceremony. He uses a lighter to light the flame, and sets it on the floor. “Voila. Romance.”
I can’t help but smile. “And I wondered why you’re still single,” I say, teasing.
“Did you now?” Josh looks smug.
