Chapter 20

Dare surveyed the area around them, craned his neck, and peered for too many uncomfortable seconds into the dark that wasn’t far from their backs. “We need to get safer.”

A rush of tension surged through Abby. “Safer? We just got out of a freakin’ gale. What do you mean, safer?” She held her breath as he continued his examination.

No answer. She struggled to maintain her composure. Oh man, she needed to relax. Just for a minute, or five. Would that be too much to ask?

“Is everything okay?” She was aware her voice was reaching into the higher decibels, as she watched the expressions on his face. “Or is there…”

“Everything’s okay.” Still scrutinizing their surroundings, his gaze circled the entrance to the cave. He muttered under his breath. “Just figuring out our next move.”

The guy was thinking. Hard. Hair a mad mess, face slack. Spent. A desire to help him, to lighten his load, tumbled through her.

Pushing her fatigue away, she set about restoring his strength the only way she could. Sometimes, many moons ago, it’d been the only thing that worked. Teasing.

She straightened her legs, flexed them to ease the strain that was already biting at her muscles. “Well, if you’re taking orders, I’m ready for a nice hot shower and then a comfy warm bed. Some munchies. Maybe a chick flick on screen. Whatcha got for that?”

He turned and fastened his gaze on her. Blinked. Then his face settled into an easy grin. “Ha!” he chortled, his eyes livening. “Done deal.”

Something loosened deep in her. She still had the touch.

But she had a mission to accomplish here. An eye-roll on her part was most definitely necessary. “Su-uure.”

“Don’t trust me?” He scooted closer to her on the dirt. “Just watch. First, I’ll take care of the items on your request list. Ready?”

She nodded assent.

He waved an arm at the great outdoors, where the storm was still hurling rain everywhere. “Hot shower.”

Oh-oh. He was right. “Pass. Next?”

“Warm bed, munchies, right?”

“Yup.”

“Okay. You asked for it.” Pivoting away from her, he crawled into the darkness behind them, and she could only look in horror with the three thousandth wince of her day. The teasing and camaraderie had done their job, but now he expected her to follow him? Back there?

She couldn’t shake the feeling as she heard the scrape of his progress and she expelled an unconvinced expletive. “What?”

Peering into the murkiness lit by his light, she saw him navigate towards a narrow opening and then scuttle through it.

Ugh.

He called to her through the heavy shadow. “Over here.”

Right. Like he had a shot in hell in getting her deeper into the cavern through a dark hole. “The storm knocked your head funny. Into the dark? You’ve got to be…”

She heard the flick of the safety beam as he switched it to high and the area was bathed in light. His jean-clad legs became visible from the knee down. “Come on! If you want the warm bed.”

Really, she mouthed to herself in the glow.

Placing her knees gingerly onto the cool dirt, she planted the heels of her hands in front of her and crawled toward him, keeping her eyes trained on those jean-covered legs like a beacon. She reached the opening, scowled, then forced herself through it. She hesitated, taking in the downward slope of the earth.

But Dare was already in there, and he wouldn’t put her in danger. Inherently, she knew that, and it gave her the impetus to keep moving.

Just barely.

She was in. She grasped the rough hand offered to her, and Dare hoisted her up beside him with a grunt.

Still holding his hand, she looked around. For all intents and purposes, they were in a small, sheltered cavern. Dark walls, shrouded in shadow. The dankness made her shiver, though there seemed to be some air movement. An odd humidity assailed her.

But because she knew he expected it, she fixed an impudent gaze on him. “Warm bed? Um…not seeing a warm bed here, padre.”

Without warning, he pulled down sharply on her hand and she pivoted, so she was flush against him as he stood. His hand caught her ass and yanked her in tight. His voice was low, the vibration of his exhalation welcome against her chilled ear. “Warm bed. Right here.”

His arms were slung across her lower back, one hand boldly on her ass, and she felt herself giving in. Then he pulled back, and the query in his eyes as he searched her expression was barely two inches from her face.

And with a flash, she knew what was on his mind. And she wasn’t going to fight it.

He bent close, his hot breath mingling with hers.

It moved through her, unstoppable. The need that had awakened a thousand years ago and that had never really left her, despite their break-up. Insatiable demand between them, intensifying to a white-hot flashpoint.

The swell of satisfaction, then the driving need to be fulfilled again.

Here. Again. Damnit.

His dirt-encrusted fingers scraped the sides of her face as he held her and with a ragged breath, imprisoned her lips. Moving over them. Taking, not asking.

Her lips parted. Her core clenched from his taste, almost painful, remembering. Her soul pitched headlong into whatever this was as he invaded her mouth, short-circuited her senses in a blinding flash of it was always like this it never stopped being like this.

It was always just the two of us.

Her and Dare. Alive.

Her fingers curved against his back, and she pulled him close, harshly. Not taking no for an answer, even if he’d resisted. The burgeoning front of his damp jeans swelled against her, the welcome pressure she was intimately acquainted driving liquid demand through her veins.

Her name tore from his lips as his breath heated her skin. “Abby.”

An indescribable feeling flowed through her as she entered fully into the kiss, a feeling that had eluded her for too long. One she was aware of, as he took her mouth and she responded.

Timelessness. Like the mountains, the solid earth between their feet. Things were as they were meant to be, should be.

Hell. They just were. Him and her, here. He was part of her blood, part of the steady beat of her heart. Had always been. She’d lost the half of her she’d discovered so many years ago, and now things had crashed back to the way they were supposed to be.

Always.

The kiss suddenly diminished in energy, like a flash flood that was done.

Dare laid his forehead against hers, their chests both heaving, breath still tangling. “Holy hell.”

The half-laugh chortled up from deep within her, little quakes convulsing her belly. “Yeah,” she said, the crooked half-smile back on her face. “What you said.”

He smoothed the mess of her hair back, gave a smile. “So, just in case you didn’t get what I meant, I’m the warm bed.”

She smiled back. The current reality of their situation surged through her. They were safe!

She wanted to run, play. Jump. Leap high, strain with every ounce of energy she had to brush her fingertips against the rocky top of the cavern above them. Bend low in the next second, feel the cool earth below against her fingertips. Celebrate life.

But an answer was called for. Her hands tightened around the still wet fabric slicked to his arms. “Warm? You feel a bit damp to me.”

He grinned. “You always were a stickler for…”

“Details,” she teased. “They’re called details.”

“Right,” he agreed. “So they are. Well, maybe this will help warm you up.” He shrugged off the clammy windbreaker, tossed it to the side. Yanked at the bottom of his mostly dry shirt and tugged it out of his jeans. Grasping its hem, as well as the edge of the tank he wore underneath, he pulled it all upward, held it away from his body. “How’s this?”

Abby blinked. The six pack of his abs slammed into her vision, but somehow, that’s not what she thought he was showcasing.

She tore her eyes away from his gridiron front and focused on the canvas belt that encircled it and the vinyl pouch attached to it.

Ah. That she could attack. Abby poked at the pocket-like envelope. “What’s in it?”

Holding the excess fabric away, he heaved on the envelope’s flap and the tearing sound of Velcro ripped through her eardrums. Her anticipation heightened.

“Munchies, you’d asked for?” Dare’s expression amplified her eagerness. He looked like an uncle—okay, make that an incredibly sexy, somewhat disheveled, buff uncle—reaching for candy to placate his nieces and nephews.

Her stomach gurgled its impatience. Candy came in all forms. But with that particular form, she was on a diet, right now. With him, anyway.

But real hunger? Hell, right now, she was starving. The thought of food got to her. Lightheadedness swamped her, and her legs buckled.

Dare caught her, steadied her. “Whoa!”

She gave him a wan smile. “I’m hungry,” she said, her voice quiet. Whatever he had, it couldn’t be much. And she didn’t want to underscore the one thing they didn’t have…that was a problem.

“No worries. I did promise you something really good.”

Her mouth started watering. It’d been hours since she’d eaten. Hours since she’d drank. She’d been too intent on getting the pictures that would change her life and set her career on its path upward.

Funny how that all seemed so irrelevant now.

Holding her eyes steady with his smile, he flipped open the pouch, then frowned. A full-face frown as his spirit disintegrated in front of her eyes. “Shit.”

Crap. An abruptly exhaled ‘Shit’ from an accomplished soldier and survivalist on a desert island in the middle of a tropical storm was never good.

When he lifted his gaze to hers, she could read the self-recrimination in his eyes. “I must have grabbed the wrong pouch, not the packed one. There’s nothing in here but a net and some other stuff. Damn.”

In these circumstances, the curse seemed to gain new depth of meaning. If they didn’t have anything to eat or drink, they were well and truly in trouble.

“I had trail mix, a small flask of water. A protein bar. It must have been in the other pouch.” His lips thinned. “All I have for food is this.” He withdrew a mangled bar of chocolate.

Chocolate? Her internal pleasure meter sprung to the top, but her rational mind pushed it down, despite its seductive promise. It was a survival ration. Nothing more, nothing less. And in that category, priceless.

“Here. Sorry it’s not more.”

She practically inhaled the piece he handed to her, exulted as the dark flavor spread through her mouth and the sugar rush shored her up. “Thanks.”

But she didn’t like that glum look on his face.

He’d done his best to care for their needs, and she appreciated it. So what if he’d grabbed the wrong item on his way back through the storm to rescue her? “I’m just thankful you’re here.” Casting a glance toward him, anxiety abruptly squashed the happiness she’d been feeling.

Dare was focused on the entrance to their cavern, a frown suffusing his face. It didn’t change as he carefully eyed the ground at his feet, then inspected the jagged line of the cave walls meeting the ground around them.

“Everything okay?”

He jerked an alarmed glance at her, and his expression morphed, the frown gone, replaced with a steady look. Was he shoring her up?

“It’s fine.” Dare trained the full force of his optimism on her. “Don’t worry. And don’t forget. There’s a tiny bit of chocolate with your name on it.”

Her heart warmed. The man always took care of her. Her first. Whatever she wanted or needed.

The guy looked like he could use a boost about now. “You did good, getting us in this cave. With everything.” She reached over and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

Dare beamed, the sudden flash across his face heartening. Her spirit rose.

“So I can live another day, Queen Bee?” Lifting her up, he swung her a couple of steps, then hugged her close. His shirt rasped at her skin and the scent of torrential rain still clung to him as she slid down his front, but she didn’t care. She breathed it in. They were dirty, still wet, but his flesh warmed where she held him and the fit of his clasped hands in the hollow of her back was ambrosia.

“You absolutely can,” she teased. “Tomorrow, you’ll have to prove yourself to me all over again. But for today, we’re good.”

He pressed his face to hers, his wet hair slicking her cheek and muttered something.

“What was that?” She mumbled against his ear, aware of the pulse in his neck beating hard.

She felt his smile as his lips stretched into a grin against her face. “Oh, nothing, your highness. Just a couple of proclamations about proving myself to you. You know, Superman and all that.”

An old joke, familiar. Comfortable.

His hands relaxed their grip and they drew apart. Dare’s gaze landed on her face, then shifted to her wet form. “Your clothes. That’s a problem.”

She wanted to respond with a joke about proper spelunking attire, but she was too wet, uncomfortable and grimy. She shrugged off her soaked jacket and dropped it to the ground. “I know. It’s warm in here, but I’m still cold. I have to get dry.” She pursed her lips into a wry half-smile as she ran her hands up and down her arms in an attempt to muster some heat. “Obviously, no towels.”

“No problem.” Dare’s fingers reached to the top button of his shirt. Tugging it out of its enclosure, his fingers moved to the next one and then the next, drawing each button out of its hole as he made his way down the garment quickly.

A hyper-alert sensation flared through her body.

He did look damn good unbuttoning a shirt purposefully. Biting her bottom lip, she stared. Shrugging the garment off in a fluid movement, he threw it to her. “Here. Use it.”

The tank he was wearing underneath shifted around him with his movements, but still didn’t leave much to the imagination. Shadows peeked in around his form, the dim glow highlighting his well-defined muscles. She swallowed, lost in thought.

She remembered many a night—was it half of her life? it’d felt like forever—clinging to those strong shoulders as she bounced on his lap, his cock spearing into her, his hands gripping her waist, their sweat slick.

And through the nights, curving her arms around him, her fingers grasping that strong shoulder again as she spooned him, needing to feel his strength. Knowing he was there for her. Solid.

The still-warm shirt draped across her fingers, and the cavern closed in on them with the intimacy of their actions.

But the coolness of the cave did its work and she shivered. Her top seemed to stick closer to her skin. She really needed to peel it off. Now.

“Go ahead,” he directed, his voice hoarse. “Turn around if you want. Bra off too.”

She obeyed his direction and faced away from him, grasped her top’s hem and peeled it off. Next, her bra. Fumbling in the back, she undid the closure. The pale fabric whisked off her skin, and her breasts were cool and clammy.

Now wasn’t the time to be polite or phony. Cupping them, working her fingers in underneath, she warmed the flesh as she pressed her hands everywhere and felt the welcome heat.

Then she quickly rubbed herself down with his shirt. His scent all around her, on her.

Suddenly she felt him behind her like a blast furnace. Heat soaked into her flesh, up and down her length. “Abby…”

Clenching her eyes shut, she froze.

She wouldn’t have the strength to stop him now. She knew it.

Her breath ran to ragged as his heat washed into her. The nape of her neck warmed. Her back, her ass. She longed for his touch. The heat of it. The slide of his body against hers. All she had to do was slip backward half an inch and…

His hand appeared in front of her, dangerously close to her breast. “Here.” Gripped in his fingers was his tank. “Put it on.”

Brushing his calloused fingers, she took it. Coolness swirled at her back, and the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding escaped her. He’d retreated.

She shrugged the long tank on. Soft, warm, Dare’s scent all over it.

All over her naked torso.

“Your ass. Don’t forget your ass.”

Still with her back to him, a retort sprang out. “I don’t usually. It’s pretty attached to me.”

His voice, tight and strained. “For god’s sake. Pull those pants down and dry your ass too, will you?”

Well, nothing made sense at the moment. Certainly none of this did. Might as well have some fun, if he was watching.

She reached up under the tank’s hem and shimmied the pants down, thrusting her butt out behind her as she took them off, aware Dare’s eyes were on every swaying, exaggerated movement.

Dead silence behind her.

Using the shirt, she reached around to caress her cold globes with it, wiping them dry, rubbing them briskly to get warmth back into them. Taking her time.

A pained exhalation escaped behind her. “Oh, bloody hell. I think I’ll just go back out into the hurricane. It’s safer out there.”

A laugh spread on her lips, but she stifled it. “Suit yourself. I’m just about done here.”

And then she was done, warm and flushed.

Swiveling around, she stood, his man’s tank hanging to mid-thigh on her, enjoying the feel of being dry, at least. Not that a bath wouldn’t go down good about now.

“Done.” Unsure of her next move, and caught up in the moment, she could only stand there and stare at him, sans tank, his chiseled body framed in the glow.

But he broke the moment with a quick smile. “Good.” Holding out his palm, he waggled his fingers. “Here.”

She tossed the shirt to him.

He twisted it like a towel and draped it across his shoulders. “We need to sort out a place to rest, to lay down. We’re going to be here for a while.”

And with that, she returned to the regularly scheduled programming of her life, the channel she was currently on.

In a tropical storm, with her ex.

In a freakin’ cave.

Off balance again, she winced. She’d been through enough weirdness the last twenty-four hours to last a year or two. Or forty. “Are we going to be okay in here?”

His quick grin was meant to encourage her, she knew. Though if he was just being reassuring so she wouldn’t panic, or if he really thought everything was simpatico, she wasn’t quite sure.

And she decided she wouldn’t push. If he needed to encourage her, she’d let it play out. The guy deserved that, at least. More.

Soon, he tended to the scrape on her head, using the cleanest scrap of his shirt and a bit of saliva, muttering first aid lore at her. Then, once they found the most level spot on the ground, Dare swept it with the vinyl pocket, using it as a de facto broom, and got rid of the stones and bumps as well as he could. He followed that up with flourishing his shirt dramatically, spreading it on a billowing puff of air onto the cleared dirt for them as a makeshift, way-too-small blanket to lay on.

He held his hand out to her. “Madam?”

Placing her hand in his, she lobbed a smile at him. “Sir.”

He lowered himself to the ground and held her steady as she lowered herself beside him.

He gave her the lion’s share of the shirt. There was only an arm poking out left for him, which really, was more of an irritation than anything, she figured. Dare laid back, having taken the position closer to the entrance they’d crawled through, and pulled her to him. She placed her head carefully on the arm he’d stretched out for her.

He let out a playful oomph as her head hit it. “You can use it while the blood’s still flowing. After that, all bets are off.”

She snickered in the dark. “If you say so.”

They lay, quiet, for a few minutes.

Abby slid over, off the shirt, pillowing her head on her arm as she turned to her side, away from him. “Here. You take it now.”

Mimicking her position, he slung his arm over her waist, pulled her back onto the shirt. Then against him. “It’s okay. I’ll take a shift later. Let’s just try and catch a few.”

The wind still sounded from outside, but it was strangely restful and lulling, perfect for drifting off. She expelled a languorous, deep sigh, and relaxed, oddly comfortable.

Sliding his hands down her legs, Dare worked her muscles lightly, easing the aches. He snuggled up to her, spooning her as he folded her in his arms, muttering something about body heat, and she was grateful.

Then, if he crossed his arms around her waist and tentatively slid his hands up under the tank to cup her breasts, that was good. They were still cold, and he warmed them up. Shaped them nicely. Gently.

And if she wiggled into his groin, her ass barely clothed with the tank, well, this was survival, right? His heated frame molded around her as they drifted off to oblivion together. His cock pressed against her…but…get real, she told her awakening pussy.

We’ve just been through a tropical tempest, you know.

Today had been an eye-opener, and she was glad, if she could be glad of such a thing, that they were here together.

But…if they were to be more…the past had to be dealt with. She knew from long experience that things like that wouldn’t stay put.

Yep, she murmured to herself. The past had to be dealt with. Soon.

Maybe even as soon as tomorrow.

The remembrance of how he’d tossed anxious, measuring looks from one end of the cavern to the other intruded on her mind just before she fell into slumber, and the thought came, unbidden.

If they were still alive.