“Then you’re damn lucky. But come on, man. If I can wait to see her again, then so can you. It can’t be much longer until Raine gets back. Can’t you wait until then?”
Blue relaxed against a tree, hiding the raging need that was tearing up his body. “No problem.”
Pete’s snort was as soft as his whisper. “Yeah, right. I swear. If you get any hornier, I’m going to have to drag you to the stream and dunk you under.”
He was hot for her. There was no denying that. But it was more than that. Maybe it was her bravery, or the glint of challenge in her eyes, or even the underlying impression that she’d had more than her fair share of shit during her lifetime. Whatever it was, he sensed she was special. But just how special?
* * * *
Callie hunkered down against the wall and hugged her knees to her chest. So far she’d managed to keep her fear from taking over, but she was losing ground on that battle fast. She’d clung to the hope of rescue until the moon had finally overtaken the sun. And, although the moonlight was bright, it couldn’t reach every part of her prison and she shuddered whenever she heard a sound. The wolves had gone a while ago, but who knew what else might appear?
Did snakes burrow in the ground? If they did, could one come out of the wall and land on top of her? She shook herself and muttered quiet chastisements. She wouldn’t let her imagination run wild. If she did, she’d never make it out.
But would anyone ever find her? She’d run into only a few other hikers in the mountains and the prospect of that happening again was minimal at best.
What if she could build a fire? She tugged her backpack closer and dug around until she found a box of matches. But what could she burn? The pit didn’t have even a few sticks, much less anything that would make a decent fire. Besides, the possibility of someone seeing the flames from the deep recesses of her confinement was slim. Even if she could get a fire going, she’d have to wait until tomorrow and hope the smoke would draw some attention.
“Damn it all. This sucks.”
“Yeah, it kind of does.”
Startled, she jumped to her feet and lifted her gaze to find men, drop-dead hunks all three of them, gazing down at her. Two of them had similar facial features and body types. Even the way they held themselves spoke of a common lookout on life. They were relaxed, yet she sensed an underlying energy that could break free at any moment to turn their bodies into quick, sleek machines. One had short hair and wore stubble along his jaw while the other, the one who seemed a little older than his friends, had a shaved head and no facial hair. Even from a distance, she could see their intense blue eyes.
The third, with darker hair and a slighter, albeit still buff-as-possible frame, stood apart from the other two. His dark eyes locked onto hers and, for a moment, she thought of the wolves that had stood over her.
Good grief. Men reminding you of wolves? Don’t let your imagination get the best of you. Hang in there.
One of them grinned at her. “But don’t get in the dumps. Things can only look up from here, right?” His grin widened. “Or rather, from there.”
The one with the shaved head tilted his head at her just as the wolves and Scrunch had done. Once again, she had to tell herself not to compare them to the wolves.
“Knock off the jokes, man.” He glanced at the smiling man and back to her. “What are you doing down there?”
Was he serious? Did he think she’d gotten into the pit on purpose? “Oh, you know. Just hanging out.” She copied his gesture, leaning her head to the side. “What do you think happened? I fell in and now I can’t get out.”
The man with the great smile shot her another one. Hell, she swore she could hear him thinking about the commercial where the older woman complained that she’d fallen and couldn’t get up. She glared at him, daring him to say so, but he just kept grinning.
“How could you fall? It’s not exactly a small hole.”
She studied the one with the dark hair. “I was being chased and didn’t see it until it was too late. So can you help me get out or what?”
Wait. Do I want them to get me out? Would I be getting out of the frying pan only to land in the flames? Who knows what these guys might do? What are they doing roaming around the woods at night anyway?
But it was either take a chance with them or hope for someone else to come along.
“What was chasing you?” added the grinner.
She noted that he’d asked what and not who. Of course, odds were better that it was an animal instead of a person. “This huge buck charged me. The only thing I could do was to run like hell.”
“And he didn’t catch you? Bucks are faster than humans.”