Rescued by Love(42)

The rock was cold and unforgiving against her hands, stable and reassuring beneath each foot. Addy hoisted herself from one rock to the next, using upper-body strength she didn’t realize she possessed, and undiscovered muscles came to life along her sides and at the junctures of her knees and quads. She felt powerful and confident. Adrenaline pushed her past the abrading on her hands and the weight of her pack bearing down on her shoulders. Sweat beaded her forehead and dripped between her breasts. By the time she reached the peak, stretching her arm over the cold, hard stone, her limbs were trembling. She pictured herself sliding back down and crashing headfirst into the ground.

Not helpful.

Wishing more than ever that she’d accepted Jake’s offer to experience this with her, she ran her fingers over the ledge, blindly seeking something to grasp. Her fingers caught on a sharp edge, and she dragged her body over the ridge, scraping her thighs in the process. She dropped her backpack, pushed up to her hands and knees, and crawled away from the edge. Collapsing on her back, she lay with her arms stretched out, panting like she’d just scaled Mount Everest. Something dug into her butt. She reached into her pocket and withdrew the compass, remembering how she’d been a little offended when Jake had suggested she bring it. She was a fool.

“I did it!” she said into the air. An unstoppable smile formed on her lips, and her heart thundered so hard she was sure it was cursing at her, but she felt amazing! Closing her eyes and raising fisted hands to the sky, she yelled, “I fucking did it!”

Her voice echoed around her, reminding her of a philosophy class she’d taken in college. Her professor had posed the well-known thought experiment. “If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” She’d enjoyed that class tremendously. It had made her question everything about life. Now, as she sat watching the sun dip from the sky, her voice no longer lingering in the air, she asked the same question of her achievement. If no one was there to share it with, did it really happen? Of course it did, and she took pride in that, but her mind continued down that path.

Tackling Pirate’s Peak didn’t fill the emptiness she’d thought it would.

It might have, if she and Jake hadn’t become a thing. But despite the thrill of knowing she’d done something she never thought she would, she knew with her whole heart that it would mean more if they’d experienced it together.

She unzipped her pack and emptied it as quickly as she could, fishing around for her phone. The need to talk to Jake, to share this moment with him, was stronger than her need to breathe. She pushed the power button, and remembered he was teaching a class. She’d have to text instead of calling. Her phone didn’t power on. She pushed the button again…and again. The damn thing was dead. She could have sworn she’d powered it off after texting Gabriella, but she’d been in such a hurry, she must have forgotten. Now there would be no pictures, no texts, just the mind-numbing reality of spending her big moment alone.

Her eyes sailed over her sleeping bag, the supplies she’d brought to make dinner, and finally, her journal. Shoving her useless phone back in the pack, she grabbed the journal. How could he have known exactly what she needed on this trip, when she thought all she needed was to be alone with her thoughts?

She opened the journal and read the note he’d written for her again. Sexy girl, you can hike for miles, but everything you’re looking for is waiting for you right back here. Your Neanderthal, J.R.

She glanced at her supplies again, and realized she’d forgotten her lantern, pillow, and the firestarter to heat up her dinner. Her eyes drifted over the edge of the rocks at the branches and other pieces of firewood she’d need to start a fire. Sighing heavily, she clutched the journal to her chest. Jake would have thought this through. She wasn’t about to climb back down Pirate’s Peak.

Opening the journal once again, she wrote, I wish I could share this with you. This beautiful view, the excitement I feel inside me, the—

She fisted her hand around the pen, tears dampening her eyes. It wasn’t the view or the excitement of what she had accomplished that she wanted to share with him. Those things seemed so insignificant compared to the love burgeoning inside her. She might have forgotten to bring the things she thought she needed to make herself comfortable, but none of them mattered. Even if she had remembered to bring every one of those items, she’d still left behind the most essential element of all.

My missing piece.





Chapter Twenty-Two





JAKE DOWNED THE last of his beer and set the empty glass on the bar, hoping the bartender, a buxom blonde who had spent more time vying for his attention than doing her job, wouldn’t start flirting again. Jake wasn’t in the mood to hang out at NightCaps, the bar where he usually met his brothers—and Addy. But after spending two days trying not to think about the fact that she hadn’t texted or called, Cash’s invitation had been a welcome one. Of course, while his phone was silent as a frigging stone, Cash had received three texts in the last thirty seconds.

Jake pushed his empty beer bottle away. He’d thought he’d get trashed and forget about the gnawing ache in his gut telling him to get in his truck, hunt down Addy, and talk some sense into her. He’d texted her this morning, and again this afternoon, and she hadn’t returned either one. Knowing Addy, she’d turned the damn phone off to make a statement, but worry ate away at him that she’d run into trouble. He knew if he hightailed it up that mountain and she was fine, she’d give him hell for checking up on her. He was this close to saying fuck it and going anyway. Time for Little Miss Independent to stop hiding behind her past. Maybe when Cash finished texting he could distract him enough to make it through a few more hours. And hopefully by then Addy would come to her senses and call him.

Blondie returned, fluttering her lashes as she whisked away his empty bottle. He averted his gaze. It was only nine thirty on what felt like the longest Thursday in the history of the world, and the bar was packed. Normally he liked the eye candy that hung out in NightCaps, but the only eye candy he wanted was too frigging far away to see.

“Everything okay?” Jake asked as Cash returned another text.

“Yeah.” Cash shoved his phone in his pocket. “You know my buddy Boyd Hudson?”

“Sure. He started med school, right?” Boyd had worked with Cash at the firehouse for a few years before moving away.

“Yup. In Meadowside, Virginia. He and his fiancée, Janie, just set a wedding date. Looks like we’ll be going to Virginia for a wedding.”

“Awesome. I’m happy for them.”

Blondie returned with another beer for Jake. “Here you go. Anything else I can get you, just ask.” Her sultry blue-eyed gaze told him she truly meant anything.

Before Addy, he wouldn’t have looked past the ready-and-willing, no-strings-attached opportunity before him, but now he saw a lonely woman looking to fill a few empty hours. Jake wondered why she couldn’t see that he was turned off by the idea of his hands on anyone other than Addy. He felt like he was so consumed with her he had a blinking neon sign that read PROUD BOYFRIEND OF STUBBORN, SEXY ADDISON DAHL on his forehead.

“Thanks,” he said with blatant disinterest, and turned away.

“Damn,” Cash said under his breath. “When did pigs start flying?”

“The night of Duke’s wedding.” His phone vibrated, and he withdrew it from his pocket, hoping like hell it was Addy. Duke’s name flashed on the screen. “Shit. This can’t be good.”

“A guy on his honeymoon shouldn’t be anywhere near his phone,” Cash said, locking a serious gaze on Jake as he answered the call.

“Hey, bro. You okay?”

“Let’s see,” Duke said casually. “I’m in paradise with the most gorgeous woman on earth, doing our best to start our family. What do you think?”

That’s hard to believe, because the most beautiful woman on earth is busy making me crazy up in the mountains. Jake heard a thread of something in Duke’s voice that made him hold back the tease. “Then why are you calling me?”

“Because my thoughtful wife is worried about her best friend.” Duke’s tone turned serious. “Have you heard from Addy?”

“Not since Tuesday.” When we had a rough end to our call. The hair on the back of Jake’s neck prickled. He pushed to his feet as Duke explained that Addy had texted Gabriella and seemed upset, and Gabriella hadn’t been able to reach her since. The thought of his girl alone and upset already had his insides twisting, but while she might pull stone-cold-stubborn silence on him, she’d never do that to Gabriella.

Cash rose beside him and tossed money on the bar. “What’s going on?”

“Gabby’s worried about Addy.” But not half as worried as I am. Then to Duke he said, “Tell Gabby not to worry. Her phone probably died, but I’m going to find her.” He promised to text Duke with an update, and ended the call as he pushed through the crowd toward the exit.

“Want me to come with you?” Cash asked.

Jake flagged down a cab. “No. I’ve got this.”