Undiscovered(39)
“Me too.” He hugged her tighter.
“Wish this sand was near a beach.” She had a goofy smile on her face. “A nice cold beach. With cold, frothy drinks and palm trees.”
“When we get out of here, Rush, I’m taking you to the beach. I’d like to see you in a bikini.”
“I have a teeny, tiny red one.”
“Tease.”
He felt her slow down more. “Declan…my feet are really hurting. I’ve been ignoring them, but I can’t anymore.”
He forced her to sit and carefully pulled off her boots and socks. She made small pained sounds that arrowed into him.
When he saw her feet, he cursed. “Layne.”
Sand had gotten in and had rubbed her feet raw in patches. It had to hurt like hell, and she hadn’t said a thing.
She managed a tired smile. “Sore feet, sunburn, tangled hair, and chapped lips. I must look like hell.”
He cupped her cheek and forced her to look at him. “You’re beautiful. Smart, committed, enthusiastic. The most beautiful woman I’ve known.”
Her lips tipped up. “I think you’ve had too much sun.”
Dec pulled out his tiny first aid kit. He didn’t have much, but he had some small bandages. He set to work covering the worst of the raw marks. He emptied her socks and boots of sand and slipped them back on. When he tightened the laces, she winced, but set her shoulders back.
“I’m ready,” she said. “But I’m pretty sure the heat is affecting me. Because now I can see a beautiful pool of water.”
Dec swiveled on one knee and looked over his shoulder. He stilled. “Holy hell, Layne, that’s an oasis.”
She straightened like she’d been hit with an electric shock. “Don’t mess with me, Ward.”
“Come on.” He helped her up, and with one arm wrapped around her, they stumbled toward it.
He could hear Layne trying to muffle her small moans of pain.
Screw this. He scooped her up into his arms.
“Declan, you can’t carry me!”
“Not far to go, Rush. I’ve carried men three times your size.”
She made a grumbling sound but settled in his arms. Soon, they neared the oasis.
Damn. Declan couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t Dakhla. It was too small, and while he could see date trees, there were no towns, roads, cars, or people.
Layne wiggled to get down and he set her on her feet.
“Where the hell are we?” she murmured. They moved closer, and Layne gasped. “Oh, my God, look!”
The ruins of a giant stone temple were perched right on the edge of the placid pool of water.
Layne hurriedly dropped her backpack and kicked her boots off, and then splashed into the water fully clothed. It was cool, but not very deep. She fell forward, savoring the water soaking into her clothes and skin.
God, it felt so, so good.
She turned, floating on her back, and watched Declan. He stood at the edge, filling their water bottles and dropping purification tablets into them.
“Declan, get in here.”
He set the bottles down, pulled his shirt off and waded in.
Okay, so Layne was exhausted, hot, and tired. But that chest and abdomen…she drank it in greedily. Every perfect ridge and lean muscle.
He did a shallow dive into the water and came up beside her, water streaming off his face.
“Has anything ever felt better?” she asked.
“Kissing you.”
She splashed him. It turned into a wild battle and when he lunged for her, she jumped up and ran toward the shore.
He snagged her around the waist and lifted her up. “Do you know your shirt is now completely transparent?”
“I’m wearing a tank top underneath.”
“I know. But I can still see it sticking to the skin of your collarbones, making me imagine what that smooth, baby-fine skin you have feels like.”
Layne felt the lick of desire pooling in her belly.
“But, as much as I’d like to strip all this off you, you’ve had a rough day.” He set her down. “You need more water and something to eat.”
Mr. Protector, looking out for her again. She watched him grab up the water bottles and hand one to her. Who protected Declan when everything got to be too much? When those horrible demons chasing him wouldn’t leave him alone?
She sat on the carved stone steps leading into the water and watched with great interest as Declan washed his shirt and hung it over a low stone wall to dry. Then it was absolutely no hardship to watch him climb the palm trees and collect dates.
God, all those lean muscles. She watched them flex and bulge. He had a strength that was hard-earned, not just surface gloss collected in a gym. He used those muscles for more than just lifting weights or running on a treadmill.