Chapter 8
Walker
She was watching me again. Her nose and cheeks were red. Her gaze was glassy against the frigid air. The fur hood was pulled up over her head, trapping her body heat. But her eyes told me everything I needed to know.
Determination for the truth shined in the green depths, and I needed to get her off this damn hill and fast.
“You don’t have to hide things from me. I see things pretty clearly,” she said, diverting her gaze toward the tracks we’d left, which we were now following back.
“And what is it you see?” I asked her, unsure I wanted the answers.
“You don’t trust anyone but the people who know you best. You don’t let anyone get that close.”
“Let me guess, Monique told you that?”
Destiny shrugged. “Well, it’s true, isn’t it?”
I stopped and met Destiny’s gaze, looking for the right words to use. “Quit trying to analyze me. You won’t like what you find. I’m not the kind of guy you take home to the parents, and I can assure you that I’m probably the opposite of your ex-boyfriend.”
Her chest heaved as we stood in silence. Heated energy sizzled between us. Destiny nibbled on her bottom lip. Yearning and humor shined in her eyes. “She told me that too. Love them and leave them. No strings attached.” She patted my chest. “I get it. Relationships are messy, and I don’t have time for that either.”
She made the first move, closing the distance between us, pressing her lips to mine. I don’t know why. Maybe she wasn’t thinking straight, or the cold had gotten to her. But she kissed me, and I wasn’t going to refuse the urge, especially when her lips parted and she let me in.
She tasted like honey with the promise of home. The heat from her mouth radiated against mine. The way our tongues danced with need had me turning hard, knowing that if I ever got her between the sheets, I’d take her fast and hard. And she was the type of girl that deserved long and slow.
And then she stepped back. Her eyes were no longer filled with need but with questions.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” she said.
“You’re right,” I answered and started walking again, not waiting to see if she was going to follow. The trek through the snow back to the ranger station was going to be even more uncomfortable thanks to my hard-on pressing painfully against my zipper.
After ten minutes of walking in silence, she broke. “I’m sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter. It was just a kiss,” I said.
“I know,” she said. “You’re helping me, and I’m sorry if I made things awkward.”
“It’s fine,” I said and glanced her way. “Being in the woods can make you feel alone in the world.”
“And yet, you enjoy the isolation,” she said as if trying to figure me out.
“Yep.” I continued walking. There was no sense of her entertaining the idea that I wanted anything from her. I wasn’t boyfriend material. I had plenty of exes who would agree.
The moon was perched high in the sky when we got back to the cabin.
We’d left a single solar powered lamp burning in the tiny square window across from the hearth. Its weak light along with the glowing light as the moon broke through the cloud cover guided our final steps like runway lights. Our footprints were the only ones leading away from the cabin. The shed next to it looked untouched.
I caught a glimpse of the woman in white in the woods. She was watching me, always watching me. Thankfully we entered the cabin before Destiny noticed her.
My icy breath was visible in the air as I exhaled. A shiver skirted down my spine, not from the familiar ghost but from the lack of heat in the fireplace. After dropping my bag, I stacked wood on the grate to start a fire before I even shoved out of my jacket. “It’s going to take a while to warm up.”
“Not a problem,” she said, sitting in the chair while pulling one of the blankets over her legs.
I left to replenish the fuel in the generator. By the time I returned to the cabin with an armload of wood, the fire snapped and crackled cozily. Destiny had shrugged out of her jacket and I hung it and mine on the pegs beside the door. While I fixed something to eat, she studied the map I laid out on the table.
“Do you think we’re going to find Putnam alive?” Her voice was hesitant.
“Depends on how he handles the woods and what provisions he’d brought with him,” I answered. “Now, if he stole all the blankets and provisions from my old homestead, then he might have a chance, but if he came up here dressed for summer temperatures, then I’m not sure.”
