Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(64)
But chances were that anyone still left in the game at that point would have figured out where they were on the map too and would come to the same conclusion. Will agreed with the assessment that running into others was inevitable, now that they were all getting close to the end. In fact, he was surprised they hadn’t run into anyone before. Grateful, but surprised. At the end of the day, he would rather be alone with Melody in the wilderness than part of a social event in the best of situations.
“Well, there it is.” Melody pointed through the trees to the sky as the sound of a helicopter drew near.
Will paused to watch it pass overhead.
“Too bad the others couldn’t have more time to just hang out and camp,” Melody went on.
Will sent her a crooked smile. “I don’t think your friend Sandy would agree with you.”
“True,” Melody snorted as they moved on. “Poor Sandy.”
“Not really cut out for wilderness adventures, is she?”
Melody shrugged. “You’d be surprised.”
As far as Will was concerned, he was already surprised. He was surprised that he was enjoying the competition on a personal level, not just a professional one. He was surprised to think that he would have been right there with Melody, asking if they could just hang out and camp, away from the concerns of the world. But what he wasn’t surprised about was how determined Melody was to continue on. Just as determined as he was. There was so much more to Melody than he’d given her credit for, and he couldn’t wait to discover everything she was capable of.
Melody would have been a lot more excited about getting back to trekking through the forest with Will by her side if it weren’t for the dull throb in her ankle and the fact that the bright, sunny skies clouded over. She was willing to push through the discomfort to make it up to the top of the ridge. The view alone made it worthwhile once they got there. The Shoshone National Forest was just so dang beautiful in the spring. The colors seemed to be growing more vivid and vibrant by the day. She whipped out her camera to snap a few pictures, even though photography was barely an afterthought for her at this stage of the competition. It was a relief to see signs of civilization—clusters of buildings and roads cutting through the wilderness—relatively nearby.
“That must be the finish line.” She pointed to a small clearing with what looked like a resort nestled in the middle of it.
Will had his map out again and double-checked where she was pointing. “Yep, that’s it, all right.”
“It looks so far away,” Melody sighed.
“We’ll get there.” Will folded up the map, an encouraging smile on his weather-beaten face. “Slowly but surely, we’ll get there.”
She would have felt a lot more confident about a statement like that if rain hadn’t started to fall again during the night.
It was light at first, no more than a heavy mist. It barely interrupted their much-needed sleep. They’d snuggled up in zipped-together sleeping bags again, but since they were going for speed and distance now and didn’t have to stop to find food, they hadn’t built a shelter. And even though Melody wouldn’t have said no to a little sleeping bag mischief in the night, she was honestly too tired. Still, she was getting way too used to the comfort of Will’s body to wrap herself around at night. When they did cross the finish line, she hoped she didn’t have a whole other race on her hands to get him back in her bed where he belonged.
By the time morning rolled around, their makeshift camp was well on its way to being soaked. Melody groaned as she awoke to damp hair and a cold, wet pillow. Will stirred in their sleeping bag cocoon as well.
“I don’t guess you’ll be having a problem with Captain Woody this morning,” she grumbled as she flailed for the zipper inside of the sleeping bags.
Will just answered, “No,” and found the zipper for her.
They rolled out of bed and got ready for the day as fast as they could. Nothing was more miserable than packing up wet sleeping bags and eating cold granola in the rain.
“This was supposed to be fun,” Melody groused as they marched down the other side of the slope they’d climbed the day before. “We were supposed to take on the world today and kick ass.”
“What, you can’t kick ass in the rain?”
Something about Will’s comment made her laugh. It was so un-Will-like. “Under normal circumstances, I can. But not when I haven’t had a decent, home-cooked meal in days.”
“Remind me to cook for you once we get home.”
Her heart practically stopped at those words, delivered off-handedly as Will pushed aside an overhanging tree limb in their path. It might had been raining, but the warm-fuzzies that filled her were epic.
“What are you going to cook?” She pretended he hadn’t just made her day.
“I’m not a gourmet or anything, but I make some mean meatballs,” he said.
Melody was struck with the double image of warm hunks of savory meat smothered in red sauce and Will laid out on clean sheets, buck naked, his meatballs on display. Both fantasies made her mouth water. “I look forward to eating all of it,” she said, bursting into giggles.
Will glanced at her over his shoulder. “You just made my cooking into a sexual metaphor, didn’t you?”
“Of course.” Her giggling got worse.