Falling for the Groomsman (Wedding Dare, #1)(28)

He reached behind him and grabbed his backpack, and pulled out a thermos of cold water. “We need to get ice on this, and it needs to be elevated.”

She dropped her head back against the tree she rested her weight on. “Crap. Any chance we can find ice in the woods?”

“Not really.” He pressed the cool thermos to her ankle and glanced up at the sky. It would be dark within the hour. Reaching into his pocket, he held his phone up to the sky. No signal. Of f*cking course. “Do you have your phone on you?”

“Yeah.”

She reached into her shorts pocket and held it out for him. It took a second for him to confirm what he already suspected. She didn’t have any signal, either. He sighed and handed it back. “Nothing.”

She pinched her lips together when he probed at her ankle again. “Now what?”

“The way I see it, we have two options.”

When he didn’t continue on, she raised her brows at him. “And they are…?”

“Either sit here and set up camp, hoping someone comes and finds us, or I carry you and we’ll try to cover as much ground as we can before night falls—and then we set up camp. But either way, I think we’re sleeping under the stars tonight.”

Her eyes went wide. “Out in the open? Where any wild animal could stumble upon us in our sleep? Aw, heck no. I have no intention of being served up for a family of bears as the main course. We walk.”

They could walk all she wanted, but they would still be sleeping under the stars. He refrained from pointing that out, though. Let her be in denial if she wanted. “Don’t you sleep outside when you’re on assignment?”

“No.” She shivered. “I avoid assignments that involve the great outdoors for long periods of time. I tend to stay in the U.S., because I hate sleeping outside. Me and Mother Nature are not friends.”

He laughed. “All right. In that case? Let’s try to cover as much ground as we can.”

“Who knows? Maybe we didn’t travel as far as you think we did.” She nodded decisively, as if her saying as much would make it true. “Let’s walk.”

He cocked a brow. “You’re not walking. I am.”

“I can do it.” She stumbled forward and hissed. She glanced at him, her face way too pale for his liking. “Then again, maybe not.”

He managed to catch her before she hit the ground again. “Are you done trying to show how independent you are yet? Because I’ll be damned if I let you hurt yourself just to be stubborn again. Maybe I’ll have to come up with my own nickname for you, then.”

“Like what?” she snapped.

He swung her into his arms. “Like Patient McClumsy.”

A small laugh escaped her. “Oh, shut up,” she said through her teeth. Tears shimmered in her eyes, and she clung to his biceps. “But yes, I am done being clumsy. Beam me up, Scotty.”

He set her down slowly. “Lean against the tree for a second,” he murmured, knowing she was in pain and embarrassed and hating it. “I need to go grab the rest of my stuff.”

She leaned against the tree and closed her eyes, nodding. After retrieving his thermos and all the other scattered items from the ground, he put his shirt on and studied her. Her face was pale, and judging from the way she pinched her lips together, she was in pain. His gut tightened. He hated seeing her in pain. If only he could take it away.

He tended to her wounds silently, neither one of them breaking the silence. When he was finished, he kissed her bare shoulder and helped her pull her shirt over her head.

She turned her face away from him. “This isn’t your fault, you know. So don’t even think about apologizing for it.”

He blinked at her. Where the hell had that come from? She’d been the one to fall down the hill. He hadn’t pushed her. So why the hell would he apologize to her? He swept her into his arms. “I wasn’t going to. You still think I’m that guy who panics and runs. I’m not.”

She shrugged. “To me, you’ll always be him. Nothing you do or say will erase that from my mind.”

“I’ll have to try my best to make it up to you from now on. To make you stop living in the past, and start living in the now.” His arms tightened around her. “And Red? When I want something, I get it.”

She rested her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I fear you’re in for a disappointment this time around. I’m not up for grabs.”

“You were a few minutes ago when I was—”

“That’s different.” She looked up at him, her gorgeous eyes stopping him in his tracks. “What we did back there was just sex. Really, really amazing sex. But sex nonetheless. It doesn’t mean you have me. It was just a way to scratch an item off my list.”

He flinched, even though he’d known she would say that. She was determined to keep him at arm’s length. “Tell me about this list.”

“No.” Her fingers flexed on him. “And you can’t make me.”

The hell he couldn’t. Reining in his temper, he took a deep breath. “Fine. Tell me this, then: Do you believe in second chances?”

“I think it depends on the situation.” She stared off into the distance, her hand wrapping around the back of his neck. “But I could use a few of them myself.”