Nobody's Lost (Rescue Me Saga #5)(17)

“Most people aren’t so lucky.”

“Do you think you’ll ever marry again?”

“Hell, no. I’m not the marrying kind.”

“But you were married once.”

“That was before. I’m not that man any longer. Wouldn’t inflict myself on anyone, much less a wife.”

Talk about a gauntlet. “Women are stronger than you think. Don’t assume all of them will run at the first sign of a challenge.”

He continued to walk without responding. She hoped he would give her words some thought. Any woman would be proud to have such a brave hero as her partner.

If she were the marrying kind, she’d certainly have him on her short list.

They exited the first tunnel, and she heard the roar of the river down below them. Leading him to the guardrail, she peeked down the ravine while moving her camera into position.

After snapping a few shots of the river and the red-rock hills beyond the gorge, she reached for his hand. “Help me over and let’s go down for some closer shots.”

“That’s awfully steep.”

She flashed a smile at him. “You need to lighten up, Ryder. Play a little. Come on.”

She climbed to the other side of the guardrail, but he didn’t accept her help in return. He simply stepped over as if it was nothing. He didn’t appear to be taller than five-eleven, but seemed to have the legs of a man much taller. Funny that her walking pace was faster since his legs were considerably longer.

They found a bit of a path to follow. Probably one that animals used. She couldn’t imagine this being a popular hiking trail. Once at the bank of the river, she set her shutter speed slower and propped her elbows on a boulder to try and steady the camera as she took some frames of the water. The slow speed would show the movement of the water, giving it a white, flowing appearance in the photo.

After several more shots at varying speeds, she stood and looked around. “It’s gorgeous down here.”

He nodded, but seemed too lost in thought to speak.

“I haven’t been down here in decades. Carlos and I used to hike here when we came to stay with his grandmother.” He pointed toward the tunnels. “She lived on the other side of that hill on an old Indian service road.”

“That’s where you live now?”

“Yeah. She passed over long before I went on my last deployment. The house was vacant, and Carlos said I’d do him a favor by living there and keeping an eye on the place. I think he wants to use it as a vacation home or maybe retire there some day. But he knew I needed a hand up. I do maintenance on the place instead of paying rent.”

“I can see why you love it out here. And why it’s so hard for you to spend time in the city.”

“You like it out here. Why don’t you stay at my place? There’s a second bedroom, of course.”

Megan grinned as she stared down at his boots. Her face flushed warm at the thought of sharing his house out here.

“I’m sure you’d have lots of time to work on your photo editing. You might even build a new portfolio of nature shots.”

She was tempted, wondering what the morning light would be like up here and what flora and creatures she’d find on walks around his place.

“We’ll see.” She smiled at him, taking pleasure in giving him back a bit of his own non-commitment medicine. But the idea intrigued her. Since the break-in, the thought of getting away sounded better all of the time. But she didn’t know if it was a good idea.

“Hey, take off your boots and socks. Let’s go wading.” She placed her hand on his upper arm to steady herself as she shed her own shoes and socks. Rolling up her leather pants to her calves took a little more work, and she belatedly realized she’d given him a good view of her leather-encased butt while bent over at the waist to do so.

“Do you know how cold that water’s going to be this time of year?” His voice sounded a little husky.

“But it’s so warm in the sun.”

“Most of that water comes from snow runoff. It probably never is truly warm, but certainly not this early in the summer.”

“Oh, come on! Have a little fun!”

She found a safe place for her camera and waded into the water. “Oh my God! You’re right! It’s freezing!”

“Told you.”

A look of longing convinced her Ryder needed to let down his guard and play. Careful to miss the camera, she reached down and splashed a few drops of water on him. “I’m going to splash you until you come in with me. Might as well control how wet you get.”

He shook his head and unzipped his boots, sitting on a rock by the bank to remove them and tuck a sock inside each one. “I’ll be nicer than you were and be careful not to mess up your fancy leather outfit. I’d hate to see it ruined.”

Did he like seeing her in leather? She grinned.

When he hissed as he entered the cold water, she reached for his hand. “Come on. Let’s wade out a little bit.”

“The river’s not too high now, but promise me you won’t walk blindly into a river or arroyo without paying attention. Flash floods from storms many miles away are a problem here.”

She nodded but sensing no sudden wall of water about to descend on her, she stayed put and bent over to look for minnows. “Oh, look! A tadpole!”