Unlikely Allies (17 page)

"So did
I
,
to tell you the truth," he confessed. "Do you know what I was thinking as I careened down the mountain, crashing into everything imaginable?"

I shook my head against his arm.

"All I could think was that I was never going to experience the love my parents shared before they died and that scared me. I've spent weeks pushing you away, fighting the attraction I felt, convincing myself that you would only cause a kink in my life.

"Did you say
'
attraction
'
?" I asked glibly.

He chuckled before asking his own question. "Are
you trying to tell me it's one-
sided?"

I merely shook my head, unsure of how I exactly wanted to answer that question. Our relationship was unlike any I had ever experienced.
I was used to the typical four-
step
dating ritual—meet, flirt, date
and then declare any feelings. Mason and I had blurred the steps and I was scrambling to readjust.

"Kimberly," he said, breaking into my contemplation.

Tucking my embarrassment away, I flipped over to face him. "No, you're not alone in the whole attraction thing," I said, ducking my head slightly.

He reached over with his free hand and lifted my chin.
"I'm not used to this shy you. W
here did the sassy girl go?" he teased.

I smiled at him "That sassy girl never existed before I met you," I admitted.

"Aww, so I bring out the
rebel in you," he said, tugging me back down in his arms.

I sn
uggled in. I was done with over
analyzing the situation. "It's raining hard again," I said, vo
icing my concern over the never-
ending rain.

"Yeah," he said in a strained voice.

"Is that bad?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at him.

"It just means we may be stuck here a little longer than I anticipated. Can you think of anything we can do to fill the time?" he asked suggestively.

I snorted unladylike. "Sure, I'm sure you are on top of your game with that leg," I teased.

"You doubt me?" he teased back, tightening his arm around me.

"Um, hell yeah," I said, laughing. "How long will we be here?" I asked, returning back to the matter at hand.

"I'm guessing when we didn't make it back the other night, Rick is probably assuming something happened and we needed to hunker down to wait out the rain. He knows as well
as I do that the continuous rain will make the trails treacherous. It needs to stop raining long enough to let the ground dry out," he said softly.

"I need to do something about your leg," I said, sitting up. "It can't stay open and exposed like that. It was bad enough when I thought rescue was coming right away. You'll get an infection if you don't already have one. We need a piece of the raincoat that's outside that I can at least drape over it."

"I thought about that too. I'm not thrilled about you going back out in the rain. You're already getting sick. I could hear it rattling around in your chest last night."

He was right. I had been trying to ignore my scratchy throat and aches and pains, but they were making their presence annoyingly known.

"It's just a cold," I muttered.

"Maybe right now it is, but the cold wet temperatures could easily turn it into pneumonia," he said, sounding serious.

I laughed. "We have bigger fish to fry with your leg than some silly cold," I said, pulling my raincoat on.

He looked at me sternly, obviously not liking my glib attitude. "Kimberly, I'm serious. I don't like you going out in the rain."

"Yeah?
Well, I don't want your leg to fall off from an infection," I countered, not liking his sudden bossiness. I pulled o
n my
damp socks and shoes.

"And I don't want you coughing out a lung when you get pneumonia," he said, matching my tone.

"Lucky for me, you're not the boss of me," I said, throwing my hood on and stomping outside.

Still fuming, I climbed up onto the big boulder where I had laid the rainco
at the night before and started
tearing a section off the bottom where it was the most ragged. My frustrated state made the nylon material no match for me, and within a few minutes I had several suitable pieces. I was tempted to teach Mason a lesson by staying out longer, but the wind kept whipping the rain into my face, chilling me. By the time I crawled back into the cave with Mason, my teeth were chattering. He didn't say a word, but instead, held out his arms so I could crawl into them. I tossed my raincoat back down on the ground and climbed into his embrace as he rubbed my back through my multiple layers of clothing to warm me. He cradled my chilled hands and I sighed with relief as they started to warm back up. I kicked off my wet shoes and soggy socks and without asking permission, snuggled my feet up against his leg.

He yelped when my icy feet made contact and I stifled a giggle.

"We need to do your leg," I said, yawning loudly.

"Rest first," he said, keeping a firm arm around my waist.

"I'm fine," I said before biting back another large ya
wn. "Why am I so freaking tired?
" I
asked
, rubbing my eyes
.

"The trauma of the last few days.
Ordinarily, after a spill like you took, you would be resting in a nice comfortable bed for several days, not searching for shelter or dragging
someone's deadweight around. You haven't allowed your body a chance to recover," he said. "Not to mention, you're sick," he admonished.

I wanted to protest, but before I could get the words out, a cough rumbled up through my chest.

He sighed as I bit back a smile. Okay, so maybe he was right. The frigid temperatures and continuous rain weren't helping my condition.

Mason continued to ru
b my back as I slowly fell a
sleep. My dreams intertwined with reality as I dreamt that his hands explored more than my back. I began to respond to his touch in the dream and yearned for it to never stop as my body shifted closer to him. I
woke when Mason's hand stopped
moving as he shifted slightly. Waking fully, I was mortified to see that I had hiked my leg up onto his good one and was pressing intimately close to him. Not daring to move, I hoped against hope that he was asleep and had missed my lap dance.

"Kimberly?" he said questioningly.

Damn, he wasn't sleeping and he had caught my whole wanton act. I wasn't exactly a newbie to sex. I had caved this past spring and let Mitch, my senior year boyfriend, talk me into getting a room after prom, but the actual act was over before it really started. Missing what all the fuss was about, I instantly regretted my impulsive decision. I wished I had waited like my mom had always coaxed me to do. At the time, I wasn't keen on the idea of going to college a virgin, so it didn't take much for Mitch to get me t
o agree. We'd had our heavy-
petting sessions leading up to it, so I felt I was ready for the deed, but once it started, it felt wrong and I'd broken up with Mitch shortly after prom. I used the excuse that we were going to different colleges and a clean break was for the best. He didn't put up much of
a
fight, so I concluded he'd gotten what he wanted.

Lying in Mason's arms was as different as night and day. Way different than anything I had ever experienced with Mitch.

"Kimberly," he said after several minutes had passed.

"Yes," I said in a high-pitched voice I didn't recognize.

"Will you do me a favor?" he asked.

"Uh, sure," I said, expecting him to tell me to control my raging hormones.

"Will you look at me?" he asked.

I lifted my gaze, expecting to see humor on his face for busting me in my most embarrassing predicament yet. "Uh sorry, I was dreaming," I said lamely, finally looking into his eyes.

"I figured that," he said huskily.

"Swell," I said, going for sarcasm as I started to pull back.

"I don't think so," he said, dragging me close so I was sprawled over his chest with my face inches from his.

My eyes darted to his lips as the sensations from the dream resurfaced.

"You are literally killing me," he said, threading his hand through my hair and pulling me even closer.

"I am?" I squeaked.

Without answering, he propelled me the remaining distance and fastened his lips onto mine. I moaned against his mouth, giving his tongue the access it needed. I leaned in closer, shifting my body against his, trying to quench the fire that had flared back up in me. When he moaned against my lips, I thought his passion matched mine, until I
felt his lips release
.

"Mason?" I asked, pulling back.

Sweat had beaded up on his forehead and his complexion was ashen.

"Mason?" I asked again, more urgently. "Are you okay?"

"It's my goddamn leg," he mumbled.

"Oh G
od, I'm so sorry," I said, realizing I had jarred his leg.

"Not your fault, beach bunny. Believe me, I wanted you that close. My leg just decided it needed to be the ultimate wet blanket," he said, obviously in pain.

I pulled out of his arms. "I should have been more careful," I said, switching the flashlight on so I could see his leg better in the dim light.

"Not your fault," he repeated, opening his eyes. "How does it look?"

"Not good. The wound is still oozing and the skin around it looks
more red
than yesterday," I said, leaning in so I could get a better look at it. "We definitely need to cover it."

He nodded.

I was busy cleaning the vinyl raincoat with one of the alcohol wipes when a sudden thought hit me. "Um, Mason, I don't know why I haven't thought of it until now, but do
you have to go to the bathroom?
" I asked, turning slightly pink.

He coughed, looking equally embarrassed. "I went last night," he
said sheepishly, pulling the newly
filled water bottle from its hiding place between him and the wall.

"
Ahhh
, I see. Here, give it to me so I can dump it so you have it for next time," I said, trying not to laugh as he flushed bright red this time.

"This f…
ing
leg is seriously screwing up my coolness factor," he said, reluctantly handing the bottle to me.

I laughed at how uncomfortable he looked and headed outside to dump it and relieve my own bladder. "This definitely pushes our relationship to a whole new level," I mumbled to myself, still smirking at how uncomfortable he had looked. It was nice for the shoe to be on the other foot for once.

Chapter 12

Mason still looked grumpy when I returned and I worked to hide my smirk. I tore open a second wipe and cleaned the angry looking skin surrounding his wound. His language took on a whole new colorful level
,
and I couldn't help laughing as he strung them together into phrases.

"Sorry," I said, shooting him a sheepish look. "It's just kind funny how you can make swear words sound like a dialogue."

"It's a gift," he said with his eyes closed, but I saw his mouth pull up slightly into a smile.

While he was still smiling, I l
ifted his leg and placed it on
my lap. I draped the clean side of the raincoat over his leg and used the rest of that gauze tape to wrap around it to hold it lightly into place. I set his leg back down when I was done and let out a wheezing cough I had been holding in.

"Wow, just in the nick of time. I'm sure you would have appreciated my germs on you," I joked, crawling up beside him.

"Yeah, because you're not helping me at all," he said sarcastically, making me smile.

"So, what do you and Rick do when camp's not in session?" I asked, deciding a change in subject was in order.

"We have a house in Golden and I go to Red Rocks Commun
ity College while Rick
schmooze
s
rich people for funding for the camp."

"How does he get income to live on?" I asked curiously.

"He has some trust his grandfather set up for him. Over the years, I've gathered through things he's said, that his family wasn't happy he didn't follow in the family footsteps of being a lawyer. They pretty much disowned him when he told him his idea for a summer camp, but they couldn't touch the trust fund his grandfather set up."

"Rick, as a lawyer?"
I said snorting. "Have they met Rick?"

"I know, right? The ironic thing is I Googled the family once and they're loaded, but they won't give Rick a dime for the camp."

"I guess that whole
'
blood is thicker than water
'
analogy doesn't apply to them," I said, disgusted with the blood relatives I had never met.