The trail felt spongy under his feet but it wasn’t slick, at least not yet. He had a feeling that might change the closer they got to the rocky outcroppings along the ridgeline. It was the visibility that really gave him problems. The lack of light seemed to have more to do with the overcast sky than the early hour and to add to the situation, a thick, soupy fog had started to set in. He could see Amanda’s pale-blue rain parka in front of him, but that was about it for visibility.
“Wait,” he said, reaching out to touch her arm. “Do you want me to lead for a while?”
He hated the idea of her being the one to wrestle with seeing the trail while he followed along blindly, but he was smart enough not to push the issue. Amanda had tons more experience in the woods than he had. He was more than man enough to defer to her as long as it didn’t result in her getting hurt. He couldn’t think about what would happen to him if something happened to her. She already meant more to him than he was comfortable giving a name to.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll get us to the next cache and then you can lead the stretch after that. I’d feel much better if we were down off the ridge before the storm really starts. It’s warm enough for a late season thunderstorm and the lightning up here can be treacherous.”
He nodded and fell into step behind her. He hadn’t considered the possibility of lightning but now that she’d mentioned it, it made sense. The storm moved in so quickly and unexpectedly. Everything about it felt volatile.
By the time they reached the day’s first cache, it should have been full light, but the storm cloud gray sky made it feel more like dawn. At least the fog had cleared a bit and when Amanda stopped, he didn’t have any trouble making out the purple blaze on the trail in front of them or spotting the flag tied to the parcel hanging from a bear-proof container twenty feet off the ground in the pine tree.
The rope to lower the package was just out of his reach and there was no way he could climb the rain-slicked tree trunk.
“Let me give you a boost,” he said, opting for the path of least resistance. He could easily lift her the couple of feet over his head she’d need to be able to reach the end of the rope.
“You’re just looking for an excuse to get your hands on my ass, aren’t you?” She grinned over her shoulder at him as she set her pack on a protected bit of ground next to the tree.
“Of course.” He leered, and she laughed, and then he wrapped his arms around her and everything changed. He didn’t think he’d ever get used to the way touching her instantly narrowed his world to just the two of them.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if I climbed on your shoulders?”
“Maybe, but then I wouldn’t get to do this.” He reached down and palmed her ass with both hands, hauling her against him before hoisting her up into the air.
She let out a squeal, fighting to steady herself before reaching for the rope. She made quick work of the knot and even quicker work lowering the parcel to the ground.
“You can put me down now.”
“Just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean you should do a thing,” he said, copping a quick feel before she wriggled enough that he let her slide down the front of his body, pausing to kiss her before he set her on the ground again.
Instead of hurrying to get free, she tangled her fingers in his hair and deepened the kiss. When they finally parted, she blinked up at him, dazed, wearing the same overwhelmed, out-of-focus look he imagined she saw reflected back at her. The woman was like a drug—one he’d never get enough of.
“We should...” She let the words trail off, licking her lips in a way that made it hard for him to think past anything other than kissing her again.
“Yeah,” he finally managed to say, giving his head a shake to clear it before squatting down to retrieve the parcel.
In addition to two bottles of water, the package contained a coaster printed with a Chinese symbol that looked like one of those ancient television antennas on top of a box. Michael handed it and one of the waters to Amanda.
“This is just getting weird,” she said, tucking the coaster into the outside pocket of her pack with the others.
––––––––
SHE REALLY OUGHT to be over looking at Michael’s ass. She’d been following him for two miles through increasingly rough terrain and the rain, instead of slacking off, had only gotten heavier. She needed to put her overactive libido in a box and get on with things. Hopefully she’d done a passable job of hiding her nerves, but everything about the storm made her want to get off the ridgeline as soon as possible. If they were lucky, it would blow over as quickly as it came on, but she could feel the drop in pressure and smell the slight metallic edge of ozone in the air. It could just as easily turn into a full-blown thunderstorm, complete with lightning. If that happened, she wanted to be out of the trees and on much lower ground.
According to the map, they had another two miles to cover before they reached the section of the trail they’d have to rappel. She didn’t relish the idea of taking Michael down the rock in the rain, but at least he listened to her and didn’t try to second-guess everything the way a lot of guys did. He didn’t seem at all threatened by her knowing more about some things than he did. Still, she wouldn’t be able to relax until they were in a safer position. It wasn’t that any of it was inherently dangerous. She’d just spent enough time in the woods to know things could change very quickly and go from safe to not safe in a heartbeat.
“Let’s stop up here,” she said, tapping Michael’s arm and pointing to a section of pine trees right before what looked like a clearing. They could take a break and grab a bite to eat in the shelter of the trees before they hit the open space and got even wetter than they already were.
He’d already dug some beef jerky and the last of the chocolate out of his bag by the time she took off her pack and grabbed her water bottle. Rain dripped off the front of her hood, but she was still mostly dry and the trees provided a bit of shelter for the time being.
“How much farther to the next cache?” asked Michael, handing her a piece of jerky.
“Two miles, give or take. Probably just over an hour I’d guess, given the visibility.”
She bit into the peppery meat and chewed. She’d always had a hard time remembering to eat during the day when she was hiking and by dinner time, she’d be starving. Michael continually put bites of food in her hands, leaving her no choice but to eat them. She could make an argument that he was being heavy-handed, but she felt good—less tired and less stressed than usual. It made it hard to argue with his results.
“It doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon.”
Amanda peered out from under the brim of her rain parka’s hood. He was right. Every instinct she had said it would likely get much worse before it got better. Thank goodness they’d made a good start of it the day before. She’d hate to be getting to the rappelling part of the trail any closer to the evening. With the overcast sky and the last remnants of fog, visibility was already a problem.
