“I’ve spread the tarp,” he said, distracting her, thank God. “Where’s your sleeping bag?”
Snared by something Mateo was doing, instead of answering, her gaze swung to the long white coil of meat he was pulling out of a plastic bag.
“Is that . . . ?” Even with the skin off, she knew. “The rattlesnake you killed? Mateo’s cooking it for supper?”
A smile broke over Gage’s face. “It’s supposed to taste like chicken. I think it’s sweeter, more like lobster.”
“Lobster. Right. I don’t think I can convince myself.”
Gage chuckled.
“I’ll get my bedroll,” she said. There was plenty of room to move around in the cave without bending over. She fetched her backpack, untied her bedroll from the bottom, and spread it open next to Gage’s, but didn’t unzip it. Though the cave seemed uninhabited, she didn’t want to take any chances.
As darkness fell, Gage turned on the lamp. The smell of roasting meat drifted across the cave, and her stomach grumbled. Though she didn’t eat much, supper wasn’t as bad as she had imagined. She’d seen rattlesnake served as an appetizer on gourmet menus in the city. She told herself she was eating a very expensive meal.
When they finished, Kyle and Mateo cleaned up, and Abby headed for her bedroll.
“I could get used to this,” Gage said, watching as she sat down and pulled off her boots.
“What? Sleeping in a cave?”
“Sleeping next to you,” he said. “Though I doubt we’d get much sleep.”
Her abdomen clenched. She flicked him a sideways glance. He slept without a shirt, and her mouth watered at the sight of his heavily muscled chest. “You haven’t forgotten your rules, have you?”
In the light of the lamp, his gaze ran over her. “Sadly, no.”
But when the lamp went out and Kyle and Mateo drifted toward their bedrolls, she heard Gage move, felt the heat of his big body as he leaned toward her, caught her chin, and his mouth came down over hers.
Heat spread out through her limbs. She made a little sound in her throat as he gentled the kiss, then pulled away.
“Just so you don’t forget what’s going to happen when we get back.”
Abby said nothing. Her lips were still tingling, her heart beating too fast. She could still feel the warmth of Gage’s bare chest through the fabric of her T-shirt, the way his muscles bunched when he moved. His kiss was torture of the very best kind.
Abby couldn’t help thinking that in the chess game she and Gage were playing, it was her turn to make the next move.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
DARKNESS SETTLED OVER THE CAVE.THE SOUND OF THE STEADILYpounding rain drew Gage into a deep, unfettered slumber. He’d been asleep most of the night when a loud rumbling shook the stone floor beneath his sleeping bag, and he jerked upright, his whole body going rigid.
“What’s happening?” Abby clutched his arm in a death grip.
Gage grabbed his flashlight and flipped it on, rolled to his feet, and ran to the mouth of the cave.
Mateo was already there. “Flash flood. The water washes down the side of the mountain through the canyon below.” Where they had been only hours ago.
Gage shined the light on the ravine they’d been traversing, saw uprooted trees and branches rushing past in a sea of brown, muddy water. Boulders were swept away, patches of dirt crumbling off the mountainside into the violent onslaught.
“What about the mules?” Gage asked as Kyle appeared beside him.
“Hobbled them up on the slope of the hill. Damned good thing.”
“The water would have taken them if you hadn’t.”
Kyle nodded. “My dad knows these mountains. When he talks, I’m smart enough to listen.”
Gage clamped a hand on his shoulder.
