That brought a small smile to his face. “We aren’t going to die,” he said firmly.
“Good. Because there’s an amazing ice cream shop in Anchorage I want to take you to when we get back there,” she told him.
A genuine smile lit up his face. “Deal.”
“Yeah?”
“Yup. And there’s a to-die-for place in Riverton, California, that serves the best chicken wings you’ve ever tasted. I want to take you there.”
Things were getting serious, but Zoey didn’t care. “Okay.”
“Okay. And even though we’re both tired, we have to go a little farther today. You good?”
“Are you good?” she countered.
“Yeah. Your pep talk helped.” He grinned. “And you’re right, this isn’t hard. I’m happy to show you hard after we’re rescued, and we’ve showered, eaten, and probably slept.”
Closing her eyes, Zoey shook her head. “How did I know you weren’t going to let that go?”
He chuckled. “Because you know me.”
And Zoey was surprised to realize he was right. She did know him. They’d spent a lot of time talking, and she’d gained a lot of insight into his personality and what made him tick. Just as he had her.
“Whatever, Navy Boy.” It was a lame comeback, but she couldn’t exactly say what she was thinking. That he could show her his kind of “hard” anytime he wanted.
“Come on,” he said with a small smile. He took her hand in his and brought it up to his mouth and kissed the back before squeezing her fingers. “Time to get back on the road.”
“Road?” she asked sarcastically.
“Road, forest path, bushwhacking through the undergrowth…same thing.”
She couldn’t help it, she laughed.
Four hours later, Zoey wasn’t laughing anymore. She was tired and ready to stop for the day. She wasn’t paying attention and ran right into Mark’s back for what seemed like the hundredth time, after he’d stopped suddenly.
Looking up, she gasped at what she saw. It was reminiscent of the huge lake that had blocked their path. Directly in front of them was a deep, fast-running, wide stream, a tributary shooting off of the lake they’d been waking around for days. They’d either have to cross the rushing water here, or follow it for who knew how long to find an easier way across. Their other option was to turn around and go back the way they’d came. Which wasn’t something she wanted to do.
“Shit,” she mumbled.
Mark didn’t say anything, instead wrapped his arm around her as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder and stared at the obstacle in front of them.
“What now?” she asked softly.
“We cross it,” Mark said matter-of-factly.
Zoey looked up at him in disbelief. “How?”
“Very carefully,” was Mark’s not-so-helpful response.
“Smartass,” she told him. “Got any ideas?”
Mark surveyed their surroundings. Zoey let him think, not interrupting him as he problem-solved. He walked the immediate area, poking at some of the fallen logs nearby.
Zoey just watched, observing as he calculated what they’d need to get across the water. The sun was out today, thank goodness. She was about as sick of rain as she could get. It drizzled just about every night, and they’d almost been caught in a downpour a time or two. Mark had said time and time again that the last thing they needed was to be soaking wet. It was already chilly out, and cold material against their skin would weaken and possibly kill them faster than anything else.
Mark finally came back by her side and sighed. She didn’t like the sound of that.
“So?” she asked. “Are we turning around after all?”
“No. I’m pretty sure this’ll work. I’ll need your help though.”
“Of course,” Zoey said.
“There’s a fallen tree about thirty feet into the tree line that I think will work. It looks like it’ll be long enough to get across the water. If we can drag it here and get it up on its end, we can push it over and it should span the stream. Then we can walk or scoot across it to get to the other side.”
Zoey looked at him as if he had a horn growing out of his head. “Are you kidding?”
“No.”
He looked at her without a trace of the humor and silliness she’d come to enjoy over the last week. She turned her head and saw the end of the log he was probably talking about. It was big; there was no way they could drag that thing to the water, never mind pull it upright and drop it over the stream.
“You do know that I’m not a guy, right? That I’m way weaker than you?”
“I’m well aware that you’re not a guy…thank God. I’ve got a plan, and I’ll do most of the work. But I know with your help, we can do this. Since the ground is wet, I think the mud will actually help us out in this situation. The log’ll just slide right over the ground.”
Zoey knew he was sugarcoating the situation, but didn’t call him on it. “Fine. What do you want me to do?”
Instead of answering, Mark startled her by reaching out and pulling her into his arms. She went eagerly, not willing to pass up the chance to be close to him. The more time they spent together, the more she liked him. He wasn’t perfect, that was obvious after their morning talk, but he seemed to be perfect for her.
Which was scary as hell.
Their situation was certainly unusual. And she knew it had cemented her feelings for him. She was pretty sure he liked her back, but the big question was, did he like her as an old friend he was enjoying getting to know again, or as a man likes a woman? She had no idea.
He pulled back, and she did the same, looking into his eyes. She couldn’t read what she saw there.
“Have I told you lately how glad I am that it’s you who’s out here with me?”
Zoey nodded. “Yeah.”
“Good. Because I am.”
“Me too. I mean, I think it’s obvious that I wouldn’t have gotten far if you hadn’t been with me.”
Mark shook his head. “No way. You would’ve figured out how to survive. I have no doubt about that.”
Zoey knew he was wrong, but she didn’t say anything. His gaze roamed up to her hair, and she winced, knowing it was a disaster. He smiled and reached up to pluck a pine needle out of her brunette locks. In return, she surreptitiously grabbed a pine needle off his shoulder, then pretended to pull it out of the facial hair that had grown over the last week on his cheeks.
He grinned and took her hand in his. He held their clasped hands together between them. His fingers brushed against the curve of one of her breasts, and she felt her nipple pucker in response. Both cursing and thanking the layers of clothes she was wearing, Zoey simply stared up at him.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Mark dropped his head toward hers. Zoey didn’t close her eyes until the last second. His lips brushed against hers lightly, as if testing things out, making sure she wasn’t going to pull away.
No way in hell was she going to do anything to rebuff him. She’d wanted to kiss him since she’d first seen him in the halls of Juneau High School over a decade ago. Of course her fantasies were much different than reality, but it didn’t matter.