She tightened her fingers around his and clutched at his side with her other hand, going up on tiptoes to try to get closer. She felt him smiling as his lips touched hers again, but she didn’t care that she was amusing him. She was kissing Mark Wright.
Holy shit.
And kissing they were. After the first tentative brush of his lips, any restraint he might’ve practiced was gone. His head slanted, his free hand came up and speared into her hair, holding her to him, and he devoured her.
The kiss was intense and passionate and almost a little desperate. Zoey moaned in her throat and he pulled her even closer. Their tongues dueled and their teeth clashed in their passion. Neither seemed to notice or care.
All Zoey could think about was getting closer. She pressed herself against him and felt his erection. He was hard, and Zoey wanted to see him up close and personal almost more than she wanted a hot shower and clean clothes.
How long they kissed, Zoey had no idea, but eventually she needed to breathe, more than little inhalations through her nose, and she reluctantly pulled back. Mark immediately let her go, but kept his hand on the back of her head and her hand in his. They were practically plastered together from hips to chest, and Zoey had to crane her head back to look him in the eyes.
She prayed he wouldn’t say anything that would ruin this moment for her. Practically holding her breath, she waited for him to speak.
His eyes roamed over her face, then her hair, then back to her lips. Zoey licked them unconsciously, and his fingers on both hands tightened. She felt surrounded by Mark. As if he would literally slay dragons for her. She prayed this wouldn’t make things awkward between them. That he didn’t regret kissing her. She silently begged him to say something. Anything.
“I’ve wanted to do that for days,” he said after a minute, and Zoey practically sagged in relief at his words.
“Me too,” she whispered.
He smiled down at her. “You intrigue me, Zoey Knight. I want to continue to get to know you. I want to take you out to the fanciest restaurant and to the diviest dive. I want to introduce you to my friends and sit on the deck at Gumby’s house and watch you laugh and play with Ace and Piper’s kids on the beach. I want to know what foods you like and hate. For the first time in my life, I feel as if a day should go by, and I haven’t talked to you, seen you, that I’ll be missing out. I’ve never felt that way about anyone before. Ever.”
With every word out of his mouth, Zoey melted further. “It’s probably because of the situation,” she said softly. She didn’t want to believe that, but she had to be honest with herself and him.
He shook his head. “No. That’s not it. Zo, I spend my life in situations like this. Life and death. Intense. Not knowing what’s around the next corner. We’ve rescued a lot of women, and not one has touched me like you. Maybe it’s the connection we already have because we knew each other before. Maybe it’s because I know you loved my pop as much as I did. I don’t know. But I can’t just walk away when we’re rescued. One day, one week, or one month from now. I want to see where this goes when we’re back in the real world.”
Zoey couldn’t say anything else. She was so floored and overcome with feelings for Mark, her throat seemed to close up. She wanted that. More than anything. It seemed like a dream come true.
After a moment, Mark frowned, and she felt his hold on her loosen as he prepared to step away. “If you don’t feel the same, that’s okay. I just wanted you to know.”
Zoey frantically shook her head. She threw herself against him, knowing he’d catch her, which he did. “I want that too,” she told him quickly. “I was just in shock. I liked you when I was a teenager, and I admired you simply from the things your dad told me. But now that I’ve gotten to know you, really know you, I realize what I thought I knew about you was only the beginning. You’re so much more. You’re not just the military hero or the high school hunk I’d built up in my mind. You’re real. You get upset and worried and your stomach growls just like mine when you’re hungry. And as much as I want to be rescued, I also dread it because that means going back to my boring life. I dread not seeing you every day. I want nothing more than to see where this goes too.”
The furrows in his brow evened out and he smiled down at her. “Good. Maybe another kiss to seal the deal before we tackle this log and continue our journey?”
Zoey returned his smile and nodded probably a bit too enthusiastically.
His head dropped once more, and then they were kissing again. His beard was scratchy against her face, but Zoey barely noticed. Her focus was on the way he playfully nibbled on her lower lip and, when she opened for him, how he didn’t hesitate to sweep his tongue into her mouth.
Their kiss was shorter than before and less intense, but it still made Zoey’s toes curl. He pulled back and rested his forehead on hers and said softly, “We haven’t talked much about what happens after we get rescued, but hear this—I’m not going to walk away and never look back. We don’t know who was behind this, but if there’s even a hint that you could be in danger, I’m not leaving you to defend yourself. I’d never abandon you. This is going to sound crazy…but I want you to think about coming back to California with me.”
Zoey inhaled sharply, but he didn’t give her a chance to speak.
“Don’t say anything right now, just think about it. I know you have a life in Juneau. A job. Friends. But anyone who would go to these lengths to get rid of us wouldn’t hesitate to try again, and if you’re right there, an easy mark in Juneau, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to you.”
“Mark,” Zoey protested. “I don’t think I’m the person they were targeting here. I’m nobody.”
Mark pulled back and brought the palm of his hand up to smooth her hair away from her face. “We’ve been over this. Don’t underestimate your worth, Zo. We have no idea what Pop left you, and I’m beginning to think it’s probably more than either of us thought. But even if it’s not, it doesn’t matter. Pop obviously loved you. You loved him.”
Zoey shivered, not wanting to think about someone wanting to kill her. She really wasn’t anybody important. The thought that someone wanted her dead was crazy, wasn’t it?
“Just think about it, okay?”
She nodded.
Mark took a deep breath and said, “Right. Time to get to work. You ready?”
Zoey mimicked his inhalation and nodded. “Carry on, oh fearless leader.”
It was his turn to roll his eyes, and the sight made Zoey smile.
“Piece of cake. Let’s do this and get on with our day,” he quipped. When he turned, he kept hold of her hand, and Zoey knew she’d never forget this moment for the rest of her life. When the guy she’d crushed on for years had kissed her. Then said he wanted to date her. And offered to bring her to California so he could make sure she was safe.
Oh, yeah, this was definitely one of the best days of her life.
Did she say this was the best day of her life? Zoey shook her head. She’d lied. Today sucked. Dragging a simple log a hundred feet shouldn’t have been as hard as it was. The thing was heavy. Like, really heavy. It had taken the two of them over an hour of swearing, slipping and sliding, and pure brute strength to get it close enough to the stream.