He hoped.
As he tightened his hand around Zoey’s when she stumbled, Bubba had a feeling his life wouldn’t be the same after this little adventure. Whoever had wanted him out of the picture had also targeted Zoey, and that was something he couldn’t forgive.
As if she could read his thoughts, Zoey squeezed his hand and said softly, “This sucks, but if I had to be stuck in the middle of nowhere, I’m glad it’s with you.”
Chapter Four
Zoey had no idea how much time had passed, but she was already over this impromptu hiking and camping trip. She was trying her best to stay positive, but as each hour passed, she became more and more discouraged and scared.
The only thing she was thankful for was the fact it was early fall instead of the middle of winter. Instead of tromping through the wet undergrowth of the forest, they could be trying to make their way through a foot or more of snow.
Thinking about snow made her shiver. Even with all the walking, she was still cold. Zoey thought it was probably because she couldn’t stop thinking about where the hell they were going to stop for the night. She’d have to sleep on the ground and would probably freeze to death. She wasn’t even going to think about the bugs and snakes that might decide to take up residence in her clothes.
“Stop thinking so hard,” Mark said.
She rolled her eyes. She was walking behind him, and Zoey knew he was purposely walking much slower than he might’ve if he was alone, just so she could keep up.
Zoey stopped where she was and put her hands on her thighs as she bent over and tried to get control of her emotions. She was hungry, tired, cold, and scared to death. For a while after they’d started, her adrenaline had allowed her to forget about the severity of their situation, or at least put it in the back of her mind, but as time went on, and as they’d walked for miles through a freaking forest in the middle of nowhere, she couldn’t help but let her doubts and fears creep in.
“Zoey?”
Mark’s tone was gentle—and almost her undoing. He put one hand on her upper back and the other gently grasped the base of her neck, massaging.
Zoey closed her eyes. Why couldn’t he be a jerk like his brother? “You need to stop being nice to me,” she told him without standing up straight.
“Not gonna happen,” he said.
Zoey sighed. “Then maybe you should just go on ahead and find help and come back for me.”
He moved in front of her, then forced her to stand up. He kept the hand on the back of her neck, putting his other fingers under her chin and making her look at him. Zoey didn’t know what to do with her hands, so she hesitantly put them on his chest.
He opened his mouth to say something, but she blurted, “God, you’re so warm!” before he could get anything out. The heat radiating from his chest almost scorched her poor frozen fingers, but it felt so damn good.
In response, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into him so they were plastered together from hips to chest.
Zoey moaned and turned her face so her nose was smooshed against his pecs. Of course, that meant she couldn’t breathe, but who needed air when there was this much warmth to be had?
She felt him chuckle, and she moaned a complaint when he shifted her so her cheek was against his chest instead of her face. He had one hand on the back of her head, holding her to him, and the other was pressing her lower back closer. She couldn’t have easily gotten out of his hold, not that she wanted to go anywhere. He was like a living, breathing electric blanket.
“I’m not leaving you, Zoey,” he said after a minute. “Why would you think for a second that I would? Do you think so little of me?”
He sounded hurt, and Zoey hated that. She shook her head against him. “No. But I’m slowing you down. I bet you could be miles farther by now if you didn’t have to constantly wait for me or keep checking to make sure I haven’t fallen flat on my face. You could go on ahead and find whoever you can and come back.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Mark said firmly. “That’s not how this works. A SEAL doesn’t leave a teammate behind.”
“I’m not a SEAL,” she said immediately.
“Maybe not, but I’m still not leaving you. Look at me, Zoey.”
Reluctantly, she tilted her head back and stared into his whiskey-brown eyes. She had the weird thought that he had the longest lashes she’d ever seen on a man.
“I need you to listen to me. To really hear me. Are you listening?”
She nodded.
“We’re in this together. No matter what, we stay together. We have no idea what will happen, and I need you as much as you need me. This isn’t a one-sided thing. You’ve been doing amazingly well so far. I’m impressed, and believe me, I’m not easily impressed.”
“I’ve fallen several times, and the only things in my pockets are a pack of Life Savers and a receipt from the crappy hamburger I ate before getting on the plane,” she said with a raise of her eyebrow.
“You might’ve fallen, but you got back up. Each and every time,” Mark said. “I’m not blowing smoke up your ass when I tell you that I’ve been in situations very similar to this…walking through a jungle trying to get to an extraction point with someone we’ve rescued, and the person we’re rescuing has no interest in helping themselves. I know this is hard. It sucks. Majorly. But you’re doing great. And I’m fairly sure you have no desire to see whoever was behind this succeed. Right?”
Zoey sighed. He was right, dammit. “Right.”
“We’re in this as a team, Zoey. I need you to have my back, and I’ll have yours. Okay?”
“Sure,” she said. “If a bear finds us, I’ll throw a piece of candy at him and hope that’ll distract him long enough for us to get away.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said with a smile, then let go of her chin.
Zoey immediately buried her nose back into his shirt and sighed as the warmth from his body seeped into her face.
Mark didn’t move for several minutes. Letting her soak up his warmth and rest. Taking a big breath, she forced herself to step away from him but couldn’t stop the involuntary shiver that went through her body after losing his warmth.
He frowned. “You really are cold, aren’t you?”
Zoey shrugged. “I think my core body temperature has been permanently affected from living in Alaska. I told you that I’m always cold.”
“I’ll do my best to keep you warm,” Mark said.
And of course, Zoey’s mind immediately went into the gutter. She knew she was blushing, but tried to blow it off. “I’ll be okay. We should probably keep going. Are we still headed south?”
For a second, she thought Mark was going to ask what she was thinking as he studied her face, but he eventually nodded. “Yeah. The last thing I want to do is head west. We’d run straight into that mountain range, and I’m not sure either one of us is up to any mountaineering anytime soon.”
Looking to her left, Zoey saw the large mountain peaks above her head through the trees. “No, I think I’d prefer to stay down here,” she agreed.
They began to walk once more, and, as if Mark knew she needed something to keep her mind off of where they were and what they were doing, he asked, “So…what have you been doing for the last decade, besides helping my dad out?”