BRIAN WAS CAUGHT off-guard by Tag’s suggestion, and his body surged to life so quickly he felt like a randy, sex-starved teenager again. He wanted her. Badly. He fought back the impulse to do what his body was demanding. It was easy to see from the bleak look in Tag’s eyes, not to mention her offer of sex, that she didn’t believe they were going to get out of here. He wasn’t willing to admit defeat. Not yet.
Which meant he had to say no.
“Let’s not jump the gun.”
She lifted her chin and said, “The offer is open. Whenever you’re in the mood.” She began untying the sleeping bag to make a bed for them. He knelt beside her to help, aware of her in a way he hadn’t been a mere twenty-four hours ago.
He still couldn’t quite believe they’d made love. Had sex, he corrected. He reminded himself that, even though he’d been inside her, even though he’d heard those almost-forgotten gasps and moans as he came, their coupling had been more an act of desperation than anything else.
And yet, he’d been forcefully reminded of the softness and fullness of her breasts, the tight, sucking wetness that surrounded him as he thrust inside her, the taste of her that he’d never forgotten, but couldn’t quite remember, either.
Brian wished Tag hadn’t made her offer, because now all he could think about was what it might be like to make love when they were both naked and taking their time. He imagined capturing her mouth with his, tasting her, tangling her naked body with his own, while he stuck his nose in her long blond hair and smelled her flowery shampoo.
Brian hadn’t let himself even think about sex in the year since his divorce, but the possibility of putting himself inside Tag again turned his body hard as stone. And made him chuckle. I sure ended my year of celibacy with a bang. Which turned his chuckle into a chortle. Followed by a snort and a snicker.
Tag shot him a nervous look, but luckily, didn’t ask him what was so funny.
He grabbed the flashlight and said, “I’m going to check out the back of the cave.”
He beat a hasty retreat before he did something he would regret. He didn’t want Tag thinking all hope was lost. He was pretty sure she would draw that conclusion if he didn’t keep his wits about him and resist temptation.
He hadn’t been in a big hurry to examine the rest of the cave because he was pretty sure what he was going to find: no way out. The knot of fear in his stomach tightened. He didn’t see how they were going to survive this disaster, but he had to be strong for Tag. The longer he could keep her from realizing the truth, the better.
The truth was they were probably going to die in here.
Brian figured if he had to spend the last few days of his life with someone, Tag wasn’t a bad choice. At seventeen, he’d fallen hard for her. In those days, she’d had a smile that lit up his day, stunning blue eyes that sparkled with mischief, and a body that begged to be touched.
He hadn’t seen much of her over the past few years, except when she was flying a plane from which he was smoke jumping. He’d noticed the smile wasn’t present anymore, and the mischief in her eyes had been replaced by caution, but her body still implored a man to touch. Brian didn’t understand why one of the dozens of guys she’d dated hadn’t grabbed her up. Or maybe she was the one who’d rejected them.
As she’d rejected him.
They’d dated long enough in high school for Brian to discover that Tag had a lot of hang-ups about a lot of stuff, not the least of which was the fact that she had no mother and a mostly absent father. Her father had stayed away in Cheyenne for eight years, serving two terms as Wyoming governor, and sent Tag to boarding school in Switzerland for middle school.
Brian wasn’t sure why he’d taken the chance of hooking up with a Grayhawk, even someone as enticing as Tag, when their fathers were constantly looking for ways to cut each other’s throats. But he’d been at an age when he rebelled against just about everything, and dating Tag had been one more way to defy his father and irk his three brothers.
He’d quickly discovered that he and “that Grayhawk girl” had a lot in common. He had no mother, either. She’d died birthing his youngest brother, Devon. And his father was also absent, even though he never left home, if that made sense. Angus Flynn ruled the roost from his study, where he manipulated everyone and everything around him from sunrise till late into the night.
Maybe the feud between their fathers was so bitter because, a long time ago, Angus Flynn and King Grayhawk had been best friends. In fact, Angus’s sister, Jane, had been King’s first wife. Unfortunately, after King divorced Aunt Jane, she’d retreated to the Flynn family ranch, gotten hooked on barbiturates, and died of an overdose. Brian would never forget the anguished cry that had echoed through the house when Angus discovered his sister’s dead body. His father blamed King for Aunt Jane’s death and had been exacting revenge, in large ways and small, ever since.
Brian wondered how his relationship with Tag might have turned out if Aiden hadn’t caught them naked together after the junior prom. Although Aiden’s appearance had interrupted their lovemaking, horribly embarrassing the two of them, his older brother hadn’t confronted Brian immediately. He’d merely walked away, not saying a word until Brian came home that night.
Then he’d let him have it.
“One of King’s Brats?” he’d ranted. “Are you crazy, Brian? Or just plain stupid?”
“I like her.”
“She’s just using you.”
Brian had never considered the possibility. The sex between them was something he’d never imagined. It was good. No, great. Holding Tag afterward, while they talked and laughed together, was the best part of all. He wasn’t about to give that up. He shot back, “If she is using me, it’s my problem, not yours.”
“End it. Now. Or I’ll tell Dad.”
Brian had opened his mouth to say he wasn’t afraid of his father and shut it again. Angus would have ten fits if he found out what Brian was doing. What Brian didn’t understand was Aiden’s interest in his love life. “Why are you threatening me, Aiden? Why should it matter to you what I do?”
“I don’t want you hurt.”
Brian frowned. “Hurt?” It was an odd thing to say. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Aiden’s eyes suddenly became shuttered. “Just drop her, Brian. Or you’ll be sorry.”
Brian had decided to keep on dating Tag, despite Aiden’s warning. It was Tag who’d opted out of the relationship. He’d been shocked and unbearably hurt, the kind of hurt where your heart actually aches inside your chest, when she’d sent him a brief note to tell him she was breaking up with him. She hadn’t even had the decency to tell him to his face. She hadn’t given a reason why she was walking away, and he’d been too wounded to ask. After what Aiden had said, he’d nursed his broken heart—and his bruised pride—in private.
Maybe, over the next few days—or sometime before they succumbed to starvation—he’d finally get an answer for what had happened all those years ago. It was too bad they had plenty of water. Starving to death would take a lot longer—two or three weeks, maybe—than dying of thirst. He honestly wasn’t sure how long it would take, with the supplies they had on hand, to starve.
“Brian?”
Brian wondered how long he’d been standing, staring at a back wall that ended abruptly, silently contemplating their curtailed futures. He turned so his voice would carry and said, “What?”
“Should I come back there?”
“No. I’ll come to you.”
When he returned from the back of the cave, he flashed the light on her face. He watched her try to smile. And fail.
“Shouldn’t we be doing something?” she asked.
“What did you have in mind?”
Her eyes looked scared, but her chin stuck out like she was ready to take on the world. He’d always admired her backbone. Never more than now.
“Is there another way out at the other end of the cave?” she asked, turning her head—and the light—in that direction.
“Not that I saw.”
“I want to look for myself.”
He realized he’d spent more time thinking and worrying than searching and said, “Sure. Let’s go.”
He was grateful that, even at six foot four, the cave ceiling was high enough for him to stand upright. Tag, who’d sprouted like a weed in high school, was a mere six inches shorter, which reminded him how well their bodies fit together in all the right places. He forced his mind away from physical pleasure and focused on survival. Once they were out of here, he could pursue a relationship with her, if she was still willing.
Except the chances of them getting together—for anything—if they were ever rescued, were nil to nothing. Grayhawks and Flynns were like oranges and jelly. They just didn’t mix.
Or rather, that had been the case in the past. Things had changed—were changing—faster than he could have imagined a year ago when he was still a happily married man.
His younger brother Connor had recently married Tag’s youngest sister, Eve. He’d thought Connor was out of his mind, even if it had been a marriage of convenience on both their parts. Connor, who was a widower, had needed someone to take care of his two-year-old son and four-year-old daughter. Eve had needed a ranch where she could keep her rescued herd of wild mustangs.
He sneered inwardly. A true marriage made in heaven. He supposed he’d gotten soured on the institution by his own experience with lifelong commitment. As far as he was concerned, enduring, lifelong love didn’t exist. Connor should have hired a babysitter. And Eve should have taken her horses somewhere out of expensive Teton County, where she could afford to support them.
“Watch your head,” Tag said as she made a left-hand turn at the far end of the cave where the ceiling was lower.
As he bent to avoid hitting his head, Brian searched the sides of the cave, this time focusing his attention on where it should have been all along, looking for any crack that might be a way in or out. He saw nothing encouraging, just a few roots growing out of the wall about shoulder height, before the ceiling tapered, over another dozen feet, all the way to the ground. He followed Tag as she dropped to her knees and kept crawling forward, until she came to the end of the cave.
She sat on her butt and turned to face him. “It ends here. There’s no way out.”