I literally crashed into the short blonde who the other man had identified as Kelly. The name sounded familiar, but I hadn’t been formally introduced to her, since I’d missed the first part of the meet-and-greet party. She hadn’t been in the group that came with me from Bali on the yacht either, though I had deliberately avoided most of those people, because all had been hunters except me. I hadn’t seen her at all since she split off with that other woman at the start of the hunt.

“I’m sorry.” She had a deep, throaty voice.

“I think it was my fault.” I took a moment to make sure my zip and snap were secure, somehow having managed to get them back in place even though I had been rattled a few minutes before.

“Do you want to stick together for a while?”

I nodded eagerly at the question, knowing I’d appreciate having someone at my side. As we started moving, it quickly became obvious she was more proficient at moving through the jungle than I was, but not nearly at Dai’s level. “Do you spend much time outdoors?”

She shrugged. “My daughter likes to go camping, and I used to hunt with my husband before he passed…” She trailed off, and there was a sad look in her eyes for a moment before her expression became more neutral again. “But I’m not really familiar with this kind of terrain. It’s a lot harder than I expected.”

I nodded. “Sure is. It’s almost enough to make me tempted to be caught.” But when I had the chance, I’d reacted instinctively and fled, even though a big part of me wanted to stay with Spencer.

She arched a brow. “I haven’t had that feeling yet. I’m nowhere near ready to let one of these perverts catch me.”

That reminded me, and I put a hand on her arm to get her attention for a moment, so she would stop and turned to me. “One of the guys was specifically hunting you. He’s tall and has light-brown hair and these amazing blue eyes that look like falling into a crystal lake.” I was describing Spencer’s eyes, but his relative shared them. I was certain they had to be brothers or cousins due to the resemblance.

She looked surprised for a moment, and then flushed slightly. “I think I know who’re talking about. He chatted me up a bit last night, but I don’t trust him. I don’t trust any of them.”

“Me neither, which made it hard to come on the show.” That wasn’t entirely true though. When Spencer held me earlier, even as I fought him, I hadn’t been all that afraid before realizing it was him. On the other hand, the first guy who’d attacked me, the one Dai had saved me from, had terrified me and left me with a sick feeling to know that he touched me at all.

“I can say this is the craziest damn thing I’ve ever done, but if I win, it’ll be worth it.”

I nodded. “Same here, though I don’t really think I’m going to make it to the end of the weekend without being claimed.”

Kelly let out a long sigh. “Yeah, me too. Even a hundred thousand dollars is welcome though.” There was a haunted expression on her face as she looked at me for a moment. “It’ll do a lot of good for my daughter.”

I wouldn’t have asked, but she seemed to want to talk about it. “What does your daughter need?”

“I want to take her to China for experimental stem cell therapy.” She didn’t specify for what, but her fear and anguish were obvious. “Insurance doesn’t pay for it, of course, and I just don’t have that kind of money.”

I nodded again. “Mine’s not like that, but it feels kinda life-or-death if I don’t get this money.”

We ran in silence together after that, though I wasn’t sure if it was because we were out of words or out of breath.

We were coming to a creek cutting through the forest, and I paused for a moment to eye the path. We had to jump across some stones, and Kelly stood beside me. We were evaluating it when she let out a sharp cry, and I turned just in time to see someone dragging Kelly away.

I started to run after her, but quickly had problems of my own. A pair of heavy arms locked around me, and I struggled against him. I couldn’t see his face, but could hear his raspy breathing, and it seemed like the hunt had taken a toll on him physically. He was a big, solid guy, but I had some hope that maybe I could wriggle away and outrun him if he was having difficulty keeping up physically.

He paused for a moment, burying his face in my hair to inhale the scent and letting out a sound like a purr of satisfaction. I shuddered at the creepiness as I managed to tear myself away from him.

Tear was the right word. I lost my shirt in the process. The lion’s share remained with him, though I had one sleeve and part of the scraps of fabric flapping around me as I continued running.

I looked for Kelly as I ran, while also trying to scan the area for more men. For the first quarter-mile, I heard the other guy running behind me, because his heavy breathing and the crash of his body through the woods were impossible to miss. At some point, he must’ve lost the stamina to keep chasing, and I moved farther away from him.

I ran until I was exhausted, and the stitch in my side was a constant ache. I had no idea where I was again, and the compass on my wrist didn’t tell me much besides I was in a southeast direction from the point where I put on the compass in the beginning.

I collapsed to the spongy ground, grimacing at the slimy feel of the leaves underneath me. It started to rain lightly, and I shivered as it touched my skin, though the temperature was on the warm side.

Remembering I was half-naked, I discarded the rest of the shirt and reached for the windbreaker I’d tied around my waist earlier. I cursed when my fingers didn’t find it. I must’ve lost it some point at some point today, either while running or fighting to escape one of the men who’d held me. I didn’t remember if I still had it when Spencer pinned me to the tree, but it didn’t matter. Wherever I lost it, it was gone.

I looked in the bag, though I knew there wasn’t anything there that would be useful besides the emergency blanket that I unwrapped and huddled under for a few minutes. I wanted a fire and looked around to see if I could find enough twigs and small branches to get one started, though I’d never started a fire in my life.

I had to put down the blanket to make it work, so I folded it carefully beside me, wanting to be able to snatch it up at a moment’s notice if I had to flee. It took a couple of attempts, but I finally had a modest fire burning a few minutes later.

There was a metal cup and two packs of instant coffee inside the mess kit, so I filled the cup with water from one of the bottles and set it near the fire until it was warm enough to dissolve the coffee. It wasn’t really that cold, but feeling exposed without a shirt, knowing it was raining overhead, and I was in the shade of the rainforest made it seem like it should be colder.

The raindrops were having a tough time penetrating the canopy, so I was barely getting wet where I wasn’t covered by the blanket, but I still felt chilled to the bone. Maybe some of that was shock at having escaped what was probably a pretty horrible fate at the hands of the man who’d briefly captured me.

I wished I had stayed with Spencer. He was by far the best choice of the hunters that I’d seen and interacted with last night at the party. It wasn’t just physical either. There were some handsome men competing, but I hadn’t felt anything for them. And then there were the others. Some of them were downright repulsive or scary, and not just because of their appearance. Their mannerisms gave me a chill too. In contrast, he was not only handsome, but seemed kinder than many others as well. After all, he’d seen to my pleasure before his own when I was at his mercy earlier.

As though my thoughts had summoned him, I looked up at the snap of a twig on the floor the jungle, and my mouth dropped open. Spencer loomed over me.

A moment later, he knelt down beside me before sitting on his butt and taking out his own supplies to make coffee. I stared at him warily as I sipped my cup, holding it as I contemplated throwing it at him. The idea of scalding him on the face made me cringe, and I didn’t think I could bring myself to do it.

“Are you cold?”

I nodded slowly, tensing when he reached for his backpack. He could pull out anything, and I didn’t know whether to try to run or to just stay still. Not even a second before he appeared, I’d been wishing I’d allowed him to catch me, yet here I was poised to run again.

Slowly, he withdrew a folded garment and passed it to me. It proved to be a flannel shirt, and I took it hesitantly, expecting him to reach out and grab me as I did so.

Instead, his hands moved quickly back to his task of making coffee. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to pounce on you. You look like you need some rest.”

I was still distrustful as I dropped the blanket and slid on the shirt. I couldn’t help noticing it smelled like him, and I inhaled his scent, which made my stomach quiver. I quickly folded the blanket and stored it back in my backpack before reaching for my coffee again. “How are your balls?” It was an indelicate question and a reminder of what I’d done to him. Maybe I was testing him to see if he was going to get angry or leap on me? I didn’t know.

He grinned at me as he winced. “They’re fine now, but that was an intense amount of pain for a short duration.”

“I’d like to say I’m sorry.…” I trailed off. Truthfully, I was kind of sorry that I’d hurt him like that, especially since I was considering just surrendering to him right then. On the other hand, part of the challenge was to evade as long as I could, and he seemed to be here for the hunt as much as for capturing me. Right?

When he laughed, it sent shivers down my spine. It was a low, pleasant sound that stoked the desire burning inside me. “That’s about the sincerest thing I’ve heard all day.” He winked at me.

“So we’re just going to have a coffee break together before you snatch me?” I asked the question as though I was only intellectually curious and didn’t have an actual stake in the outcome.

He shook his head. “Like I said, you need a rest. But just so you know, I won’t be so nice next time. When I catch you again, I’m keeping you.”

I licked my lips, unsettled by his words. Not because they seemed threatening, but because there was such a note of promise, and it was a promise I wanted him to keep. I absolutely shouldn’t be attracted to him. After all, he had voluntarily signed up to play this twisted game. On the other hand, so had I, though I suspected my motives were far different.

There were worse outcomes than finding the hunter who claimed me attractive. It would certainly make for an easier weekend than if I had to endure someone’s touch, or fight the whole time to escape. I was on the verge of telling him I was ready to stop playing when he poured out the rest of his coffee and got to his feet.

He stamped out my fire and looked at me with a tender expression. “You should probably start running again, because there are others not too far away. Just remember that I’m the one who’s going to catch you.” He winked at me as he disappeared back into the line of trees from which he’d come so silently a few minutes before.

I stared after him for half a moment before chugging the rest of my coffee, taking a quick moment to pee, and starting to run again. His scent clung to his shirt and followed with me as I ran at a slow pace, no longer able to maintain a faster one.

He was right that I needed my rest, and the idea of resting with him in one of the cottages was tempting. It was almost more tempting than winning a million dollars, but I had to keep my eye on the ultimate prize. The likelihood of me claiming it was minuscule, but it was important to keep fighting for it even if I wanted to surrender.