Chapter Nine
Isa looked up from the wood stove, and her breath caught in her throat. “You…you shaved.”
He grinned at her. “Sure did.”
“Hot date tonight?” she asked with a smile.
“As a matter of fact.” He bent down to give her a kiss.
“You’ve been holding out on me,” she murmured against his lips.
“How so?”
“You have a razor, and you haven’t let me borrow it?” She ran her fingers over his freshly shaven cheeks.
“The thought of shaving hadn’t crossed my mind until tonight, but you’re welcome to it.”
“Why, thank you.”
“So which entrée would you like for our romantic dinner—raviolis or SpaghettiOs?” He rummaged through the cabinet behind her.
“Surprise me.” She stood and picked up the razor he’d left on top of his duffel bag.
“Isa.” His expression sobered. “I’m torn on how to ration food for tonight.”
“We could share the can of SpaghettiOs,” she said, although the Spam was long gone now, and her stomach rumbled hungrily.
“We could, or we could eat a decent meal, get our strength back up, and go looking for more food tomorrow.”
She was already nodding. “Let’s do that. And we’ll still have the baked beans. It’s more than we had a few hours ago.”
“Okay.” He took the pot out of the cabinet to start warming up their dinner.
She went outside to make use of his razor down by the stream. If only she had packed makeup…or a skirt. But no matter how romantic tonight might feel, this was still a survival situation, and it was no time to be a girly-girl.
Maybe if she and Nate made it out of here, they could go on a real date. She could dress up for him, and they could go out for a nice dinner and eat until they were stuffed.
She smiled at the thought.
So what if he lived four hundred miles away? He loved to fly. He could fly into town for their date.
She was grinning like a fool as she shaved her legs, beautifying herself for her “date.” Two condoms. A happy shiver raced through her. She wasn’t even sure why she’d hesitated earlier. She and Nate had already been through more together than most couples ever endured. She cared about him, she trusted him, and most of all, she wanted him.
Even if they never saw each other again after they were rescued, she’d never regret a moment of their time together. The rapport and the chemistry between them had kept her going when she was running on empty, and tonight would be incredibly special, no matter what happened tomorrow.
After she’d finished shaving, she washed off in the stream. She even got out her travel-sized bottle of shampoo and washed her hair, which felt amazing. After toweling off, she dressed in her purple shirt and leggings, then gathered the rest of their clothes to bring them inside. The sun had already sunk behind the tree line, and although their jeans and sneakers were still damp, they’d dry better in front of the fire than out here in the cold, dark night.
Before she went inside, she stood there for a few minutes in the darkening field and called for Maya. Why hadn’t she come back to them yet? Please let her be safe.
Finally, she stepped inside the cabin and pulled the door shut behind her. “Of all the things I’m looking forward to tonight, having walls separating me from the bears and mountain lions is pretty high on the list.”
“We are going to sleep so good tonight.” He gave her another one of those wickedly sexy smiles, and her insides went all warm and fluttery. He poured the contents of the pot into a battered metal bowl and handed it to her. “SpaghettiOs for the lady.”
“I think SpaghettiOs are about to become my new favorite food.” She sat cross-legged on the end of the bed and began to eat. “Oh God,” she moaned as the first bite of steaming-hot pasta passed her lips.
“I’m hard just watching you eat,” Nate said.
Her gaze dropped to his crotch, where indeed a bulge had grown in the front of his shorts. Warmth flowed through her veins, pooling between her thighs. She took another big bite of her dinner and moaned again. “I will never take real hot food for granted again.”
“Funny how it takes a situation like this to make you realize what’s really important in life.” He was still watching her intently, his gaze riveted on her mouth.
“For real. I’ve joked with my friends before about ‘first world problems,’ but if we make it out of here, I’m never taking any of that stuff for granted again.”
“When,” he said softly. “When we make it out of here, Isa.”
She nodded as tears pricked behind her eyes. “When.”
“Search and rescue will find us, and if they don’t, we’ll walk out of here ourselves.”
“Yes.”
“I want to hear you say that word a lot tonight.”
The ache between her legs intensified. “I think you will.”
“Food might be the best foreplay tonight,” he said as he poured his raviolis into a bowl and began to eat.
Any other time, she would have laughed, but after four days of granola bars, cattails, and grubs, real hot food was practically orgasmic. They sat side by side on the bed, not talking much while they ate.
“Man, that was good,” she said when she’d finished. She barely resisted the urge to lick the bowl. “I do feel a little bit bad, though. I mean, what if the hunter comes out here thinking he has a few days’ worth of food waiting for him, only to find we’ve raided his pantry?”
Nate gave her a funny look. “Well, I didn’t want to mention it before we ate since we really needed the calories, but these cans expired a few months ago. I don’t think anyone’s been here in years, to be honest, and if the owner does come back, he’ll surely bring fresh food with him.”
“Oh.” She pressed a hand to her stomach, but nope, she didn’t regret eating expired SpaghettiOs. Totally worth it to be free of the aching hunger that had gnawed at her insides for the last few days.
Nate finished his raviolis and took both of their bowls over to the shelf above the wood stove. “We’ll rinse them in the stream when the sun comes up so that we can leave them clean in case the owner does come back.”
She stared at his duffel bag, picturing the two condoms inside. “So you do this a lot—pick up women while you’re traveling for business?”
He turned to face her. “I wouldn’t say I do it a lot, but I usually keep a couple of condoms in my bag in case I meet someone at a hotel bar or something like that.”
The idea of picking up a random man at a hotel bar and taking him up to her room was so foreign to her that she couldn’t quite imagine it. “So no girlfriend waiting for you at home?”
He came to sit beside her on the bed. “I may be a lot of things, but a cheater is not one of them.”
“What kind of things are you, then?” she asked softly, staring into his brown eyes.
“An entrepreneur, a pilot…a workaholic.” He paused before that last one, and something flickered in his eyes.
“You know what they say about all work and no play.” The air between them seemed to ignite. They weren’t touching, and yet her whole body burned for him.
“It makes Nate a lonely, horny man.” He reached out to trail a hand through her hair. “You still want to do this, Isa?”
She nodded, her throat gone dry. “The last four days have been absolutely crazy, but this feels right. No matter what happens tomorrow, I won’t regret it.”
He leaned in and brushed his lips against hers with a kiss so gentle, so tender, that it melted away all her fears about tomorrow. For tonight, she wasn’t lost. Tonight, she’d found something amazing, something special here with Nate.
She leaned in, kissing him back, drinking in the sensation of his mouth on hers, the hot stroke of his tongue, and the way his fingers tangled in her hair, anchoring her face to his. They kissed until her heart beat a frantic rhythm against her ribs and her chest heaved for breath.
Night had fallen outside the cabin, and the only light now was the warm flicker of the fire in the stove. It set the mood perfectly, not to mention kept the air around them cozy and warm.
“This so beats last night sitting against a tree trunk in the rain,” she whispered against his lips.
“Fuck yes.” His hand slid down to cup her breast. “I woke up touching you like this, and I was too cold and miserable to even appreciate it.”
“That was probably the worst night of my life.”
“Mine too.” He stroked a thumb over her nipple, sending pleasure rippling through her. “And since you’ve reminded me, I’d better check on the fire before we get too distracted.”
“Yes.” Because if it went out…well, they’d still be okay, but tonight was going to be so much better with its light and warmth to protect them. She stretched out on the bed, watching as he opened the stove, using the poker to adjust the wood inside before adding another log.
Finally, he closed it and stood, the fire behind him casting dramatic shadows over his profile, exaggerating the contours of his face, the muscles on his bare chest, and whoa, the bulge in the front of his shorts. He slid into bed beside her, his body brushing up against hers.
“Who would have thought an old, abandoned shack would be so romantic?” She slid her hand over his back, reveling in the ripple of muscles beneath all that warm, firm skin.
“Seems like you and I are able to make just about anyplace romantic.”
She smiled against his lips, remembering their bumbled attempts at romance inside their makeshift shelters. “Imagine what would happen if we went on a real date?”
“I’d fly you to San Diego and take you to this amazing little Italian place—”
“Nope. I’m never flying again, remember?”
“You should,” he said, his voice gruff. “Don’t let one bad experience hold you back, Isa. You don’t seem like a woman to let fear win.”
“I’m not,” she whispered. “But I’ve lived my life just fine on the ground until now.”
“And now it’s time to spread your wings.” His hand slid around to cup her ass, hauling her up against him. “So I’d fly you to this amazing Italian restaurant in San Diego, right on the waterfront. If you like seafood, I recommend the Linguini di Mare.”
“That sounds delicious.”
“It’s got shrimp, scallops, and mussels in a spicy tomato sauce.”
“Yum.”
“We’d finish our meal with a plate of tiramisu,” he said. “Afterward, we’d go dancing. You like to dance, right?”
“I love dancing,” she whispered, her eyes sliding shut as she visualized the picture he was painting.
“We get our groove on, a little bump and grind on the dancefloor.” His hips had begun to move to an imaginary beat.
“Yes.” God, yes.
“We have a few drinks. What’s your favorite?” he asked, his hips still rocking against hers.
“Piña colada with a pineapple wedge on top.”
“If we’re going to drink piña coladas, then we’ll have to go for a walk along the beach afterward, let the saltwater breeze blow through your hair.” He trailed his fingers through her hair, and a warm sizzle rippled through her.
“Yes,” she whispered. “I can almost hear the waves crashing against the shore.”
“We make out in the moonlight.” He brought his lips to hers for another heady kiss. “Like this.”
Yes, yes, yes…
“And then I’d take you to our hotel room overlooking the ocean, where I’d have a nice bottle of wine waiting, maybe chocolate-dipped strawberries too, and we’d put on some music in the room so that we could dirty dance the way you’d never dare in a crowded club.” He slid out of bed, tugging her up against him.
They swayed together, and she could almost hear the music, taste the wine and the strawberries…
“And once we were alone in our room, I could do this.” He tugged her shirt over her head, groaning low in his throat as he cupped her breasts in his big, warm hands. “Finding out you weren’t wearing a bra would be one of the highlights of our date for me.”
“Then what?” she asked breathlessly, leaning forward so that her breasts pressed against his bare chest. The scrape of his chest hair over her sensitive nipples sent a bolt of lust straight to her core.
“That’s where the dirty dancing part comes in,” he said, and she could feel him smiling against her lips. He slid one big, muscled thigh between her legs, and she whimpered.
“Like this?” she rocked her hips, riding his thigh.
“Oh yeah, sweetheart.” He lifted her so that his cock pressed between her legs, and he was so hard… “And we dance until we can’t dance anymore.”
They moved together, swaying to the music only they could hear, their hips grinding together as their hands touched and explored. It was beautiful, and romantic, and hot. Somewhere along the way, her pants hit the floor, as did his shorts. He was naked beneath his shorts, but he made no immediate move to take off her panties.
“I’ve been fantasizing about these,” he murmured, teasing her through the thin fabric.
“Really?” She gasped as he slid two fingers inside her panties.
“Mm-hmm. I love them almost as much as the pink pair.”
The pink pair she’d sacrificed in their second makeshift shelter so that he could come into them. Desire shot through her at the memory. “Almost as much?”
“After tonight, it may be a tie.” He thrust his cock against her belly while he stroked her with his fingers, and just like that, she came apart in his arms.
“Nate,” she moaned as the orgasm slammed through her, leaving her breathless.
“Fucking beautiful,” he said, holding her close until she’d regained her senses. “I love the sound you make when you come.”
She made a sound? She probably should have been embarrassed, but she was too blissed out to care. And his hard shaft pressed against her belly already had desire stirring inside her again. Smiling, she stepped out of her panties as firelight danced over their naked bodies.
“I need you so bad right now,” he said with a groan.
“Then have me.” She dropped onto the bed, pulling him down on top of her.