Chapter Three

Emily

“Miss Lane, are you okay?”

No, I am not okay. I can feel my heart beating hard in my chest and my knees are threatening to give in. With my hands on my knees and beads of sweat trailing my forehead, I lift my head to look up at the trail that winds endlessly up the mountain.

I can’t do it anymore. I want to sob. My weary body yearns for respite, a moment of rest from the torture I’ve put it through.

“Miss Lane?”

“I’m fine,” I pant, completely winded. “How much further?”

“We’ve been hiking for only forty minutes,” the guide says, and I have to bite back a laugh.

Only forty minutes?

I don’t remember the last time I walked for forty minutes straight, let alone up the rocky terrain of a mountain. Looking at the other people, I can tell these are sentiments I share alone. Everyone in our group seems like they could use another forty which makes me feel out of shape, but in my defense, this is all new to me.

Growing up, I was never an athletic kid, and I wasn’t particularly good at anything in school. The one time I joined the track team, I managed to run a single lap before collapsing to the ground in exhaustion. I remember lying on the track field, panting like I was on the edge of falling into a coma. Someone had been kind enough to come and drag me off the track before I was trampled by actual athletic students.

I had my doubts back then when I was advised to join the track team, and I had my doubts this morning before I started this hike. The only difference is that I can’t drop to the ground and lay there until someone comes and drags me away from my bad decisions.

For one, this is not a track field. It’s a rocky terrain surrounded by tall trees and the others in my group seem eager to get back to hiking. I suppose a bear wouldn’t be opposed to dragging me off this trail and into some secluded part of the forest for dinner.

“Miss Lane…”

“Go on ahead,” I tell the guide. He is a local that frequents the diner, and he was kind enough to let me join his group. Everyone seems to be having such a great time, so I’d hate to get in the way of that. “I’m fine. I think I’ll rest a bit then head back down.”

“Are you sure?” he asks, worry plain in his voice.

“I remember the way back. I just need to stay on the trail, right?”

“Yes, don’t venture off the trail and you’ll be fine.”

I nod and wave to him to carry on. I notice hesitation on his part, but he has a job to do so he and the rest of the group continue with the climb. I wait until they are out of sight before collapsing on the floor of the forest with a loud sigh.

Oh my God. How do people ever do this? Walk for forty minutes up a mountain and not feel like they’re dying. I never should have come on this hike, this is definitely not how I pictured spending my day off.

I should never have listened to Callan when he suggested hiking as a fun activity.

Callan .

Just thinking about the name makes my body grow unbearably hot. The memory of his deep, rough voice is imprinted in my brain. Yesterday, when he took a step towards me, I could have sworn he was going to kiss me and… I would have let him.

I spent all night thinking about, that I couldn’t get a wink of sleep mulling on the what ifs.

What if we weren’t standing in plain sight? Would he have backed me into his truck and run his massive hands over my body? I could read the need to do so in his eyes. I’ve reimagined the memory of his finger brushing my hair back so many times that I could almost feel it on my skin now.

Being close to the man I have watched for weeks did something to me yesterday. It seems Callan has awakened something needy – almost feral inside of me. Every time I think of him, there is this strange tightening in my belly and a rush of wetness between my legs that begs for release.

Okay, stop thinking about him, Emily.

With a shake of my head, I reach for my water bottle and bring it to my mouth, my eyes widening to saucers when I realize I am out. “No, no,” I cry out, peeking into the bottle through the straw, and nope, not a drop of water.

Great, now I am stuck here, miles from civilization without water. I figure this is all the motivation I need to start heading back down so I reluctantly hoist myself up and dust the dirt off my clothes. I catch a sound coming from the trees behind me and I freeze, cold anxiety filling my veins. The noise comes again, but it doesn’t sound like an animal hiding behind the thick trees waiting to pounce. No, it sounds like… an injured animal.

I turn around slowly and listen in, finally pinpointing the direction. I hear a low whimper that tugs at my heartstrings, and before I know what I am doing, I find myself following the noise. I strain my ears as I walk off the trail and into the forest until I finally catch its source.

A few meters from me is a ball of fur caught in the bushes, whimpering for help. I rush forward to get a closer look, my heart tugging painfully when a pair of black eyes look up to mine. I don’t bother to question why there is a German Shepherd in the middle of the forest caught up in twigs as I approach him.

“Hi there boy,” I whisper, bending down next to the dog that has now gone silent. “Are you stuck? I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to help you get out of there, okay?” He watches me wearingly as I reach out and pet his thick fur with one hand, trying to figure out how to get him untangled with the other. The twigs are wrapped around both of his legs and tugging them only seems to make them dig harder into his fur. I look around helplessly for something useful, when a loud bark from behind me startles me, and I fall back on my ass. I whip my head around to find another dog similar to the first standing behind me, but it’s not alone.

Beside the dog is a pair of combat boots I am all too familiar with.

I follow the pair of black boots up to green military-style cargo pants, then to a black shirt that is practically molded to his massive chest. My gaze slows to take in his thick tattooed arms, but it’s when my eyes connect to his that I forget how to breathe. They’re hypnotic, making me forget anything and everything else I was thinking of before he came into my line of vision.

He is handsome, devastatingly so. I have always thought this about the man from the moment I met him. As a girl born and raised in the city; I have met all kinds of men, but none quite like him. Not a single man is able to command attention the way that Callan does and that is enough to send my body flushing in heat.

“Callan,” I breathe, a tremble wracking my body when he trails his eyes over me, just as slowly as I had him. “Uh, hi.”

A low whine from behind me reminds me of the dog that needs rescuing, and Callan snaps into action before I can react. He walks forward and gets down on one knee beside me, and I watch in fascination as he draws a knife from the sheath strapped to his side. He then proceeds to cut at the twigs expertly, releasing the dog who happily jumps from the bushes and joins his buddy, leaving me alone with the giant.

He gets up to his feet and extends his hand for me to take, which I grab and let him pull me to my feet, but it’s just my luck that I trip on a twig. Callan moves fast, wrapping his free hand around my waist, and pulls me flush against him. My breasts press hard against his taut chest and for a long minute, there is nothing but my heavy breathing mingling hotly with his. Oh, and the thick erection pressing hard against my stomach.

I should move.

The thought of him feeling the press of my puckered nipples against his chest sends heat climbing up my face and my pulse fluttering fast. This close to him, I can smell the strong, earthy scent clinging to his clothes, and his aftershave and it’s messing with my head.

I clear my throat nervously, and slowly push away from the man, but he doesn’t let me move too far as he draws his hand from my waist, keeping a firm grip on my hand.

“Are you okay?” he asks as if he didn’t run a full x-ray on me with his eyes earlier.

“I’m okay,” I manage breathily, looking for a distraction from the heat his voice and touch are sending through my body. “Are they yours?” I nod towards the two dogs running around the tall grass.

“Brutus and Barry,” he says, and I smile at the dogs, but my attention doesn’t stay on them for long before it’s stolen by the giant.

“What are you doing in the forest, Emily?”

“I… uhm,” I wet my lips trying to look at anything but Callan. I realize it’s the first time he’s said my name aloud, and that information shouldn’t have any effect on me and yet, it does. Focus, Emily . “I… I followed your advice and decided to take that hike.”

“I thought you said hiking was not fun.”

“It’s not,” I counter.

“And yet you came to the mountains alone.”

“I didn’t come alone,” I hurry to say. “I asked a local guide I know if I could join his group, and he agreed to let me tag along.”

“And where is this guide you speak of?”

I flush with embarrassment at his question. How do I tell this hulk of a man that I couldn’t keep up with the hikers? There was even a kid in the group hiking with his father, and even he didn’t look half as winded as I felt.

“They are probably waiting for me somewhere up the trail,” I say but my voice is a little shaky, selling the lie for what it truly is. “Fine, I couldn’t keep up. I thought hiking was like taking a walk in the forest and looking at pretty birds and exotic plants but no, it’s so exhausting and I don’t like it one bit.”

“It’s dangerous too,” he adds, doing little to comfort me. “There are–”

“Bears and wolves. “Yes, you mentioned,” I say with an eye roll but the giant seems to take my words seriously as his eyes darken and turn fierce. More so than I have ever witnessed anyone before.

“You think this is a game, little girl?”

“W-what are you talking about.”

“Your safety,” he grinds roughly, taking a step forward. He has a firm hold of my hand that I can’t move back. Considering that we are surrounded by trees, I doubt there is anywhere to run even if I could break his hold… but, I don’t want to run.

Despite the darkness I read in his eyes, I don’t actually believe Callan would hurt me. I have been scared of a man before, felt so helpless that I had to move into a whole other state and begin anew just to escape him.

Callan is nothing like that man.

With him… I feel things I cannot describe. Things I am afraid to do. In all of my twenty-one years of living, I’ve never felt anything remotely close to what I feel for Callan and now, we’re here.

Alone.

When he backs me up against a tree and my lips part, it’s not to scream. At least not the kind that begs for help. It’s to let him in like I’ve never let any other man in my life before.

And when our mouths meet for the first time, my heart swells with need. Almost as if I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life.