Chapter 2

Two

S he was in trouble.

One more day with him and she'd never be able to leave.

Remy batted at the cloud of mosquitoes that took up residence in her personal space the second they stepped outside and relented to give any of it back. Despite the ton of lotion she used, they seemed to be fixated with her blood.

"Little blood-sucking, pestering vampires." She scrunched up her nose and swatted at the air to no avail.

Every step she took through the long grass around the lake kicked up more bloodsuckers to join the feast.

Fresh mountain air, lightly fragranced from the spill of wildflowers, threaded through the long grass along the lake's bank created a sweeping symphony of feather-light whispers. As though fairies sang for Mother Nature and they were privy to the supernatural delight.

She smiled, causing her confounded glasses to slip a little down her nose. Why could she never remember her contacts?

Her father would say all because of her daydreams— fancy flights from reality like all little girls had—and then he would pass her a broom to sweep the flower shop.

He'd built it for her mother who had a deep affection for botany and anything with a stem, so he could bring her flowers every day, he liked to tease. Remy smiled to herself. Her mother was a lucky woman.

With every anniversary they celebrated, the more Remy wanted a love like they shared.

But just because her father came off as a hopeless romantic with her mother didn't mean he understood Remy's need to explore. Or why she needed to run off to Alaska, as he put it. But he supported her even if he did shake his head at her the whole time he kissed and hugged her goodbye at the airport.

Sun draped across the open field and across the pristine blue expanse of water as though precious gems scattered across the surface. She loved the heat and the way the light warmed her from the inside out. After an unusually long winter, she made it a personal goal to soak up all the sunshine she could get.

Remy let her eyelids slip closed as she raised her face. Used to sand and brine, the fresh mountain air was a welcomed change.

Ethan brushed a hand over her shoulder and pointed to an elk splashing and playing in the water several yards from them.

"Maybe a dip in the water is just what the doctor ordered?" Ethan spoke up beside her, placing her satchel on the ground and moving in with a mischievous smile.

Anything else he had to say got lost as she devoured his easy glide and the way his pants clung to his hips. He'd pulled off his shirt several yards back on their hike and she'd had a hard time looking away since.

Now, the sunlight caught every dip and contour of the man's well-formed body. He proved hard to resist. The truth of the matter was, the closer he came, the hotter the air sizzled. So hot her skin flushed with a heat she couldn't blame on the warm weather. Another foot closer and she wouldn't be responsible for showing him her bad girl charms could match his play for play.

But, they were here for a job and they only had so many hours in the day for the wicked ideas she saw in his expression.

She backed a couple of steps away from the water's edge and shot him a wide-eyed look. "Don't you dare! We're here to work. You know that thing we do to make a living and the whole point of my being here?"

"Ah, yes. You mean you're not here because I placed an order with the Universe for a raven-haired beauty in cutoffs, a messy ponytail, and the sexiest blue scarf?" Ethan fingered the soft material of her scarf before he reached around to playfully tug the long strands of her ponytail hanging down her back. He chuckled, the deep rumble smoothed over her like a tall glass of iced tea. But that wasn't what had her heart sputtering to a stop mid-beat.

The dimples on that man. She barely managed to hold back a silly high school sigh. With a gasp, Remy pressed up on her toes as Ethan swept down briefly and curled an arm around her waist.

"Be careful, the scarf comes off like everything else," she teased in a husky tone she didn't recognize as her own as he scooped her into his arms. Before she knew it, her feet had left the ground and he had his lips on hers. One leg at a time, she curled herself around his waist and every nerve ending in her body remembered the last time he was between her thighs only an hour before.

She rocked her hips in small circles and felt the length of his shaft grow hard against the vee of her thighs.

"You're a dangerous girl, Remy Dalton. Pure sin and temptation. It's what makes you taste so sweet."

With the free hand not clutching her protective water gear, she ran her fingers through the mass of thick chestnut hair and groaned at the soft feel as it feathered through her fingers. "You're not so bad yourself." She shrugged. "For a mountain man, ya know." A sly smile inched the corners of her lips up when he pulled back in surprise. She nipped his lower lip with a playful tug before unhooking her legs.

"Liar," he teased, coming in for another quick kiss.

"Nope. I just might have to stay a little longer until I get my fill."

Her words caused every muscle under her palms to flex and it took a lot of self-control not to let him have his way with her right here, right now. All he had to do was dial her number with those simmering golden eyes of his and she'd be hung up forever.

"No going back after you've had a Savage man, Doc," he crooned close to her ear as he lightly deposited her back on Tierra Firma with a final kiss to the tip of her nose and a rueful grin. "It's the way lust goes."

He moved away from her and just as fast as he stirred the fires, they died down. Something was off, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Ever since they crawled out of bed he'd been a little distant. Not wanting to make too much eye contact and even now with her light teases, he didn't take the bait.

She scrunched her nose. "Doc, huh?" She paused with her thumbs hooked in her back pockets and away from the trouble he conjured in her. "Did you practice that line since junior high?" She flicked over her shoulder as she turned to gather her gear.

Over the past few weeks of their friends with benefits scenario when she sensed things get too serious, he'd stack an invisible wall and hide behind jokes and her profession rather than her name. It took a while for her to read the clues, but she got the hint after one night of hanging out at his brother's bar. One slow dance and what would have been a night of salacious orgasms and breaking headboards back at her house turned into him needing to prepare for a climb the next day and a, "See you later, Doc." Before hitting the door.

He didn't want personal, only fun times. She got that really, but the little pang that pierced her heart told another story.

She blew out a deep breath through her nose. Frustration wanted to break the happy bubble encasing their early morning and now the beautiful hike, but she dashed it away. She'd never understand him. Not now and maybe not a year from now when she looked back on her time in Alaska.

For her sanity, maybe it was better to stay in the here and now.

"Here, hold these, will you?" Remy handed over her environmental testing kit and bent down to pull on her knee-high waders.

Too much contact with him would end up with them both taking in massive amounts of sunlight with their naked bodies, which she wasn't opposed to, but the way he slipped those damn aviator glasses over his eyes gave her pause. He stood over her, his attention sliding to the surrounding wooded areas.

After kicking off her hiking shoes, Remy plopped down in the soft grass and craned her head back. Shielding her eyes from the sunlight, she watched one large brow arch over the rim of his sunglasses.

With a soft touch to her cheek where a dimple was located on his own, she kept her tone light. "I bet you use those angel kisses on everyone, don't you? I'm simply the latest victim. Admit it. You've lured me to the backwoods where no one can hear my screams."

He stared down at her for a moment before his face took on the same shocked look he got when accused of pulling a prank on his unsuspecting siblings. He gasped with the full hand-to-the chest effect and let his mouth fall open. What a faker. But he made her smile, and the way his grin spread across his lips worked magic on dissolving the hurt feelings from a moment ago.

"First, if you're talking about my smile and smashing good looks, then you might be right. Between you and me, I've been known to flash Mrs. Marty down at the donut shop a few smiles for one of her heart-stopping, double-dipped chocolate fudge brownies." He licked his lips and raised his face up to the sun as if praying for one to fall into his hands right that minute. A small laugh slipped and she bit at her lips to hide the smile. Damn him. He always knew how to make her laugh, especially when she desperately tried not to.

Before arriving in Savage Ridge two months earlier, she had no idea such a sinful brownie existed. As a Los Angeles native, she was no newbie to the delicacies a coffee shop offered. After her stay here, she'd have a hard time breaking her own addiction, in more ways than one.

"Oh really. So if I learn how to make those, what would you flash me?"

The tips of his mouth curved up into a purely evil grin and he raised his sunglasses to wink at her as if daring her. It reached into the amber depths of his eyes until they brimmed with mesmerizing mischief.

She crossed her hands over her breasts and the motion pulled the T-shirt beneath the dangling ends of her scarf tight across her chest, earning her a hot look. With one army-green wader on and the other momentarily forgotten to the side, she squinted her eyes and shot him a quizzical glare. "Ethan Savage, what are you thinking?"

"How good you would taste as a chocolate caramel, double-dipped dessert." Emphasis on the caramel. The man's sweet tooth would be her downfall.

Remy bit back a gasp that threatened to be a deep groan as she imagined the sensation his fantasy whipped up. "Don't let anyone ever accuse you of holding back." She tsked and returned to her task. "Be good and let me get my work done and you might find out what chocolate tastes like on this caramel dessert." She stroked her hands down either side of her body and winked.

He was dangerously too easy on the eyes. If she wasn't careful, it wouldn't only be the brownies she missed when the summer fun ended and she returned to her life back in California. A shudder crossed the back of his shoulders before he slipped his gaze back behind a pair of aviator glasses. What a shame.

"So what's the second thing?" She bit at the inside of her lower lip to rein in the grin wanting to spread across her face from the obvious way she affected him. He could try to hide it all he wanted.

He offered her a hand and hauled her up. A deep crease formed between his brows in a way that almost had her convinced of something serious to come.

"Second," he leaned until their noses almost touched and slid those damn sexy glasses down a fraction to peg her with a look that said he was being one hundred percent honest, "Wanna accuse me of whisking you off to the middle of nowhere so no one can hear your screams? Fair enough, but I'm not the one that packed enough scarves to rescue Rapunzel from her tower or, as I fear, tie up a helpless mountain man." He rose to his full height, pushing his glasses back in place. "Wait." He clasped both hands over his mouth. "I fell into your wicked trap, didn't I? Admit it, woman. You've lured me here to where no one can hear my screams!"

Ethan barely got his last words out before Remy gave him a stiff jab to the ribs. "Oh shut up, you big silly man. Helpless is not a word I would use to describe you." More like a fucking bear of a man. Ripped and toned.

"Oomph." Rubbing at his side, he backed up with the biggest grin on his face. "Really, how would you describe me?"

She gathered several vials from her kit, avoiding making any eye contact.

It took everything she had not to tackle him to the ground and show him how damn irresistible she found him. Make him really scared of her and what she could do with the piece of rope she had in her satchel and her imagination. This deep in the woods, no one would hear either of their screams.

Ethan doubled over, his hands braced on his knees laughing.

"You're insufferable, that's what I think. How do any of your family put up with you?" Remy giggled, sidestepping his question for the most part.

Waves of cool air swept up from the lake to ruffle the loose strands of hair by her face. Ethan reached between them and caught a long piece teasing the corner of her lip.

He drank in the sight of her from rubber boots to her sloppy ponytail and crop top. "And you are beautiful in full doctor mode."

He stood close now, so close the smell of Mother Nature mixed with everything that made Ethan so damn tempting. Auburn glints of light caught in his dark hair and made him appear as if he belonged right where they were at, in the deep woods and far from where the touch of humans had yet to tarnish. Hopefully.

So far so good, anyway. That thought brought her back around to her purpose here. They'd tested three smaller natural ponds in the area late last evening and now she needed samples from this lake. In the last two months, she'd taken several samples of the water from various sources in the surrounding areas of Savage Ridge as well with no luck in finding what was making the local wildlife ill.

He raised his sunglasses to rest on the top of his head. "You keep looking at me like that and no amount of begging and finger-wagging will stop me. Those sad eyes kill my resolve."

"It's just that we should have an answer by now, you know?"

A sudden seriousness came over him. "I do and you will. We'll figure it out and then we can get back to the fun times, Remy." He tilted her chin up to meet her gaze. "Woman, you make me want to do things that I've never done before."

Unease tightened the muscles of his shoulders beneath her touch. His gaze swam with something close to what looked as though he had a lot more to say on the matter, but instead he sealed his lips in a fine line.

Men. Savage men to be exact. She'd witnessed that same pursed lips look on all four brothers and she knew for a fact it originated with the elder of the crew. A man as burly and unruly as his offspring.

It took all she had not to push Ethan to say what she saw written clear as the Alaskan sky on his face. But if she did that she would scare him off and could kiss her last remaining days here with him goodbye.

The way his eyes swirled between a deep gold and liquid amber seemed to read like he wanted to say their time together meant more to him than a quickie weekend. Then again, maybe she only wanted to hear the words, true or not.

She opened her to mouth to ask but sucked in a brutal gasp instead.

A single crack carried across the expanse of the lake, and Remy hit the ground before Ethan had even ducked.

"Are you crazy? Get down!" She knew gunfire when she heard it. Reaching up, she tugged on Ethan's hand, but he slipped away from her, took several paces back from her and then kneeled in the long grass.

What in the hell was he doing? From where she crouched, she couldn't see anything but the small crease lines at the corners of his eyes and the space between his brows deepened into a fierce scowl.

From one second to the next the calm atmosphere morphed despite the sun's determination to fight the encroaching grayness. Hunters were nothing to be scared of, but illegal hunting and on private property was something entirely different. They didn't exactly have on neon vests to signal their presence either. Getting shot was not on her list of things to experience while in Alaska.

She cast a wary eye over their eerily silent surroundings. Everything from the faint chirp of crickets to the occasional call of birds fell quiet. "What? What is it?" She called over to him in a raised whisper. "A hunter? Do you think they shot at us or a bear or something? No. I mean why would anyone be shooting at us?"

Looking between Ethan and the section of woods at their back, she let her words drift.

Ethan blinked back at her before easing over to her, using the tall grass as camouflage. "Stay here, stay low. I'll be right back." He kneeled beside her and helped her sit up enough to where the top of the grass brushed just above eye level and spoke in a hushed, grated tone that gave nothing of their situation away.

"Ethan, what does that mean? You need to tell me what I need to be shooting—my gun or my camera for proof of Sasquatch." Okay, so she'd said that only to get his attention and from the hard look he nailed her with it seemed to have worked.

His entire body went rigid and he yanked off his glasses. She almost wanted to laugh at the shock widening his eyes. "We'll talk about why you think you need a gun, especially when you have me, later." He emphasized each word with a bit of bite and his frown lightened a couple of shades. "I'm not touching the whole bigfoot thing."

She pushed up to her knees and came nose-to-nose with a very unamused man.

"But you see my point? I need deets not macho bullcrap. And don't shrug things off you don't know about. We don't know what is out there."

He growled. "I know there's no bigfoot out there with a gun. Just a man who is probably unaware he's on private land."

She pursed her lips and waved a hand at him. She knew most people in her profession looked at her with a side-eye and gave her a wide berth for the radical thinking, but that was probably neither here nor there at the moment.

He gave her that same side glare but with a glint of humor instead of cruel judgment.

"I'm just saying." She turned back to the area he was focused on.

"Stay here. Gather your samples while I check this out."

Remy fixed her gaze back on him. "Yeah, buster that's not going to work." She threw a hand out to stop him. One thing she wouldn't be classified as was helpless or a damsel in distress. "Communication is everything."

Her words made something in him change. The razor-sharp angles of his face softened, and his body relaxed a notch as though something clicked mentally.

She only wished she knew what that something was because it made her heart do a double-tap.

Ethan gave a stiff nod and tapped the side of his nose. "It could be hunters, but more likely poachers this time of year."

"Which means more dangerous."

He nodded. "They are more radical and don't care who or what they have to shoot to protect their illegal activities. That puts us on the list if you know what I mean. If I don't come back in ten minutes, drop everything and head to the plane. Radio home and have them get the rangers up here STAT. And stay hidden."

Now that she could do. Ethan's long strides carried him halfway across the field and the man she'd kissed minutes ago disappeared from sight between massive oaks and pines that served as a natural property line between the Savage property and the national park in this area.

Remy turned over on her stomach and pushed up to all fours. Grass crunched beneath her weight from the lack of rain. Careful not to draw too much attention to her location, she eased back to where she left the gear. As a wildlife veterinarian, being out in the field required more than test tubes and wading boots. A smart woman needed protection. She flipped back the cover and pulled out the revolver her brothers gifted her as a graduation present from the University of California and clipped it to the side of her belt.

Used to living in a man's world as the only woman in a house of five police officer brothers, working a gun became second nature before graduating high school. If anything, having a cop family taught her to always be prepared. Her parents never understood why her brothers went into law enforcement, instead of taking a less stressful route in life, but right now she was grateful for their choices.

She hated the guns and never used the one she had outside the firing range. Still, miles in the backwoods it could mean the only thing between her, a wooden casket and the worms.

That gave her pause.

Vials lay scattered in the grass where she'd dropped them earlier. She moved to retrieve them and stood up slowly. She could at least gather the samples while she waited.

Three piercing shots cracked open and she felt each one like a lightning bolt to the chest.

Heels dug into the grass as she did a one-eighty. She crouched low once again.

Cold fear burst through her veins and collided with her heart in a rush of panic. Glass clanked and tumbled by her feet. One foot fell in front of the other until everything blurred.

Ethan!

Trees meant cover. In a flat run through the sea of grass, she dashed across the forty yards of a death trap. Heavy pants rocked her chest, but she narrowed her eyes and scanned the space between the trees. Where was he? She had to find him.

Deep guttural roars of anger snaked through the trees from the right and sent a flock of sharp-tailed grouse scattering for safety behind her.

"Oh God. Ethan."