Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

MARK

T he afternoon of day six in the tent, while the snow had stopped the skies still looked steely dark and the gusty wind sent the trees rocking and creaking. The past few days had been filled with wind, snow, cold temps, rain, and more snow. Currently, low clouds blanketed the land, cutting their visibility.

It grew increasingly difficult for Mark to keep his hopes up. They’d been careful with their rations and could make it a couple of days before their food ran out.

To keep themselves occupied they talked, fooled around together, and napped.

Usually with Jesse snuggled between them.

Thank god for hand jobs.

The men took turns gathering firewood and brushing snow off the tent. They’d cut Jesse’s tent into pieces for additional insulation inside their tent. They could keep the temperature inside over fifty degrees, even in the middle of the night. During the day they frequently left the tent flap open to allow cool air in.

“When do you want to build the signal fire?” Chris quietly asked as they sat at the tent opening while Jesse napped.

“Maybe tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll be able to build one and keep it going right now,” he said. “Too wet and overcast and windy. They won’t be flying in this weather.”

“I could try walking out.”

“Absolutely not,” Mark said. “We have no idea how deep the snow is. She won’t be able to trudge through it.”

“We could make a traverse stretcher for her,” Chris suggested. “Cut some branches, use the tent and emergency blankets and paracord.”

“No. If I had snowshoes then I’d consider leaving you here with her and try to locate the cabin.”

“We could make some.”

Mark slowly shook his head. “I’m not Daniel-fucking-Boone, Chris. Any energy we expend means we’re worse off.”

“Can it hurt to build a signal fire?” Chris asked. “We have to do something .”

JESSE

She’d been aware of the men softly talking, but drifted in and out of sleep, dreaming about an annoying mosquito. Finally, the men’s voices raised in volume from whispers to normal, apparently forgetting they’d been trying to stay quiet.

But that’s not what woke her up.

She sat up, cocking her head, listening.

“Guys?” The men continued talking, about making a sled or something. “Guys!” she said.

They both fell silent and turned. “What?” they asked in unison.

Normally that would make her chuckle, but she pointed toward the back of the tent. “What is that I’m hearing? And is it coming from that direction?”

Like a couple of golden retrievers the men cocked their heads as their eyes widened. Before she could ask, they jumped up and started running, blowing whistles and screaming.

The sound changed from a whine to a low, steady thrum, then picked up again, growing louder.

Oh please let that be help!

She scrambled to her feet and followed the men out of the tent. Mark had started scrabbling up the slope behind the tent, sinking to his knees with each step as he screamed. Chris had stopped at the bottom of the slope and was blowing his whistle as loud as he could, nearly non-stop except for taking breaths.

The sound grew louder, closer, stopping somewhere at the top of the slope.

Chris stopped, while Mark kept yelling.

Then, she grabbed Chris and started screaming with joy, jumping up and down with him as the snowmobile helmet and orange vest of a park ranger appeared at the top of the slope and he waved at them.

It was after dark by the time the paramedics released them and they were dropped at the men’s cabin. Someone had retrieved Chris’ truck, along with the rest of their things that had been on the mules.

She’d already talked to her father, who only that morning had been contacted by park officials to let him know there was a problem. He was already en route to Montana and would arrive the next morning, but Jesse begged him to go home.

He refused, compromising with her that he’d get a hotel room in Gardiner and let her know when he arrived.

All she wanted to do was eat and take a shower.

They started with soup, heeding the medics’ cautions to start light. Then they crammed the three of them into the men’s shower where soaping each other up and shaving soon led to mutual teasing that quickly led them back to bed where she happily fucked both men and they took turns getting her off.

Followed by a nap.

Followed by lasagna, which Chris had set out to thaw earlier, and quickly nuked for them.

Now with comfortably full stomachs, they returned to the men’s bed and fell asleep again.

Early the next morning, she awakened to find Christopher’s face between her thighs, his tongue doing delicious things to her clit, while Mark smiled down at her. “Good morning, baby.”

“Good morning. I could get used to waking up like this.”

A shadow flitted through Mark’s expression, quickly replaced by a handsome and scruff-free smile. “I hope so. I like it, too.”

She reached up and played with his hair while she reached down with her other hand and played with Christopher’s.

“What now?” she asked.

Chris stopped what he was doing to look up. “Can we talk later? Kind of busy down here.”

She spread her thighs wider. “Okay.”

“ Thank you.” He went to town on her again, and yes, that was definitely a better plan than talking.

After she came and caught her breath, she sat up and made him take her place next to Mark. “Now I get to do what I’ve been wanting to do.” Kneeling between them, she held both their cocks and worked her way back and forth with her mouth, making both men moan and rock their hips.

Something about their deep, needy moans pleasantly settled deep inside her soul, like a comfortable quilt finally arranged in the perfect way.

She could easily see herself spending her life with them.

Wait, is it too early for that kind of thinking? It is, right?

Chris came first, then Mark. Now sated, they pulled her up the bed to lie between them and nap a little longer.

She was almost asleep when her personal cell rang.

Dammit.

She retrieved it from where it lay charging on the men’s nightstand. “Hi, Daddy.”

He hesitated. “Are you all right, sweetheart?”

“I told you yesterday I’m fine. Safe and sound. I was sleeping.”

“It’s just…” He sounded choked up. “It’s been a long time since you called me Daddy.”

Now she choked up. “Yeah, well, I realized maybe I never should have stopped.”

“We’re in Gardiner, and?—”

“Wait. ‘We?’”

“Yeah. Josie insisted on?—”

It sounded like he lost the phone and then Josie spoke. “Jesse, honey? Are you okay?”

Now she really did start crying. Both men sat up and held her. “Yeah, I’m okay. You shouldn’t be traveling now.”

“Screw that. I told Brand there was no way I wasn’t coming with him. We’re at the hotel in Gardiner. Where are you…”

Ten minutes later Jesse finally got off the phone with them with plans for her to come meet them in an hour and have breakfast. She sat there crying, staring at her phone.

“Are you okay?” Chris gently asked.

She nodded. “Yeah. I just…” She sniffled. “I know she’s my step-mom, but now I want to call her Mom.”

Mark tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “I’m sure she’ll let you call her whatever you want to call her.”

“I think you’re right.” She wiped her tears. “Sorry our plans changed. Do you want to come with me?”

The men exchanged a glance. “Maybe it’s better we don’t,” Mark said, reaching out to silence Chris. “I mean, maybe we should let them have time with you before we drop this on them.”

She took a deep breath. “I think you’re right. Daddy can be pretty overprotective. I have a feeling he’ll want me to wear one of those radio tracking collars like that bear.”

The men burst out laughing, which finally made her smile.

Mark leaned in and kissed her. “You go. We’ll do your laundry while you’re gone. I’ll need to file an incident report, and I’m sure Chris has a to-do list.”

She nodded. “I should get a shower.” She smiled. “Maybe wait to take yours, if you can, and I’ll take another with you when I get back.”

Chris laughed. “Deal.”

She quickly did that in the guest bathroom and fortunately she didn’t have to do much in the way of packing later, because she’d left everything ready to go before they’d left. She dressed in clean clothes from her suitcase and after another round of kisses, she headed to Gardiner in her rental.

MARK

Jesse was no sooner out the door when Christopher’s mind raced as he started spinning ideas to Mark.

All of them involving futures with Jesse.

What he didn’t want to remind Chris of was the fact that they were no longer stuck in the wilderness, and Jesse had a life, a career, that wasn’t there .

To expect her to stay when her life was literally on the other side of the country was emotionally masochistic.

Still, he didn’t take a shower before he threw on clothes and drove to the station.

When he returned home two hours later, Jesse wasn’t back and Chris worked on his laptop in the living room while also talking on the phone with someone at work.

He walked down the hall and glanced at the guest bedroom, where her packed suitcase lay on the bed. Meanwhile, her laundry churned with theirs in the washer and dryer, with another load ready to wash once those were done.

She won’t stay.

He didn’t want to admit this, but if he tried to adopt Christopher’s thinking he knew he’d end up hurt.

Yes, he kept them alive—they kept her alive—and had clicked on many levels.

But when the horniness wore off and she returned to her everyday world, the fact was she was not only out of their league, but out of their solar system.

She was a rich scientist with a busy career and they were, what, a diversion when she thought she might die?

I won’t let her hurt Chris.