Wild Thing (8 page)

Her eyes closed against the bright sunlight, cut only by shadows of the tall trees on the riverbank. The warm water, the sun on her skin, and the feeling of Hunter’s eyes on her was intoxicating. She’d never skinny-dipped before. When she opened her eyes, all she saw was Hunter with the sun at his back, water sluicing from his body as he rose above her. She’d seen her share of beautiful men, but Hunter brought beauty to a whole new level. He’d lost his shorts on his way across the pool. He was all muscle, ripped but not bulky, and his tan told her that, unlike her, skinny-dipping was a way of life for him.

***

Hunter wanted to explore every inch of Toni’s body. He just wished they were in his bed instead of in the water. The water seemed like a good idea at the time. Now though, seeing her floating around, if he spent as much time exploring her the way he wanted, they’d both be pruney before he finished. As much as he wanted to make love to her, he didn’t want their first time to be here. Besides, he’d come unprepared. He tried to remember if he had a condom in his wallet, but since he hadn’t needed one in the past six months, he didn’t think so.

She floated in front of him, her breasts peeking through the clear water as if standing at attention. He pulled her onto his lap, his hands cupping her breasts. He slid his cheek against one tight nipple, eliciting a sigh from her. Toni’s body slipped around him as if it were made to do just that, her skin so pale it was almost translucent. He wrapped one arm around her small waist, his hand coming to rest on her flat, muscular stomach.

Toni stared at him, those light eyes taking everything in. He held her gaze as his lips slid over her breast, sucking the nipple deep into his mouth. Her fingers buried themselves in his hair, holding him fast. With every suck, her hips rocked. His erection slid between her folds, brushing against her. Toni’s head rolled back, her hair floating around her like a black drape in the water. She held herself in that position, back arched, eyes closed. One move was all it would take to bury himself deep within her. He switched breasts and did his best to hold his control.

“Oh, Hunter…”

He smiled as her fingers raked his scalp to his shoulders, anchoring herself to him. His dick twitched as she slid down the length of him, hot and slick with more than just water. God help him. He reached between them, his thumb circling the swollen bundle of nerves as he pinched her nipple between his teeth and slid a finger deep inside her. Slick and tight, her inner muscles vibrated around him as he slid a second finger in and curled it to press against her center while his thumb rubbed harder.

Toni went off like a Roman candle in his arms. He watched her come. He couldn’t say he’d ever watched anyone else come. If he had, he certainly didn’t remember it. The way Toni looked, he was equally certain he’d never forget. All he could think of was how beautiful she looked, flushed pink from the sun and enjoyment, her eyes wide open as if in shock. His name flying like a mantra from her lips in a breathless whisper, as if it was ripped from somewhere deep within her soul… over and over… his name.

Toni felt herself sinking. She thrashed in the water until she got her feet back on the bottom of the spring, only to see Hunter jump from the edge. One minute she was in Hunter’s arms, and the next he was literally jumping into the raging river. “Hunter!”

She stood naked and climbed onto a rock in time to see the top of his head disappear under the white water and then reappear much farther downstream than she thought possible. “Hunter!” Toni lost sight of him and stepped out of the spring into the river, trying to get a fix on him, but he was gone. The ice cold water numbed her feet in seconds. Hunter was swimming in this? He’d die of hypothermia or drown. She ran down the riverbank searching for him.

“Hunter!” All she could do was scream his name, over and over, while she ran barefoot across the river rock until a huge fallen tree stopped her.

She was alone.

All the air left her lungs as reality hit. Hunter said he wouldn’t leave, and he had. She bit back the scream that bubbled in her throat and reverberated in her mind. She had to think, but the image of Hunter being washed downriver, mangled by rocks, probably dragged to his death, was unstoppable.

She was alone.

Shaking from fear and the cold cutting like knives into her feet and shins, she hugged herself and squatted, afraid she’d fall. The trees seemed to draw nearer, overshadowing her. Panic ebbed closer and bubbled like the river, numbing her. Her vision grayed, and she did her best to breathe without hyperventilating.

She had to get out of there. She wasn’t that same six-year-old who had cried for three days straight in the Pine Barrens, and she wasn’t lost—or at least she hoped she wasn’t. She had the ability to traverse the New York subway system blindfolded. She should be able to find her way back to the cabin. She was a grown woman. A naked grown woman. Toni took a deep breath and stood. The shock of blood rushing from her head made her wish she’d taken it a bit slower. Shivering, she eyed the river, trying to retrace her steps to the hot spring.

Hunter wasn’t coming back. He’d left her. He was probably dead. She wiped away the tears streaming down her face, trying to clear her vision enough to find her bathing suit.

“I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.” But a vision of Hunter’s battered body kept intruding on her mantra.

She had to get back to the cabin and call 9-1-1 to report Hunter missing. She grabbed her suit and tugged it up her legs. Did they even have 9-1-1 here in the middle of nowhere? She wasn’t sure. No one told her what to do in the event a man you were making out with suddenly took off and dove into the river. Tugging on a wet bathing suit was not an easy thing to do, especially with hands that shook like wind chimes in a tornado.

Toni tried to remember where Hunter had left her shoes. She had to get to the cabin. Get a phone. Call for help.

Pain, deep and heavy, crushed like an anvil sitting on her chest. Shallow breathing made her light-headed. Through tears she found her shoes, stabbed her feet into them, and took off at a dead run in the direction of the cabin—or at least she hoped it was the direction of the cabin.

All the rocks looked the same. Where had they turned toward the river? She climbed over a boulder, jumped down, and ran, praying she’d find the trail.

Toni scraped past branches cutting her arms and legs. She tripped and fell. Her knee ached, but she didn’t waste time brushing it off. She just ran. The trail opened in front of her, and she turned to her right, sprinting, jumping over the step where Hunter had first kissed her.
Dead.
Dear God, he was in her arms one minute and dead the next. She wiped the tears from her eyes and saw the cabin in the distance. She had to find a phone. Call for help. But what did it matter? Hunter was gone, and she was alone.

***

Right after Toni came apart in Hunter’s arms, something tan flew past the edge of his peripheral vision. He turned his head just in time to see his shorts float out of the spring and into the river. His shorts with his wallet, containing all of his ID and the keys to his truck. “Fuck!”

He flew from beneath her and jumped over the rock into the river. By the time cold water hit him, expelling all the air from his lungs, his shorts floated downriver on the current.

Hunter swam past his eddy hoping his shorts would get caught in it, but no such luck. The white water enveloped him as he swam hard. His shorts bobbed a body-length ahead, drifting toward the center of the river he knew as well as his own limits.

Shit. If he didn’t catch them in the next few seconds, they were gone for good. He kicked hard and ignored the cold as he slid around a rock and grabbed for his shorts, wrapping the fabric around his hand before turning to swim for shore. The river had taken him downstream faster than he’d hoped. This was not good.

He swam as if his life depended upon it, and knowing the river like he did, it might. Things started getting really hairy a little farther downstream. He probably should have let the damn shorts go. By the time he pulled himself from the river, he was a hairsbreadth away from some seriously scary shit. Not smart. If anyone else on his team had pulled a stunt like that, he’d fire his ass.

He sat on a rock catching his breath while chastising himself and pulling his shorts on. Toni. Shit, shit, shit. He’d left her there all by herself and jumped into the river. She was probably having a panic attack. Could he be any more of an insensitive asshole? Probably not. A guy didn’t get a girl off and then jump into the damn river.

What the hell had he been thinking? Okay, he knew what he’d been thinking—he’d thought of all the shit he’d have to deal with if he lost his wallet and keys. The hours he’d have to spend in Boise replacing everything and making endless phone calls to credit card companies, equaled time he’d have to spend away from Toni. He only had seven days with her. Seven days suddenly seemed way too few.

“Toni!” He screamed her name as he ran barefoot upstream, cursing himself and every rock, stone, and branch he trod upon. By the time he got back to the spring, the river’s chill had left him and was replaced with the cold sweat of dread.

“Toni?” She was gone. So were her suit and shoes. Thank God she’d left his. His feet were raw from running over rocks to get back to her. Jumping into the river had been a spectacularly stupid move on his part, especially considering what Toni must have thought.

It didn’t take Hunter long to find her trail. He would have had a harder time following a herd of elk. She’d been running, and from the look of it, she’d fallen. Was that blood he saw on the rock? She was probably panicked because of his stupidity. Who could blame her? He called himself every name in the book as he followed her path through dense pine. When he hit the trail, he saw she’d gone the right way. Pride filled him. At least she was keeping her wits about her, though no one would blame her if she hadn’t. He picked up speed and ran flat out, all the way calling her name. When he saw the cabin, he knew she’d made it that far. The door was left wide open. He ran in. “Toni?”

He heard crying. Shit. When he stepped into the bedroom, she was searching his desk. “Toni?”

She stopped and looked at him, the leftover terror clear in her eyes. There was a flash of relief just before a swirl of emotions coalesced into what looked an awful lot like anger.

“I’m sorry, Toni. I should never have left you.”

“You’re sorry?” She hiccuped through tears. “You left me, and I thought… I thought you were dead!” She hugged herself, her fingers digging into her own arms. “I ran down the river after you. I saw your head go under, and I didn’t see it come back up. I thought you’d drowned!” She took a stuttering breath. “I pictured you trapped under the water, your head smashed against a boulder. You left me. You promised you wouldn’t. I was trying to find a phone to call 9-1-1 and have the river dragged. And I don’t even know if they have 9-1-1 here.” She threw her arms out wide. “No one told me what to do if the man you’re making out with takes a flying leap into a raging river. I thought you were dead, Hunter. Dead. You left me just like everyone else.”

Her knee was bleeding, her arms were scratched, and she was shaking. “Shhh… it’s okay.” He pulled her into his arms, and she pounded on his chest a few times before she wrapped her arms around him and cried.

“You could have been killed. Was I so awful in the spring that you risked your life to get away from me? You could have stopped or said, ‘Hey, Toni, I’m just not that into you’ or something.”

“God, no, it wasn’t you. My shorts with my keys and my ID floated into the river. I didn’t think. I just reacted. I’m sorry I scared you. I was stupid. I’m so sorry.”

“You could have been killed. Dead, like… I don’t know… dead. Were you trying to kill yourself?”

“No.” He didn’t bother telling her she was right, but he knew the river. He was a strong swimmer. He knew he’d be fine, well, mostly. He just hadn’t considered her. And that made him feel like the world’s biggest asshole. “I’m fine. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I frightened you. But I’m proud of you too. You did exactly the right thing. But it would have been nice if you weren’t quite so fast.”

“Where is your phone?”

He walked her backward into the bathroom. “It’s in my backpack, why?”

“Where was your backpack?”

He lifted her to sit on the counter, making a space for him between her legs, and reached to get a washcloth out of the cabinet. He turned on the tap and ran the hot water. “My pack was by my shoes.”

“I ran all the way up here and left your phone by the water?”

He stopped and looked into her now bloodshot and swollen eyes. She had dirt streaked across her face. “I should have told you where the phone was. And I should never have left you like that. Can you forgive me?”

She nodded but didn’t say the words. He was a selfish bastard; he wanted to hear them.

Hunter soaped the cloth and wrung out the excess water before bending down to wash the cut on her knee. Once he was sure it was clean, he worked his way up and washed the scratches on her arms. She said nothing, though he could tell by the look on her face, there were a thousand and one things running through that quick mind of hers. He’d never experienced a quiet Toni Russo before. He much preferred it when she babbled. He finished washing her injuries, took her hand, and helped her off the counter. “Come on. Let’s get you into a warm shower.” He turned the water on and adjusted the temperature.

When he reached for the straps to her suit, she pushed him away. “I can do it myself.”

“Okay.” He knew when he was being dismissed. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need anything.” He pulled a towel down for her and left her to it, closing the door behind him.

Hunter stepped out of the bathroom and wanted to kick himself for the hell he’d put Toni through. She’d need something to wear so he pulled a clean T-shirt from his drawer and rummaged around until he found the pair of silk boxers his sister had bought him for his birthday. He’d never worn them, never planned to, but the thought of Toni wearing them made him smile. He was just glad she wasn’t in any position to refuse. He was also thanking his lucky stars he had the rest of the night to try to make amends for the huge blunder he’d made.