Page 47 of Rescuer
She looked at the place where they’d rappelled down. The top of their ropes dangled over the cliff. The rest of the ropes lay coiled at the bottom, like snakes. The lines had been severed, the anchors still at the top.
Her gaze flashed between the wall of granite rising like a fortress and the river pressing in on the other side.
“We’re trapped.” Her voice was hoarse.
Jackson’s lips pressed together in a straight line. His eyes scanned the shadows. “We can’t go back up this way. But we’re not trapped. Over to the right.” He pointed in the distance. More trees dotted the land. “That will lead to a path that should wind back around to near where we started. We’re just taking the scenic route.”
“The scenic route?” Her lips twisted.
“Sure. Let’s get going. Someone will be coming back for us. We need to move.”
Ten
“Jackson? Are you okay?”
Jackson stopped pressing his open palms against the sides of his head and squinted at Mia. Immediately, he wanted to put them back. The pressure seemed to help control the throbbing inside his skull. It felt like they’d been walking for hours. In reality, it had only been thirty minutes.
“I’ll be fine. But right now I’m kind of wishing I could remove my head from my body.”
She gave him a sympathetic look. “Headache?”
He snorted. “Understatement. I probably have a low-grade concussion, but since my vision isn’t blurry and I can stand without wobbling, I’m not too worried. Let’s get back under cover. I need to rest before we go further.”
He pointed ahead. A mixture of rocks and a deep crevice in the cliff had created an opening they could hide in without fear of anyone sneaking up on them. “Let’s rest there.”
Mia followed him, her movements reluctant. She bit her lip. Suddenly, the memory of kissing those lips didn’t seem so long ago. He dropped his gaze. Colliding with the rocks had scrambled his brain. That had to be it. Because even though Mia was still one of the most beautiful women he’d ever met, she came with baggage and serious issues. There was no way he’d get messed up with that again.
“I have some pain meds. Generic, but they might help. Do you want some?”
Instantly, thoughts of kissing fled. He stretched out his hand and wiggled his fingers. “Oh yeah. Gimme.”
She dumped a single white tablet into his hand. He wiggled his fingers again. She shrugged and poured two more into his palm.
“I’ve got water—” She stopped speaking when he popped them into his mouth and swallowed them dry. “Okay. That’s just gross.”
“What? They’re coated.” He pressed his palms against his head once more and counted to five, then he sighed. He couldn’t dwell on his own discomfort all day. “Except for some aches and pains, I’m fine. What about you?”
“I have a few scrapes from the cliff, but nothing serious. No bleeding or broken bones.”
He looked at her, brows raised.
“What?”
He shook his head. “You forget. I know you. I remember many times when you’d insist you were fine when you weren’t.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Oh yeah? What about that time you messed up your knee doing backflips in cheer practice? You insisted you weren’t hurt and didn’t need to see the trainer. But if I hadn’t convinced you to go, you would have had permanent damage.”
She snorted. “Convinced? You picked me up and carried me to her, ignoring my protests.”
They stopped. Was she recalling what it felt like to be in his arms? Because he was.
Heat crawled up his neck, and he dropped his eyes and glanced around. “We need to move. We can’t stay here just waiting for someone to come and pick us off.”
Mia gasped.
“What?”
