“Whole thing? What isthatsupposed to mean?”
“You know…you’re persnickety, meticulous, strait-laced, and a tad high-strung.”
“Are you just listing adjectives you believe describe me?”
“Basically,” he said with a laugh. “So you have all of that and I have my—what did you call it?—my feather thing. I like to collect little mementos, trinkets. You know, stuff like that. Sometimes, I get distracted by beautiful things.” His eyes lingered on me a little too long. “Just like you get distracted by naked professors.”
“Oh for goodness’ sake.” I marched ahead, adjustingmy hat. “Well, if you had actually been up at the expected breakfast time, that whole situation could have been avoided.”
We stopped before a fallen tree, blocking the path forward. It was large, reaching nearly to my shoulders, and I studied it, trying to figure out how to get across. I’d been so distracted by Liam, I hadn’t watched the others before me.
I grasped a branch and pulled myself up, trying to find a foothold.
Liam watched me with amusement. “Do you need help?”
“No, thank you.” I grunted, pulling harder and scrambling with my feet. With one last pull, I made it to the top, now straddling the trunk. “See?” I smiled. “I’m perfectly capable of climbing logs.”
“I can see that.” Liam’s eyes twinkled as he pulled himself up much easier than I had, now facing me as we prepared to jump down. “Be careful of those vines when you slide off,” he said, gesturing to the tangle on the other side.
“Yes, yes.” I waved my hand, swinging my leg over.
But I had swung it a little too enthusiastically and lost my balance, slipping down sooner than I expected. With a twist and a yelp, I turned, trying to catch myself, but getting tangled instead. The air was knocked from my lungs as I slammed into the ground on my back, my leg caught in a web of vines above me.
“Well, this is inconvenient,” I muttered.
Liam peered down at me. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“Only my ego…”
The grin he had been holding back widened and he burst into laughter.
“Stop laughing at me.” I tried to yank the vines from my leg, but they only tightened.
He slid down, landing with a grunt. Scanning my body, his laughter didn’t stop. “I’m sorry, sunshine, but you should see yourself. It’s quite the picture.”
“Is everything all right?” Dr. Rosenshield called from ahead.
“Fine!” I shouted back. “Keep going, we’ll catch up.” I reallydidn’t want everyone else laughing at me too. I groaned, looking up at Liam. “Well, are you going to help or not?”
He raised an eyebrow, still chuckling. “Oh…nowyou want my help?” He walked around me, hands on his hips. “I don’t know…these vines are pretty tricky…and you seem quite capable…”
I flailed, trying to yank my leg again. “Liam!”
“All right, all right.” He dug in his pack, pulling out a knife. “Hold still.”
My hip hurt from the position I was in, my leg so high that only my shoulders and upper back touched the ground. “Hurry. This is quite uncomfortable.”
Liam began to saw at a vine, cutting through it like butter. He worked on another, wrapping his arm around my leg to stabilize me.
“Cut that one last, so I won’t fall,” I said, pointing.
“I don’t need your instructions, Cerise.”
Unwrapping his arm, his hand moved to the back of my thigh and I tried to ignore the warmth of his palm as he held me up, slicing through the last vine. Lowering me, he put away his knife and held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me up, harder than I expected, and I ended up stumbling into him.
Hands on his chest, I met his gaze. He cleared his throat. “Sorry.”
“I…umm…” I took a step back, brushing off my shirt, but unable to stop looking at his gorgeous eyes. “It’s quite all right. We should get ba—” I froze. A small neon blue spider climbed up his shoulder. “Liam…don’t move…”
