Page 59 of The Fall Before Flight

Leo’s smile is pure wickedness. Does he relent? Not in the least. And by the time we return to camp hours later—me first, him forty minutes behind me—every hole on my body has taken him in one way or another.

I have a new hole, too. Wide enough for a 747, straight through my heart.

The moon is setting when I finally hear Leo return to camp. I wonder if the lust has worn off enough that he’s panicking over all the ways we could be discovered.

I wonder if I care.

Rolling onto my side, I almost scream when I see Tiffany’s eyes open and watching me. When my heart stops trying to break my rib cage, I exhale slowly.

“Didn’t mean to wake you,” I whisper. “Needed to pee.”

She blinks, calm and alarmingly alert. “Did you forget my issues with insomnia?”

If I didn’t have twenty years of practice lying, I might start sobbing. Instead, I cock an eyebrow. “Fine, so I went for a walk. What are you, the tent police?”

“You don’t have to do that, Mia,” she whispers back. “Besides, your hair is wet and you stink of sulfur. It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone. I think it’s awesome, actually. You and Doc are like Romeo and Juliet.”

Oh, Fucking, Hell.

I circle the Truth Drain one last time. “Nothing happened. Yes, I followed him, found him in the hot springs. Tried to put the moves on him. Failed. Did you really think the unimpeachable Dr. Chastain would risk his career for some crazy pussy?”

She rolls her eyes. “The better question is, do I think he’s hopelessly attracted to you in a weirdly intense and tragic way? Why, yes, I do.”

I stare at her until my eyes water. Blinking, I rasp, “Thank you for not saying anything. But I don’t want to talk about it. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever. I’m keeping this secret until the grave. If you have any respect for him at all, you will too.”

“Of course I will,” she hisses with affront. “I’d never betray either of you.”

Sensing her sincerity, my expression softens. “Thanks.”

I roll over to stare at the wall of the tent and try my damnedest to think about something other than our last, lingering kiss, and the fact it tasted so bitterly of goodbye.

“Even Romeo and Juliet are together at the end,” whispers Tiffany.

I bite my tongue.

24

THUNDERSTORMS

DAY 19

Tiffany and Kinsey are gone when I finally wake up to a hot, bright tent and the sounds of clanking poles, scuffing shoes, and low voices. Yawning, I sit up and rub my eyes, then unzip the door and peer outside.

What I see doesn’t make any sense. Callum and Declan are breaking down the other two tents, talking and laughing. Frank is crouched by the fire pit raking sand over the embers. I look around for Tiffany, Preston, and Kinsey, and finally spot them walking back from the direction of the hot springs. My embarrassment lasts only a second before memories of last night hijack my mind and body.

Covering my face with my hands, I try to shake the visions away. My legs over his shoulders, his mouth ravenous between them. All his slick, hard heat punching the back of my throat. His finger claiming my ass, heightening our pleasure as he propped me against the rocks and rode me from behind.

How at the end, he helped me get dressed with gentle hands, saying nothing, then gave me a slow, lingering kiss and sent me back to camp.

“You feeling okay?” asks Callum. “Tiffany said we needed to let you sleep because you were up all night. You’re not sick, are you?”

My fingers part, exposing one eye. “Just had trouble sleeping,” I mumble. “Why are we packing up? I thought we were staying two nights.”

Callum’s brows go up. “You must have been really out of it to not hear anything this morning.”

Panic rising, my numb hands drop to my lap. “What are you talking about?”

Callum rakes a hand through his hair. “A jeep came out and picked Dr. C up just after dawn. No idea what happened. Frank doesn’t know either. We’re all worried it’s his family or something. Declan said when he woke up Doc was on the satellite phone.” He sighs heavily. “I don’t think he’s coming back, Mia.”

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