Page 41 of Hard Knock Hero

He had to know I was kidding, but he looked sad when he replied. “I don’t think I have that in me.”

The funny thing was, it didn’t disappoint me to hear it. He was being honest with me. He had been honest since the moment we’d met, and that was what made me want him. Not just his muscles or his rugged features or the fierce way he’d defended me, though those aspects of him were incredibly sexy too.

I had been alone for over two years. And alone in reality for longer than that, even when Jeremy had been buttering me up and pretending to be my Prince Charming. I wanted to be touched and kissed the way that IknewAiden would touch and kiss me. The way he already had. Like he cherished me. I wanted to feel passion, even if it was only for a few days.

Dreams were like that, weren’t they? You always woke up. But you could still enjoy it for as long as the dream lasted.

“I just want what you have to give,” I said. “If you can be satisfied with what I’m able to giveyou.”

Aiden’s tongue traced his lower lip as he made a low, growly sound in his chest. He dropped his forehead to mine. “You have no idea what you do to me. Just touching your hand would be enough for me, and I can’t even explain it. I know I tried to take more when I kissed you, but—”

“I did want you to kiss me. You were right about that. I still do.”

His eyes flashed. “Are you asking me to?”

There was a low, percussive boom. The ground beneath our feet trembled slightly, and snow cascaded from tree branches. I gasped and grabbed Aiden’s arm.

“Whatwasthat?” I breathed.

“I didn’t think you had earthquakes in Colorado.”

“Wedon’t. That came from somewhere uphill.”

He cursed. “An avalanche?”

That had been my first thought, too. I scanned the parts of the mountain I could see. No telltale puffs of white that would signal an impending tsunami of snow. Refuge Mountain didn’t have the kinds of sheer slopes that were prone to avalanches. It was a baby mountain compared to the huge fourteeners in the distance.

Then voices carried to us. People were shouting.

“Someone could be hurt,” I said.

“Can you call emergency services? My phone has no bars.”

“Nobody gets reception on Refuge Mountain. It’s a dead spot.”

“Then we should go see if we can help.”

I nodded. “We have to.” I rushed to my snowshoes and strapped them on. Aiden did the same. They weren’t easy to move fast in, but it would be quicker than wading through deep snow.

I found the trail and started uphill toward the ridge. The sound had come from somewhere up here. Or maybe the other side, the national forest land.

“I’ve heard there are caves around here, but I don’t know where any entrances are. Scarlett said the townspeople hid the children in one when those bandits attacked during the First World War.”

“Could a cave have collapsed?”

“I guess it’s possible. If someone was inside at the time…” I worried about those tourists who’d been stuck in Hartley for two days now, probably getting desperate for something to do. Had they gone wandering in the wrong place?

“Maybe I should go ahead myself,” Aiden said. “You should return to town and tell Owen. Notify mountain rescue.”

“But you don’t know the trail.” I’d walked this path hundreds of times in all seasons. I knew every tree and landmark along the way, and the snow could be deeper than it looked. There were ravines. Slopes where you could slip and twist an ankle or worse.

“Then lead the way,” he said.

We followed the trail around the side of the mountain. There was a split in the path here, one fork leading uphill to the summit, and the other down along the far side of the mountain, opposite from the way we’d come up.

Someone had been through here. The snow was tamped down. And there were fresh ATV tracks on the lower trail. “They must be on the national forest side,” I said. “This is all federal land over here. But parts of that trail have been closed for at least a year. There was a flood. It washed out some of the path.”

“I don’t see any barriers.”

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