Page 35 of Thunder Pass

She skipped from rock to rock, occasionally landing on mud instead, the thick goop sucking at the soles of her boots. It smelled like muck and mysterious fishy bits, until she got to where the ocean was sending wet, silvery fingers across the mud. There, the cool air carried the scent of salt and wild new horizons.

Gunnar hovered over her like Maisie with her chicks, ready to come to her rescue if she sank too deep into the mud. “The tide comes in fast,” he warned her. “People get stranded out here all the time. They have to send a helicopter to pull them out.”

“Gunnar, please relax. I just want to taste the ocean. Is that so strange?”

“Not going to answer that. Just be quick. Look how fast that water’s coming in.”

She lost herself in the ever-changing ripples and waves that crisscrossed the mud, until one wavelet came right up to her toes. Crouching down, she scooped up a handful of water and brought it to her lips. Using just the tip of her tongue, she took a careful taste. “So salty!” she exclaimed, looking up at Gunnar, who was watching her with a strange expression.

Another wave pushed toward her, and she put her hand down to catch herself before she slipped into the mud. The next thing she knew, Gunnar had her back on her feet, clutched tight to his side. “You all right?”

“Oh my gosh, you saved me! I nearly drowned in two inches of water!” She laughed up at him, teasing, until his watchful expression eased.

“The ocean’s unpredictable. It’s not like the mountains, they don’t change position every minute. Watch out!!”

He grabbed her again as another wave caught up with her, splashing the backs of her legs. “Okay, maybe it’s time to get to shore,” she admitted.

They couldn’t exactly run, not with slippery rocks and the mud clinging to their boots. With the water chasing them, and the exhilaration of the ocean smell coursing through their blood, they picked their way across the mudflats, laughing and holding hands.

When they reached the safety of solid ground, they collapsed onto the first large rock they came to and sat for a moment to catch their breath. Gunnar was still holding her hand; she hoped he didn’t realize it and pull away. She snuggled against him to soak in his body heat.

“Cold?” He put both arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. “That ocean air gets right under your clothes, doesn’t it?”

She couldn’t answer. The feeling of being enveloped by him, nestled into his arms, his strong thighs under hers, was simply overwhelming. A liquid kind of heat ignited in her lower belly. There was something she wanted, something it was urging her to do. She melted against him and let the feeling sweep through her. Then she turned her head and kissed the closest part of him, which was his neck.

Just like with the ocean, she wanted to taste the skin over his tendon, and the little dip before his bony Adam’s apple. She let her tongue explore, and he let her do as she wished…until he turned his head and met her lips with his.

This kiss felt completely different from the last one they’d shared—it felt all-encompassing, like the ocean reaching toward them across the mudflats. She fell into it as if she were sliding off the rocks into endless liquid pleasure. She swam in it, immersed herself in it, as if learning how to move in this new world. Her tongue met his, touched, explored, as showers of tingling sensation spangled across the tender insides of her mouth.

When they finally drew away from each other, it felt as if they’d stepped across a line into some new territory. There would be no going back, and she didn’t want to go back.

“Come on,” he said gruffly as he set her on her feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

Hand in hand, they walked the rest of the way to the embankment, then climbed over rocks to get back on the trail.

After a short walk, they reached a sparkling lagoon where unfamiliar shorebirds wheeled and called to each other. Someone on a bicycle rode past, then came a woman jogging along with two dogs on leashes. Two teenagers in hoodies and shorts walked past them, whispering secrets and snorting with laughter.

Everyone looked rimmed with glowing light to Ruth—why had she never before realized how beautiful human beings were?

Maybe because she’d never observed them while holding Gunnar’s hand.

She squeezed it lightly, thinking about everything she knew about him. He’d lost his mother so young, and then his father had left when he was a teenager. But instead of becoming angry and bitter, he’d stayed in Firelight Ridge and become a key part of the community. There wasn’t a person in town who hadn’t been helped in some way by Gunnar—if not mechanically speaking, then with his labor. He was such a strong guy, always the first to be called on to help chainsaw a tree that had fallen over the road, or to help set a beam or get a truck out of a ditch.

He rarely asked for anything in return; in fact, he often sold auto parts at cost, making no profit himself. He was so generous with his time and his resources, and right now, all he wanted was to know more about his missing father.

He deserved that. She sighed and finally brought up the topic of their prison adventure.

“I’m sorry Naomi wasn’t more helpful about your father.”

“Actually, she wasn’t not helpful. That part about last seeing him right before he disappeared, and him maybe talking to Luke first? That was interesting.”

“Do you think Luke was involved in his disappearance?” A shorebird swooped past them and skimmed across the surface of the lagoon, probably looking for fish to pluck from the water.

“I thought that was what she was implying, without coming out and saying it. Want to know another weird thing?”

“What’s that?”

“Have you ever heard about Thunder Pass being a good place for hunting?”

---