Page 34 of Fourth Point Of Contact

He smirked at me, wiggling his fingers. “You looked so damn cute on your own.”

“I’m sure I did.”

Out of sheer defiance, I got to my feet all on my own and even avoided slipping again. But this time, the steep climb up the mountain looked even worse than before. Of course, that was probably because I could see the slide I’d made out of my body against the ground.

“Come on. I’ll hold your hand on the way up.”

“How gentlemanly of you,” I grumbled, slipping my hand in his.

His eyebrow quirked at me. “Are you really holding onto that shoe the whole way?”

“It’s a special shoe.”

“Right, but there’s only one. Is that really going to help you?”

“They’re not mine,” I admitted. “My friend lent me her favorite shoes and now I’ve lost one. I’m not sure what I’m going to tell her if I ever see her again.”

Scoffing, he shook his head at me. “The problems of women…”

This time, walking up the mountainside was much harder, mostly because my feet kept squishing in the mud, nearly sending me on my ass again. “What? You don’t understand loyalty to a friend?”

“To a friend? Yes. To a shoe? Absolutely not. We’re on the side of the mountain. There is absolutely nothing that shoe can do for you other than hinder you.”

His words had truth to them, but honestly, I was more concerned with the way his arm muscles flexed as he dragged me up the mountain than the words coming out of his mouth. It was nearly impossible to think about anything other than what his arms would look like if he was holding me up against the wall and taking me hard.

I was so lost in thought that I stumbled against his back when he came to a sudden stop. Breathing hard—completely because of the hike—I looked around his shoulder, wondering what the hell made him stop like that.

“What—” I didn’t see anything, but he was tense as he looked around the wide-open space.

“They’re not here,” he muttered. “I thought they landed here. I must have been off.”

“Well, we were falling from the sky,” I reasoned.

“And you were distracting me with all those secrets,” he murmured.

I opened my mouth to ask what he was talking about when it all came rushing back to me. “Oh God!” I pressed my hands to my face in mortification, narrowly avoiding poking my eye out with the heel. “I didn’t?—”

“You did,” he chuckled. “I particularly liked the one about how your fiancé couldn’t get you off while fingering you.”

My head snapped up to meet his gaze. I didn’t imagine the smolder in his voice. His eyes matched with the same intensity. Those blue eyes scanned my face before dropping lower, brushing over my heaving breasts before scanning my legs.

Not once in my life had anyone made me feel so utterly naked with only a single look. And as Patrick’s gaze lingered for just a moment on my breasts, I wondered why I’d never felt like thiswith James. That had to be a warning signal that something was seriously wrong with our relationship. Yet, I hadn’t noticed a thing at the time.

I ducked my head as I remembered how he had her laid out on the table and was fucking her hard. Sex hadn’t been bad between us, but it definitely hadn’t been filled with that much passion.

“Fuck, I’m such an idiot.”

“About what?” he asked, walking forward into the clearing.

“My fiancé. My life.” I sighed and trudged along after him, wishing there was a shower under a tree where I could wash away all the muck.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’m sure your secrets aren’t the worst.”

“No? Please tell me you have something that tops mine. I’d love to know I’m not alone.”

He shot me a silly grin, something I was getting used to seeing from him in the short time I’d known him. Maybe he was a jokester by nature. Nothing seemed to really faze him. Well, aside from flying the plane. He’d thrown up when he’d done that.

“Okay. Let’s see, I used to wear skinny jeans.”

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