Page 30 of These Reckless Hearts

His next step crunches the gravel, and I grimace, wrapping my fingers around the small knife I keep in my pocket. The rattling heightens, and the creature lifts its head, forked tongue slithering out of its mouth. Its top coil rises into the air, beady reptilian eyes glued on Ninja who’s not far enough away yet.

“What’s going—” Ninja starts, but the snake makes its attack, darting through the air. I whip my knife out and throw it. The blade slices through air, coming to a stop near the snake’s head. The limp reptile falls to the rocky ground in a heap.

Stone’s mouth drops. He stares at me in wonder and then at the snake. “What the fuck?”

“What is it?” Ninja demands. I can see his knees quaking from here.

“Jesus Christ.” Stone runs his hands through his hair as he strides toward the snake for a closer look. Sure enough, I got him.

“Can I fucking move or not?” Ninja bellows.

“Move,” I tell him.

Ninja hightails it out of there, whipping around with his gun aimed at the floor where Stone is. “Whoa, whoa,” Stone calls out, lifting his hands into the air.

Ninja’s eyes round. “What the fuck happened to it?”

“Dakota got him.”

Stone drives the blade through the body, completely severing the head. Ninja looks from the dead snake to me and lowers his weapon. “You did that? Jesus, why didn’t you just do that in the first place then?”

I walk over to Stone and get my knife back. “I don’t like killing them if I don’t have to,” I explain. Then, I grab a sweat rag from my pocket and pick up the snake’s body. It was a big boy, that’s for sure. I grin. “I’m about to show Wyatt how to cook a rattlesnake without killing us.”

“I am not fucking eating that,” Ninja protests, still a little red-faced.

“Why not?” I tease. “It was going to eat you.”

14

As promised, I show Wyatt how to skin and cut up the snake, so we can put it over the fire. Rattlesnake is a delicacy if you know how to do it right, and I’m lucky to have had a fa—well, a person in my life who knew these mountains in and out and taught me how to do it.

Ninja appears pleased with himself under the shadows of the flames. He lies back, then immediately sits up to stay where the light from the fire still hits. Big, scary guard fears the desert predators now. “If any of you tell Cole I almost shit my pants...” he warns.

Wyatt laughs. Dave nearly chokes on the snake meat in his mouth. “First thing when we get back, I’m telling.”

“No can do,” I tell him. “What happens in the Superstitions, stays in the Superstitions.”

Dave narrows his eyes. “Did you just steal Vegas’ motto?”

“Vegas stole it from us,” I inform him.

Stone curls his hand around my body. He’s been beaming ever since we called Wyatt, Lucas, and Dave back to make camp. He can’t keep his hands off me. Wyatt nearly tripped over himself when he saw the snake in my hands. He was an excellent student as I taught him how to filet our meal, which is good because one wrong move, and we could poison ourselves. “That was fucking epic,” Stone gloats. “I can’t believe you killed the snake with your knife.”

“Fuck you,” Wyatt grouses. “I really wish I’d been there.”

Lucas chuckles, his eyes gleaming orange under the glow of the fire.

These are the times I miss in the mountains. The camaraderie, the thrill of the hunt, the search. I’ve been so focused on one thing that I lost sight of the fact that being up here can be a hell of a lot of fun.

Stone leans into me, gaze trailing over the two burly bodyguards. “How are we going to ditch these guys tonight, hmm?”

My face flames, and embers ignite in my core. Who knew killing a rattlesnake would get Stone all hot and bothered? “Are you asking if we should sneak away from our private security detail tonight?”

He bites my earlobe, tugging on it playfully. “I sure as fuck am.”

I hadn’t thought about this problem. With Dave and Ninja here, how are we going to get any sexy times in? I doubt Cole wants to get a report with our sex schedule added in.From 1–4, they metal detected. From 4–6, they fucked like rabbits.

The satellite phone Cole made us bring is eerily quiet. He told us if he heard something, he’d keep us updated. It’s possible Lance’s team isn’t attempting to get us up here this time. Now that Stone’s up here with us, Lance’s plan might have morphed. He might not try anything with his son in the line of fire.

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