Page 6 of Saved By the Lumberjack
Heat blooms through me, not just circulation returning to my extremities or the heat from Jake's strong body chasing away the threat of hypothermia from two nights pressed againstgranite with nothing but a thin fleece hoodie to keep up my body temperature.
This is a new feeling, something that doesn't make sense under the circumstances. A completely inappropriate reaction to a man who might be my savior, but is still a stranger.
The radio on his belt crackles. A man asking for an ETA on our arrival.
Muscles that I've been getting used to the feel of flinch and flex around me. Under my ear, the sound of air filling Jake's lungs drowns out the comforting beat of his heart.
I swear I feel his lips press a kiss to the top of my head before his arms reluctantly unwind from me.
"We better get moving." Jake steps away from me, taking all my security with him and I swear I almost start crying again at the loss of him.
"You okay to hike out?" A crease between his brows makes him look older than he did when I first saw him in the bakery.
He looks at me with so much concern, I think he'd carry me out on his back if I said I couldn't walk.
"Yeah. I can hike," I promise him, even though my voice comes out shaky and small.
Jake
"We're heading your way, Ash. She's good, just scratched up and scared. I got her."
Ash's radio connects but before he responds, I hear one of the guys in the background comment that it sounds like I'm planning to keep her too.
Ash laughs and agrees with the other guy before acknowledging the timeframe I gave him.
The rescue crew waiting for us down at the base camp isn't wrong; I do plan on keeping Ivy, and from the way she can't seem to let go of me? I'd say there's a good chance she's going to be okay with that.
"Do you need anything from your camp? Glen and another guy are still up here, they'll pack everything up and bring it back down to you. If you don't need anything, we can head straight back to first aid."
Ivy's had a grip on either my hand or my arm the whole time we've been hiking. When I ask if she needs to stop for anything, she turns to look into the woods toward where she left her camp set up. Fear clouds her face and I wonder what happened that made her hide in those rocks-- and why she didn't answer any of the other guys who've been out looking for her. She wasn't far from her camp, she had to have heard the search team calling for her before I got here.
"No, I have what I need in my day pack," she tells me. She takes hold of my arm again, like she needs to feel safe and touching me does that for her.
"Let's get off this mountain then."
Pulling the radio off my belt again, I call in to the guys who were set up close by. I let them know Ivy and I are headed straight down to the base camp at the hot springs and work out plans to have them bring her camp stuff down.
While I talk, I pull free of Ivy's grasp, but only to drape my arm over her shoulder. The way she moves into the space beside me, fitting so perfectly against me and falling into step with me feels good.
"What happened out there?" I look back at the dense forest as we break out of the tree line onto to main trail. I'm dying ofcuriosity, wanting to know not just what scared her but why she didn't answer anyone looking for her.
"I went for a short hike to take some photos of the area before I packed up camp and headed back into town but..."
The trail is narrow here, running along a steep cliff on one side. It forces me to let go of Ivy so we can walk single file. Ivy won't let go of my hand though. I keep her in front of me, letting her hold my hand behind her back as we make our way down the hill.
I can't help but notice the nervous glances she takes toward the woods bordering the left side of the trail.
"Your camp looked like animals had gotten to it." I coax gently for more story. "Something with pretty big claws, they're thinking it was a bear?"
The back of Ivy's head turns side to side in front of me. The pretty blonde curls are no longer contained in the pigtails on either side of her head. She looks like she took a roll in the mud, and wasn't careful about the route she took when she left the trail; she's not just dirty, she's scratched up too.
"I mean, it wasn't a bear. I heard voices. That's why I didn't go back to camp."
By the time we get down off the trail and make the short drive up to the hot springs where the local volunteer rescue and recovery team has damn near every member waiting for us, I think I've managed to piece together just enough of Ivy's story to have me confused-- and pissed off.
"All these people were looking for me?"
Ivy's eyes go wide when she sees the people gathered around the resort's main office.
