Page 7 of Manhunt in the Narrows
“Good.” She scanned the floodwaters. Dead wood, mud and leaves clustered and broke apart below. The only good to come out of this was knowing the man they were chasing would have to stop his escape to survive these waters, too. If he hadn’t already been caught in them. “Because I’m not sure how long we’re going to have to stay here. At least a couple hours, I’m guessing.”
“Great.” Agent Broyles dragged his pack around to his front. “The inside of my thighs could use the break.”
She couldn’t help but drop her gaze to the topic of this new conversation. Even through the hydro bib, she couldn’t deny the strength and muscle encased in waterproof material. She’d gotten only a glimpse while he’d geared up in the visitors’ center parking lot, and the image of his toned frame hadn’t slipped from her mind since. “What do you mean?”
“About a half a mile back, I tripped. Water got into my gear and soaked a section of my jeans.” Agent Broyles ripped his pack open and started searching for something. “The seam feels like it’s trying to gnaw through my thigh.”
Oh. Okay. A flush heated across her collarbones. Temperatures wouldn’t significantly dip until the sun went completely down. They weren’t at risk for exposure. Yet. But those chances went up every hour they were stuck. They had to make the most of it now. “That’s quite a visual.” Sayles unzipped the top of her backpack and collected the packable first aid kit. “Take off your pants.”
A stillness she didn’t know was possible rippled through him. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I heard you right. Did you just tell me to take off my pants?”
“Yes.” She’d performed first aid on every manner of visitor to the park from extreme sunburns to overhydration and broken bones. Her training focused more on survival rather than medical, but a few bandages weren’t anything she wasn’t willing to donate to a good cause. And the way he’d started slowing the last quarter mile or so told her the seams of his jeans were at fault. “I can’t bandage your thigh while you’re still in your gear, and leaving it to get worse will only slow us down.”
“I think I can manage on my own.” Was that a matching rush of heat in his neck, or had she imagined it?
Honestly, she wasn’t sure why she’d offered to bandage him up in the first place. They weren’t friends. They were barely acquaintances, and as soon as this manhunt was finished, they’d never see each other again. She handed off her first aid kit. He had his own, but hers had been customized based on her experience in the park. Larger bandages, for one. His would most likely include the bare minimum and a few Band-Aids. “All right.”
Agent Broyles stood, his head instantly connecting with a tree branch. He wasn’t able to straighten to his full height. He’d be better off taking off his gear sitting to avoid falling into the river below, but she wasn’t about to offer that tidbit of information unless asked.
“There’s a tree there.” Okay. She was being petty and couldn’t hide the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth while she unpacked a deck of waterproof playing cards. She didn’t know how long they’d be here. Might as well keep themselves entertained.
“I figured that out. Thank you.” He shucked the hydro bib around his ankles. Then went for his jeans. He’d taken thesmarter route in keeping his boots on. The second his socks got soaked, he’d be miserable and risk chance of infection. Hesitation slowed him down. “Could you turn around? I wasn’t planning on putting myself on display for this field trip.”
“No need to be embarrassed about your choice in underwear. We’ve all been there.” Looking up at his lack of answer, she spread the cards in her hand. At a loss of where she was supposed to go. “There’s not really any place for me to go on this rock, but if it makes you feel better, I won’t look. Believe me, I’d rather be anywhere else.”
Sayles angled her head down, but she could just make out his movements in her peripheral vision. First discarding his jeans around his calves, then the shift of muscle higher up. Her heart rate picked up. Breathing becoming shallower. You’d think she was being chased by a bear the way her body heated. If it was possible, she was sure steam would be drifting off her exposed skin at the thought of getting a glimpse of the FBI agent towering over her. Okay. It hadn’t been that long since she’d been with a man. Come on.
“Damn it. I can’t… I can’t get a good look at the damage.” Defeat tainted his voice. “I might need your help.”
“Might?” Subtext turned out to be the killer of happiness, and she’d given up trying to read between the lines the moment she’d left her marriage. Trying to decipher someone else’s meaning, mood and hidden agenda no longer interested her in the least. If Agent Broyles wanted her help, he’d have to ask for it.
“I need your help.” He stood strong, feet shoulder-width apart, half-naked and exposed to the rain. She imagined this was not an everyday occurrence, but she couldn’t deny the view while she had it.
“Sure.” Sayles shoved her playing cards back into the box and rocked forward to her knees. Facing off with the agent’s lower body. And what a lower body it was. Tendons and muscle rippledas he was forced to keep his balance in a perfect display of power and strength. Dark hair jerked in place as rain hit the expanse of tan skin. Her mouth dried despite the humidity clinging to every inch of her body, but she somehow convinced her brain to focus on the task at hand.
His tight boxer briefs provided little protection against the constant rubbing of the seam of his jeans between his legs, and the result had taken a few layers of skin off in the short amount of time they’d been hiking. It was one of the reasons she encouraged visitors to choose stretchy, light, soft pantwear, especially during the hotter months. Jeans trapped heat, came with too many seams and got heavier as they collected sweat.
“How bad is it?” Agent Broyles asked.
“Not the worst I’ve seen, but it’s not great.” It wasn’t just the first few layers of skin that’d been rubbed raw. Blood pooled at the edges, leaving him open to infection if they weren’t careful. His attention pressed into the back of her neck from above as she prodded around the four-inch-by-one-inch wound. She could practically feel his body heat radiating into the side of her face. “Oh, were you talking about the mess you made of your thigh or something else?”
His laugh reverberated straight from his mouth into her core. Not the best distraction when she was supposed to be patching him up. “My thigh.”
Truth be told, from her current viewpoint, she had no complaints about the status of other…body parts. Everything seemed…great. “I’m going to have to clean the wound and debride some of the skin, but we have to find a way to keep the area dry before I can bandage it.”
“Damn,” he said. “I forgot my umbrella.”
Turning to her pack, she extracted the folded solar blanket and ripped through the bag with her teeth. “Hold this over me and try not to move. No matter how much it hurts.”
He unfolded the cellophane, draping it above her head as she’d asked. “Well, you’re just a ball of sunshine, aren’t you?”
“Not everyone can hike with a wound like this.” No. That was not admiration that he’d kept his mouth shut when he’d obviously been in a lot of pain. Injuries turned deadly faster out here than in the real world. But the fact that he’d managed to get as far as they had without slowing them down said something about his character. “You made a stupid decision not to tell me about it sooner. We might not be in this position now.”
The solar blanket crinkled above her as he shifted his weight between both feet. “Just add it to the list of stupid decisions I’ve made lately.”
She wasn’t sure he’d meant to say that out loud. Sayles managed to get the wound and the surrounding skin dry despite the overbearing storm above. After snapping her hands into latex gloves, she extracted a small pair of scissors from her first aid kit and tweezers to debride the curled and folded skin around the affected site. There wasn’t much she could do out here in the middle of nowhere, but it was better than letting it fester. “What other stupid decisions have you made recently? Apart from dragging a ranger with no experience into your federal investigation.”
She’d meant it as a joke, but he answered anyway.
