Page 28 of Hearts Colliding
“Use your other leg as a lever,” Ryan said between breaths.
Alex pushed as Ryan pulled, two, three, four times, five — and he was free of the thick and sticky mud that had been dragging him down. Stumbling and staggering, shaking in relief, he was stopped from collapsing onto the path by the same strong arms that had freed him, arms that coiled around his back to hold him steady.
“Thank you,” Alex whispered. His voice shook, his body shook, and Ryan’s arms around him tightened, holding him close. Closing his eyes, Alex sagged into Ryan.
“You shouldn’t have come after me,” Ryan whispered, his breath warm against Alex’s ear, as he tightened his hold. “I told you, I know every step of these hills.”
“I couldn’t have lived with myself if something had happened to you out here.”
“So running after me was all about you?”
Alex half laughed, half huffed. “Of course it was all about me, because it always is. Seriously, though, what if you’d fallen and needed help?”
“Help? From you? You're the one who dropped his phone and ended up getting sucked into a bog.Ihad to rescueyou. Again.”
Alex smiled. He was soaked through, and covered in mud, but he couldn’t stop smiling.
The rain poured and poured down on them but the storm was moving off, the roll of thunder more distant. It was safe for him to make his way back to the house, and for Ryan to follow the path back to the village. It was time to go.
“Come back to the house, Ryan. Please.” His voice, whispered against Ryan’s broad chest, was so low, so quiet, hardly his voice at all.
“Christ, Alex…” Ryan ground the words out, but he didn’t drop his arms, didn’t step away, didn’t turn towards the village. “All right, okay, I’ll come back with you, but I’m only doing it because you were stupid enough to come after me, and stupid enough to wander off the path. So, because you’re stupid, how can I trust you not to be stupid again? If I don’t come with you, how will I know you got back in one piece?”
Alex looked up. A break in the clouds let through a sliver of moonlight, illuminating Ryan’s face. His hood had fallen back, and his hair was plastered to his head, dripping rain down his face. His words had been stark and short tempered, but a faint and barely there smile hovered on his lips.
Ryan muttered something under his breath and shook his head. “Come on. I’m freezing my arse off out here, so let’s go.”
Alex nodded and took no more than a couple of steps but his legs, still unsteady, began to buckle. Ryan grabbed hold of him and stopped him from falling.
“Climb up onto my back,” Ryan said.
“What? No, I just need to take my time. I’ve had a shock, don’t forget.”
“Do it, or I’ll leave you here. I mean it.”
Alex didn’t doubt it at all, and he was too damn exhausted to argue as Ryan crouched to allow him to jump up. Seconds later, Ryan strode along the path, confident and surefooted, as Alex held on tight.
“This is stupid. I can walk, you know?”
Ryan snorted. “If you say so. But the way you were stumbling along we’d have been out here for hours. I’ve lifted beer kegs heavier than you, so just accept it, all right?”
CHAPTERSIXTEEN
Back in the room Ryan had left not much more than an hour previously, everything was the same but different. For a second time, he’d stood under a torrent of hot water and exchanged his soaking jeans for a too small pair of tracksuit bottoms. Just as before, they hunkered down into their own corners of the sofa cradling not coffee, this time, but balloon glasses of brandy, ten, twenty, thirty times better than anything they stocked in the pub. One thing that had changed was the fire, dancing in the wood burner. Summer it might have been, but the storm had brought a chill to the air. Other than the crackle of flames, the room was silent.
“Things come in threes, or so they say.” Ryan swirled his glass and stared down into the deep amber liquid.
“Sorry?”
Ryan looked up at Alex, who was frowning in confusion.
“I’ve rescued you twice. I’m wondering if there’ll be a third time.” He met and held Alex’s eyes, the blue more spring day than Arctic ice. Alex smiled, but it was tinged with sadness and resignation, and something deep in Ryan’s chest clenched hard.
“I doubt it. I stopped needing to be rescued years ago. Or so I thought. But I think twice is enough. And thank you. I—I was really scared out there.” A light flush warmed Alex’s pale skin at the unexpected confession. “Top up?” Alex held the brandy bottle aloft.
“Thanks.” Ryan sighed as he took a sip. The brandy warmed his blood and melted his bones. “I looked up your website. Veranne.”
Alex snorted. “Yes, I’m sure you did.”
