Page 7 of Mountain Rescue
“I’m not most men. You ready to go?”
“You don’t have to come. I’m perfectly capable of going to the grocery store by myself.”
“I’m sure you are, but it’s actually better if I do. We’ll look like a couple. Your Robert won’t be looking for a couple.”
She sighed as if hating he was right. “Fine. I passed one on the main highway on the way in yesterday.”
“I’m driving.”
“You’re such a man.”
“Glad you noticed.” He thought she muttered, “How could I not?” He chuckled as he followed her to the Jeep. She was good medicine. Not once when he was with her did he have to drag his mind out of dark places.
“This is the same Jeep that Jack gave me to use when I was here for their wedding.” She opened the glove box. “Aha!” She pulled out a package of Starburst candy. “My weakness. Want one?”
“Sure.” He hadn’t had one of these since he was a kid. She unwrapped one, then handed it to him.
“If you’re such good friends with Jack, why weren’t you at their wedding?” she said after popping one into her mouth.
Because he’d been a guest of Hotel Hell, but he wasn’t going there with her. “Unfortunately, our team was deployed at the time, so none of us were able to make it. We all put money in a pot for Jack’s bachelor party with orders to Noah to get him drunk. You met Noah there?”
“He was the best man. Nice guy. Nichole told me that he’s living here now with Peyton. Have you met her?”
“No, but I guess I will while I’m here.” He lowered his arm to the console and rested his hand on the shift knob.
Rachel grabbed his wrist. “Is that a paracord bracelet?”
“You know what a paracord is?” Most people didn’t. It was the first thing he’d bought when he’d returned home, and he’d never be without it now.
“It’s a survival bracelet. You can do all kinds of things with it, like make a fire, catch fish, cut through zip ties, make a weapon, and I don’t remember what else. Plus, it makes a cool bracelet. I want one.”
“When we get married, we can exchange paracord bracelets instead of rings.” He didn’t know why he kept on with the marriage jokes. Although he’d only known her for a day, it was long enough to know that if he’d met her before he’d been tortured to within an inch of his life, he’d be pursuing the hell out of her.
Chapter Three
Rachel shook her finger at him. “When we get married, you better be giving me a paracord bracelet with a big, fat diamond on it.”
“Whatever my bride wants. A happy wife, a happy life, right?” He winked at her.
“Damn straight.” She wished she’d met Dallas at any other time in her life, not when she was hiding from a man who meant to kill her. She didn’t have the time or energy for a romance, no matter how much she’d like to explore that amazing body.
It was surprising how safe and comfortable she was with him even though she didn’t really know him. She clicked off a mental list of what she did know. He was a friend of Jack’s, so that was an excellent recommendation. He was or had been a SEAL. She still didn’t know which, but from what she knew of SEALs—which really wasn’t much—she had the impression they were honorable.
Then there was the cowboy side of him, and she really, really liked that side. Talk about fascinating...she was already fantasizing about the SEAL cowboy who’d invaded her life. If she ever saw him mounted on a horse—she pictured a big black stallion—cowboy hat on his head, she was one hundred percent sure she’d make a fool of herself.
There was that sexy smirk when he was goading her, and she knew he did it on purpose to rile her. Annoying man. Another thing on the list, he was protective. He might tease her about purple panties and oversized breasts, but she knew down to her toes that he wouldn’t take what wasn’t offered. He would protect her from himself and anyone else who threatened her.
Did she want to offer? That was the question, wasn’t it? If ever in her life she needed a distraction, this was it. At the same time, the last thing she needed was to be distracted.
“You’re thinking hot and heavy over there.”
Ha! If he only knew the things she’d like to do to him, that she’d love for him to do to her. What she’d really like was to know everything about him, like how did he get that recent scar on his face. “What’s your story, cowboy?”
And, just like that, he shut down. She’d never seen anyone blank their face so fast and so perfectly. That could only mean he had a story, but what was it to make him put up a sky-high wall in the blink of an eye?
The one thing he didn’t know about her that she rarely shared because it tended to freak people out was that she was an empath. She’d learned early in her life that people equated being an empath with some kind of magic, and that was far from the truth. All it meant was that she sensed, even sometimes felt, others’ emotions.
Whether happy, excited, sad, scared...she picked up on their feelings. That was all, though. Some people thought she could read minds, and that was far from the truth. Her grandmother was an empath, so Rachel assumed she’d inherited it from the woman who’d raised her. She hadn’t thought about it since meeting Dallas, but now it hit her. She couldn’t feel his emotions. Like any other person, she could read his emotions by his facial expressions, but she couldn’t feel them. What did that mean?
