Unlikely Allies

"They're like glow sticks you might get at Halloween, but these are battery activated and will glow for several days."

"That's cool," I said.

"They'll help a search party find us if it's dark outside," Mason explained.

"That's good, right?"I asked.

"Yeah, that's good," he reassured me. "I think we should try to mark where we are since we're hidden from view in here. Are you up to going back out in the rain?"

"Of course," I said, ignoring my protesting muscles. "What do I need to do?"

"I think we should use my raincoat as a sort of beacon. It's pretty much tore up from my graceful tumble down the mountain anyway. I figure if you climb up onto the rock we're under, you can anchor it there by using heavy rocks. We'll use one of the glow sticks at night as a beacon, although I doubt Rick will send out a search party at night, especially with all this rain."

"Do you think they'll find us?" I asked, fiddling with the zipper on my jacket.

"I know they will. No one knows these mountains better than Rick. Not even me. The only problem is, they may not know we're lost or hurt yet," he said as he struggled to take off his raincoat.

"How can that be?" I asked as I reached over to help him. Several pain-filled curse words later, we finally wrestled him out of his bright yellow coat. He panted in pain from the exertion and I felt sick for causing him so much pain. Without consciously thinking about it, I leaned over to lay my head lightly on his chest to offer some kind of comfort. The moment my head rested on the rock hard planes of his chest, I second-guessed my movement. I didn't want to start something up again. His hands snaked up and tangled themselves in my hair holding me in place.

"Not yet," he said gruffly.

I smiled slightly and pressed my head back down. Though his chest was hard and lacking any kind of padding, it felt insanely comforting. Maybe it was the steady heartbeat beneath my ear or the way my head seemed to fit the contour of his muscles. I closed my eyes with pleasure as his hands massaged their way over my scalp kneading away the tension that had gripped me since the night before. My breathing quickened as he continued to move his hands over my head and down my neck.

I moaned with pleasure at the feelings he was evoking in me. I felt him chuckle softly beneath me and I pulled back, embarrassed at my wanton behavior. I knew I had been had. He had turned the tables on me. Without looking at him, I snatched up one of the glow sticks and his raincoat and scurried out of our cave. I could hear him chuckling behind me, but I ignored him as I pulled on my raincoat. Heat flooded my cheeks. I didn't like not having the upper hand and it wasn't until I was standing in the rain that I realized I had left my shoes and socks inside.

"Oh well, at least you didn't have to shove your feet in them," I muttered to myself as walked up the incline. Small rocks and sticks dug into my tender feet. Ignoring the pain, I dragged several large stones up to the roof of our shelter. I laid the raincoat across the large flat rock and anchored it into place with the large stones. While I worked, I thought of the sparks that had flared up between Mason and me. Mixed emotions continued to twist and turn through me as I tried to remember that making out with him wasn't the best idea under our current circumstances.

I stayed out longer than necessary, waiting until the sun had fully set behind the thick clouds before I headed back inside. The inside of the shelter was pitch black, so I paused to flip on the flashlight I had stuck in my pocket. I swept the beam across the interior of the space and sighed in relief when I saw that Mason was once again zonked out. Shrugging off my dripping raincoat, I placed it down on the ground with the dry side up to have something to lie on. My eyelids drooped with exhaustion and I turned on my side with my back facing Mason.

I woke the next morning to rain pounding on the roof of our shelter once again. I was dismayed to find that although I was curled up in the same position I had fallen asleep in, I had obviously scooted as close as I could get to Mason while I was sleeping since my butt was snuggled up to his side and my head rested on his arm.

I started to pull away, but his arm held me snugly into place. "You're not darting away this time," he said, blowing gently on my hair.

"But I'm invading your space and you can't be very comfortable with my head crushing your arm," I said, trying to move away again.

"Why do you keep doing that?"

"What?" I asked confused.

"Um, I don't know, pulling away," he said with just a trace of sarcasm.

"Because, you're hurt among other things…" I said, letting my voice trail off.

"What other things?"

I sighed. "Like the fact that we're stranded in the middle of nowhere and no one knows where we are, which reminds me, you never answered my question yesterday. How could they not know we're missing?" I asked.

"They may be under the assumption we're holed up somewhere waiting the rain out. Rick trusts me enough to keep you safe until this cold front passes," he said, sounding bitter.

"You're doing the best you can."

"Right, because I'm some hero by letting us fall off the side of the mountain."

"That wasn't your fault. I thought we were going to die," I admitted, recalling my terror from the fall.

"So did I, to tell you the truth," he confessed. "Do you know what I was thinking as I careened down the mountain, crashing into everything imaginable?"

I shook my head against his arm.

"All I could think was that I was never going to experience the love my parents shared before they died and that scared me. I've spent weeks pushing you away, fighting the attraction I felt, convincing myself that you would only cause a kink in my life.

"Did you say 'attraction'?" I asked glibly.

He chuckled before asking his own question. "Are you trying to tell me it's one-sided?"

I merely shook my head, unsure of how I exactly wanted to answer that question. Our relationship was unlike any I had ever experienced. I was used to the typical four-step dating ritual—meet, flirt, date and then declare any feelings. Mason and I had blurred the steps and I was scrambling to readjust.

"Kimberly," he said, breaking into my contemplation.

Tucking my embarrassment away, I flipped over to face him. "No, you're not alone in the whole attraction thing," I said, ducking my head slightly.

He reached over with his free hand and lifted my chin. "I'm not used to this shy you. Where did the sassy girl go?" he teased.

I smiled at him "That sassy girl never existed before I met you," I admitted.

"Aww, so I bring out the rebel in you," he said, tugging me back down in his arms.

I snuggled in. I was done with overanalyzing the situation. "It's raining hard again," I said, voicing my concern over the never-ending rain.

"Yeah," he said in a strained voice.

"Is that bad?" I asked, tilting my head back to look at him.

"It just means we may be stuck here a little longer than I anticipated. Can you think of anything we can do to fill the time?" he asked suggestively.

I snorted unladylike. "Sure, I'm sure you are on top of your game with that leg," I teased.

"You doubt me?" he teased back, tightening his arm around me.

"Um, hell yeah," I said, laughing. "How long will we be here?" I asked, returning back to the matter at hand.