The Simple Wild (Wild 1)

“That’s pretty normal for up here. It’s crazy if you don’t know what you’re doing. Hopefully these two did. They’re a husband and wife from Arizona. I think they said it was their fifteenth anniversary, or something.”

Pooping in a hole for eight days. “How romantic,” I mutter wryly.

“Some people think so. Out here, in the middle of nowhere, you can do pretty much whatever you want,” he counters, and I get the distinct impression that he’s speaking from experience.

“Yeah, it’s just them, a million mosquitoes, and the giant grizzlies roaming around their tent at night.”

He chuckles. “They don’t usually bug you unless you do something stupid. But that’s why I bring a gun when I camp.”

“And what, load it and tuck it under your pillow?” I shake my head. “Hell, no . . . You couldn’t pay me to sleep out here and I don’t care how experienced the person I’m with is.”

“No?” A pause. “Even if you were with me?” He throws that out there so casually, and yet his words weigh heavily with meaning.

I swallow against the sudden flutter in my gut, unprepared for this quick turn of conversation, even though I’ve been rubbing my sweaty palms against my thighs in anticipation of it ever since we pushed through the doors of Wild. Jonah’s been all business since takeoff, though, his fists gripping the yoke tightly to keep the plane steady against crosswinds that I was sure would sweep us off the runway.

He’s been on the radio with other pilots almost constantly, heeding their warnings and navigating around patches of fog and heavier rain. Based on some of their reports, it doesn’t sound like this weather system is in any rush to leave this side of the state.

Flying with Jonah today has been nothing short of tense, and an entirely different experience than the last time. I can’t tell if it’s because it feels riskier with the unstable conditions outside . . . or if it has more to do with the conditions brewing inside this cramped fuselage.

Even though I know it was a mistake, I can’t stop thinking about that kiss. The rain, the turbulence . . . all competing with thoughts of Jonah’s mouth on mine, and the way he was breathing when he pulled away.

And now we’re in this misty valley and he’s talking about us having sex. I mean, he didn’t say that exactly, but that’s what I heard, and I’m suddenly picturing the two of us stretched out naked on an air mattress with the door to our orange dome tent wide open to this great wilderness.

And it does sound insanely romantic.

“That might be okay.” My eyes are locked on the river. I sound almost shy. When have I ever been shy with a guy who’s so obviously flirting with me? Who I’m pretty sure has been flirting with me the last couple of days and I completely missed it. Who is making my nerve endings tingle and parts of me ache to be touched. Is he as turned on as I am?

Have his legs fallen apart that wide because he’s got a—

“Might be?”

I push the illicit thought away with a throat-clear. “Yeah. You’re a much bigger target for a bear, and I’m pretty sure I can run faster than you.”

The deep chuckle that carries through the headset sends shivers down my spine and makes me smile dumbly. I’m becoming addicted to making him laugh.

Unfortunately, the playful conversation dies down as the drizzle grows harder and the wind begins to pick up. Jonah grips the yoke more tightly, his furrowed gaze on darker clouds ahead.

“Those don’t look good.”

“No. They don’t,” he agrees. “That’s the thing about up here. The weather can turn on a dime. But we’re not far off our checkpoint. We’ll make it there.”

“Okay.” I realize that I trust him completely. It seems like a stupid time to ask, but, trust or not, I need a distraction from the constant jolting. “So . . . Marie. What’s going on there?”

“What do you mean?”

I turn to watch his profile for clues. Maybe Dolores is right and he’s too pretty now, because those full lips of his don’t belong on a man like him. Neither do those lashes, which might be as long as my fake ones. “You know exactly what I mean.”

Blue eyes flicker my way for a split second before returning to the sky. “Why do you want to know?”

“Just curious.” I echo his words from earlier, when he asked about Corey.

He smirks. “Marie and I are friends.”

“Even though she wants more?”

“Does she?”

I roll my eyes. “Stop playing dumb. You know she does.”