Goran’s head swiveled to her, watching her sashay down the rough hallway in the oversized cargo pants and tee-shirt that she’d knotted at her waist. She didn’t have shoes on yet, having flipped her heels off when she’d spotted the other boots. Gone was the pristine ice princess and in her place was a gorgeous, courageous, stunning woman ready to tackle the world! Damn, she looked hot!
Calista walked back into the “kitchen” area, trying to keep her eyes off of Goran. He’d flipped that guard over without even breaking a sweat! Calista didn’t care for how much she’d liked that. But the action had called to her baser feminine instincts.
Goran should look ridiculous in the pressed slacks, filthy and torn dress shirt and combat boots, but…she had to admit that the man looked amazingly virile and…hot. Just incredibly hot!
Forcing her mind to focus on survival and not on the man’s impressively tight ass, Calista surveyed the supplies that were neatly stacked and stored around the small shack. There were plenty of weapons, food and water, which meant that someone had planned to keep her and Goran here for a while. Unfortunately, Goran walked back into the small room, his size taking up a significant portion of the space and causing her mind to zip right back to admiring the man instead of concentrating on getting out of this pickle. Stepping back, she continued to survey the area because…because if she looked at Goran, her mind fizzled! The dress shirt might be dirty and torn, but the top few buttons were undone at the neck and Calista desperately wanted to run her fingers over his warm skin.
Now what was that all about? Why was she suddenly attracted to the man who had bored her nearly to tears a mere…how long had they been here?
“How long do you think we’ve been gone?” she asked, turning to grab a glass. She sniffed it, trying to determine if it was clean.
“I don’t know,” he replied, grabbing a glass as well, then pouring himself some water, downing the entire amount in mere seconds. He then poured another glass, but handed it to her. “You’re probably more dehydrated than you think,” he said as an explanation.
Calista smiled slightly, putting down the glass she was holding and taking the glass of water he offered. She was very careful to not touch the man, confused about her recent reactions. It didn’t make any sense that she could hate the man one day and be unable to take her eyes off of his butt the next!
Realizing that she was staring at his shoulders…again…Calista turned away, mentally shaking her head. “There’s a radio over there,” she told him, nodding to the corner where a military grade radio sat, silent at the moment.
“Good. At least we know how they’re communicating.” He looked over at the beds, then the stash of weapons. “There’s another problem.”
She finished the water and set the glass down, surprised at how good the water tasted. She really had been thirsty! “Just one other problem?” she asked, feeling like laughing.
He chuckled, shrugging one shoulder. “Okay, we have numerous problems. But the one that comes to mind at the moment is that we’re in a tree house.”
Calista stared up at Goran, trying to figure out what he was talking about. “A tree house?”
“Yeah,” he sighed, looping a finger through his belt at his hip. “We’re pretty high up in the trees.”
“Oh.” She looked around. Sure enough, the only thing she could see through the windows were the tree tops. When she paused to peer over the edge of the “window”, Calista discovered that the ground was very far beneath them. “Well, silver lining,” she replied with a bright smile, “at least there are screens over the windows to keep the bugs out!”
Goran stared at her with that same odd look she’d seen on his face earlier. She didn’t understand what it meant, but it caused her heart to race in a crazy way. What was going on?! These strange sensations were not welcome! Not anymore!
Once again, she forced her mind to focus on the present. “So…if we’re so high up, how did we get in here?”
“There’s a trap door in the floor over there,” he said, his thumb jerking to a point behind him. “I guess the next shift of guards has the exit ladder.”
Calista nodded, her eyes searching for and finding the small handle, indicating a square part of the floor that opened up. “That’s going to be a challenge, then.”
“Probably,” he replied.
Calista stood there, not sure what to say. She felt…strange. Normally, her life was so planned out, so orchestrated, that she rarely had time to “wing it”. But in this situation, there were no plans, no one telling her to go to the right or left or who’s hand she needed to shake and greet and…whatever! A tightness built in her throat as her thoughts spun.
“Okay!” she replied, forcing her mind to stop sliding down the slippery slope towards a full out melt down. “So…what do you think our next step should be?”
Goran understood that Calista was trying to be brave. The lust that her tough demeanor had provoked earlier evolved and a strange, tender sensation entered his chest. He didn’t understand what he was feeling, but he knew that she was scared. Moving forward, he took her into his arms.
He suddenly realized how small she was. When she was in heels, Calista came up to his chin. But now that she was in a pair of tough, thick soled boots, the top of her head barely came up to the top of his chest. “It’s going to be okay, Calista,” he assured her.
For a long moment, she stood stiffly in his arms, neither accepting nor rejecting his comfort. Goran didn’t relent. He continued to hold her, running his hand up and down her back. He might not fully understand this tough, beautiful, vulnerable woman, but he was starting to. And this fear, it was deep and hard for her to accept. He’d been around combat hardened soldiers and knew that even they sometimes panicked. Calista was a princess, literally. She was protected at every moment of her day.
He closed his eyes, trying to control his body when she relaxed, leaning into him as she finally accepted his reassurance. It was hard, because her body was soft and perfect and amazing! He wanted to lift her up and kiss her. He wanted to make love to her on one of those ridiculously small cots! He wanted…to make her feel better in any way he could. The fear in those beautiful, dark eyes tore at him!
“Here’s my plan,” he said softly, burying his nose in her hair. He realized that her hair felt like satin as it draped over his arm and he moved his hand into the dark tresses, needing a longer touch. “That radio over there is going to start spouting information pretty soon. Whoever is at the other end of that radio is counting on the guard tied up in the other room to speak, so we need to talk to that man and get a sense for the cadence of his voice. Maybe he can shed a small bit of understanding for what’s going on here.”
“You mean, we’re going to try and understand why we were kidnapped?” she asked.
“Yes,” he confirmed.
“Isn’t it to get information out of you?”