Hard as Rock (The Rock Star's Seduction 3)

“We scared it off, but there’s no guarantee it’s not still around. We need to put as much distance between it and us as we can, as

fast

as we can.”

“Then let me down!”

“What are you going to do,

hop

back? No, this is faster.”

“Ryan – ”

“Just keep an eye out for it behind my back, okay? It might be stalking us.”

Well,

that

scared the hell out of me. I clung tighter to his neck and began scanning the forest like a paranoid conspiracy theorist.

“Where are the horses?” I whispered.

“They had sense enough to get the hell out.”

“Is that why Bessie freaked?”

“Yep.”

“She could smell it? Or sense it, or something?”

“Exactly.”

“Where did they go?”

“If I were a betting man, five’d get you twenty that they’ll be waiting for us down in the barn.”

I clung tightly to him and watched the trees as he walked as fast as he could down the trail.

“What was that you were doing back there?” I whispered.

“What?”

“The whole hands over your head thing – and the yelling and screaming.”

“If you ever see a cougar again, you have to make yourself as big as possible. Stand up taller than it and yell as loud as you can.”

“Yeah, well, I never have to worry about that, since I am

never

coming up here again!”

He smiled, amused.

“I’m glad you think this is so funny!” I hissed.

“We made it out alive, didn’t we? It was probably more scared of us than we were of it.”

“I have some underwear that says otherwise.”

He sniffed the air. “Is that what I smell?”

I slapped his shoulder lightly. “It was a figure of speech!”

“Watch the trees,” he whispered.

I went back to watching the forest with almost religious fervor.

46

It took us nearly 30 minutes to get down to flat land again. He carried me the entire way, never complaining, never faltering. Over and over I tried to get him to let me walk, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

“I hear cougars know when their prey is wounded,” he whispered to me. “They can tell if it’s hopping that it’s easy pickings.”

I stared at him in fear. “Really?”

“Yeah. Things that hop in the wild? They go after those first. Wounded deer… rabbits… frogs…”

I watched him, fear and adrenalin coursing through my body… until I saw the corner of his mouth turn up the slightest.

“You’re just

saying

that!” I hissed, and slapped his shoulder again.

He burst out into a grin. “Regardless, I think I should carry you.”

“Why?!”

“Because I’m enjoying it.”

…oh.

After that, I didn’t complain any more.

I began to relax once we’d made it to level ground, and the probability of ‘death by giant cat’ began to diminish.

“We’re probably safe now,” I said. “You can put me down.”

“We’ll go a lot faster if you let me carry you.”

“Are you sure? You’re not tired?”

“I’m fine.”

So I let him.

By now I was enjoying the feel of his arms cradling me, the sensation of my body pressed against his chest. He was surprisingly strong. I liked the feel of him carrying me; I

loved

the feeling of having been rescued by him.