Just Say Maybe: A Thistle Bend Novel (10 page)

For the first time, Bryce began to second-guess his decisions to come to Thistle Bend, to buy the lodge, to try to make something good out of the rotten mess it had been. He gazed at Holly, who gave him a sincere look of concern, her lips pressed together tightly. Maybe
she
was the reason he was meant to come here, not the lodge. But why did it have to be one or the other? He wasn’t about to give up on the lodge because of some circumstantial evidence wrapped around a rumor.

Holly squeezed his biceps, trailed her fingers down his upper arm, and rested them in the crook of his elbow. “I understand.”

He liked that she knew when to turn on the positivity, and when to keep things real. “And we can’t risk staying up here any longer.” He took her hand and led her out into the living area and onto the balcony, where they checked out the gathering storm. The temperature had dropped, and the wind had picked up enough to whip Holly’s ponytail across her shoulder. A loose piece of plywood clattered against a window below.

Squinting against the wind, she faced Bryce. “All the locals who hike up here know how important it is to get down to the lake before a storm. I don’t need to tell you about the condition of the road between here and there. It can get treacherous during and after storms—even impassable. We need to go
now.
”

As if he didn’t have enough to worry about, renewed concerns about his road-repair budget piled on top of all the others. “Let’s grab our stuff and get out of here.”

They gathered the tools, their gloves, the bagged newspapers, and the lights; left the suite; and replaced the huge sheet of plywood over the hole in wall.

Just in case…

Holly clutched his arm, and they went downstairs, following the path they’d taken on the way in, since the floor had proven sturdy all the way. Bryce carried everything but one work light, his backpack seeming much heavier than it had before he’d stealthily stashed the calendars inside.

His chest tightened as they neared the side exit. Once he left the lodge and locked the door, he’d have to return the keys to George. If he asked for them again, it would probably raise eyebrows, and George might insist on joining him on any return trips. So this was likely his last visit until the final walk-through. Had he found enough in the suite to figure out the fate of the woman who’d stayed there? All he could do was hope as he turned the key in the lock and the bolt clicked into place.

Raindrops ticked on the warped, sun-bleached decking. One glance up the mountain told him that a deluge was coming, the hazy cloud of moisture already obscuring the view of the rugged ridgeline. Lightning flashed, and thunder rumbled in its wake.

Holly winced and clutched his arm tighter. “We better hurry.”

They jogged out to the Jeep, tools clamoring in the bag Bryce carried. He unlocked the doors and they stowed everything inside, quickly buckling themselves in for the bumpy ride ahead.

No sooner had Bryce started the engine than the clouds unleashed a downpour that hammered the roof of the Jeep. He switched on the windshield wipers but each sweep provided little visibility, seeming only to slosh the barraging water from side to side. He could only imagine what it was doing to the unpaved and already damaged road. “This isn’t going to be pretty.”

Holly cast a wary glance at the lodge and scrunched her face. “But we don’t want to get stuck up here.”

“That’s for sure.”

She smiled a little, challenge in her eyes. “So show me some of your badass daredevil moves and get this thing down to the lake.” She playfully made a point of checking that her seatbelt was secure.

Rental or not, Bryce had no choice. Being stuck somewhere overnight with Holly had a hell of an appeal, but not if it was up here at the lodge. Right now, the place was too eerie, even for Halloween.

He put the Jeep in gear and headed down the pocked and puddle-covered road, squinting to see past the waterfall on the windshield. Another flash of lightning turned everything nearly white, and thunder rumbled just a blink behind the brightness.

“Man, that’s close.” Bryce’s heart ricocheted off of his ribs as he gripped the wheel, getting a workout just trying to keep it steady as he took the road at a risky speed. The Jeep pitched from side to side, and up and down, over rocks and through water-filled pits. He avoided them if he saw them, but only if the narrowing road allowed him the space. Otherwise, he took it straight as it came. With a jagged rock wall on one side, and a steep drop-off on the other, he had little choice but to stay on track, and take the beating it gave them. At least he’d had plenty of practice riding rugged roads, keeping his body loose and giving in to the back and forth.

Holly was going with the flow pretty well herself. “You’re no stranger to four-wheeling.” He almost had to shout so she could hear him above the rain.

“I love it—when I can see where I’m going.”

Which was clearly not the case this time. Bryce was running on a little bit of memory and a whole lot of hope that he wouldn’t make a bad decision. At any moment, the wheel might whip out of his hands, sending the Jeep lurching in an unintended direction.

If the rain would just chill.

Another bolt of lightning practically grazed the Jeep. A large tree down beyond the drop-off exploded into fire with a deafening
crack.
Bryce jerked back, his head slamming against the headrest, his foot against the brake. Holly slapped her hands over her mouth, her eyes bugging wide. Thunder rocked the Jeep as a torrent of rain tamed the fire, drowning it within seconds.

“Oh my God.” Holly held out her shaky hands. “I’m trembling.”

Bryce could have done and said the same, but there was no way that was going to happen.

Knight in shining armor.

Superhero.

Holly was looking for both of those and more. He was determined to shred that road down to the lake, and get her out of there safely.

The sharp, pungent zing of ozone filled the air as Bryce shifted the Jeep into park, reached over, and pulled her as close as he could, considering the restraint of their seatbelts. He held her quivering hands in one of his, intent on keeping it steady. “That was sick. You can even smell it.” He took a deep breath of the thin, electrified air, giving his adrenaline a second to settle. Leaning in, he brushed his lips on Holly’s cheek, and whispered in her ear, “You okay?”

She gave him a sidelong glance. “You might not promise adventure, but you sure do deliver.”

He planned to deliver all right, but first they had to get down to the lake. Water was rising by the second while they were sitting still. He shot her a superhero smile and said, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Eager to prove himself to her, he shoved the Jeep back into gear, battling to keep it bridled as it bumped, splashed, tilted, and pitched along a stretch of road riddled with hairpin turns and dangerous drop-offs along the side. The rain slacked off enough to give him an unobstructed view for a second after each swipe of the wipers. He took full advantage of the sight line, pushing the Jeep faster, flirting with control.

Bryce rounded a blind curve at speed, bounding over a crop of rocks that had the Jeep tipping up on two wheels, driver’s side off the ground. He instinctively shifted his weight toward the door. The Jeep landed with a
thud
and a spray of muddy water onto his window.

Holly gave him a tight-lipped smile and shook her head. “Easy there, cowboy.”

He figured they were a little beyond halfway to the lake when a sign came into view.

DANGER: Loose Rock.

And, within yards, another.

WARNING: High Water.

“This could get interesting,” Holly said. “This pass is iffy on a dry and sunny day, much less one like today with the rain pouring down, lightning dancing all around, and thunder rattling the ground.”

“Isn’t there a song that goes like that?” Bryce joked. But his humor fell flat when they turned the corner. He stopped the Jeep and stared ahead.

Crap.

Where there’d been a shallow stream of water trickling over the road on their way up, there was now a deep, raging current gushing across, cutting farther into the cleft in the pass.

Bryce dared not think about what that might mean for future access to the lodge—he had to focus on the present. The Jeep was made for fording rivers and streams, but with discretion. He’d likely be accused of having none if he tried to cross this one, and that might be the best-case scenario.

But the water could run like that for hours…

Holly gave him a pointed look. “We’re going through it, aren’t we?”

Her determination turned him on nearly as much as imagining her in classy lingerie.

“Hell yeah we are,” he said, knowing he should be more hesitant.

Never underestimate the force of flowing water.

Bryce had learned that lesson early on in his search-and-rescue days. He’d worked a case in Virginia where a young mother had driven her car into just two feet of water. The car had been swept away into a roiling river that had overflowed its banks—along with the woman and her four-year-old son. Fortunately, both had been rescued and survived, but Bryce had never forgotten the lesson. Never even flirted with challenging it.

Until now.

He eased the Jeep into the torrent, the froth on the water making it impossible for him to judge its depth. If it got deeper than the tops of the tires, they were screwed. The Jeep would become buoyant and…He clenched his jaw, working to maintain a steady speed through the rushing flow, creating a bow wave that helped him maintain momentum and push water away from the engine bay.

Bryce stole a glance at Holly. He could tell she was holding her breath; that made two of them. Seconds passed like minutes as they made their way across the rutted pass, the force of the water threatening to lift the Jeep and put it at the mercy of the current.

Just a few more yards…

The second they cleared the water, Bryce sighed, nearly in unison with Holly.

Rain pelted the Jeep the rest of the way to the lake. Every time the sky lit up with lightning, Bryce tensed, bracing for another fiery explosion. Thankfully, none came, although the thunder roared nearly as loud.

After what seemed like forever, he pulled the Jeep into the parking area adjacent to Turquoise Lake, which appeared steel blue in the throes of the storm. “Let’s sit here and wait it out.”

“Deal,” Holly said. “At least we made it down this far. We’ll have a muddy go most of the way back to town, but that’ll be nothing compared to the gauntlet we just came through.” The rain took on an odd tick as it hit the windshield, and she tipped her head to one side. “That’s hail.” She rolled her eyes. “This storm’s got it all.”

Bryce leaned forward to check it out, yet there was no need for him to look more closely. Hail the size of quarters began pummeling the Jeep, clacking on the hood, bouncing on the ground outside, and splashing in the lake. Within a minute, the ground was covered with white balls of ice, as if they’d had an instant snowstorm in early June.

Holly shook her head, a what-could-possibly-happen-next look on her face. She reached over and threaded her fingers between his. Bryce’s adrenaline was still running on full octane, and her touch sent a jolt of desire through him as sharp as the lightning that continued to flash around them. Thunder crashed, and Holly flinched.

He pushed his seat back as far as it would go. “Come here,” he said, and tugged her into his lap, cradling her with one of his arms behind her, the other across her lap. She settled in with her legs stretched across the passenger seat, fitting just right despite the cramped space—a killer turn-on with hail pelting the Jeep and the storm raging around them.

“We need to get rid of these before we poke each other’s eyes out.” He took off his cap, tossed it into the backseat, and did the same with hers. Another blaze of lightning was immediately followed by a deafening crack of thunder.

Holly tensed in his arms and met his gaze. He pulled her closer. “I’ve got you,” he murmured. She lifted her chin, her lips mere inches from his. “Yes, you do.”

Bryce’s heart hammered. He brushed his lips against hers—light and teasing. But a hitch in her breath pushed him to kiss her deeply, fully, with his hand splayed at the back of her head, and his fingers tangled in her hair. Hail battered the Jeep as she kissed him just as hungrily, flicking open the top two buttons of his shirt and smoothing her velvety fingers over his pecs. He flexed instinctively, the feathery sensation shooting straight to his cock, which strained against the confines of his jeans.

Bryce traced his hand along her neck and down to the V where her shirt was buttoned. He hesitated there until Holly covered his hand with hers for a moment, still seducing him senseless with languid sweeps of her tongue. She slowly opened the top button of her shirt, giving him the permission he longed for.

Heat pulsed through him as he took her lead, gently opening several more buttons, inching her shirt aside, revealing her bra. He pulled away from their kiss long enough to get a glimpse of her in the sexy light blue lace, teasing himself. The sight of it had him raising his hips, pressing his cock against her soft curves. He touched his forehead to hers as he trailed his fingers along the scalloped edge of her bra, the satiny swell of her firm breast.

“God, Holly,” he said as the hail gave way to rain. He lazily brushed his fingers over the delicate lace covering one of the cups of her bra, and continued around to her back to unhook it. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve imagined this.”

“That makes two of us,” she said shyly. Her lips curved up at the corners, and he smothered them with a kiss, the hook of her bra between his fingers.

The rumble of tires on gravel and the hazy glare of headlights stopped him short. Bryce broke off their kiss just as a red SUV pulled up next to them and parked.

Holly tensed and he pulled his hand from behind her. She quickly clutched her shirt closed and sat straight, stimulating him even more in spite of their new neighbors.