Unstoppable by Laura Griffin Page B

ballistic.
    “Stop it!” She pounded on his back. “Stop it right now! I can walk, damn it!”
    “We’re going up a hill,” he said, carefully balancing his load as he made his way up the steep terrain.
    “Put me down !”
    “Quit squirming unless you want both of us to fall off this mountain.”
    She went still, thank God, and Gage adjusted her weight. He felt the backs of her knees under his hands, and her breasts pressing into his back was making it seriously hard for him to concentrate.
    Finally they reached the top of the steep incline. A few more steps and they were under the protective shelter of a rock overhang.
    Gage set her on her feet and her shoulders quivered.
    “You okay?” he asked.
    A shudder moved through her and he heard her teeth rattle.
    “Here, you’re freezing.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. Even soggy and cold, she felt incredible, and he tried not to focus on her body as he shared his heat with her.
    “This is so stupid,” she muttered. “It’s probably seventy degrees out.” Her arms went around his waist.
    “We’re wet. And you’re in shock. Getting shot at can do that to you.”
    “Does it happen to you?” She tilted her head back and he could feel her breath on his neck.
    “I’m used to it.”
    “I thought I was used to it, too, but maybe I need more practice.”
    He took her by the shoulders and eased her away from him. “When have you ever been shot at before tonight?”
    A quiet sigh. “In northern Iraq.”
    “That’s one of the most dangerous places on the planet. What the hell were you doing there?”
    She drifted closer and her arms went back around him. “Excavating mass graves. Not everyone was glad for us to be there. We ended up needing an armed guard just to get our work done.” She rested her forehead against his chest. “I still have nightmares.”
    She shuddered again and his grip tightened instinctively. His few objective brain cells were screaming for him to let go of her, but she felt too good. And she smelled too good. And the realization that she wanted this kind of comfort from him was a perverse turn-on. This was the one woman he could not have, and yet he’d never wanted anyone more. What the hell was wrong with him?
    She tipped her head back. “Where are we?” she whispered.
    “At the petroglyphs.”
    She pulled away and glanced around. “I didn’t realize we were so close to camp. Why’d we stop? Let’s just go.”
    He pulled her behind a rock before switching on his flashlight. No sense broadcasting their whereabouts with a lantern. “I want to look at this ankle.” He shrugged out of his rucksack and crouched at her feet. “What’d you do, sprain it?”
    “Cut it, going through that hole. Then landed on it wrong.”
    He shined his flashlight on her leg and pushed her sock down.
    “Ouch!”
    “Sorry.” The swelling wasn’t bad. The sock was saturated with blood, though, and he gently pulled it away from her skin. He reached into his pack for a water bottle and doused the cut. It was about three inches long but not too deep.
    “We need to get this cleaned up back at the lodge,” he said.
    “Do you have any alcohol in your pack? Maybe some hand sanitizer?”
    “I’ve got some Super Glue for emergencies,” he said. “But a butterfly bandage should do it for something this shallow. You had a tetanus shot recently?”
    She didn’t answer. He shined the flashlight up at her and he saw she was gazing down at him with the strangest expression.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing,” she whispered. “Nothing, I just . . .” She lifted her hand and combed her fingers into his hair and the jolt of lust nearly knocked him over. He switched off the flashlight and rose to his feet. Another hand in his hair, then his heart gave a kick as her cool fingers curled against his scalp.
    “Kelsey—”
    She pulled his head down and kissed him.
    She felt him hesitate for maybe a half a second. And then