The Road Back to Us Read online

  “It can’t be that deep. Maybe three or four feet. I want you to hold the bag and gun. I’ll carry you on my back so you won’t get wet if we can avoid it. It’s too fucking cold for that.” His tone is firm.

  “What about you? You’ll freeze!”

  He shushes me with a chaste kiss to my lips. I like that he tastes salty like the pistachios.

  “I’m too hot to freeze, baby.” His smile is smug, and the wink that follows is even wickeder.

  “For the record, I don’t like this idea. What if nobody is home? Worse yet, what if creepy cannibals live there and have us for supper?”

  Chuckling, he shakes his head as he loops the bag over my shoulder. “If they’re evil, I’ll shoot them with my gun, so don’t drop it in the water.”

  “Bentley, I’m being serious. What if you get all wet and then they don’t want to help us? What happens then? You’ll freeze to death.”

  “I guess you’re just going to have to warm me up then. Now, get on, Care Bear.”

  THE VERY IDEA of crossing the icy creek has my balls shriveling up and crawling inside my body like a couple of pansy-ass motherfuckers. But the idea of freezing to fucking death in the middle of nowhere sounds much worse. We have to get to that house.

  Caroline stares at me, uncertainty dancing in her crystal-blue eyes. After sliding my hands around her, I tug her to me. Our lips eagerly find each other’s and we kiss as if this is our last. Hell, the cold-ass water could kill us, and I think we both know it. It’s absolutely critical that the people in that house help us.

  I hope to fuck there are people there. And no cannibals for Care’s sake.

  “Get on before I lose my nerve. We have to make this quick,” I bark. I’m so not looking forward to this.

  She sighs in resignation and wraps her arms around my neck. With one jump, her legs are snug around my waist and her ankles are hooked together. I suck in two deep, quick breaths and then step into the creek.

  Icy water rushes around my ankle, and I curse as I slip the other foot into the water. Step after step is agony as the water rises to my knees and then my thighs. The rocks are slick and I nearly fall headfirst into the subzero abyss, but thankfully, I catch my footing each time. Halfway across, just as I think the water can’t get any deeper, the floor beneath me drops drastically.

  “Fuck!” I roar as water rushes up to the middle of my chest. “Are you okay?”

  She squeaks out that she is, but now, she’s wet too, which I didn’t intend on.

  “We’re almost there, b-baby,” I stutter out as my teeth chatter together.

  The water gets lower and lower as we approach the shore of the other side. Once there, I struggle to climb out with Caroline on my back. She slides off my back and lands in the water with a splash. It’s only ankle-deep here, but without her weight, I’m able to get us out successfully.

  “We did it!” she shrieks.

  I can’t fucking feel my toes, but now, we have a fighting chance at surviving. After taking the gun from her, I sling it over my shoulder and grab her hand. We can do this. We’ll ask the people to take us in, call for help, and go back home—together. Happily ever after.

  “It’s small,” Care whispers as we get closer. “It doesn’t really look like a house.”

  I frown because she’s right. It appears to be a shack of some sort. The smell of fire I got a whiff of earlier is most certainly not coming from this place. It seems to be abandoned, whatever it is.

  “I think it’s a hunting cabin,” I grumble.

  “Well, maybe they’ll have a phone.”

  They won’t.

  Motherfucker!

  As soon as I see the outhouse, I know we’re screwed. But right now, we need to get out of these clothes. Fire is our only hope at the moment.

  “Bentley, are you okay? Your lips are purple.”

  I’m not okay. My body is stiff and fucking frozen. My teeth are chattering loudly. All I can think about is getting in that damn cabin.

  “I’ll be fine. Do you see anyone inside?” I question.

  She wades through the snow, stumbling here and there, but hurries past me toward the dilapidated building. As we grow nearer, I see that not only is it vacant, but it appears to either be abandoned or it hasn’t been used in quite some time.

  I trip and fall to my knees on the snow. The wind seems to laugh at me as it whistles and whips me in the face, chilling my soaked body to the bone. Beneath me, the snow feels warm and safe against the wind.

  Maybe I’ll just take a nap . . .

  “Bentley!” Caroline screams.

  My eyes blink open to see her bawling her eyes out as she drags me.

  Wait? Drags me? She weighs a hundred and nothing, so the fact that she’s making progress surprises me.

  “W-what’s g-going on?”

  “You fainted or something. Can you stand? I think another storm is coming in because the wind has really picked up. We need to get you inside.”

  Her voice is urgent, lighting a fire inside me. I’m supposed to protect her—not the other way around. Groaning, I move my frozen joints and suck up every last ounce of energy I have to stand on legs that don’t feel like mine. Everything is numb, no longer cold. I’m tired as fuck, but for some reason, I know that, if I fall asleep again, things could get bad.

  “Here. Put your arm over my shoulder,” she instructs as she nestles her body against mine.

  I do as I was told and lean on her as we walk. “Where are we going?” My mind bounces around, and I feel a bit confused.

  “Into that cabin. We’re almost there.”

  As soon as we make it to the front door, I see that she’s already cleared the snow around the door and managed to open it.

  How long was I out?

  Together, we stumble into the shack, and once she slams the door behind us, the bite from the wind is gone almost instantly. The tiny space is no more than ten feet by ten feet. The only light that pours in is from the window right beside the door. To the right is a cot with a pillow and a stack of folded blankets. Dead center is a wood-burning fireplace with logs neatly stacked in front of it. An ax is propped against the brick along with a poker. To the left seems to be some sort of kitchen area. A tiny table with two chairs are in the corner next to a built-in cabinet.

  That’s all there is to this place.

  No electricity.

  No running water.

  No fucking phones.

  “This is bullshit!” I snarl, causing Care to jump from beside me.

  With a sigh, she comes around to stand in front of me. “It is. I agree. I was expecting a phone, at least. However, this place will save us from the elements. That storm is coming in hard and fast. It will also be dark soon. We need to warm up.”

  My head swims with all the shit Harley told me about surviving outdoors in the cold. Fire is crucial. After hobbling over to the fireplace, I toss a few logs into it. Then I scan the entire area but don’t see any matches.

  “What the fuck?! Why have a goddamned fireplace if you don’t have fucking matches?” I flip out and kick the brick inglenook. As soon as my frozen foot connects with the unmovable fire hearth, my foot screams in agony.

  “Bentley, calm down! I found something to get it started in this cabinet!” she shouts back at me.

  Then she scampers over to me and kneels down in front of the fireplace. She sets to work tucking crumbled pieces of a newspaper between the logs and then lights them with a long match. Pretty soon, fire blazes before us.

  I blink in surprise at how great the fire feels and try to shake off the fog that’s muddling my brain.

  “Take off your clothes,” she urges.

  Turning toward her, I stare at her in confusion. “Why? It’s cold as fuck.”

  “Bentley, you’re a little dazed at the moment. We need to take the wet clothes off and warm up. I’m worried that you’re getting hypothermia. So take everything off.”

  When I don’t move, she begins to unbutton my coat.
I don’t resist her; instead, I watch her with interest. She’s so determined to undress me. Once the coat is discarded in a heap behind me, she quickly starts to unfasten one of my dress shirts. My eyes focus on her red, chapped hands, and I have the desire to warm them, but considering I can’t feel my own, I’m not sure what good that would do.

  After she removes the two dress shirts, she peels the soaked sweater from my body. A shiver runs through me—not from the cold though. It’s from the way her fingers tickle my belly as she sets to unbuckling my belt.

  As she unzips my jeans, my head begins to clear. I take the quiet moment to really look at my wife. Caroline is so beautiful with her blond hair a wet mess, sticking to her head. Her black eyeliner is smudged and nearly gone from when she applied it yesterday, but she is still so pretty to me.

  “Well, I guess it froze that way.” She smirks as she peers up at me with a raised, blond eyebrow.

  My dick agrees that she’s the most beautiful goddamned thing on the planet, and we’re both standing ramrod straight before her.

  “As much as I want to use it again—and believe me, I do—we need to warm up. Eat a little something. Rest,” she sighs.

  I can hear the fatigue in her voice, and it snaps my attention to the present. “Can we cuddle naked?” I ask with a grin.

  She laughs as she lets me finish taking my pants off and sets to removing her own clothes. “Is there any other way?”

  Once we’re both completely naked, we stand close to the fire and I pull her against me. Her skin is cool, but soon, we warm to each other’s touch. The fire hisses and crackles, licking our legs with its heat, but we don’t move. We must stand there for a good half hour, simply enjoying the warmth and letting our extremities thaw out.

  I feel as if I’ve regained my mobility and my mind. So I slide my hands down her warm back and cup her ass, giving it a gentle squeeze. It’s been too long since I’ve touched her like this. Between us, my cock is thick and eager. I ache to spread her open and sink myself into her tight body, but I can’t. I’m so fucking tired.

  “The sun is setting. We should sleep,” I tell her reluctantly.

  She nods, exhausted as well and desperate for rest.

  Breaking away from her, I saunter over to the cot and drag it over in front of the fire. Our clothes are in a wet heap beside it, so Care begins laying them all out around the fire so they’ll dry while I cover the cot with one of the smaller blankets.

  “Dinnertime,” she says softly a few moments later.

  I cup my hand to receive a few pistachios and chase them with the water we collected in the Coke bottle. Not exactly dinner at The Ritz-Carlton, but the company is great.

  She crawls onto the cot and lies on her side, facing the fire. I grab the thicker blanket and sidle up behind her, dragging it over us. We’re so warm, and being pressed naked against her is perfection.

  For a brief moment, I can almost forget that we’re lost in the damn forest. I can forget that, twenty-four hours ago, we were hell-bent on getting a divorce. For just a second, I can pretend that we’re on a second honeymoon and life is perfect.

  Right now, it is.

  And it will be forevermore.

  Her soft breathing signals that she’s fallen asleep, so I allow myself to drift off behind her. Together, we find each other in our dreams and connect in the safe, dark haven.

  I WAKE TO something hard resting against my butt cheeks.

  Bentley.

  His snores and erection indicate that he’s having a really good dream.

  I’m unsure what time it is, but it isn’t morning yet. The wind howls loudly outside the small cabin and rattles the window. A shiver clatters down my spine, so I snuggle my butt against him. He groans sleepily in response, his muscled arm pulling me impossibly closer to him, as if I’ll run away in my slumber.

  His palm, on instinct, slides up my belly to cup my breast. It makes me think of that stupid Ginny and her naked pictures. I haven’t said any more about her texts for two reasons. One, I don’t want him to even think about her, much less see her perfect body. I’ll be deleting the pictures for sure. Two, I don’t want to ruin our moment.

  Sure, we’re living in hell right now. The two of us are so far from home and help that it isn’t even funny. However, right in the midst of our icy hell, we’ve carved out a little slice of paradise. Things seem perfect, in this exact moment, as we cuddle naked by the fire. There are no phone calls and e-mails stealing my husband away every second of every day. I don’t have to listen to Renée’s perfect marriage and vegan ways. Bentley and I aren’t arguing over stupid crap that means nothing.

  We’re in a bubble. A nice, perfect, untainted bubble.

  Unease niggles its way into my bubble though. What happens when we get rescued? When we go back home and jump right back into the swing of life? Will he forget the love we fought so hard to find again?

  He groans again, his voice thick with sleep, and slightly thrusts against my body. As his cock slides down between the crack of my ass, awareness skitters through me. Back in the car, we had some mad, crazy sex. Now, my body warms and tingles at the thought of doing it again. Every muscle in my body aches from the exertion we’ve gone through in the past twenty-four hours, but I still yearn to connect with him again.

  When his hand leaves my breast and travels down between my legs, I let out a gasp. His heavy breathing has become controlled and measured. He’s awake.

  “Mmm,” I whimper as his finger massages my clit. I’m slightly self-conscious for a moment that I haven’t been able to trim the hair on my pussy, but as he intensifies his movements, I lose that thought and chase the desire to come.

  While he teases my body with his finger, I feel him kiss my shoulder and run his tongue across the flesh there. The way his hot breath tickles the wet skin sends waves of need rippling through me. My body seizes with an orgasm and I thrash against his finger—needing more and needing less at the same time—all the while chanting his name as if he’s a god.

  “Damn. That never gets old,” he growls before he nips at my shoulder.

  After rolling on the cot to face him, I run my fingers through his messy hair, which is sticking every which direction. His face is no longer smooth—dark hair speckles his cheeks. And the fire has died down, but as it flickers, the reflection dances in Bentley’s eyes.

  “What happens when we’re rescued?” I ask. “Right now, I feel safe and contained with you here, but I fear that, when we get back home, everything will go back to the way it was. And, Bentley, I can’t live like that anymore. Especially knowing that we can have this—the two of us—perfect.”

  He pinches his eyebrows together in a scowl, and I wonder if he’s angry at me for having voiced my feelings. Honestly, I don’t care if he is because it’s high time we sorted this shit out.

  “Baby, I’ve thought about that,” he admits softly. “And I don’t want that to happen. We’re going to have to take it one day at a time. Make changes in our life. I’m tired of putting work front and center, where you deserve to belong. I want us to date again—to tell each other everything. I want to hold you every night and make love to you often. We can do this, Care. I know we can.”

  His words warm me, and I believe he wants us to work out just as much as I do.

  “I thought about what you said,” I murmur as he rests his hand on my hip and runs circles on the bone with his thumb.

  “Which part?”

  “You asked what I like to do. We’ve been out here in the snow and I should be hating it, but I keep seeing it as a picturesque background to our recovering love. I’ve wanted to capture these moments and bottle them up forever. Even now, as I look at you, I want to capture how sexy you are.”

  He chuckles, and the vibrations pulse their way through me. “You’ve captured me. I’m here and not going anywhere.”

  “I want to take a photography class. It might sound dumb, but I would love to take photos of these moments. Who knows? Maybe I could b
e good at it,” I muse.

  His lips press against mine. “Baby, I have no doubts you would be amazing at it. I’ve done you a disservice. In my efforts to take care of you, I clipped your wings at the same time. Of course, I’ll always want to provide for you and protect you, but I also want you to take flight. There’s a part of you inside that hasn’t been fully unlocked. It’s time we find the key.”

  I grin and scratch my fingernails along his scalp, inhaling the scent that is him. “I love that you have taken care of me, but I have always felt like an accessory to the Great Mr. Harrison. I’m ready to show you that I have value too.”

  He leans forward and sucks on my bottom lip. “Your lips are very valuable—I know what you can do with them.”

  I scoff at him, but a rush of heat burns my skin when he winks playfully at me. This guy—the fun, sexy guy—is the one I fell in love with. I’m so glad he’s back.

  I turn away from him and reach for my coat. Once I find the inside pocket, I pull his phone out. We’re both disappointed to see that there’s still no service, but it remains charged. Holding the phone out of his view, I quickly delete the nasty pictures that hag sent to him.

  “Ginny texted you yesterday. That’s why I got so angry.”

  His eyes darken because he knows the look in mine. “And?”

  “She sent naked pictures of herself. I’d assumed that—”

  He cuts me off by crashing his lips to mine—a kiss that is hard and unyielding. My body flares to life, needing more. But he breaks away instead of giving me what I need.

  “She means nothing to me and is only an employee—but not one for much longer,” he growls.

  I pass the phone to him, and he scrolls through the texts she sent minus the pictures.

  “I’ll fire her the moment we get back, baby. Trust me. All I want—all I ever want—is you. Got it?”

  After I nod, I close my eyes when he kisses me again. His tongue is possessive over mine, and he steals my breath.

  With a smile, I hold my hand out. “You have no pictures on your phone. Let’s take one of us, like this. I want to memorize this moment.”