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Two of the thrown men had staggered to their feet, another two lay unmoving. The dogs had scattered, leashes trailing. But Jo barely registered them. From behind the burning cabin roared two snow mobiles, thrashing snow in their wake.
The attackers lurched toward the snowmobiles, but the blast had clearly stunned them. The snowmobiles gave them a wide berth before accelerating away.
Two dark figures on one, a bulky figure on another.
Wyatt, Ty and Sophie. It had to be.
The camo clad men fumbled to take aim, but the snow mobiles were already out of range, angling toward the close protection of the nearby forest. Bullets harmlessly punched the snowy ground.
The two men screamed indecipherable directions at each other as they mounted their own snowmobiles and revved the engines.
Jo swallowed. “I think they’re okay.” Almost giddy, she handed Griff the binoculars back.
He took a quick look and then, his face stony with grim satisfaction, he pocketed them. “Let’s move.” His hand clamped around hers as he guided her out from under the protection of the overhang. “Don’t let go.”
“Not planning to.”
He threw a roguish grin over his shoulder, and her heart stumbled. This man. The feelings he ignited within her. She no longer had the words.
She followed him down the narrow, scrub-lined trail, Griff guiding her with his good arm. Her feet skidded out constantly on the icy terrain, knees and palms grinding against unforgiving sharp-edged stones. Still, it beat the claustrophobic tunnel. When the slope finally bottomed out, she breathed a sigh of relief, but soon the thickening forest slowed their pace and the cold air became tinged with the rushing whisper of nearby water.
Her hands became clammy. What if they had to cross it?
She stole a glance at Griff. His hand remained steady around hers, her rock in the chaos. He’d been her anchor since they’d first teamed up. So why had it taken her so long to acknowledge what he meant to her? What they could be together?
Her mind raced, and Ty’s words haunted her. This wasn’t just about justice for Luke anymore. She needed closure, but also… Griff. He was the final missing piece. He completed her. With him, she was more. She had to tell him now, in case… in case they didn’t make it. Before, it was too late.
She tugged on his hand. “Griff, there’s something I need to tell you.” When he paid her no attention, a harder pull brought him to a stop. “Now, I need to speak to you now.”
They’d reached the edge of a clearing. Below, a river roared and thrashed. Fear turned in her stomach like a wrench on a nut, painful till she thought she could no longer breathe. Griff spoke the words she expected. “We have to cross the river.”
“Griff.”
Confusion lit his eyes as she cupped his jaw, loving the rasp of his stubble against her skin.
He caught her hand, pressed a kiss to her palm. “We don’t have time for—”
Jo bumped up onto her toes and kissed him. Not a gentle kiss, but a hard claiming kiss. She poured everything she had into it, needing him to know the intensity of her feelings. How having him by her side had given her life a depth and meaning she could never have imagined. When she dropped back to flat feet, breaking the kiss, they were both breathless. He slid a finger along the curve of her ear, under her chin.
“What was that for?” His voice was throaty. Even now, with so much on the line, she felt the hardness of his arousal against her belly.
“I need you to know how I feel about you. We might die and—”
He removed one glove and pressed a finger to her lips. “Jo. We are not going to die. Let me be clear about that.”
She clasped her hand round his wrist, kissed his fingertips. Exhaled. “Okay. But I still want you to know that meeting you changed my life. You’ve changed me. For the better. And I don’t want to lose you. I want us to have a future together. Something real.”
There, she’d said it. Her heart pummeled her chest.
Griff sucked in a breath and for an instant she believed she’d gone too far. That the depth of her feelings wasn’t reciprocated.
Then he kissed her tenderly, cradling her face. “I want that future too and you can tell me all of this again, in my bed, after I’ve made you come so many times, you’ve forgotten everything you know, including your name.” His voice was throaty.
Jo heeled tears from her eyes.
Griff wanted the same future. He wanted her.
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