Page 55 of Close to Heaven

“What if I show you instead?”

“Oof!” Avery gasped as she tripped over a rock on the trail. She felt a sharp pain shoot through her ankle, and the next thing she knew, she was on the ground. She immediately clasped her hands around her right ankle and rocked back and forth until the pain subsided.

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” she muttered. At least nobody had seen her fall. She’d been so caught up in her fantasy about Jax that she hadn’t been watching where she was walking. She continued massaging her ankle, hoping it was nothing more than a minor sprain. However, a few minutes later, when she tried to stand, a sharp pain shot up her leg.

“Dammit,” she said and sat back down.

Glancing around, she estimated she was about halfway between her cabin and Jax’s. It would probably be too much to hope for that he was on the trail too and would rescue her.

She shook her head in disgust. “You’re not some helpless female. Get up and walk home!”

She slowly stood again, putting most of her weight on her left leg. Once she was standing, she gingerly set her right foot on the ground to test how it felt. “C’mon, Avery. You can do this.”

After she took a few steps in the direction of her cabin, she wobbled and leaned against a nearby tree for support. She’d thought she’d prepared for everything, but she hadn’t brought a walking stick. If she’d had one, she could have managed to get home. Without it, she ran the risk of falling again and injuring her ankle even more. She slumped to the ground and leaned her back against the tree.

Naturally, it was starting to get dark, which made being alone in the woods a bit more disconcerting. Growing up in these mountains, she’d been taught to always hike with someone, and she’d adhered to that rule. However, as an adult, she thought the rule didn’t apply, and she would have been fine if she hadn’t been picturing Jax naked!

She heard a rustling behind her and stiffened. It might have been a squirrel or other small animal, but there were also bears in these woods. The thought of one coming upon her in this defenseless state was enough to make her fish her phone out of her backpack. She had no choice. She had to call for help.

She scanned down her list of contacts until she came to the name she was looking for. As the phone rang, she mumbled, “Please pick up, please pick up.”

Finally, on the fifth ring, he answered. “Avery?”

“Jax. Thank God.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

Relief rushed through her at the sound of his voice. Her high school English teacher would have been appalled at her poor sentence structure as she blurted it all out.

“I decided not to go to the bar tonight, and I went hiking instead. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was stepping, and I tripped over a rock. Anyway, now I’m sitting against a tree somewhere between my cabin and yours, and my right ankle is throbbing. I tried walking on it, but I almost fell again, and well, it’s dark, and I might have heard a bear, and I had nobody else to call.” She let out a big breath.

“Stay put. I’ll be right there.”

He hung up before she could say another word, and she lost it, bursting out laughing at how crazy she must have sounded and how calmly Jax had responded—and in fewer than ten words. Then she sobered up and felt grateful that he’d answered her call. After he’d barely spoken to her for ten days, she wasn’t sure he would.

While she waited for him to arrive, she took out her insulated water bottle and took a long drink. She’d no sooner tightened the cap and tucked it back into her pack than Jax came running toward her at top speed.

“Over here,” she shouted, afraid he might run right past her.

Panting, he crouched in front of her. “Are you okay?”

“I think I just twisted it, but it hurts to walk on.”

“It might be sprained. I’ll look at it when we get to my place.”

“Your place?” Her voice rose with excitement, which he seemed to misinterpret as annoyance.

“I’ve got a fully stocked first aid kit. Do you?”

She shook her head.

“Okay, then.” He turned his back to her and said, “Hop on.”

Her eyes went wide. “A piggy-back ride? Is that really necessary?”

“You shouldn’t put weight on that ankle, and this will be the quickest way to get you home.”

“What about my backpack?” she said as she looped her arms around his neck.