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"Aye, I'm a bloody stupid erse, like all my cousins."
I kiss him again, holding my lips to his for longer than before. "We'd better get dressed. Munro must want to come back to the camp."
"Aye, you're right. Though I think Munro likes hanging about in the wilderness by himself."
I consider that statement while we get dressed and return to where we'd laid out our sleeping bags. I've just crawled inside mine when Munro ambles out of the bushes. In the waning light of our fire, I can tell his hair is wet—and his clothes too, though they aren't dripping. He looks like he took a dip in the river with his clothes on, then waited a while before returning to camp.
The Wild Man has manners.
While I zip up my sleeping bag, the boys crawl into theirs. I hear Munro start snoring softly, and when I look at Errol, he has his eyes closed and soft breaths whisper out of him, sort of like mini snores. It's adorable. Fortunately, neither man snores loudly, so I fall asleep without any trouble.
In the morning, I wake to find Errol stoking the campfire.
"Aren't we leaving this morning?" I ask.
"We are. But we need to eat first. Munro volunteered to catch us some fish." He gives me a deviously sexy smile. "Someone needs protein after what she did last night."
"Whatwedid last night. You kind of participated too."
He smirks. "Aye, a wee bit."
I unzip my sleeping bag and rise to stretch my whole body. I yawn too.
"Ready for another day of searching?" Errol asks. "Or maybe I should ask if you're ready for more whitewater rafting."
"I do love that. If you'd asked me beforehand whether I wanted to ride the rapids, I probably would've said no. Turns out, I'm an adventure seeker." I find my shoes and a fresh pair of socks, then sit down to put them on. I'd slept in my clothes I wanted to wear today, to make sure I wouldn't slow down our progress. "I searched both sides of the canyon yesterday, using binoculars and my naked eyes. But I didn't see anything that might be the cavern Kincaid described."
"We'll keep searching. Still plenty of cliffs to examine."
Errol always makes me feel better every time I start to get bummed out and worry we've undertaken a pointless mission.
Munro returns a few minutes later, and after enjoying a nice breakfast, we douse the fire and load our gear onto the raft again. Errol and I climb in, then Munro gives our raft a push to get it into the river. He jumps in just in time.
And we're on our way again.
Twice, I get excited when I glimpse dark spaces on the cliffs that might be hidden caverns. But both times, when I look through the binoculars, I realize it's nothing but an overhang that casts a shadow.Damn.
The river had turned muddy just past where we'd slept last night. A few miles after that, Munro points out a canyon up ahead, on the right. "That's Lava Canyon. We're about to hit the rapid named after that feature. Ashley, I know you love whitewater, though this will be brown water rapids. Would you like to ride in front to get the full experience? Errol and I can move to the back to paddle us through the rough water."
"What?" Errol says. "No, she shouldn't do that. It's dangerous."
"I can handle it," I tell him. "Please, let me ride in front just this once. Munro wouldn't suggest that if he thought I'd be in danger."
"There's an alternative," Munro says. "Errol could stay up here with you. I can paddle by myself. I've done it before."
Errol glances back at me, seeming worried.
I smile and wave at him. Then I blow him a kiss.
His entire demeanor softens, and his lips relax into a smile. "All right, lass. Ride up here with me."
Munro carefully moves to the back, and I half crawl to the front at the same time. The raft only rocks a little. Now I sit beside Errol. He hands his paddle to Munro, who begins paddling with both hands, one on each side of the raft. He can't make that digging motion in the water like he and Errol usually do, but given his massive biceps, I have no doubts that he can maneuver us through the rapids with no problems.
"Hold on to your trousers, lass," Munro shouts as we enter the rapid. "The real fun is about to begin."
"This is a class four rapid," Errol tells me. "Yesterday, we went through some class fours and a class five. Lava Canyon will be no problem for you, since you're a seasoned veteran now."
He winks when he says that.
