Page 9 of His Stormy Seduction

Bonnie pauses up ahead, gaze locked on that same lofty vista as she surveys her prize through the viewfinder with laser-sharp focus. The sight is enough to make me momentarily forget how to breathe—all wild beauty and reckless intensity.

Then, a distant rumble of shifting earth has my head whipping around just as the ridge above us starts to fracture with an ominous crack.

"Bonnie, look out!" I bellow at the top of my lungs.

But the roar of the rockslide is already thundering to deafening levels, a deadly river of stone and debris tumbling straight for us.

I lunge for her, arms banding around Bonnie's waist as I throw us sideways in a desperate tackle. The world explodes into shrieks of tortured earth, a choking maelstrom of dust and shattered rock.

Chapter 5

Bonnie

The world seems to spin in a haze of thunderous noise and choking debris as Garrett's powerful frame slams into me, sending us tumbling as a thick cloud of dust and a barrage of rocks envelop the trail we’d just been standing on.

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the onslaught ends. The rumbling fades to an eerie, muffled silence broken only by the crunch of settling debris. Blinking the grit from my eyes, I find myself sprawled beneath Garrett's massive form—my body shielded from the worst of the rockfall by his quick reflexes.

"You okay?" His gravelly voice is laced with obvious concern as he scans me over.

I give a breathless nod, still trying to process what just happened. "Yeah, I... I'm fine. Are you—"

But the words die in my throat as he shifts off of me, and I finally take in our surroundings. What was once a narrow trail has vanished, replaced by a hellscape of shattered rock and rubble. The path back to the outpost is now completely blocked by a towering wall of boulders and scree—impassable without climbing gear.

"Shit," Garrett growls, seeming to realize the severity of the situation as he pushes upright. "This is exactly why I warned you about the risks up here. But you just had to insist on pressing forward for that perfect damn photo op."

My jaw clenches at his accusing tone, defenses instantly flaring. "How was I supposed to know this would happen? It's not like I can control freak rockslides."

"No, but you could've listened when I said it wasn't safe to come out here," he fires back, running an aggravated hand through his disheveled hair.

The condescension in his voice has my teeth grinding. I open my mouth to unleash a biting retort, but Garrett cuts me off with a curt shake of his head.

"Save it. What's done is done." He sweeps a critical eye over the treacherous slope of scree and rubble surrounding us. "We'll have to find another way off this ridge. There's no going back the way we came."

The anger drains from me as quickly as it flared, leaving me with a hollow, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Garrett's right—my bullheaded determination to get the perfect shot has led us straight into this perilous situation. And as much as I hate to admit it, if I'd listened to his warnings, we wouldn't be trapped out here facing God knows what.

Swallowing hard, I simply give a tense nod, falling into step beside him as we start trying to navigate the unstable, debris-covered terrain. The looming ridgeline seems to taunt us with its impervious presence, the constant threat of another deadly rockfall never far from my mind.

As we move, Garrett keeps up a steady stream of commentary, pointing out potential hazards and analyzing our surroundings for any signs of an alternate route off this mountain face. I can't shake the feeling that I've jeopardized both our lives because of my rash actions. Without Garrett's mountain expertise, I'd be utterly lost out here, a sitting duck just waiting to be picked off.

But even with his guidance, progress is agonizingly slow. By the time the sun begins to dip toward the horizon, we've advanced only a few hundred yards along the ridgeline. And with the waning light comes rapidly plummeting temperatures that have me shivering beneath my thin jacket.

"We need to find shelter soon," Garrett mutters grimly, glancing at the darkening sky. "Night temps can plummet below freezing up here, especially with that wind picking up."

My jaw clenches at the prospect of being trapped in these unforgiving heights as night falls. Exposed to the whipping gusts and bitter chill with no protection or way to start a fire...

It's a death sentence.

"Over there." Garrett gestures toward a dark crevice in the rock face up ahead. "That's our best option to get out of the open."

The opening doesn't look much bigger than a pantry, the jagged rocks seeming to swallow what little remaining light there is. An ominous tomb.

But one look at the determined set of Garrett's jaw tells me there's no negotiating. So I simply nod tightly and follow him forward.

By the time we reach the crevice, the last dregs of twilight are fading. I can't suppress a shiver of trepidation as Garrett ducks inside first, his bulk swallowed by the inky blackness within. The sound of shifting rocks and a low grunt is my only indication that he's moved farther back before his gruff voice calls out.

"All right, it's a tight fit but should give us just enough space to get out of the wind and insulate with our body heat. Carefully now..."

Drawing a fortifying breath, I steel my nerves and crouch low before edging into the crevice. The rock face scrapes against my shoulders with each shuffling inch forward, the confined space seeming to close in from all sides in a suffocating grip. My chest constricts as panic starts to flutter in my rib cage.

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