Page 42 of Vacation Friends

“I’m fine,” she insisted, waving him off.

He nodded to her arm. “You got a little scratched up. We should have it checked out, just to be on the safe side. I’ll have another driver come by to take you and your fiancé back to the base camp and then to a local clinic.”

She glanced at her skin and saw the cuts. With adrenaline rushing through her, she hadn’t even noticed. She must have scraped by some bushes and rocks.

She wanted to argue again, to refuse the treatment. But she could see by the look in the guide’s eyes that he wouldn’t change his mind.

Finally, she nodded.

When she glanced at Josh to get his reaction, she saw his gaze was on Logan again.

Her throat tightened.

She understood why he might be attracted to the woman. She was captivating. But did he have to be so obvious? And did he have to do this right now of all times?

Maddie shifted her gaze to Brody. He was studying her from a distance. What was that behind his gaze?

She wasn’t sure.

Concern? Or was there something more? Suspicion maybe?

He was former special forces. Maybe he was seeing something in this situation that she couldn’t see herself.

Either way, she was happy to be walking away from this incident alive.

She didn’t plan on going on any more UTV tours again.

Not just this week, but never.

CHAPTER

SEVENTEEN

Josh had said little during the ride to the clinic. Every so often, he’d looked at Maddie and shook his head as if this was all her fault. She had words she wanted to unleash on him, but she held back. She was too angry to talk to him right now.

At the clinic, a doctor cleaned up her cuts and put bandages on them as she sat in a private room that smelled of rubbing alcohol and lemon disinfectant. She was given the all-clear to go and told that her accident could have been much worse.

He didn’t have to tell her that. She already knew. Her life had flashed before her eyes.

As the doctor had worked on her, Josh had stared at his phone as if being here bored him. Once in a while, that strange, mysterious look fluttered through his gaze—one that was full of secrets.

Enough was enough.

As soon as the doctor left the room and as they waited for a nurse to bring some paperwork, Maddie turned to him. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing.” He looked surprised that she’d spoken as he slipped his phone into his pocket.

Her hands dug into the thin pad of the examination table. “You seem preoccupied, and please don’t tell me you’re not because I know you are. Every time you look at your phone, you practically age ten years.”

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. Maddie waited for him to deny her statement again.

To her surprise, he said, “I didn’t want to burden you with anything. But the truth is I think we may have a corporate spy at the retreat.”

“What?” Certainly, Maddie hadn’t heard him correctly. Of all the things she’d thought he might say, that wasn’t one of them. “Are you serious?”

“I’m serious. I think someone here works for a competitor, and they’re trying to get their hands on proprietary technology we’re developing.”

“Why would you think that?” That was a big accusation to make without some serious evidence to back it up.

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