Page 30 of Love By a Landslide

She did not hesitate. Instead, she turned with blind faith and followed his lead as he stepped ahead and took her hand. He gripped tightly and carefully retreated at a speed that wouldn’tthrow either of them off-balance. Snaps and crashes terrorized them from behind. Jonathan hazarded a glance over his shoulder and instantly regretted his curiosity. A thick tidal wave of rocks, dirt, and tree limbs fell from the cliff above. Debris blanketed the narrow bluff, hiding it from view as though it had never been there to begin with. The excess of jumbled muck careened off the edge, roaring in its movements and cracking trees on the way down.

He didn’t stop. They weren’t yet out of the reach of the treacherous flow.

Jonathan eyed the trail up ahead. He picked up speed, pulling Lucy desperately behind him, refusing to release her hand. “We can’t stop. Up!” His bellow barely registered in his own ears, but Lucy understood his intent. They bounded forward, channeling their inner mountain goat as they managed stride after relentless stride up the switchbacks. Skipping parts of the snaking trail, they scrambled their way up the middle.

The cascading rain and rumbling ground made the earth under their feet doughy and unstable. It gave way with each step. The gathering of disrupted earth left behind mixed with the punishing rain.

To their right, a few trees that once stood mighty and proud toppled downhill, landing with a thud and swiping away the already waning switchbacks below.

Ohmygod! We aren’t going to make it!

Doubt—not so deep—inside Jonathan surfaced, and he nearly eased up on the urgency to move forward.

It’s going to happen again.

Lucy’s gasping and wheezing reached his ears. Her grunts and terrified expletives rang out every time she slipped and landed hard on her knees. But she didn’t let go. She clung to Jonathan’s hand like the lifeline that it was. She trusted him. Relying on her belief that he would get her through this shitstorm of a situation.

Fuck this. It won’t happen again.

He turned and jammed an arm underneath her armpit and wrapped it around her waist in a desperate effort to transfer some of his strength to her. The bolstering provided enough motivation for her to keep step with him as they went. Plants and rocks broke free around them, under them, as they trudged onward. The cusp of the switchbacks was in sight where trees thinned, making way for a solid, flat mass of exposed granite.

Almost there. Almost there.

With a final herculean dive forward, Jonathan pulled Lucy in tight to his chest while turning to land on his back. His pack absorbed most of the impact, and they skidded along the slick rock. Gripping his jacket in her fists, she buried her face underneath his chin, shaking in terror. His eyes darted around and assessed their surroundings. The slab they landed on stood above the surrounding trail, devoid of the threat from potential boulders or collapsing trees. The only thing falling where they lay was rain, and by that point, Jonathan couldn’t bring himself to care. She was the only thing worth considering at the moment.

Safe. She’s safe.

“Lucy,” Jonathan cooed to her, noticing that yelling wasn’t as necessary as it was just moments before. Her shoulders trembled, knuckles white, refusing to let go of him. “Sunshine. I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

He continued to lay there, allowing her body to mold against his, mumbling comforting utterances while caressing her back. The violence of her quaking eased. Quick, shallow breaths steadied as she pulled her face from the crook of his neck to look down at him. Her eyes were pools of liquid emerald, and her lips were close enough that he could feel the sweet puff of her breath on his. He tenderly slid away the wisps of sodden hair that splayed across her face and cupped her cheek. She pressedinto it, eyes closing sleepily like a cat receiving her first scratches after a long day. Even though the storm continued, the tears she shed were unmistakable. Something in Jonathan’s gut wrenched while bearing witness to this vibrant woman in the aftermath of such terror. With all the gentleness he could muster, and despite the futility of it all, he swiped away the salty trickle.

Thick lashes, spiky from water and sweat and tears, fluttered open. Her eyes locked onto his. And while the rain subsided and the earth ceased to rumble, Lucy leaned down and fluttered a light kiss onto Jonathan’s lips.

Chapter seventeen

Lucy

Ricocheting sounds still echoed in her ears. The raging shift of the earth and snapping of trees rattled her body, phantom sensations that had yet to dissipate. The heavy base of her pumping heart and the smothering roar of frantic breath accosted her from the inside.

She had been overcome with fear, seized by the panic of having barely escaped with her life. But then Jonathan’s calming words and gentle caresses tunneled through the haze. He brought her back from the brink of a meltdown, and the reality of their survival dawned on her. She lifted her head, their eyes met, and she was lost in them. She grasped around, searching for purchase. She needed something to cling to, a place to focus so she could somehow pull herself together.

With the gentle graze of Jonathan’s lips, Lucy felt the world go quiet. All her senses, once overwhelmed by a chorus of natural disaster, zeroed in on skin touching skin. There was nothing else, only the delicate contact and mingling of breath and dueling heartbeats.

The timid kiss had the opposite effect. Meant to extinguish the panic, it fanned the flames instead. She could feel his heart battling against his chest from where her breasts pressed against him. His hot breath played over her mouth, and the tip of his tongue teased the seam between her closed lips. She parted them, willingly succumbing to the heat that emanated from the contact.

She shifted so her legs straddled his waist. Her bulky backpack, still firmly hitched to her shoulders, should have been uncomfortable. Instead, the weight of it felt comforting, like a barrier insulating the two shell-shocked travelers from the disaster that came before. Lucy caught Jonathan’s lower lip in a fleeting nibble, and his approving groan was unmistakable. His hands were in her hair, pulling her more feverishly into the kiss. He tasted strikingly similar to the thunderstorm they had survived—like rain, electricity, and strength.

The absurd comparison manifested as a sharp giggle that rippled over her lips and onto his. Jonathan froze, and Lucy cursed her wandering mind.

He tastes like a thunderstorm? Of all the ridiculous things.

She couldn’t quell the next burst of laughter despite her best efforts. Her giddiness multiplied as she pulled away and sat up. Jonathan also seemed to struggle with keeping it together. His amber eyes, once filled with lust, crinkled at the corners. His belly rose and fell with subdued chuckles, and she bounced on top of where she sat.

Lucy sighed as their laughter halted momentarily then burst forth from them with renewed delirium. Lucy rolled off Jonathan onto the slab beside him. Tears streamed down their faces in a bout of wild hysterics. It was hard to catch her breath as she was wracked with seemingly endless cackles.

What the hell is wrong with me? I’m losing my mind.

“What happened?” Jonathan struggled to regain his composure, letting out a string of husky, rumbling laughs that sent heat to Lucy’s core. “I thought we were having a moment.” He sat up, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

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