Page 2 of Beyond the Rules

“Made it.” Another dazzling, devastating, self-assured smile. “I’m slow butreliable.”

He grabbed a backpack out of the ATV’s cargo net and slung it over his shoulder. Then he reached for a pair of aluminum poles, lengthened them and locked them in place with a few strategic clicks.Crutches?

I wasn’t sure if I could trust my eyes, or my brain for that matter. I felt pretty woozy at the moment. As he pushed off the seat, he looked too fit to need crutches. Regardless, he fitted his buff upper arms in the cuffs, clutched the handgrips and maneuvered his waytome.

The darkness hit me without warning. A flash of the old nightmare smacked my senses. The water closed in over my head and the cold dark pulled at my feet like a silent monster. I couldn’t breathe. I was drowning again, sinking into the chilling depths of a cavernous ocean. My brother’s blurry face hovered just beyond the surface, a ghost reaching out from the past. His hand broke through the watery wall. I reached up, but my fingers slipped through Daniel’s. In that instant, he was gone. I sank down, ears popping, head pounding, the last bubbles of air escaping from my mouth and rising toward the refractingsunlight.

“Hold on.” Another hand crashed through the waves and caught me. “Come on, girl. I need you awake. Stickwithme.”

I opened my eyes and found myself back in Montana. No ocean trying to drown me here, no flashback, only the mountains surrounding me, and the striking hunk who held me in his arms. The steady sound of his heartbeat filled my ears. The scent of him, fresh cut wood, loam, and insect repellent filled my lungs. He looked down at me, green eyes alert as he did a quick check—pupils, pulse,breathing.

“You’re back.” His smile lit up his eyes and raised a pair of devilishly arched eyebrows on his forehead. “Looks like you hit your head pretty hard, but no worries. I’vegotyou.”

The man’s confidence, his attitude, his poise—everything about himreassuredme.

“I’m Tanner Vasquez,” he said in a soft, melodic voice as he helped me sit up. “Do me a favor. Can you move your toes and fingersforme?”

I did as he asked. Things felt achy and rusty, but everythingworked.

“Excellent.” He stretched his fingers before my face. “How many doyousee?”

“Three?”

“Ding, ding, ding. Right answer.Youwin.”

My prize was more of his smile. “Are you like a doctor orsomething?”

“No, but I trained as a corpsman. Does thatcount?”

Trained as a corpsman? That meant Navy. Or the Marines. Good news. My luck might still hold up. Something about this guy reminded me of my brother. His rapport. It was as if he was used to finding plane-wrecked women in his backyardeveryday.

“Let’s take a quick look.” With a gentle hold, he turned my hands around. The single line between his eyebrows deepened. “Ouch. This looks like it could hurt alittle.”

He grabbed a bottle from his pack and poured some water over my palms. The shock hit me full on. I’d crashed. Crashed! The shakes ramped up, the sobs rose up from the bottom of my lungs, and a surge of scalding tears stungmyeyes.

“Hey, hey, look at me, sweetheart.” He tilted up my face and met my gaze. “That’s right. Eyes on me. Let’s get you warm.” He took off his jacket, put it over my shoulders and rubbed my arms, working up a measure of heat into my limbs. “You’re okay. What’syourname?”

“Nina,” I mumbled and then gave myself a mental kick in the ass for using my realnickname.

“Pretty name.” He pulled out some wipes from his backpack and ran a cool, clean-smelling towel over my face, soiling the white tissue with brown and red smudges. “Can you take a few deep breathsforme?”

I focused on his eyes and took a breath and thenanother.

“Good, keep breathing.” He ran his fingers over my body in a practiced trajectory that told me he was assessing me for head, neck and spine injuries, then moved on to palpate my torso for internal bleeding. He made a move to pull the strap of the laptop case over my head, but I clungtoit.

“Hey, no problem, you can keep it if you like.” His hands worked around the case. “You’re on the ground now.You’resafe.”

Safe? No, not really, not yet, but he didn’t know a thing about that. His competence convinced me that he was indeed a trained corpsman. His kindness toward a total stranger astounded me. Where I came from, people got beaten up and left for dead in the streets and no one cared. One other thing. A guy with a smile like his? He couldn’t be a ruthless, violent thug like the ones who’d been chasing me.Noway.

I flinched when his hands probed mylowerleg.

“Sorry.” He flashed me a reassuring glance before he continued with a light, delicate touch. “It’s probably a sprain. The hospital will figureitout.”

“No hospital,” Isnapped.

“I’m very good, sweetheart.” His mouth curved into that delicious grin. “But I don’t have X-rayvision.”

“I can’t go to the hospital. No police either. Understood?” I spoke quickly, too quickly, thinking about the brutes hunting me, of what they would do if they found me, of what they would do to this Good Samaritan if they found him with me. “I think you shouldleave.”

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