Page 76 of The Merger

He looked up from his task and saw me fighting a bone-rattling tremble. Setting down the sticks, he opened his arms wide. “Come here, Sunshine. My arms are big enough to hold you and start a fire.”

I wasn’t going to argue with him and try and tough it out, and also after the crash I longed to be close to him. He rubbed his hands up and down my arms. “You are not allowed to get hypothermia.”

“Then you better get that fire going,” I chattered.

He picked up his sticks and started working on creating a spark again. “You probably want to know how I knew how to land the plane.”

I nodded, and he continued to speak. “You know I’m scared of flying because of my uncle. I don’t like to let my fear rule me. When I first started my career, I tried to drive to all of my assignments. As you can imagine, that made it difficult when I was working all over the country. Then I met this amazing woman one night in Vegas, but she ran off the next morning before I got a chance to speak to her. The thing about anxiety is that an attack will tell you all of the things lacking about you. After I convinced myself the huge jet I sat on wasn’t going to crash, I was able to focus on how I didn’t deserve her. But, I had a moment of clarity, and instead of going straight to her, I knew I needed to become the man she deserved. One who didn’t melt down the moment he was on a plane.”

I turned in his arms and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “You were never not good enough for me. If anything, I was the one who needed to grow up.”

“Either way, I decided to conquer my fear of flying.”

I blinked several times. “That was your fear conquered?”

“You should have seen me before. It was getting to the point where I wasn’t sure I’d be able to fly at all. I decided if I at least knew how to handle an emergency, I’d be able to fly without panicking. I signed up for flight lessons, but I couldn’t manage to get up in the air. I did, however, spend hours and hours in a flight simulator practicing emergency landings.”

“Well, that explains how you managed to save us. I don’t think this experience will do much for your fear of flying.”

“Oh, I’m never flying again. You either. My fear of flying now extends to you.”

I looked at his face and could see he was one hundred percent serious. Not that I was chomping at the bit to get on another plane any time soon, but I still wanted to travel the world, and traveling by ocean liner wasn’t really done anymore.

More smoke swirled out from where he was rubbing the sticks together. A small ember formed and he gently placed it on the pile of kindling he built up next to the sticks he was rubbing together. He coaxed it into smoking and a small flame appeared. I wanted to shout in glee, but I was afraid of jinxing his progress.

When the bundle of kindling had more flames coming from it, he transferred it to the stack of logs he’d piled while I was gathering material for our bedding. He was relentless, and eventually, all of his efforts paid off with a small fire. My collection of pine boughs and moss was laid out nearby.

We laid the pine boughs out on the ground and covered them with the moss. With the fire roaring, Stryker laid down on the pallet and patted the spot next to him. I snuggled up to him and tried to relax. The aches and pains from the crash were starting to present themselves. My head throbbed, and my stomach rumbled. We might have managed to solve one problem, but several more were waiting to challenge us.

ChapterTwenty-Nine

Stryker

Istroked Sabrina’s hair as she trembled in my arms. “How does your head feel?”

“It hurts,” she croaked.

“Any dizziness or nausea?” The skin was split next to her hairline and bruised.

She shrugged, which wasn’t a comforting answer. “Sunshine, answer the question,” I pressed.

“A little, but I’m not sure if it’s from the bump on my head, or because I missed breakfast.”

“Shit, you’ve not eaten all day?” Neither had I, but growing up with a single mom struggling to make ends meet, there was more than one time I lied and told my mother I’d eaten at a friend’s so she wouldn’t skip dinner. Sabrina might have grown up with a single parent as well, but while I got all of the emotional support I needed, she had all of the physical care. I wanted to make sure after we made it off the mountain she never lacked either ever again.

“Let’s not focus on that now. We can’t look for anything until the morning, so let’s just survive the night.” She took a deep breath, and when she spoke her voice sounded tiny and scared. “Why did he do it?”

“The pilot?”

She nodded her head, then winced.

“You need to rest. Without any painkillers you need to try and sleep for a while. But only for a little while. I’m going to have to wake you up periodically in case you have a concussion,” I diverted her.

She yawned. “That’s old advice. Doctors say it’s safe to sleep with a concussion now, but if I have one it’s mild. You can’t wake me up several times tonight, because we don’t have a way to set an alarm. You’d have to stay awake all night long.”

“You need me.”

“I do, and that means I need you to sleep too. I don’t know how to survive out here on my own,” she argued.

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