Page 4 of Red Rabbit
“It’s rude to listen to other people’s conversations,” she said with a scowl.
“Sweetheart, you had him on speaker—I couldn’t help it.”
She grabbed her shirt and pulled it on but not before an attractive blush stained her cheeks.
“Fiance sounds like a real gem by the way,” I continued.
“Is this how you’re going to convince me to free you?” She demanded.
“Oh no honey,” I said condescendingly. “I’m going to get loose regardless. So you better decide real quick whether or not we’re working together out here.”
She chewed on her lip and my eyes dropped to her mouth. She was too preoccupied with her apocalyptic assessment to notice though. Finally she sighed.
“Do you even know how we’re going to get out of here?” She asked, looking bleak. “There wasn’t a sat phone in there. I was planning on going back down to the plane but…”
She gave me a once over and it was obvious since I was awake, she didn’t feel comfortable doing that now.
“Depends on the plane’s tracker,” I said, although now it was my turn to look concerned. “If it was damaged, or worse, doesn’t exist, then we’ll have to hike out.”
I pushed aside the space blanket and pulled myself to my feet, my head spun a bit and my back burned but otherwise I felt okay. I saw her stiffen across the fire, watching my every move like I was going to suddenly launch myself over the fire and attack her.
“Do you know this area?” She asked and I scoffed at the hope I heard in her voice. I shook my head and watched her face fallbefore I poked around the log for the right size stone I needed to break my cuffs. “What are you doing?”
“I told you—getting free,” I said.
I found the rocks I needed and was setting everything up when I heard her sigh. I looked over at her.
“What?”
She came over and dangled a flash of silver in front of my face.
This bitch.
“I did grab the key,” she said dryly.
I went to grab it and she yanked her hand back, looking nervous again. I saw on her face the moment my eyes turned deadly and I watched her throat move as she swallowed. She didn’t back away though.
“We work together to get out of this, agreed?”
“Agreed,” I said, trying not to grit my teeth.
She stared at me with eyes I realized were a beautiful shade of green and for a moment I forgot what I was agreeing to. Oh yeah, to not kill her. Jokes on her, I would never do that.
Iama murderer but it’s not like that.
She brought the key forward again and this time she let me take it. I unlocked the cuffs and as they dropped to the ground, I took a step towards her and she inhaled sharply.
“To answer your earlier question,” I said. “I am dangerous.”
I enjoyed the flash of fear that crossed her face but she still didn’t move. “But you saved my life, and I always settle my debts.” She looked down at the hand I offered her between us in a truce. She looked back up at me and grabbed mine in a firm grip.
“I’m Kaelin,” she said.
“Graham.”
She was staring at me intently with those big green eyes. Up close, those eyes were even more captivating—they were thecolor of the surrounding evergreens with flecks of gold like when the sun filtered in patterns through the leaves. If I hadn’t seen her stitch herself up without a tear and if she hadn’t dragged my unconscious body from a submerged airplane, I would have written her off as just another pretty face. There was a strand of hair falling out of place on her cheek that my fingers were twitching to brush it away and then I realized I was still holding her hand and dropped it. She seemed to shake herself and stepped back to walk around the fire, staring out over the lake with her hands on her hips.
At least she wasn’t falling apart on me and panicking.
