Page 61 of Colton's Second Chance
“I know. It just sucks!” Eli grimaced, and Noelle wrapped a comforting arm around his waist.
After another moment of staring at the swirling blizzard, Noelle asked, “Didn’t your cousin’s girlfriend, Hetty, say she was a pilot for your family’s adventures business?”
Eli gave her a side look. “She is. Why?”
“Any chance you could convince her to take us to Grossford Lake?”
He shrugged. “I’m sure she would, but she’s grounded during this mess same as official state trooper pilots.”
“But state troopers could be tied up with weather-related rescues, medical emergencies and the like long after the storm breaks. But if we’re watching the weather maps, and she’s ready to go the minute the weather is clear enough to get airborne…”
“She flies a seaplane. We’d be constrained by the amount of ice on the lakes, both here and at Grossford. If the lakes are frozen—”
Noelle groaned. “Right. Of course.”
“But she’s licensed for helicopters, too, and RTA has a contract with a local helicopter rental company. Question is, would they sign off on her taking up one of their birds under these conditions, even if most of the bad weather has passed.”
“So we continue to sit here andwait?” Noelle’s tone mirrored the impatience and anxiety that wrenched his insides in knots.
“I’m afraid so. We can keep watching the weather maps and getting reports from the state troopers on road conditions, but even if we can drive north and get closer to Grossford Lake, we’ll still need a floatplane to get to the cabin.”
Eli turned back to his coffee table where the large paper map had been unrolled, the curling corners anchored with books. He stabbed the map with a finger. “This doesn’t show any private roads or logging trails around Grossford, and it’s the most up-to-date GPS-verified map the Alaska State Troopers have.”
Noelle used a hair band from her wrist to tie her hair back in a ponytail. “I’ll make coffee.” She paused and faced him again. “Unless you think conditions won’t change before sunrise, and we should try to get some sleep now? Be rested and ready for what may be a long difficult day tomorrow?”
She’d posed it as a question, down to the rising inflection of her voice, but he knew her well enough to know it hadn’t been an inquiry. She was right, as she so often was. Nothing could be done tonight, while snow piled up and the winds howled.
And when he looked at her, her face free of makeup, her hair back and her eyes bright, waiting for his response, Eli couldn’t think of anything he wanted more than to hold Noelle in his arms.
Whether they slept or not… Well, that was another matter entirely.
Chapter 21
The howl of the wind and shaking shutters outside Eli’s bedroom window kept Noelle awake long after Eli finally dropped off to sleep. With his arms around her, his slow steady breaths against her cheek, she cuddled close to him under layers of bedding.
Some undetermined time later, she roused to the nuzzle of lips on her ear, toes stoking her calf.
Not a bad way to be woken, she decided with a jaw-cracking yawn. She rolled closer to his solid warmth and muttered, “What time is it?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care. Still dark.” Eli’s voice was thick with sleep and…lust.
His hand slid down her back to cup her bottom and tug her closer to him. In response, she hooked a leg over his hip and raised her chin so he could drop kisses on her lips.
Like a match to kindling, one kiss set them both aflame. He opened his mouth to hers and their tongues clashed and parried. Her hands found the draw string of Eli’s sleep pants and untied it, roamed inside and earned a moan of satisfaction and contentedness.
Her limbs tangling in the sheets and blankets, she wrapped herself around him, taking pleasure in his every touch, until—
Eli’s cell phone rang.
The sound sliced through their heat and doused cold water on their passion, a reminder of the outside world and the serial killer still on the run. When Eli hesitated for a heartbeat, givingevery indication he might ignore the call and finish what he’d started, Noelle pushed him away. “That’s bound to be important. Answer it.”
Resignation and agreement filled his face, and he snatched his cell phone from the bedside table. “Colton. What’s happened?”
The response came through loud enough for Noelle to hear a male voice say, “We have an ID on the woman kidnapped last night from Shelby. Her name is Grace Galloway, and she works at Rise ’N Shine, a bakery downtown near where she was taken.”
Noelle stilled, her chest clenching. Rise ’N Shine was the bakery where she and Eli bought the bread they’d taken to Sasha’s party. She remembered a pretty young woman with dark hair and gray-green eyes working behind the counter. Not bright blue like the Coltons, but apparently close enough for Scott when targeting the rare coloring in the small town.
“Her roommate called the police worried about her when she didn’t come home on time and the storm broke,” the voice on Eli’s cell continued. “When they showed the roommate the security footage of the abduction, she made a positive ID.”
