Page 50 of Trust In Love (Love Mark 2)

And she was. She sank another foot lower.

“Oh, shit.”

I was out of my saddle and on solid ground next to her in an instant. “It’s death sand,” I explained, reaching for her without moving a step closer in fear I’d tumble into the fatal depths with her and be unable to save her. “Hurry. Take my hands.”

She did, linking her fingers to mine without question or hesitation. I yanked her up, off her horse, and into my arms with so much force and momentum that we went sprawling backward onto the ground, Nicolette landing on top of me.

Her breasts slammed into my chest and her hair immediately clogged my face, while one of her knees caught me right between the legs.

“Owww!” I howled in pain.

“Oh God. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Oh no.” Nicolette scrambled off me, gushing, “Are you okay? I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

She grasped my shoulder with a light, worried touch. “Farrow?”

“Fine,” I managed to rasp, still seeing stars, and not the ones in the sky. “I’m fine. Just…” Trying not to retch, I motioned toward the death sand and croaked, “Horse.”

“What? Oh! Caramel.”

She suddenly abandoned me and went racing toward the death sand.

“Wait,” I yelled—er, at least tried to yell. In actuality, it probably sounded more like a whimper. “Don’t get too close to the—”

But she was already skidding to a stop and remaining on solid ground as she reached out to grab Caramel’s reins, where pretty much only the horse’s head and neck were still above the surface.

Holding on to the horse for dear life, Nicolette dug her heels into the sand and growled as she pulled. But instead of making any kind of headway in saving the animal, she began to skid forward, closer to the puddle of death.

“Nic—” I lurched up onto my knees, ignoring the pain that sliced up from my groin to the base of my skull, and half crawled, half leaped toward her.

My arms locked around her waist, and I held on, bracing my own sandals in the ground, but that didn’t work either. We both started sliding toward Caramel and her neck promptly disappeared.

In the distance, Mint whinnied in distress, making me think he’d run off in a panic and gotten caught in another vat of death sand.

“Shit,” I grunted, tightening my grip on Nicolette as we both edged toward the rim of the pit.

“Farrow,” she cried. “We’re both going in. You need to let go of me.”

Let go of her?

Like hell.

“I’ll let go when you let go,” I grunted.

“But Caramel…” she tried.

I shook my head, straining, as sweat poured down my face. This was madness. Utter madness. The two of us could not save Caramel this way. But I wasn’t about to let go of my hold until Nicolette gave up the reins.

She looked up at me, our faces only inches apart. In the glare of the moonlight, I could make out every detail. Her compassion. Her determination. Her fear. And I could tell she was perfectly willing to die right now, trying to save the damn horse.

“Nic.” I shook my head and gritted my teeth, because I was perfectly willing to die, trying to save her. “It’s just a horse.”

“It’s a life,” she argued.

So were we. But I didn’t have the time to explain that I thought saving two out of three would be smarter than letting all three of us perish. Nicolette dipped suddenly, and I realized she’d been pulled into the death sand.

“No.” My arms burned as I held on to her, but I couldn’t pull her free. “Nicolette.”

She met my gaze again. “We’ll be okay.”

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