Bold Love by Lauren Accardo

Author:Lauren Accardo [Accardo, Lauren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2022-01-25T00:00:00+00:00

chapter fourteen

Bee shifted, a barely audible moan escaping her throat. Denny’s arm had fallen asleep half an hour ago, but he’d have rather lost the limb than woken her up. She promised she’d stay awake for a movie, but Lloyd and Harry had barely left for Aspen before her eyelashes fluttered and deep, heavy breaths passed her full lips.

Sleep eluded him. He’d dozed off a few times last night in the woods when he couldn’t fight it off any longer, but every snapped twig, every owl call, drove his heart back into his throat. When he did drift off, he dreamed about the headlines. FORMER NFL PLAYER DENNY TORRES EATEN BY A BEAR.

He’d seen the documentaries. He knew you didn’t mess around with nature.

He leaned cautiously toward the coffee table, snagging one of Bee’s discarded pizza crusts. She’d scampered around the kitchen, delivering him a bowl of cereal on the couch while she prepared the rest of the meal. Frozen pizza, tater tots, bagels with cream cheese, leftover rice with sriracha. She plied him with water, refused to bring him any beer, and as soon as she’d eaten half a slice of pizza herself, had promptly conked out.

He breathed deep, savoring the scent of his Molton Brown bodywash on her skin. He’d nearly fainted in the shower—from the hunger, the dehydration, the radiating pain in his shoulder—but afterward, seeing her in his big T-shirt and gym shorts, hair wet from their bathroom romp, he’d almost suggested abandoning the food for another go-around.

When he’d headed out for his hike the day before, he hadn’t considered telling anyone. He wanted Bee to join him, but it never occurred to him that anyone should know where he was. He’d been on his own his entire adult life, never having to check in with anyone outside of the coaching staff of whatever team he played for at the time. He heard his dad’s voice saying, You’re a big strong guy, you don’t need help. And he hadn’t.

Until he slipped on that trail.

The night before had been chilly, but he’d never expected frozen conditions. He wanted to see the view from the ledge, but instead, his foot caught the ice at a weird angle, and he slipped, landed on the hard ground shoulder-first, before rolling off the edge of the trail into a bed of pine needles below.

He thought he remembered which direction he’d come from, but he’d strayed from the marked path to get to the ledge, and two hours later, the sun had disappeared. He knew he couldn’t progress in the dark. He hunkered down using pine boughs to cover himself and settled in until daylight.

“I fell asleep.” Bee’s low, throaty voice drifted up from where her head rested in the crook of his shoulder.

“You sure did.”

She pushed against his arm, sending a shock of pins and needles through his limb. He winced, and her brow knit. “Oh God. Was I lying on your bad arm?”

“No,” he said. He flexed and stretched his hand.

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