Mitch
* * *
That kiss had changed everything.
I’d got Zeus moving again, and we rode in silence for maybe twenty minutes before I halted Zeus near a cluster of rocks. Charlie needed water and food. Hell, I needed a moment to get my head straight.
When I’d found Zeus, Bella’s supplies had still been in the saddlebag, thank God. Dried meat, nuts, crackers, and a canteen that was three-quarters full. Charlie and I ate standing in the moonlight, neither of us saying much, yet the looks that passed between us said a hell of a lot.
That kiss had confused the hell out of both of us.
When we mounted again, I settled Charlie behind me to provide better balance for Zeus. At least, that's what I told myself. Truth was, I needed her out of my line of sight before I did something stupid like kiss her senseless.
But she wrapped her arms tight around my waist and pressed her cheek against my bare back, and every breath she took, I felt it. Every shift of her body when Zeus adjusted his gait over the rough terrain sent awareness shooting through me.
I should've been focused on the route ahead, on making the most of the cool night air and the clear light from the moon and stars. I should've been calculating distance, checking landmarks, and figuring out where the heck we were so I could plan our path back to the station.
Instead, all I could think about was the taste of her lips and the way she'd kissed me back, as if she needed me as much as I needed her.
Which was a problem. A big one.
Because once we got back to the ranch, she'd head back to her world, and I'd still be here, working through the wreckage of mine.
A dull roar rumbled from somewhere in the distance, and relief flooded through me. Rushing water.
Charlie eased away from my back and pressed her warm palm on my shoulder. "Do you hear that?"
"Yeah." I steered Zeus toward the sound. "A waterfall."
"Oh, wow. I hope we can wash in it. I don't think I've ever felt so filthy in my life."
And yet she was still the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen.
"And that's saying something," she continued. "I work in dirt nearly every day." She giggled, and the sound was so sweet and unexpected that heat shot straight through me.
Christ. I was responding to her like some randy teenager who'd never touched a woman before. My body didn't care that wanting her was a spectacularly bad idea. It just wanted her. All of her. In every way I could have her.
The urge to pull her close and kiss her until neither of us could think straight, and to do a hell of a lot more than just kiss, was killing me.
The vegetation changed as we rode toward the waterfall. Scraggy scrub gave way to river gums and native grasses. The air grew cooler and damper. We were close.
Charlie tried to peer around my shoulder. "Can you see it yet?"
"No. Nearly there, though."
I guided Zeus through a stand of ghost gums, and the billabong appeared like a mirage. Clean water. Finally. The cascade tumbled over a limestone outcrop, falling a good ten feet before crashing onto smooth rocks below. Ripples caught in the silver moonlight, and the surface glittered as slick as mercury.
"Oh, thank God," Charlie breathed. "It's beautiful. Is it safe to go in?"
"Hell, yes."
As I angled Zeus toward the water's edge, a few landscape features jogged my memory. That distinctive split in the rock to the left of the waterfall, the way the gums grew in a crescent around the eastern bank. I'd been here before. Years ago. Twenty years, maybe more. It hadn't changed much.
At least, now I knew where we were.
We were still days away from the ranch, but it was a start.
I pulled Zeus to a stop a few feet from the water's edge and swung my leg over, dismounting. I placed my hands on Charlie's waist. "Come here."