Heart pounding, she sat there for a moment, the nightmare still dragging at her, her body shaking, the pain in her ankle almost unbearable.
A voice came from the other side of her door, made her jump.
“Naomi? Are you okay?” It was Chaska.
She tried to get her good leg beneath her, but her injured one was bent in an awkward position that made any movement excruciating. “I fell.”
“Do you need help?”
She tried again to stand but only succeeded in hurting herself. “Yes.”
The door opened, and Chaska stepped inside, wearing only climbing pants, his chest and feet bare. He stepped over to where she sat and knelt down beside her, his brown eyes dark as he took in her predicament.
She could only imagine what she looked like sprawled on the floor in her nightgown, all bruises and bandages, her hair a mess. She found herself babbling an explanation. “I had a bad dream. I was running from them and … I just forgot. I tried to get up, but …”
How could she have been so stupid?
He nodded as if what she’d said made perfect sense to him. “Let’s get your leg straightened out, and then I’ll help you up. I can’t guarantee it won’t hurt. Ready?”
She nodded, steeling herself.
“Try to relax. Let me do the work.” He took her calf and lifted her ankle off the floor. “Turn toward your right side a little. Just like that.”
She did as he asked, squeezing her eyes shut against the pain and fighting not to moan, her fingers digging into the wooden floor.
And then it was over, her injured leg straight now.
In a single motion, Chaska scooped her into his arms and lifted her off the floor.
Startled, she reached around his neck and held on, his skin warm and smooth beneath her palms, his body hard, the scent of sage surrounding her.
“I won’t drop you.” He set her down on the bed and sat near her feet. “Can I get you anything?”
“No—and thanks. I bet you never had to rescue anyone from the floor before.”
He reached out, wiped the tears from one cheek with his thumb, his touch leaving a trail of heat. “You’re crying—and shaking like a leaf.”
She hugged her arms around herself. “The nightmare. It seemed so …real.”
He stood, pulled the Pendleton blanket from the foot of the bed, and wrapped it around her, his hands lingering on her shoulders. “What you’ve been through would give anyone nightmares. It will be with you for a while.”
His quiet understanding, offered without judgment, cut short her next thought, which had been to blame herself. Somehow, he made it seem okay, as if what she’d done hadn’t been stupid at all.
She reached down with both hands to rub her shin, the pain in her ankle still sharp. “I hope I didn’t re-break it.”
He slid his hand over her shin as if examining her, stopping just above her bandages, his touch sending sparks across her skin. “Unless you felt or heard something snap, you’re probably okay, but you might want to call your doctor in the morning.”
“How did the rescue go? Is everyone okay?”
“We got the climber down. He wasn’t hurt, so it went quickly.”
“I’m glad.”
A breeze caught the curtains, made them dance, cool mountain air wafting through the room. For a moment, neither of them spoke, silence stretching between them. It wasn’t like any silence Naomi had known. It wasn’t awkward or uncomfortable despite the strangeness of the circumstances—an attractive man she barely knew sitting bare-chested on her bed in the middle of the night. Nor did she feel rushed to fill the space with idle conversation. Time passed in heartbeats.
When at last he spoke, his voice was soft and soothing. “You were alone out there in the forest, but you’re not alone anymore. You have me and Winona and Shota. You’ve got the entire town of Scarlet Springs behind you. The people are talking about doing a fundraiser for you to help you get your life back to normal again. I was going to ask you about that in the morning.”
“A fundraiser?” Tears pricked Naomi’s eyes at this news, gratitude at war with that same sense of unease she’d felt at the hospital when Ellie and the other nurses had shown up with clothes for her. “Why would they do that?”