I wrapped the other blanket around my waist and stepped outside, squinting against the sunlight.
“Yes, it’s us.” I turned to face the group of about half a dozen people.
Most of them I didn’t recognize, likely guides or others experienced with the local geography. But I spotted Cerise’s mother immediately, somehow dressed impeccably without a hint of sweat deep in the jungle.
Her gray hair was pulled back in a severe low bun, not a strand out of place, and her shrewd blue eyes evaluated me harshly.
“Where is my daughter?” she asked.
“I’m here,” Cerise said, stepping up beside me.
I subtly brushed her hand, trying to steady her. Her mother’s eyes darted down and back up again, missing nothing. “Why on earth are you unclothed, Cerise? And with your colleague? While you were supposed to be on a research expedition?”
Cerise was frozen, as if she didn’t know what to say.
I stepped forward. “Well, Doctor Thornheart, we were fortunate enough to come across this hot spring, so we washed our clothes and hung them to dry.”
Her eyes moved toward me. “I wasn’t asking you, Doctor Pendragon,” she spit out, as if it offended her to even say my name.
But before I could respond, someone else called my name from the back of the group. “Liam!”
My older sister. I hadn’t noticed her standing with the others. She rushed forward, her dark brown ponytail swishing along her back, and pulled me into a hug. “I was so worried about you. I thought you were lost and dead in the jungle forever.”
I wrapped an arm around her, pulling her tight. My sister was the only family member I was close to. Eight years my senior, I looked up to her tremendously. “It’s good to see you, Ellie.”
“Are either of you injured?” asked one of the guides. “We have supplies and a first aid kit.”
I pulled out of the hug. “We’re all right. No injuries. Cerise here is an excellent healer.”
I made sure to look pointedly at her mother when I said that. She glared daggers at me, then turned to Cerise.
“Hurry and get dressed,” her mother ordered. “How embarrassing to find you naked. And withhimof all people.”
I tried to hide it, but I know I flinched. Cerise said something back to her, but I couldn’t hear her words. Whatever it was, it increased her mother’s irritation, evidenced by her long sigh and the way she put her hands on her hips.
Ellie tugged on my hand, pulling my attention to her. “Did something happen between you two?”
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I whispered, letting go to grab my own clothes off the tree branch.
And just like that, our whirlwind fling—or whatever it was—was over. There was no more time to talk about it, no time to hold each other. To kiss and explore each other’s bodies. To laugh and tease and get to know each other even more.
We were headed back to the real world.
And I was devastated.
Chapter 25
To Try
Cerise
My mother was here. In the jungle with the rescue team…and Liam. Of course I wanted to be rescued, but she was the last person I expected—or wanted—to see right now.
My emotions were at war within my chest. I’d seen the way Liam flinched when my mother insulted him. How he looked at me with longing, knowing what was about to happen. And I didn’t know what to do or how to stop it.
I needed time to think. To process. There were too many people around and I could hardly hear my thoughts, overwhelmed with the sudden shift of the morning. One minute, we were snuggling in the tent, kissing and holding each other, the next my damned mother appeared out of nowhere. As if she was haunting me.
I wanted so badly to stand up to her. But the moment she began to chastise me, it was like I was a child all over again, seeking her approval no matter the cost. I just needed to get out of here. To get home and settle back into my routine. Then everything would be all right.