“Mitch? Where’s the car?”
He turned a slow circle and looked around. A couple of footprints in the powder, but nothing more. “Gone.”
“What do you mean ‘gone’?” She moved around the gate.
“Gone as in… Someone stole it.”
Disbelief flooded her chocolate eyes. “All the way up here?”
“Yeah, all the way up here.”
Her dazed eyes scanned the area. “Who would do that?”
“Hikers most likely. Someone who’d parked below and was cold and didn’t want to keep going. Could be anyone really.”
“But…but we’re stuck.”
He hated that little edge of panic to her voice. Hated even more that it got to him. “We’re only about eight miles from the lake. Three at most to the highway.” He pulled out his phone. No service. Shoving it back in his pocket, he started walking and gestured for her to follow.
She hustled to keep up. “You’re not planning to walk all the way to the lake, are you?”
“Not all the way.” Just until he could get a signal and call Ford. Or catch a ride with someone heading toward Tahoe. But in his pissy mood, he didn’t feel like sharing much more. She didn’t want to share anything. Hell, two could play that game.
They followed the twisting road down the mountain. It wasn’t steep, but several times Mitch had to wait for Simone to catch up. Luckily, though, she didn’t complain once, and he had to hand it to her, for a city chick—for one he knew was still freaked about running into another bear—she was holding her own. And that fact didn’t turn him on, dammit. He was done being turned on by her.
The closer they got to the highway, the more signs there were that others had been in the area. Snowshoe markings, cross-country ski tracks, footprints. By the time they reached the parking lot, tracks were everywhere, and they found three other cars parked near the road. But no sign of their SUV.
Mitch pulled his glove off and reached for his cell in his pocket. His fingers felt like ice as they closed around the small device. Still no service. Frowning, he looked up and around and spotted a man loading cross-country skis in the back of his pickup.
“My feet are killing me.” Simone plopped down on a rock to remove her snowshoes.
“Stay here,” he said to her.
He crossed to the red Toyota and introduced himself. The guy looked to be in his late fifties, rugged, a total local. Said his name was Judd.
“Are you heading toward the lake or Truckee?” Mitch asked.
“Incline Village,” Judd answered. “Just got out for a few hours of fresh air before the missus puts me to work. She’s always got jobs for me around the house.”
He smiled and winked in a way that said you know what I mean? But Mitch found himself scowling instead of smiling back. No, he didn’t know what the guy meant. And he probably never would. After Simone, he couldn’t see himself getting involved with another woman. Short-term relationships were the only way to go. Less damage to his ego that way. Definitely safer for his heart.
“Our rig was stolen while we were off hiking. Any chance my”—shit, what did he call Simone?— “friend and I could get a ride into town?”
The man glanced past Mitch toward Simone sitting on a rock. To her credit, she waved and smiled, putting on a good show. She’d obviously learned how to do that—pretend like nothing bothered her—and Mitch wondered why the hell he hadn’t picked up on that sooner.
Shaking the thought out of his head, he refocused on the man who was saving their bacon.
“Sure,” Judd answered. “Might be kind of tight, though. Truck’s only got two seats. As long as you and your girl don’t mind sharing, the more the merrier.”
Simone wasn’t his girl, and she never really had been. That was the problem here. For a minute, Mitch reconsidered. Freezing to death didn’t sound so bad, not when he was faced with having to cozy up to Simone so soon after she’d kicked his teeth in—again.
He worked up a smile for Judd. Only for Judd. “Perfect. We appreciate it, man.”
He turned and motioned for Simone to join them. Judd moved around the truck and climbed into the driver’s seat. When Simone reached Mitch’s side, she was breathless again, her cheeks rosy, her nose a red little ball in the center of her face he didn’t want to kiss, dammit.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I got us a ride.” He pulled the door open. “Judd, this is Simone.”
Judd smiled and leaned toward the steering wheel to get a better look at her. “Well, hello, pretty lady.” He looked past Simone to Mitch. “You caught yourself a nice one there. Go ahead and toss your gear in the back.”
Mitch pulled off his pack and put it in the bed of the truck. As Simone handed him her snowshoes, she whispered, “What am I, a fish?”
He put his snowshoes in the back with hers and shot her a warning look. “No, fish have hearts. We can leave you out here if you’d rather.”
She glared his way and moved toward the open door, but when she looked inside again, her eyes flared, just a touch. “There’s only one seat.”
“I told your husband it would be tight,” Judd said, flipping on the heaters.
“He’s not my husband.”
Mitch came around next to her and climbed into the truck. The way he figured it, the less this guy knew, the better off they’d all be. “Boyfriend.” He grabbed Simone’s hand and tugged her in to sit on his lap. “Always have to be so technical, don’t you, honey?”
She narrowed her eyes and looked down at him while he pulled the door closed. He fixed her with a silent look, telling her to deal with it.
The truck bounced along the snowy gravel as Judd backed out of the lot, then shifted into gear. Simone braced one hand on the dashboard and slid the other around Mitch’s shoulder to keep from falling off his lap. Heat seeped into Mitch’s skin even through the layers of clothing between them, and her scent filled his head, making him achingly aware of her cute little ass brushing his groin with every single rock of the vehicle.
Stay focused. She doesn’t want you, remember?
“You two up here vacationing?”
“We don’t look like locals to you?” Simone asked.
Judd slid a look over her spendy parka and new hiking boots, the ones they’d snagged from Kendrick’s house, which he kept around for guests. “No, definitely not locals. My guess is San Francisco. Maybe LA, but I doubt it.”
Simone tensed against his lap, and Mitch snaked his arm around her waist to hold her in place. The last thing he needed was for her to give this local any reason to tell people about the strange couple he’d picked up on the road. If someone was looking for them, he wasn’t leaving a trail. “Seattle, actually. We flew into Reno a few days ago and rented a car. Gonna be a bitch explaining how we lost it to the rental agency.”
“Eh, they have those things insured,” Judd said as he pulled out onto the highway. “You’ll be fine.”
Simone turned to look down at Mitch, and the surprise in her eyes told him she hadn’t expected him to be able to lie so easily.
See, sweetheart, you’re not the only one who can do it.
Tearing his gaze from hers, he looked out the windshield at the wet pavement. The hills on both sides of the road were all covered in snow, making the area look like a winter wonderland.
Her jacket was puffy and thick, but he could still feel her breast pressing sideways against his chest, could still feel her heat radiating into every inch of his body. Clenching his jaw, Mitch told himself to just get through this, then it would be smooth sailing.