The rock walls extending forward and out on both sides of the slender gap that served as the cave entrance saved them from the brunt of the building storm.
She hesitated before rushing in and turned to Zach. “If Rich could have made it here, this is where he would be hiding.”
Olivia dreaded looking in Zach’s eyes. What would she see in them? She wanted to cling to the smallest of hopes, but he could shatter those with one look.
He was a realist, after all.
“Let me go first.” Zach lifted his gun, gripped her hand and pulled her along behind him. “The shooters. They could have found the cave ahead of us. They might be waiting inside.”
* * *
“Stay here, just at the entrance.” Zach released her hand.
Olivia sucked in a breath as if she would counter him but then, surprising him, she nodded in agreement. The storm forced them to seek shelter and this cave served as their best option. But would he lead them inside to their deaths?
Or had Rich taken shelter here like she’d suggested?
“If the worst happens, you turn and run.” He pressed forward without waiting for her answer.
Sworn to protect.
Like that had worked so well.
He ignored his doubts and shoved his fears aside.
Entering the dark opening, he crept forward, weapon poised to fire, until his eyes adjusted to the darkness. If the shooters had taken shelter in the cave or waited for Olivia and Zach there, they could take Zach out before he was the wiser. He listened for movement, for breathing, anything at all, as he hedged the rock wall. The shooters weren’t the only possible threat. They could walk in on a hibernating bear.
Memories of this cave skittered through him. Rich had brought him here a few times in the summer. But that had been years ago and Zach wouldn’t count on his memory to guide him.
“Anyone here?” he asked.
Not that he expected someone with nefarious intentions to respond, but maybe Rich had come to hide here like Olivia hoped.
Zach had heard that hope in her words, and a sliver of pain skated over his heart. He had a feeling she would be disappointed.
She rushed by him, stumbling forward in the dark. “Rich! Are you in here?”
“What are you doing?” He grabbed her arm and pulled her back against him. “I told you to wait. Maybe the bad guys aren’t in here, but we could disturb a bear.”
“Rich!” Tears edged her voice.
But nobody answered.
She shifted forward and Zach caught her up in his arms to steady her. “I’m sorry, Olivia. So sorry.”
He never could have imagined he’d find her in his arms again. Good thing her bulky snowmobile suit served as a protective barrier. He didn’t want to feel her softness or be reminded of his attraction to her that obviously had remained even after a decade.
Zach would help her and support her now because she needed it, but he’d guard his heart against falling for her again—an act that would require all his strength. With his hands somehow in the silky copper locks that fell around her shoulders, and her distraught form leaning against him, Zach admitted that he could easily slip back into the past with her.
Except he couldn’t forget how she’d hurt him, asking him to give up his dream for her, then breaking it all off when he didn’t. He would use that now to stay free of any entanglement and continue to forge a future without her, though he found himself holding her in his arms once again.
Seeming to read his mind, she stiffened and moved away, swiping at her face. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
“Don’t worry about it.” He cut her off and moved deeper into the cave, holding his weapon tightly in his grip. Though if anyone waited here, they would already have made their presence known.
Zach and Olivia could have been killed in that one moment of indiscretion.
“The cave doesn’t go back very far,” she said. “Maybe a few yards. I doubt there’s a bear in here or we would know it by now. Bad guys, too. Besides, I can’t believe they could find this cave. Even in the summer it’s well hidden. Forget about it in the winter, especially with the approaching storm.”
“We don’t know if they scouted the area before their attack. We can’t be too careful.”
Zach’s eyes adjusted to the dim light spilling through the cave’s opening along with the cold and snow. The weather looked bleak out there and made him grateful they’d found this temporary shelter.
“Might as well get comfortable.” Olivia put her hand against the wall and slid down to the hard ground, her boots scraping dirt and pebbles. She wrapped her arms around herself.
The cave’s temperature was much warmer than outside, but even wearing the snowmobile garb, he could feel the cold seeping in. Zach frowned. They had nothing with which to make a fire. He wasn’t sure they’d want to risk giving themselves away even if they could build one.
Remaining standing, he watched the entrance in case any moment one of the men who had been shooting at them entered the cave to shelter from the storm, too. He and Olivia could have been followed.
He glanced down at her. She’d leaned her head against her knees, hair spilling over her back and shoulders. He wanted to dispel the memories and the sudden longing to hold her, but just as he would have looked away, she lifted her head, her cinnamon eyes capturing his gaze.
“I was shocked to see you today, Zach. The men shooting at us, that whole thing was a shocker, too. But you appeared out of nowhere.”
Yeah, he got that. He hadn’t been expecting to see her either. It was here in the Siskiyous that he’d first fallen in love with her one summer. But seeing her in the flesh today? His throat grew tight.
“Seeing you surprised me, too, but when you think about it, it makes sense,” he said.
“Right. You were Rich’s best friend, maybe you still are. But obviously you came here to meet him for some reason. He didn’t know I was living here and acted downright put out to see me.”
Zach shifted then leaned against the rock wall. He’d watch the entrance another hour. If the men didn’t find the cave within that time, he doubted they would. Besides, they likely had their own supplies to set up a shelter or found an empty cabin somewhere. An empty house like the Kendricks’.
If not, they’d die in this weather.
“How did he seem?”
Olivia stretched her legs and leaned against the wall behind her, resting her head. “Something was wrong. I knew that I should have paid more attention. But I was so glad to see him and thought maybe whatever was disturbing him had to do with the job he left. So I dreamed that he could stay here and work with me at Wilderness, Inc. for a while. Coop even said he could
