At Last (Lucky Harbor) Read online

  “Overshare. Ask Mallory when she last heard from Amy.”

  There was a muffled conversation, and Mallory took the phone. “I got a text from her half an hour ago. She was fine and settled in for the night.”

  “She’s staying the night up there? Alone?”

  Silence.

  “Cone of silence, Good Girl. We’re in the cone of silence. Just tell me.”

  “Overnight camping without a permit isn’t allowed,” she said primly.

  Shit. He hung up and glanced at the sky. Dark-ass black, which sucked. He pounded out Josh’s number next. “Problem.”

  “Are you bleeding?” Josh asked. “And by bleeding, I mean an aorta nick because I’m in the middle of something here. And by something, I mean sleeping. For the first time in thirty-six hours.”

  “I’m going to miss my inquiry in the morning.”

  “Ah,” Josh said agreeably. “So not an aortic bleed, but a brain leak. Have you lost your fucking mind?”

  “Amy went up to Sierra Meadows. Alone. I’m going after her.”

  “This is your job on the line,” Josh reminded him. “Job before chicks, man.”

  “That’s bros before ’hos. And irrelevant. I let her think I didn’t believe in her, that I didn’t trust her. I have to prove her wrong.”

  “By throwing away your livelihood?”

  “If Toby needed you, you’d do the same.”

  “I love Toby.”

  Matt blew out a breath. “Yeah.”

  There was a loaded beat of silence, but it didn’t last long. “Jesus,” Josh breathed. “You’re as bad off as Ty. Go. Go do what you have to. If you lose your job, I’ll hire you as my nanny.”

  Matt hung up, grabbed his emergency pack out of the back of his truck, and hit the trail. Ten minutes later, at midnight, his flashlight died. He pulled out his backup. He was halfway there and had downed his five-hour energy drink stash, and now his eyes were flashing and his heart was pounding from the caffeine. He hadn’t slept last night thinking about Amy and Riley. He hadn’t slept the night before because he’d spent the hours tearing up the sheets and expending some high-quality passion with Amy. And the night before that, he’d never hit the sheets at all because of the injured hiker.

  If anyone else had come out here in the forest in his condition, he’d think they needed a psych eval. Hell, he did need a psych eval.

  It was twelve thirty a.m. when his backup flashlight died. So much for the Energizer Bunny. He pulled out his iPhone. He had no reception but he did have a flashlight app. Apple was his new best friend.

  It was 1 a.m. when he got close. It was 1:05 when his cell phone died.

  Apple was relegated to below the Energizer Bunny on his shit list, a fact that was drummed home when he took a step off the trail to take a leak and fell.

  And fell.

  Amy had fallen asleep by her fire, but at some point she sat straight up, startled, heart pounding. She’d heard something. A loud something, a crash…

  Her fire had died down. She tossed more wood in, then grabbed her flashlight, surveying the forest around her.

  Nothing.

  Had she imagined it? She stood up and walked to the edge of the clearing, shining her light all around her. “Hello?”

  No one answered. That was good, she decided. Unless it was a hungry bear… She glanced around nervously at the thicket of trees in front of the ravine and was vividly reminded of what had happened last time she’d been here at night.

  A smile curved her mouth in spite of herself, and she moved closer, shining the light down, remembering how she’d fallen and been rescued by Matt, and—

  Oh, God. There was rustling down there, big rustling, and she immediately thought of that bear. But a bear wouldn’t be swearing the air blue.

  In Matt’s voice.

  Chapter 24

  Love is like swallowing hot chocolate before it’s cooled off. It takes you by surprise at first, but then keeps you warm for a long time.

  Matt?” Amy stared into the dark ravine with utter shock. “Is that you?”

  “No, it’s fucking Tinker Bell.”

  This irritated statement was followed by more rustling and more swearing.

  “What are you doing down there?” she asked, flicking her light in the direction of his voice, but not seeing much. “You told me not to go down that way, remember?”

  “Yes, Amy, I remember, thank you.” He paused. “I fell.”

  “Oh, my God. Are you okay?”

  He didn’t answer right away, and she panicked. “Matt?”

  “Yeah. I just jacked up my shoulder a little bit.”

  Fear joined the panic as she stared down into the inky black abyss. “I’m coming down right now.” Soon as she figured out exactly how to do that in the dark.

  “Don’t,” he called up to her. “I’m fine.”

  Ignoring that line, which was her own personal favorite bullshit line, she began to make her careful way down.

  “Go back, Amy. I’m coming up right now.”

  That’d be great, if it were true, but she couldn’t hear him moving so she kept going. This proved tricky as it was harder going down than it had been coming up. It was steep, and she needed both hands. She also needed her flashlight, so she stuck it down her top and into her bra. This mostly highlighted her own face but gave her enough of a glow that she could see.

  Sort of.

  “Amy, stop.”

  “I’m not leaving you here—” She broke off with a startled scream as her feet slid out from beneath her on the damp, slippery slope. She fell the last few feet and hit her butt.

  “You okay?” Matt demanded.

  “Sure. Lots of padding.” She rushed to his side.

  “You don’t listen,” he said. He was sitting up, his back to a stump, jaw tight. “Are you sure you’re not hurt?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is that your flashlight down your top?”

  “Yes again. Is your shoulder broken?”

  “Just dislocated, I think. Lean a little closer.”

  “Why?”

  “So I can see down your top.”

  Okay, so he wasn’t on his deathbed. “I’ll flash you when we get you back to my camp,” she promised, realizing he was breathing through clenched teeth. Pulling out her flashlight, she used it to take a good long look at him. Despite the chilly night, a drop of sweat ran down his temple, and he seemed a little green. “What can I do, Matt?”

  “You could flash me now as incentive.”

  “I’m serious.”

  He sighed. “I’m okay, just give me a minute.”

  Well isn’t that just like a man. “You shouldn’t have come.”

  “No shit,” he said. “And neither should you.”

  “I meant because you have your inquiry in the morning. In a few hours! Your job—” It all hit her, and she sank back on her heels to stare at him, waving her hand aimlessly. “God, Matt, you’re going to miss it. Why would you do this?”

  He took her hand, caressing her wrist with his thumb right over her pulse point. Bringing her hand to his mouth, his lips pressed against her palm. “I wanted to be here with you. Did you find what you were looking for?”

  “Well, yes, actually.”

  “I knew you would. That was your goal, and you’re not a quitter. You finish what you start. And I came to finish what we started.”

  Her heart caught. “We already finished. And for the record, I am a quitter. I quit everything and everyone. That’s who I’ve always been.”

  “Don’t bring Amy-the-teenager into this,” he said. “She quit a bad life and got herself a new one. She—” He shifted and broke off with a grimace of pain.

  “Oh, God, Matt. We need to—”

  “Here—Hold this,” he said, and using his good hand, lifted his arm to a certain angle. “Hold tight and don’t let go.”

  She wrapped her hands around his arm. His muscles were quivering. “But—”

  Matt jerked, and s