I watched, fascinated as he expertly wrapped a small icepack around the ankle and then secured it so it wouldn’t be falling off anytime soon.

  He was confident and capable, even when he was doing something he probably hadn’t done in quite a while.

  Cooper shoved my hiking boot into his backpack when he was finished wrapping my ankle.

  “I think I’m going to need that,” I told him, confused by his actions.

  He shook his head as he removed his Glock from his waistband, checked the safety, and added it into his backpack. “No, you won’t.”

  Okay, so maybe Cooper was a man of few words, but he was going to need to explain how I was going to traverse the rocky terrain without something on my foot.

  “You’ll have to handle my pack,” he said as he pulled a bottle of ice-cold water from his backpack and handed it to me. “Drink some of that before we take off. You look tired, possibly thirsty, and overall like you’re completely done with this entire expedition today.”

  I was all three of those things, and his water tasted so damn good. What little water I’d had left for this long return journey hadn’t exactly been cold.

  “Put this on when you’re done,” he rumbled as he passed me a sweatshirt from his pack. “It’s going to get cooler now that the sun is going down and you won’t be moving around much.”

  Again, I didn’t argue because I was a little cold. I was wearing a pair of jeans, but my top was fairly thin and short-sleeved.

  It would make absolutely no sense to quibble about something I wanted, even though his commands might be slightly high-handed.

  The moment I had the garment on, I knew it had to be Cooper’s. Even though I was far from tiny, I was practically swimming in the sweatshirt.

  Once everything was back into the pack, he zipped it and slung it over my shoulder. Then he turned around, and bent down as he said, “Jump on.”

  What? He didn’t seriously think that…

  I frowned. Letting him bandage up my ankle was one thing, but climbing onto his back and literally riding him to the parking lot was another.

  “Cooper, you can’t possibly piggyback me for two miles,” I insisted. “You’re a big, strong guy, but that’s just crazy. I’m not exactly a delicate featherweight.”

  “I’ve lugged a lot heavier weights for several miles,” he said with a touch of humor in his voice. “I’m perfectly capable, Torie. Hop on. We’re starting to lose a lot of daylight.”

  Just the thought of giving my painful ankle a break was so damn tempting.

  Maybe I can let him haul me around…just for a little while? Maybe I can handle it since I’ll be on his back?

  It would definitely help both of us get back to the parking lot faster.

  Before I could stop to think about it long enough to change my mind, I wrapped my arms around his neck and hitched my legs around his waist.

  It was a shock to my system as he straightened because we were in such an intimate position. Especially after he put a hand underneath both my thighs to stabilize me. “You tell me the second you get tired and I’ll walk,” I said insistently.

  I could almost see his smirk as he answered, “Yep. You’ll know the second you get to be too much for me.”

  Arrogant smart-ass!

  Once I was settled, Cooper began to eat up the distance with long, powerful strides. The guy was as surefooted as a mountain goat on the rocky terrain.

  Embarrassed, I tried to lighten my death grip around his neck.

  If he was going to sprint me back to the parking lot, the least I could do was let the poor guy breath.

  “I’m sorry you ended up being the poor soul that Chase called to help me,” I said glumly. “I would have eventually made it out of the park. If I really needed help, I could have called the park rangers.”

  “Don’t,” Cooper answered huskily.

  “Don’t what?” I asked.

  “Don’t blame Chase. He was worried. He’s your brother. I’m not sorry that he called me, Torie,” he said in a genuine tone of voice.

  I sucked in a deep breath and couldn’t quite hold back a small moan as I savored Cooper’s earthy, masculine scent.

  We were too damn close.

  Too intimate.

  And it was absolutely impossible to put any distance between the two of us right now.

  Strangely, the edginess I was feeling had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with my female hormones.

  Although it was unexpected for me to feel this way, it wasn’t completely surprising.

  It had been like this with Cooper Montgomery since the moment we’d met.

  Well, for me, anyway.

  I definitely wasn’t the kind of woman who swooned over a pretty face and a hot body, but there was something about this man that…drew me to him.

  Unfortunately, that fascination definitely didn’t go both ways.

  “You okay back there?” Cooper asked, sounding concerned.

  “Fine,” I squeaked. “It’s just a relief to be off my ankle.”

  Honestly, my biggest problem at the moment was trying to stop my overwhelming attraction to my rescuer.

  I’d finally found a man that didn’t make me shiver with revulsion when he touched me, but why did that particular male have to be Cooper Montgomery?

  I lowered my forehead gently to his shoulder, closed my eyes, and tried not to hate myself for lusting after a guy who had no desire to do anything except help me out of a bad situation right now.

  Cooper

  What kind of asshole thought about having sex with a woman who was in pain and barely able to walk?

  Fuck! What the hell is wrong with me?

  Torie’s ankle was messed up and swollen so badly that she didn’t have a hope in hell of getting that hiking boot on again anytime soon.

  Still, with her legs wrapped around me, and that gorgeous body of hers plastered to my back, all I could think about was being this close to her under far more…erotic circumstances.

  I gritted my teeth and forced those desires out of my head.

  She was injured.

  She was in pain.

  She did need my help right now.

  Her body was not clinging to mine by choice, and suddenly remembering that helped me escape from my lurid thoughts about Torie.

  Well, for the most part, anyway.

  Unfortunately, I’d probably remember her unique, sensual scent well after she was off my back and miles away.

  “Shit! I’m such a twisted bastard,” I muttered angrily under my breath.

  “Did you say something?” Torie asked softly, right next to my ear.

  “No,” I lied without a single twinge of guilt. “Nothing important.”

  “Cooper, you’ve already covered a lot of ground. You’re going to have to let me walk sooner or later,” she insisted.

  “Not happening,” I informed her. “Your ankle is a mess, and you’re not exactly heavy. Do you have any idea what kind of physical hell they put us through in special forces?”

  “But you’re not in special forces anymore. You haven’t been for years,” she reminded me.

  “I stay fit,” I told her.

  Habits were hard to break. Maybe it had been years since I’d gone from the 75th Ranger Unit to the Green Berets. But fitness had always remained part of my life.

  “That’s pretty obvious,” she said in a breathless voice. “But my brothers always say they can never stay as fit as they were while they were in the military.”

  “They’re right. None of us are living the same life we were in the military. We were constantly active then. Now, we all sit in an office for way too much of our days. Luckily, carrying you for a few miles doesn’t require that active duty level of fitness,” I told her honestly.

  “I think you’re absolutely insane,” Torie answered. “But thank you for this. I know I didn’t greet you very graciously after you came all the way here just to help me out. I guess I was just…embarrassed, but I know I wouldn’t have gotten out of this myself until way after nightfall, so I don’t want you to think that I’m not grateful.”

  She’s…grateful?

  Hell, the last thing I really wanted was Torie’s gratitude.

  I took a few careful steps over some jagged rocks and resumed my previous pace. I was determined to get Torie out of here before it was completely dark.

  “You have no reason to be embarrassed,” I told her calmly. “Accidents happen when we’re challenging our skills sometimes.”

  “That’s just it,” she said mournfully. “This wasn’t a challenge, Cooper. It was a dumb mistake. I’ve hiked some of the most difficult trails in the country, including The Maze in Utah, and South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon. I’m not a novice, and I feel like an idiot because I got careless on a familiar route like this one. I probably hiked this trail a thousand times as a teenager, and this park hasn’t changed much. It’s been here for decades. I hopped down from a boulder and turned my ankle at a regional park in my hometown. How idiotic is that?”

  Okay, I was impressed. I’d never had a chance to do The Maze myself, but from what I understood, it was one of the most difficult hikes in the country. No one even attempted it unless they were an expert hiker. There was an entire labyrinth of trails that led to many dead-end canyons. It was also difficult because the interconnecting canyons all looked the same, the high cliffs had no vantage points, water supplies were scarce, and temperatures could reach one hundred and eighteen degrees in the summer. One mistake and a hiker could end up stranded if they could make it until someone rescued them. Or dead if they couldn’t.

  I had done the South Kaibab Trail, and it was no joke. It was a long, tough, steep hike with limited water supplies and scorching temperatures.

  My respect for Torie’s skills went up several notches.

  “Sometimes, when we’re more relaxed, we slip up,” I told her. “It happens, Torie. It’s human nature to let your guard down a little in a familiar place. Don’t beat yourself up over it.”

  “Normally, I probably wouldn’t,” she explained. “But you’re so…”

  Oh, hell no. She couldn’t stop there. “I’m so…what?” I prompted.

  “You’re so damn…perfect,” she said with a sigh. “And you’ve made it pretty clear that you don’t like me, so this situation is even more demoralizing.”

  “Wait a minute. I’m far from perfect,” I said as I hopped over a couple of large rocks. “And who said I didn’t like you?”

  “Come on, Cooper. It’s obvious that you avoid me. We haven’t spoken since the day we met two weeks ago. If I’m walking toward you at Last Hope headquarters, you practically sprint in a different direction. I’m not sure what I ever did to make you dislike me—”

  “You didn’t do anything,” I interrupted. “It has nothing to do with you.”

  It had never occurred to me that Torie had actually noticed that I went out of my way to avoid her. Or that it might hurt her feelings if she had.

  “I don’t understand,” she answered, sounding confused. “When we first met, I thought that we might become friends. We both grew up a little bit different because we’re intellectually gifted, and even though you pulled that stupid gun on me the first time we met, I still liked you and wanted to get to know you.”

  I could honestly say no one had ever called my Glock a stupid gun before, but she was right. Our first meeting hadn’t exactly been ideal.

  I’d arrived at headquarters late one night, only to hear someone prowling around upstairs.

  So yeah, I’d pulled my gun since I’d known the location of everyone who worked at headquarters, and none of them were supposed to be in the building that evening.

  At the time, I hadn’t yet discovered that Marshall, the leader of Last Hope, had accepted Torie’s offer of volunteering her linguist services.

  Hell, I hadn’t even known she’d offered them or that Chase and Wyatt’s sister had even known about Last Hope’s existence.

  Finding Torie in one of the upstairs offices had been a surprise that had knocked me off my game.

  I’d been momentarily stunned, but I’d pulled out of my stupor fairly quickly.

  No matter how transfixed I’d been with Torie’s beautiful amber eyes, her seemingly endless waves of light brown hair, and her curvy body, I’d harshly reminded myself that I didn’t do long-term relationships.

  Not anymore.

  And since she was the younger sister of two men I highly respected, there was no way I was going to act on my physical attraction to her.

  “I don’t dislike you, Torie. I hardly know you, and anything I’ve ever heard about you from Chase and Wyatt was nothing but praise,” I told her earnestly.

  “You’d get to know me a whole lot better if you didn’t run away from me like your ass was on fire,” she told me good-naturedly. “Maybe we’d actually have a chance to be friends or at least have some kind of conversation.”

  “I doubt that’s going to happen,” I replied solemnly.

  “Why not?” she questioned, her voice sounding like I’d just slapped her.

  Fuck! I hate that. I obviously hurt her feelings…again.

  But did I have any options except honestly?

  I kept surveying our surroundings until I finally saw the parking lot in the distance. “I’m not looking for a relationship, Torie, friends or otherwise.”

  What I’d really meant was that I couldn’t possibly be around her without wanting to get her naked, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. I’d rather sound like a major prick than a pathetic loser.

  She sighed. “I’m no more eager to have a romantic relationship than you are right now, Cooper. They’ve never worked out any better for me than they have for you, and I’ve been out of the dating scene for well over a year now.”

  I had no idea why, but the idea of Torie being as cynical as I was about love and relationships somehow…bothered me. “Don’t give up,” I told her gruffly.

  “I’m not,” she assured me. “Not really. I’ve just been…taking a break.”

  My gut instinct was screaming that there was more to Torie’s story than she was admitting.

  That slight hesitance had been telling, but I wasn’t about to pursue her reasons for shying away from a relationship.

  It was none of my business.

  It wasn’t like I could ever apply for her vacant significant other position, so I decided that it was probably safer not to ask any questions at all.

  Torie

  “You do realize that when you stopped to pick up dinner, you took all my preconceived ideas about you and blew them all straight to hell, right?” I asked Cooper as we demolished our Double-Double Cheeseburgers, fries, and shakes from In-N-Out Burger at my condo later that evening. “I never pegged you as a junk food kind of guy. Not that I’m complaining.”

  In-N-Out was one of my favorite fast food places to indulge. I’d been more than willing to pick up something to eat there when Cooper had suggested it right after we left the hospital.

  As the evening had worn on I’d gotten more and more comfortable in Cooper’s presence.

  Granted, he wasn’t exactly talkative most of the time, but there was something about his quiet stability that had gotten me to unwind and relax.

  Cooper had insisted that I get my ankle checked out and X-rayed, and Chase had seconded that opinion.

  In the end, it had been the sensible thing to do.

  My grade 2 ankle sprain was now elevated on top of a pillow as I sprawled out on my couch in my living room. Cooper had placed an ice pack on top of it to try to take down more of the swelling.

  He’d taken a seat in the recliner across from me once he’d sorted out our food.

  He raised a brow. “What does a junk food kind of guy look like?”

  I wanted to tell him that in my mind, they probably didn’t have a body like a god and an ass that could bounce a quarter farther away than I’d be willing to go to retrieve it.

  But…I couldn’t say that, so I settled with replying, “I guess I just assumed that you were probably a health food nut since you keep yourself in such good shape.”

  Good shape was probably putting it mildly. Any guy who could piggyback a woman of average size and weight for two miles at a rapid pace and hardly break a sweat was ridiculously fit.

  He shrugged as he chewed and swallowed. “I like food too much to eat lean meat, fish, and vegetables every night. I’m not exactly fond of protein shakes, either. I don’t need a booster to get enough protein and a lot of them are filled with sugar. I try to eat healthy most of the time, but I’m never going to give up a good burger, pizza, or mac-n-cheese.”

  “Me, either,” I said with a sigh.

  “I’m not sure why you’re surprised,” he added. “It’s not like your brothers aren’t exactly the same way. We’ve devoured plenty of beer and pizza at Last Hope headquarters after we’ve had to stay there late for a planning session or a mission. Do you really think I’d be downing a protein shake while they were scarfing down extra-large pizzas with the works? Hell, I have to fight them for my fair share. I’m not about to give it away.”

  I snorted with amusement because that was exactly what my older brothers would be ordering for a late-night snack. “I suppose not. Since you and my brothers are close, I should have known you had some of the same eating habits.”

  Really, what did I know about Cooper Montgomery except for what my brothers had told me over the last few years, which wasn’t much? Because they’d never mentioned a word about Last Hope in the past, they hadn’t revealed anything about how they knew Hudson, Jax, and Cooper Montgomery. I’d just known that they were all friends.

  Cooper dropped the empty wrapper for his burger into the bag sitting on the coffee table. “I should probably go soon,” he said, sounding a little uncomfortable. “Are you going to be okay here alone?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not disabled, Cooper. I have a sprained ankle and some injured pride. I’ll be fine.”

  If he didn’t want to be here, I wasn’t going to force him to stay any longer. I was perfectly capable of taking care of myself.