Desolation Point (24 page)

“Maybe.”

She shrugged. “Least you’re honest.”

Sarah managed a thin smile. “The Bernese Oberland,” she said.

“Gesundheit.”

This time Sarah’s smile reached her eyes. “My favorite place in the world. The Bernese Oberland in Switzerland.”

“Fabulous chocolate,” Alex offered. “Beyond that and those stupid clocks, I don’t know much about the country.”

“It’s an amazing place.” Sarah’s voice was wistful and she didn’t seem to notice when Alex began to tease the debris from her wrist. “There’s this little village right at the foot of the Eiger. The mountains sweep up from the valley floor, and it’s just the most stunning view. I went with my mum before she married Richard and went back for two weeks earlier in my travels this year.” She smiled, remembering. “The glaciers were a lot smaller, but the cows still had bells around their necks.”

“They really do that?” Alex turned Sarah’s wrist and started on its underside.

“Yep, they really do that. Must be like having permanent tinnitus for the poor buggers.”

“The very height of cow cruelty,” Alex concurred. “You still have one question left, missy.”

Sarah feigned forgetfulness but then relented when Alex started to make sloppy kissing noises at her.

“Okay, okay. Sophie Threadbetter. We were six years old. Under a coat in the school playground.”

Alex let out a mock gasp of horror. “Six years old?” She shook her head sorrowfully. “And already a lesbian.”

“Yeah, there was never any hope for me,” Sarah said cheerfully. “Sophie, on the other hand, is now married with four kids. I used to see her when I was back at my mum’s. She always looked so tired…Ow!” She jumped as Alex tackled a particularly stubborn thread.

“Sorry, sorry. That’s the last of it.”

Alex wrapped Sarah’s wrist in a clean bandage, and then watched her open and close her fist experimentally.

“Thank you,” Sarah said.

“Not too tight?”

“No, it’s fine.”

“Hiding anything else?”

“No. Are you?” Sarah asked pointedly.

“I’m okay.”

“You’re favoring your right arm.”

“Damn, don’t miss much, do you?” Alex rolled her sleeve back to reveal the nasty slice Merrick had given her. “You could kiss it better,” she suggested, and then laughed when Sarah bent her head and did just that.

“Want an actual dressing to go with that kiss?” Sarah said.

“Probably advisable.” Alex couldn’t help but stare at her as she concentrated on tending to the wound. The sun had set, leaving them only the firelight, and Sarah’s face came in and out of the shadows as she moved. She looked lovely, the orange glow tempering the pallor and the lines of weariness. When she ducked her head low to tape the bandage in place, Alex ran her fingers through the wisps of loose hair that curtained Sarah’s face.

Sarah was smiling as she met her gaze. “I’ll make supper,” she said, her voice slightly hoarse. “You make the bed.”

The bed. One bed. Alex swallowed dryly and nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak. She wavered sideways as she stood, and Sarah reached out an arm to steady her.

“You gonna pass out on me?” The firelight made her eyes dance with mischief as she reiterated Alex’s earlier question.

“Don’t think so.” The giddiness eased and Alex blew her breath out. “Okay. Bed. Supper.” She turned to go one way as Sarah turned to go the other. Chancing a look back, she caught Sarah watching her. They grinned like children caught with their hands in the cookie jar, before averting their eyes and making a show of focusing on their given tasks. It was only when Alex spread their blankets in front of the fire to dry that she realized she had never been so nervous in her life.

*

Alex sprinkled a packet of crackers on top of her portion of thick vegetable broth. She cradled the mug in both hands, blowing on the soup to cool it. Sarah’s herbs and spices had apparently survived her ordeal at Merrick’s hands; the rich aroma drifting up to Alex was far removed from that of any freeze-dried soup to which she had ever added water. Her stomach rumbled in anticipation, but the soup was too hot to gulp down quickly. She glanced at Sarah, only to see that Sarah’s mug was already half-empty.

“How the hell?”

Sarah shrugged as she swallowed another mouthful. “Years of drinking piping hot tea, probably. I can’t bear the stuff if it’s gone even slightly tepid.”

Alex took a chance and captured a floating cracker between her teeth. Steam gusted out as she breathed. “Oh that’s really good.”

“It’s reconstituted veggie broth.”

“Yeah, but you’ve reconstituted it perfectly,” Alex countered, braving the heat to risk a sip.

“The crackers are a large part of its charm.” Sarah examined their plastic packet. “Not something I’d put with soup, normally. Soup’s more of a toast or bread roll thing where I come from.”

“My parents went over to Britain once. Did the usual tour: London, Stonehenge, Stratford-upon-Avon, Edinburgh…”

“They didn’t take you?” Sarah sounded both surprised and saddened.

“They didn’t take us anywhere. We’d either stay with our nanny or get packed off to summer school. I’ve never left the U.S.”

“Never?”

“Never.” She set her mug down and turned to face Sarah. “I always wanted to travel. I was trying to save up, but a cop’s salary doesn’t stretch very far, and then suddenly I wasn’t a cop anymore.”

“Your parents…” Sarah’s question trailed off; Alex was already shaking her head.

“They never offered and I never asked.”

Sarah stroked her fingers down Alex’s cheek. “Lot of world out there, Alex.”

“Yes, there is.” She turned her head and kissed the palm of Sarah’s hand. “Maybe one day, huh?”

Sarah closed her eyes, her lips parting slightly as Alex moved her mouth to Sarah’s throat. “Definitely one day,” Sarah said. Her voice was breathy and her cheeks were pink in the warmth of the fire. Alex kissed her gently and then with more urgency when she moaned her encouragement.

Without any kind of prompting, they sat up together on their nest of blankets. Alex raised her hand to the zipper of Sarah’s jacket, feeling strangely hesitant and uncertain until Sarah took hold of her fingers and placed them against the metal clasp. The repetitive click of the zipper opening sounded unbelievably loud. It snagged at the bottom and Alex struggled to work it free with hands that had abruptly lost their dexterity. When it finally came loose, she pushed the jacket back off Sarah’s shoulders and then paused. She studied Sarah so intently that Sarah, evidently having figured out the reason for her consternation, began to giggle.

“How many?” Alex asked despairingly.

“Five.”

“Five!”

Sarah could hardly confirm the number for laughing. “I was cold!”

“Gonna take me all fucking night,” Alex muttered. “How the hell am I supposed to erotically remove five layers of clothing?”

“Well, how many are
you
wearing?”

“Are we including bras?”

“No.”

“Four.”

Sarah shrugged. “We could just do our own,” she suggested.

“Would certainly be quicker,” Alex said with a grin. “You mind?”

Sarah had already thrown her jacket off and her sweater was halfway over her head. “Not at all,” she mumbled through the thick wool.

It took them less than a minute to strip down to their underwear, and a good few seconds of that were spent rescuing a T-shirt that Sarah had overenthusiastically launched into the embers of the fire.

Alex had seen Sarah half-naked before, but not like this, not with a flush of excitement coloring her skin, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Goose bumps covered her bare arms, but when Alex touched her, she wasn’t cold. Alex drew her onto her lap and she went willingly, wrapping her legs around Alex’s waist. She smiled shyly and then kissed Alex in a way that didn’t feel shy at all.

Alex moved her hands lower, playing her fingers around the soft cotton of the bra Sarah was still wearing, before unfastening it and dropping it. Salt and wood smoke combined on the tip of her tongue as she traced it across Sarah’s skin. Apparently somewhat distracted, Sarah took two attempts, accompanied by some very creative cursing, to undo the clasp on Alex’s bra, and when she finally had it in her hand, she tossed it over her shoulder.

“That better not be on the fire,” Alex said, trying not to laugh. “It’s the only one I’ve got.”

“It’s not on the fire.” Sarah ran her tongue between Alex’s breasts. “Might be in the pool,” she said, edging toward a nipple, “but it’s not on the fire.”

Her lips closed, sucking eagerly, and Alex instantly forgot what might have been in the pool. She slipped her fingers beneath the elastic of Sarah’s boxer shorts, sliding them down into slick heat, and Sarah’s mouth fell open, small gasps escaping her as her back arched. She smiled at the same time Alex did and then began to move with her in an easy rhythm.

“This mean we’re dating then?” Alex asked innocently, before giving a not so innocent twist of her fingers.

“Oh God…” Sarah nodded helplessly, her hands gripping Alex’s shoulders for leverage. “At least I cooked you dinner first.” She started to laugh and buried her face in Alex’s neck.

“Hell of a first date,” Alex said. She swirled her thumb, making Sarah bite down on the side of her throat, and suddenly neither of them had breath left to speak.

*

At some time during the night, Alex must have put fresh wood on the fire. It was the only explanation for the fire still being alight when Sarah awoke, but she had no memory of Alex ever having moved. Lying on her back, feeling languid and content, she considered the way in which she and Alex had celebrated their reunion and wasn’t entirely surprised that she had slept so soundly. The brightness of the daylight filtering into the cave made her check her watch and she raised an eyebrow at the time; at this rate they would be late for their own rescue.

“Hey,” she whispered, close to Alex’s ear. The sound made Alex mumble a little, but she stubbornly remained asleep. “Alex.” Sarah kissed her ear and then the corner of her jaw. By the time she reached the lips, she caught Alex smiling. “Faker,” she said, kissing her anyway. Alex returned the kiss, making up in enthusiasm what she lacked in coordination.

“I think we need to get up.” Sarah’s tone was utterly lacking in conviction, largely thanks to Alex’s hands having found their way beneath the layers of clothing she had put back on before going to sleep. “Oh, don’t do that.” She shook her head in a halfhearted protest. “Rescue party, Alex…”

Alex nodded sagely, her fingers deft on the button at the top of Sarah’s pants.

“They’ll be here soon,” Sarah continued weakly, finding herself unable to care about, or even really remember, why she was trying to call a halt to this.

“I can be quick,” Alex said. Her hand edged into the space she had made in Sarah’s clothing. “Can you be quick?”

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Sarah whimpered.

Alex smiled. “I’m going to take that as a yes…”

*

Although Sarah was by no means frivolous with their dwindling supplies, she risked cooking an entire packet of grits for breakfast and treated them both to a bag of trail mix she had found buried at the bottom of Alex’s pack. She didn’t bother trying to split the last packet of cocoa; it went into a mug for them to share.

Heavy clouds had gathered overnight and showers of sleet had alternated with snow to coat the ground in thick slush. Fortunately, Alex’s diligence through the night meant that the fire had been established enough to stay alight. They huddled in front of it, taking turns sipping the cocoa while it was still hot. The camp was neatly packed up, their bags stowed in the shelter of the cave. Every few minutes, Alex turned the radio on, but there was no response from the channel she had hailed the rescue team on the previous day.

“Probably the weather messing up the signal,” she said, turning the radio off for the fourth time. “Don’t look so worried.”

“I’m not worried.” Sarah tried to smile, but even she wasn’t convinced by her efforts. A nagging ache in her side had been making her restless since she sat down. Among her many other aches, she had almost forgotten about the bullet wound, but it had started to hurt again this morning. She tucked herself closer to Alex and felt Alex take hold of her hand. The mere contact was enough to make her shiver pleasantly. If the previous night’s exertions were the reason for her discomfort, it was a price she was more than willing to pay.

“So what happens when we get back?” Alex kept her voice to a low murmur, as if she were afraid to hear the answer but couldn’t stop herself from asking the question.

“Bubble bath and a warm bed,” Sarah said lightly, but Alex’s body remained tense, pressed against her.

“And then?”

Sarah met her gaze. “And then, I don’t know,” she admitted. She ran her thumb across the back of Alex’s hand. “I’ve read that it’s gorgeous here in the summer.”

Alex kissed her forehead. “And I don’t mind getting rained on in England.”

“Well,” Sarah said, “I guess we’re not going to have a problem, then.” She felt her mood lighten, relief and happiness coursing through her.

Alex was sitting up straighter now, and when she spoke again it was without her earlier trepidation. “We could travel…”

“Yes, we could. I could show you those cows with bells—”

“Alex!”

The man’s voice cut into Sarah’s and she looked at Alex to reassure herself that it wasn’t just a trick of the wind. He shouted again, the call clearer this time. Although he still sounded some distance away, they scrambled up and ran out into the sleet.

“Over here!” Alex yelled. “Hey, we’re over here!” She waved her arms as if afraid that their cries and the light from the fire wouldn’t be enough to guide the rescue team to the right place.

In less than a minute, three men were visible, walking quickly along the side of the river. Two of the men carried a large pack each, while the third—who appeared to be older—bore a smaller load. He moved ahead of his companions with a broad smile on his face. Alex and Sarah walked through their small campsite to meet him halfway.