It had been almost impossible for Angel to meet Brandon's knowing eyes the next day without her face flaming with embarrassment. Hunter had just laughed, dropping a kiss on her lips and slapping his friend on the back.
Even with all the worries he had, nothing could ruin this day for him. Angel loved him.
It seemed as if he'd waited so long to feel like this. Even with Cindy, he hadn't felt the myriad emotions that Angel caused with just one glance of her sexy green eyes. He smiled, whistling as he carried the last of their supplies out of the cabin and stashed them into the truck.
The air outside was cold, the sky clear and sun shining brightly down upon him. He could hear winter birds calling to each other in the woods behind him and Angel and Brandon's voices coming from the open door of the cabin as they finished closing down the place and making sure the fire was out.
Then Angel was at the door, looking for him, the sun shining down on the red of her hair making it shimmer as if it were aflame.
"Ready to go?" she called, heading towards him.
"Honestly?" he asked her as she finished closing the space that separated them.
"Of course."
"I'd rather kick Brandon back out on his snowmobile and cart your cute ass back into that cabin. I think I might be satisfied after I make love to you for...oh, fifty years, give or take." He bent his head, finding her warm lips with his cold ones.
She let the love she felt for him flood into the kiss, hearing his hiss of approval as her mouth opened and her tongue speared into his mouth, changing a gentle tasting into one of heat and longing. Her hand went to his cold cheek, her fingers slipping into the chilly silk of his hair.
His hands came up, roaming over her back and down, resting on the curved cheeks of her ass, squeezing gently.
"You two need to get a room," Brandon said, rolling his eyes at the two lovebirds. "I've never seen so much sexual tension since...shit, I don't think I've ever seen it."
"Well, if you want to get lost for a few days, we might be able to keep our hands...oh hell, who am I fooling, I don't think I'll ever be able to keep my hands off of her," he brushed another kiss over her lips, laughing at the blush that bloomed over her cheeks.
"Okay, guys, if you're through embarrassing the hell out of me, I think we should get started." Over a breakfast of powdered eggs and boxed hash browns, they'd decided on a short termed plan, both of them overriding any thought Hunter might have of dumping them someplace to search for the stone himself.
They'd decided to head down to Buffalo, though that thought made Angel extremely nervous.
Brandon had left his car there, borrowing a snowmobile from his caretaker and driving it up the mountain. His rental car was still at the caretaker's house and he wanted to return it. Buffalo would be a wonderful place to check out the coordinates found in the journal and then they would decide what to do from there.
Angel settled into the back seat behind Hunter, letting the longer legged Brandon have the passenger seat. She could hear them talking but their words were like a background noise, other things were in her head, one thought especially that she just couldn't seem to disrupt. While Hunter was outside with the car, she'd asked Brandon what the date was, never having worried about it before.
Thanksgiving had been last week, It was now the first week in December. Angel had been held captive from the thirteenth of October. Almost two months had passed since she'd been taken from the parking lot of the hospital.
Her hand slid to her flat stomach, her fingers pressing with tender care as she wondered if it could be true. Two months and not once had she had her period during that time. Was she pregnant? Could she be carrying Hunter's baby?
She tried to tell herself that it wasn't possible, that missing a period could be caused by stress or any number of reasons. Then her mind flashed to that package of condoms, the package that still sat unopened, left behind at the cabin. Staring at the back of Hunter's head, she thought of all the times they'd made love, fucked like bunnies, she thought, smirking.
"Whacha smiling at, green eyes?" Hunter asked, looking into the rear view mirror as he managed to plow through another large snowdrift that stood between them and the main road. The gate was just ahead and he and Brandon would have to get out and shovel it out before they had a chance of moving it.
"Nothing much," she said, smiling as she felt his hand come back and caress her thigh. She laid her hand on top of his, twining her fingers around his strong ones. "What are we going to do if the cops are still looking for us?"
"I'm betting that Sebastian called off his dogs when he took Shanna. He wants the stone now, and he knows that I'll hand it over just to get Shanna back." He squeezed her hand gently before pulling his own away. "It's not too late to change your mind and go to Texas with Bran," he urged, catching her eyes in the rearview mirror.
"It was too late the minute you told me you loved me, Hunter and you know it. I'm not leaving you to deal with this alone." And she was not telling him about the baby until this whole thing was done either. If he knew, no force on heaven or earth would be enough to keep her with him through the rest of this mess. He'd ship her off so fast, her head would spin.
"Stubborn red heads," he grumbled good naturedly, sliding the gear shift into park and turning in his seat. "I just want you safe, Angel. You can't blame me for that."
"Didn't you two have this conversation yesterday?" Brandon asked, his expression innocent. "Oh, wait, you had it this morning over breakfast, too. Oh and after breakfast," he added. "Give it up, Hunt. She's got her mind fixed."
"You're not helping, Bran," Hunter groused, turning and undoing his seat belt before he opened his car door and slid out. He went to the back of the SUV, pulling open the gate and grabbing the two shovels out before retracing his steps. "You gonna help me with this or sit in the warm car and watch me work?"
"Do I really have a choice?"
"No."
"That's what I thought," Brandon grumbled, undoing his own seatbelt and opening his car door. He sunk down into the snow and trudged through it towards the gate and Hunter.
They spoke little while they cleaned off enough of the driveway to get the gate opened and then Hunter drove the SUV through, the four wheel drive vehicle sticking to the road like a trusty mule. He waited for Brandon to get back into the truck and then stared at the final obstacle.
The main road had been plowed, the snow stacked and packed along the edge of the road like a tiny mountain, standing sentinel between them and their goal. Hunter could see the path Brandon had made in it as he'd rode over it on the snowmobile the day before. But their bigger and heavier SUV wasn't going to go through that, or over it.
"Any ideas?" he asked.
"Oh, come on, James Bond," Angel joked from the back. "Hit the button on the console and send the mirrored satellite into position so you can melt the path for us using the sun's amplified rays. Or you could just put out the wings and send us flying over it."
"Funny," Hunter smirked, looking back at her. "The mirrors on the satellite broke and I haven't had a chance to send this down to Q to get the wing attachment put on. Besides, Bran's more the James Bond, Secret Agent type than me."
