Page 42 of The Heat is On

Tucker launched off the boulder, into the drink.

No.No—

He struggled and headed her direction in the current, the water dunking him for so long Skye nearly went in after him.

He surfaced just feet away from her, and she had one chance at this. She scrambled out on the boulder, holding the tree for leverage, reached out—

And caught his wrist as he sailed by her. She held on with everything inside her.

Her grip slowed him down enough for his feet to come around, scratch bottom. His other hand found a sliver in the boulder, and he used everything he had to pull himself in.

She hooked him around the arm, her other hand on his belt, and reeled him onto the rock.

Tucker was breathing hard, his dark brown hair curly and plastered to his face, and he collapsed on the rock, gasping, coughing.

“You okay?”

He lifted his head, nodded. Then found his knees, looking upriver. “Where’d they go?”

What? She turned to look. Everyone—Archer, March, Stevie, and even…even Rio. Gone. “I don’t know—I don’t—”

He winced, shivering just as hard as she was.

“Tucker, c’mon! We need to get out of the river!” She grabbed his shirt, using the tree for balance as they struggled out.

The river had cast them to the opposite shore, against a wall of granite. They’d have to climb.

Where was Rio? The thought of him bleeding, of March shooting him, propelled her up the cliff. At the top, she reached down to help Tucker, but he ignored her hand.

Fine. He was probably furious with her for getting herself in this mess. And maybe he was right—she’d been so determined to do her job, to prove herself…

If she hadn’t demanded to sit lookout, hadn’t run down to the fugitives, thinking they were her team leaving her behind…

Tucker sat hard on the shore and stared upriver, his expression stripped.

Yeah, she felt the same way.

Or maybe he felt worse, because he rolled over to his hands and knees, as if he might retch.

Now she felt sick too. Because who knew what had happened back at the cabin. And maybe her words came out more frustrated than she meant, but, “Tucker, what are you doing here?”

He raised his head. Stared at her. “What am I—I’mrescuingyou.”

What? “You’re nearly getting me killed is what you’re doing.”

And oh, she didn’t mean that, either, because clearly he was ragged and hollowed out, given the red-eyed look he was giving her. “What are you talking about—”

“There’s more to the story, is what I’m saying. And now you only made it worse!”

Because Rio had a plan, and…and…

And now she couldn’t be there to stand between March and his hatred for Rio...and maybe she was crazy, but she’d thought, for just a bit there, they were a team.

That’s my girl.

She ground her jaw against panicked tears.

Without her there, March would kill Rio.