Page 40 of Some Like It Hot

He turned, bracing himself for anything—a kick in the face, a gun—

Never expected to see another man trekking up the trail toward them. Brown hair cut short, a hint of a beard, the kind of frame he expected to see on a smokejumper.

“Larke! Are you okay?” The man ran up, breathing hard, grabbing Larke’s arms.

“Orion?”

Riley stopped the crazy spurt of jealousy that flared through him at the smile she gave the man. In his mid-thirties, and clearly someone she knew and maybe even admired, because her eyes were shining as the man clutched her in relief.

“What are you doing here?”

“Alicia called me—she’s in labor.” He looked at Riley. “You okay, dude?”

Only then did Riley realize that his stitches had opened, and the front of his shirt was saturated with sticky, hot blood. “Yeah. Thanks for whatever you did back there.”

Orion turned him, whipped out a knife from his belt, and easily cut through the tape.

Riley peeled it off as Orion did the same to Larke.

She threw her arms around his neck, and Riley bit back another flare of something dark and hot.

He’d never really asked her if there might be someone else. Just taken for granted that she had room for him in her life. But maybe she’d been looking for something short-term and immediate because… Oh, who knew?

Hedidknow that he was the last one to kiss her. And she had fallen asleep in his arms last night. Riley at least had a fighting chance.

And fighting was the optimal word because now he noticed Orion sported a reddening bruise on his cheek.

Whoever he was to Larke, Orion had saved both of them.

“How did you find us?” Larke said, releasing him.

Orion put the knife away, was checking her over. “I was coming to the cabin to meet you and check on Alicia, and I heard the shot. I saw this guy taking off after you and thought—well, this can’t be good. I tackled him about twenty yards back. There was a tussle.”

Atussle?

“Whoever he is—he’s dead.”

Riley just stared at the man. He wore a T-shirt under an open canvas jacket, a pair of Gore-Tex pants, and boots. A tattoo poked out from the collar of his shirt up his neck, barely visible.

“You killed him?” Larke said, her voice trembling.

“Let’s get you guys out of here. I’ll radio the Copper Mountain sheriff’s department from my cabin, report the body.”

But Riley wasn’t moving. “Youkilledhim?” He had a strange sense of relief, even righteousness.

“Well—not…exactly. The gun went off—he shot himself. But he was going to kill you.” He glanced at Riley. “You want to tell me why?”

“I don’t know,” Riley said. “We just showed up here, and he jumped us. Happened so fast, we didn’t get any answers.”

“I would have been here sooner, but I have a medical emergency at my cabin. Where’s Alicia?”

“The guy—the dead guy—said she’d gone to the hospital. That he was waiting for Darryl,” Riley said.

“Her husband?” Orion said. “I thought he was in jail. You’re bleeding pretty good there, pal. We need to get something on that.”

“He busted out his stitches,” Larke said, turning to Riley and peeking inside his collar. “Had surgery last night for a broken collarbone.”

“So naturally he’s out here in the woods running from a guy with a gun.” Orion raised an eyebrow.