Stranded with the Billionaire

I R E N A

Sage  was silent when she returned to the campsite. She was shaky, jumping at every sound, but did feel better after having washed her face seven times in the icy water. It took all her courage to go out into the woods by herself, but facing the bear didn’t seem as bad as facing the disappointment that was written all over Sage ‘s face.

His words had cut deeper than any words her father ever yelled at her mother, or herself. She’d let him down, and Sage  knew it. She steadied her breath as she walked up to him.

“What can I do to help?” she asked.

Sage  glanced over to her. His jaw was set, and his gaze lethal. “Grab the sleeping bag.” He nodded toward the dome he’d made.

She bit her lip to keep from saying anything and walked past him. Reaching out, she grabbed the bag and began to roll it.

Sage  busied himself behind her. She could hear his footsteps as he walked back and forth, laying things out on the tarp. She wanted to say something. Explain what had happened. But the words wouldn’t form on her lips.

Instead, she just kept rolling and unrolling the sleeping bag. No matter how hard she tried to keep it tight, the roll seemed to veer off to the side or slip from her fingers. She sighed and glanced up to the sky. She needed to get home and away from Sage . She’d had just about enough heartbreak for one night.

A roaring sound filled the air. Irena  dropped her gaze to look at Sage . Did he hear it too? Or was it just her desperate need for a plane to appear that caused her mind to conjure one up for her?

The joy that flooded Sage ‘s face told her this wasn’t her imagination. There was a plane above them. She tilted her face back up and saw the pontoons that hung underneath the plane. It was small, which meant it wasn’t that high up.

“Flare!” Sage  yelled. He dropped the cooking utensils he had stacked in his arms and scrambled for his jacket.

Irena  lunged for it as well, grabbing onto one of the sleeves to pull it toward her, but Sage  had already stepped on it. He fumbled with the pockets and then lifted his arm in triumph. The orange flare gun was clutched in his hand. He raised it to the sky, and she covered her ears. He pulled the trigger back and she winced, waiting for the sound that normally came when something was shot.

But the sound never came. She peered over to Sage  who was staring into the sky before he then lowered the gun. He turned his hand to look at it and then smacked it a few times. Cocking the hammer back, he raised it to the sky again and pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

“What’s wrong?” Irena  asked as she watched the plane fly from view. They still had a few moments left. It had worked once before. Why wasn’t Sage  trying to get the gun to work again?

Sage  kept his hand in the air as he pulled the hammer back and pulled the trigger. He did it five more times. With each dead click, his face reddened. Finally, he cursed and threw the gun into the woods.

Irena  stared at it. The plane was gone. Again. And they were left in the wilderness. Again.

“Why did you stop?” she asked as she scrambled to her feet and over to the woods where she searched for the gun.

“It’s dead,” Sage  grumbled as he scrubbed his face with his hands.

“But . . .” Irena  stared at the gun and then went back to Sage . It was the only thing that could get them rescued. “It can’t be dead. It worked once before.”

Sage  glanced down at her, and his eyes narrowed. “It’s dead. D-E-A-D. Dead.” He kicked a rock and sent it flying into the trees. He moved back to gather up what he’d dropped.

“Why would you have a flare gun that doesn’t work?” she asked, tossing it to the side.

Sage  whipped around. “Oh, so now the malfunction of the flare is somehow my fault? I wasn’t the one who shot the gun at the commercial plane in the first place.” In two steps, he was next to her. She could see his ragged breathing as he stared at her down.

She winced. That was true. She had made mistakes, just like him. It was time she started owning up to them, instead of brushing them off. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shot the flare at the commercial plane. I shouldn’t have yelled at you just now. And I should have protected Titan .” There. She’d said the truth. She opened herself up and forced herself to be vulnerable. Why was her heart pounding so hard?

Sage  stared at her. She could feel the confusion in his gaze. He paused before his expression hardened. What did that mean? He pinched his lips together and turned.

“Ms. Derrick, I think it’s best if we don’t speak to one another for a while. Let’s get packed up and head out of here. Good news, with a plane that low, there’s bound to be hunters around. Maybe even a shelter. We should get moving before it gets too dark.” He paused and glanced over at her.

Her stomach twisted. She’d been truthful to him and this was all he had to say? Should there have been something more? As she held his gaze, she saw something there. Something he wasn’t saying. For a moment, she wanted to know what that was. But then he turned, and she was snapped back to reality. Sage  wasn’t going to soften or be truthful.

“Fine,” she said. Turning on her heel, she headed back over to the sleeping bag and began to roll it.

She could hear Sage ‘s frustrated grunts from behind her. She did feel a bit bad for how she treated him. He really didn’t have any idea that the flare wouldn’t work. It wasn’t as if he was out to sabotage their rescue.

A heavy sigh sounded behind her. She turned and squinted as she looked up at Sage . The sun shone behind him. She lifted up her hand to shield her eyes.

“I just need to take a minute for myself. I’ll be back in a few,” Sage  said.

From the look on his face and the tone in his voice, she decided not to push it. Perhaps, it would be better if they spent more time away from each other.

“Okay,” she said.

Sage  nodded and then pushed into the woods and disappeared.

Irena  turned her attention back to the sleeping bag and focused all of her energy on getting it put away and secured. Once it was ready, she grabbed it and walked over to the other supplies and rested it next to the tarp.

As she moved to leave, something caught her eye. Turning, she leaned down and her heart stopped. A piece of paper stuck out from underneath some folded clothes. She grabbed the corner and pulled.

It was her article. Crap.

Sage  had seen it. He read the words she’d written about him. The awful, terrible things she had said.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g

She crumpled up the piece of paper and threw it into the woods. Was that why he’d been so cool to her when she’d returned? Was it because he had read her thoughts? That she felt that Kennedy ‘s was nothing more than a spoiled citizen who felt as if they were above common decency? That they respected nothing and no one whom they felt was beneath them?

Her stomach twisted as she thought about the other horrible things she had written about him. That she had written about his father. She chewed her lip as she glanced around. True, at the time she had written the words, she was angry with him. She was just getting out her feelings. She hadn’t meant the words. But, now, having spent time with Sage  and getting to know him, things have changed. Those words no longer felt true.

Desperate for a distraction, Irena  headed over to Titan  to see how he was doing. She knelt down beside him and rested her hand on his head. She glanced at his chest and saw it rise and fall. It soothed her to watch. He was still alive. She leaned closer to his ear.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I ever judged you before I knew the kind of dog you were. I promise if you make it out of here alive, I will treat you better.”

She glanced down at him and, for a moment, let the flicker of hope burn in her heart that her words just might be the key to wake him up. But his eyes remained closed and his breathing labored.

Feeling stupid, she reached down and patted Titan ‘s head. “I’m not sure why I thought that would work.” She glanced over to where Sage  had disappeared. Perhaps saying she was sorry to Titan  made her feel a tiny bit better about what she’d said about Sage .

She sighed as she sat back and crossed her legs in front of her. It was a ridiculous thought. Sage  had to be hurt by what she said about him. And rightfully so. She stood and peered past the brush that Sage  had disappeared through. Should she follow after him? Tell her she no longer felt that way?

She gnawed on her nail as she paced back and forth. How did she feel about him? If she told him she’d written the wrong thing, he was bound to ask her what the right thing was. Her heart picked up speed as she thought about it. When realization settled around her, her shoulders slumped.

She knew what the right thing was. She had fallen for Sage  Davenport. Hard. He challenged her. Made her so mad that sometimes her blood boiled. But in the quiet moments, when her past came back to haunt her or she felt alone and vulnerable, he was there to be a strength. And she needed that strength.

She needed his friendship. If she walked out of this forest without telling him, she’d never forgive herself. Shaking her arms out, she drew in a deep breath. She’d find Sage  and tell him. As she let her breath slip through her lips, her stomach twisted. She needed to do it now, before she lost her nerve.