Forever by Jacquelyn Frank Page B

answering his cell or his radio. Well, the radio was less likely …
    “Marissa?” He picked up on the second ring. So much for that theory.
    “Landon is so hot you’re going to need to call the fire department to put him out,” she said wryly.
    “Yeah, I figured he would be.”
    “You can come in now. You’re not likely to find him, Jackson.”
    There was a long minute of silence.
    “Fuck. Are you sure?”
    “Pretty sure.”
    “Double fuck.” She winced. She didn’t think she’d ever heard him swear before. He had once told her that if he swore in private it made it too easy to revert to it in public and during the job, when he needed to stay cool or risk enflaming a situation. “Where are you now?”
    “In the woods. Actually, I think I may have gotten a little turned around,” she said. It wasn’t the truth, but Jackson needed someone to rescue, no matter how small. It was a silly thing to do, and maybe she was treating him like a child who needed his hand held, but hell … someone had to do it. And if that wasn’t the definition of her job then she sure as hell didn’t know what was.
    “Okay, stay where you are. We don’t need to be looking for you as well.”
    “It’s not that bad,” she laughed. “It’s not like I’m lost in the badlands or the Grand Canyon or something.”
    “Just the same. Let us come to you.”
    “But how are you going to know—?”
    She realized she was talking to herself when her phone clicked off in her ear. Okay sure, so he had a supersniffing dog, but it’s not as though autocraticag.Sargent had a sample of her scent to go on. It wasn’t as though they were going to make a beeline straight to her in a matter of minutes.
    “All right, so much for that idea,” she muttered to herself when, minutes later, Sargent came bounding out of the trees at her, barking happily, his master sharp on his heels.
    “How do you do that?” she demanded to know. “You couldn’t possibly—”
    “Two words. ‘Find Marissa.’ That’s all it took. This dog has a jones for you, Doc, or hadn’t you noticed he plants his ass in front of your door anytime I’m not paying close enough attention?”
    She’d noticed. And it had unnerved her every time she’d come out and found the dog staring and waiting for her to appear, like some kind of canine stalker.
    “You probably taught him to do that because you know I’m nervous around dogs.”
    That earned a lifted brow. He’d been working at getting her to admit it for three weeks now. His sea-green eyes narrowed on her, the sharp relief of color in the darkness more than a little eerie. She shivered, lecturing herself for letting the woods creep her out. For letting him see any weakness in her at all. She normally wasn’t afraid to be human in front of her coworkers and patients, but when it came to Jackson she felt the need to always be on guard and to always project a wall of strength. It was sometimes like dealing with a wild animal … ifyou showed any kind of fear it might turn on you.
    That was incredibly unfair of her, she thought in the next moment. Jackson had never done anything to her to deserve her cautious behavior.
    Unless you counted propositioning her …
    “There’s no need to be afraid of Sargent,” he said, his tone gentling. He reached down and patted the dog. Sargent ate up the attention, his tongue hanging out of his mouth and his panting goofier than usual. She realized then that it was because he had been working nonstop for hours and was visibly tired. So was Jackson for that matter.
    “Come on,” she said coaxingly to them both. “It’s time you two got some rest.”
    The sound of a shot rang out an instant after some kind of red projectile hit the tree next to Marissa’s kneecap, bark spitting out at her and Sargent. The canine reacted, jumping back, and immediately barking an alarm. Marissa’s heart leaped into her throat and she froze, unable to move, unable to react. Had someone just