Page 4 of Keeping Kara

CHAPTER TWO

Kara couldn’t believe she was alive. When the tree she’d been clinging to had fallen into the water, she’d thought that was it. That she was well and truly dead. She’d come so close to being rescued, only to have her legendary bad luck rear its ugly head once more.

And then she’d felt a hand grab her arm, then close around her wrist. For a split second, she’d actually thought it was Nolan. But she knew immediately that was stupid, he wouldn’t be in the middle of a raging flood. Even though she had no doubt if he lived through this disaster, he’d never give up looking for her. Insisting she belonged to him.

When she could afford a moment to look, Kara was shocked to see a man was now in the water with her, holding on to her as if he’d never let go. As if he’d fight the water gods for the right to keep her. He must’ve come from one of the choppers that had arrived out of thin air to rescue her.

It seemed implausible that he would’ve fallen from the helicopter, but there was no other possible explanation for why he was there now.

His hold on her wrist hurt, but she was still grateful for it. She could feel the strength in his body as he fought against the current to try to get them to one side of the water. It felt like a losing battle, since the water was moving so fast, but she did what she could to help.

Kara could feel his body jerk every time he was hit by debris, but he consistently kept himself between her and anything in the water, at least as much as he could. And she was grateful, because it took every bit of her concentration to keep sneaking breaths between moments when the water washed over her head, and to try to help the man get them out of the middle of the river.

She saw the bend in the water he was aiming for, and Kara doubled her efforts to try to help them get there. He reached out and grabbed one of the trees and pulled her closer before shoving her upward. Kara did her best to help him, and the feeling of being out of the water was such a relief, she wanted to cry.

Before she had a chance to do much of anything, the trees shuddered as a pickup truck hit the spot where she’d gotten out of the water two seconds before.

But where was the man?

Looking around frantically, Kara didn’t see him.

Then his head surfaced, and his hand reached out and grabbed a small branch sticking out from one of the trees.

The truck moved downstream…but the man didn’t do anything but float in the water. His knuckles were white around the branch, and Kara instinctively knew he was seconds away from letting go—and probably disappearing forever.

Which wasn’t an option. Not when he’d literally saved her life.

Lunging forward, she reached out and grabbed his wrist. He hadn’t let go of her, and she wasn’t going to let go of him now.

His eyes opened, and their gazes locked.

Something passed between them. She had no idea what…but for some weird reason, a really old eighties movie flashed into her brain. It was called Mannequin, and she specifically thought of the scene when the mannequin the hero fell in love with came to life as it, she, was dangling over some kind of trash grinder. The look of horror on the man’s face when he realized if he let go of the woman, she’d die, was exactly what Kara felt right at that second.

She gritted her teeth and yelled, “I’ve got you, don’t give up!” Then she reached down and grabbed the same arm with her other hand, pulling as hard as she could. His legs were being pulled downstream, and for a moment, he didn’t move.

Then he finally kicked his feet, bringing himself closer to the tree.

Working together, he and Kara were able to get half his body up and out of the water. When he sagged onto the trees, his legs were still in the water, and Kara was afraid something else—like another damn car—would slam into the trees, severing his legs altogether. He needed to get all the way out of the water, but she couldn’t lift him by herself.

“You need to get farther up!” she shouted.

But his eyes were closed, and she didn’t know if he was even conscious. His body began to tremble, which scared the shit out of Kara.

“Please, we need to get off these trees,” she begged. “Get you out of the water. But I need your help.”

No response.

This man had risked his life to save hers, and Kara wasn’t going to sit around and wring her hands like a damn damsel in distress. She couldn’t leave him hanging half in the water.

Reaching out, she’d just grabbed one of his legs when the trees suddenly shifted, almost making her tumble back into the water herself.

Carefully, she tried again. Thankfully she was as tall as he was, so reaching him wasn’t too much of an issue. She grunted and grabbed the material of his jumpsuit, or whatever the heck he was wearing, at his thigh, pulling upward with all her strength.

He apparently felt her yanking on his leg, because he moved with her, doing his best to help.

The relief she felt after the man was completely up on the tangle of trees was short-lived, when the entire bundle shifted once more. It was extremely likely the racing floodwater would pull their temporary haven away from the bank, sending them right back into the deadly current they’d miraculously escaped.

Kara was sure her luck wouldn’t hold, because that was the story of her life.