CHAPTER 1
Prince William Forest Park
Saturday
Dave Murphy fixed the small knapsack on his back then pulled Ash’s arm and almost bent himself in half to hoist her up over his shoulder, fireman style. He banded one arm around the top of her thighs, tried not to place his hand on her ass to help her keep balance then straightened up onto his feet again.
“Murphy!” she yelled out and she pounded her fists on his lower back. “Put me down!”
“Ash, you can’t walk that far, I’m not leaving you here in the dark, just, hold on!”
“How is this the easiest way to carry me?”
“This is how they do it in the movies,” he said and when she heard the chuckle in his voice she pounded on his back again, this time slapping his ass too.
“I swear to god Murph, if you don’t put me down right now!” she threatened but it just made him stop walking. He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder.
“What?” he teased. “You’ll what?”
“I’ll…” she looked around and tried desperately to think of something she could threaten him with but she came up blank.
“That’s what I thought.” He continued walking but the path they arrived on, that seemed so quaint and natural in the daylight, now in the setting sun seemed to be intent on tripping him up.
Well, it hadn’t seemed too quaint when she tripped. When that tree root seemed to come out of nowhere as she put it and snagged her foot causing her ankle to twist and sprain, quaint was definitely not the word she cursed under her breath.
“Murphy, you can’t carry me 2 miles like this, I’ll pass out.”
“You’ll pass out?” he muttered and he hefted her up on his shoulder more securely.
“Yeah, all the blood is going to my head, I’ll get dizzy.”
“Are you sure that’s not just because you’re looking at my ass?”
“Maybe if I was looking at Alex’s ass… but this specimen?” she slapped one cheek of his ass as hard as she could and delighted in the grunt of pain he emitted. “Is having little or no effect on my blood flow.”
“What?” Murphy stopped walking and cocked his hip to stick out his ass. “Are you sure you’re looking in the right place?” He wriggled his butt and she laughed. “I thought you were a medical doctor, didn’t they teach you human anatomy at doctor school?”
“Doctor school?” she said with one raised eyebrow but then realized he couldn’t see it. “Seriously Murph, I’m getting dizzy.”
He stopped walking and looked back over his shoulder again then carefully lowered himself, then her off his shoulder so she was sitting on a mossy patch under a large tree. Her face was way redder than usual and he helped her brush her hair off her face, which was clammy now and her breathing was a little more ragged than he expected.
“Your ankle ok?” he asked and he looked down at her foot. They had tightened the laces on her boot and he had given her his belt to fasten a couple of sticks either side of her foot like a splint to keep it as immobile as possible.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s sore as hell but it’s fine, it’s probably just a sprain.”
“So, options?” he said and he looked around at the rapidly darkening forest they were surrounded by as the summer sun finally called it quits on another day.
“You could go-”
“I already told you, I’m not leaving you here alone.”
“It’s a 2 mile hike out to the ranger station, it’ll take you less than an hour on your own, and then you can come back.”
“Come back and then what, both me and the ranger carry you out?” He waved his hands around at their location. The canopy of trees was thick and let in little light, which made this area colder and damper than other parts of the park as well as killing any chance they had of getting any cell reception. The path was carved through foliage and was uneven, littered with loose pebbles, tree roots, moss patches and a ditch on either side for rain runoff. “We won’t be able to take a vehicle out this way, so there is no point in you waiting here.”
“Murphy-”
“I’ll give you a jockey back.”
“A what?”
“A jockyback...a piggyback!” he said with a laugh and a shake of his head.
“A piggyback? For two miles?”
“C’mon Ash, I’m not leaving you, and the other way apparently made you dizzy.” He took the knapsack off his back and handed it to her. “Put this on.”
“You’re not-”
“C’mon,” he urged and shoved the bag into her hands then waited while she put it on, then he took both of her hands, turned his back to her and pulled her arms over his shoulders. “Hold your arms around my neck.”
“Murphy…” she said nervously. “Are you sure?”
He leaned forward slowly until she was standing on one foot behind him, then he bent his knees and reached his hands around her legs to lift her up with a quick jerking motion of his knees. Ash yelled out in surprise as she moved up his back and her arms tightened around his neck.
“I’ve got you Ash,” he said as he wriggled her around his back until she sat on the bottom of his back. His arms held up her thighs and his hands interlocked together and nestled under her ass. “You comfy?”
“Not sure if that’s the word I’d use…” she muttered though as her head was right behind his, there was no way he wouldn’t hear even the slightest whisper.
“Right, let’s do this.” He shifted her up his back once more, his hands pressed into her ass to secure her in place and she could tell he was enjoying this way too much.
“Just in case you weren’t sure, Murphy,” she said, then moved her head more to his side to place her lips near his ear. “This is not how a first date should go.”
“How about a second?”
“Ideally you don’t want any date to end with physical injury.”
“Really?” He paused walking and tipped his head away from her so he could see her face. “Not even during-”
“Not to this degree.”
Murphy hummed and started walking again. “I dunno, Ash. Maybe we just have different ideas of a good time.”
She shook her head and chuckled as she tightened her arms around his neck to secure her place on his back. If she choked him now she would be stuck here with him in the cold. So better to let him carry her to the ranger station first, then she could kill him.
