Still, she positioned his head as best she could, pinched his nose, and began breathing as she placed her lips over his mouth. She couldn't give him chest compressions in the position he was in. She snaked her arm beneath him and proceeded to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation again. After the third attempt, she heard him cough and then drag in a deep breath of air before coughing again. His eyes fluttered open and her heart leapt with joy.
“Nash, just breathe. Don’t move. Let me get you out of here. Just focus on breathing.”
His eyes fluttered as if he was trying to focus or perhaps shield himself from the sun that was glaring down on them. She hovered over him to shield the sun and that was enough for him to focus on her face.
“We didn't die,” he said weakly.
She chuckled nervously out of relief. “No, we didn't. I don't know how, but we didn't.”
His smile was slow. But then he said, “I told you so.”
Her laugh was loud and seemed to echo around them. “Just don't let it go to your head.”
His smile grew wider as he pulled in a deep breath of fresh air. “Promise.”
Sweet Montana Rescue: Chapter Seven
In their weakened state, it took an excruciating long time to dig Nash out from underneath the snow where he'd been pinned by the snowmobile. But instead of being frustrated by the way the snowmobile hindered their efforts, Harper was thankful for it. If she hadn't seen the blades, she wouldn't have known where to even begin looking for Nash. If she hadn’t found him, he’d be dead right now. She was sure of it.
But she had found him. She couldn't imagine what she’d do if she hadn’t.
They rested just a little before they made the trek back up to the cabin. It wasn’t easy walking up the mountain. They had a long way to climb. But once they reached the road, they walked in the snowmobile tracks.
Eventually someone would come to plow the road. One of the rangers at a nearby summit would have seen the avalanche. She was glad she’d told the chief that Nash was up at the cabin. Hank would eventually bring a team up here to check on him after the roads below were cleared. If the storm was as bad as she suspected it was, then the entire town was busy digging out. It would take a few days for them to swing around here with enough equipment to clear the road.
After hours of climbing and walking and feeling she was frozen to the bone, the cabin came into view. Thank God, she’d found him. She couldn’t imagine having to walk inside that cabin without him. As they took each painstaking step up to the cabin, Harper shuddered to think of what she would've done if Nash had died.
It was insane. She’d just met him. They’d known each other three days. But it felt as if she'd known him forever. She’d never believed in love at first sight. That was something for the storybooks and movies. But she couldn't explain away the intense emotions she had walking side-by-side with Nash as they reached the end of this harrowing day together. And she couldn’t imagine doing this with anyone else.
* * *
He'd almost lost her. Nash thought he was going to die this time. When he’d been buried under that snow and gasping for breath, unable to take in enough to keep him from getting dizzy and losing consciousness, he actually thought this was his end. Not Carol this time. Not Harper. Him.
He could handle that. But it made him crazy to think that Harper could've died.
When he'd seen her car roll down that embankment, even from a distance, the memories of seeing Carol fall was as stark as a knife’s blade and hard to ignore. Harper wasn't Carol. They were two different women in two different situations.
But he could've lost Harper today. And the thought of it made him paralyzed with fear. The cabin came into view and it was like manna from heaven. He was so cold and he knew she was too. She was already battered from her accident. Nash prided himself on being physically fit. But even he felt like he'd gone through a washing machine and been spit out. He could only imagine how Harper felt with all her bruises and aches. And still, she'd survived.
And she’d been the one to save his life.
He shuddered to think of how it would've been for her if she'd found him dead in that snow pile. She wasn't in love with him. Not that it was the same thing as when he'd found Carol. But he knew how it affected her when her parents died and she'd received the news that they were gone.
People didn't recover from things like that. The idea that time healed all wounds was bogus. He knew that personally. Time didn't heal anything. It just covered it up with a thicker scar that made it easy to bury the hurt in order to get through the day.
As soon as they walked to the door of the cabin, he slammed the door shut and they both collapsed to the floor.
“We need to get these wet clothes off and get into a hot bath. You take a shower first. Get yourself warm and then I'll take a shower after you finish,” he said.
“I love that you're being a gentleman. Trust me, it's one of the things about you that is most appealing to me. But you were the
