She laughed. “No way could I outlast you.”
“Well of course not. Be realistic,” he said with a wink, and she laughed again. “But you outlasted most civilians. Hell, think about that group you came here with. They’re back at the Hilton sipping cosmos, but you’re out here giving it your all.”
She looked down the front of herself. “All at the expense of Jimmy and Michael.” She brushed a hand over her damaged sweater and sighed. Dex didn’t know who Jimmy and Michael were, but he assumed they’d given her those clothes she was wearing.
“Thank you for instructing me,” she said. “It’s really incredible that you can take care of yourself and others the way you do. At a moment’s notice, the world could end, and you’d be prepared.” She glanced around the tarp tent. “You’d even provide five-star camping accommodations.”
The words rolled off her tongue and hit him was like a warm hug. Because there was a hint of seriousness in those words. She thought he was incredible?
“I know it’s barely dark, but I’m kind of tired,” she said.
He unzipped his sleeping bag and held it open for her.
She looked at his offering, then at him.
“I can’t take your sleeping bag. Where will you sleep?”
“I’ll just sit right here.” He patted the large tree and sat back against it.
“You’ll freeze.”
“Nah, I’ve got layers.”
She looked like she’d fight him more, but he coaxed her to take his offer. After discarding her boots, she climbed into his bag, and he could smell her sweet scent of lilacs and vanilla. He knew right then that the damn smell would never come out of his bag.
Michelle didn’t know if she’d fallen asleep or not. Surely at some point she’d dozed off, but it was so cold that she could barely remember. She was just counting down the minutes until this was over.
She must have fallen asleep, though, because she’d been cold. Bone-shakingly cold. And now she was warm. A warmth that wrapped around her and was so comforting that she snuggled closer.
She was against a hot, large rock. Hard, chiseled… She gripped it with her hand. Squeezed…
What is that?
She peeled her eyes open and saw Dex sitting against the tree trunk, arms crossed, and looking down at her. Because she was in his lap.
“You’re awake?” she whispered.
He nodded once.
That’s when her vision heightened, and she saw that her head was against this thigh and her hand was squeezing a mere inch from his—
“Oh, God.” She yanked her hand back, realizing now what hard, hot thing she’d been massaging.
Heat spread from her face to her chest to her legs. She’d been so close. God. If she’d stayed asleep a few minutes longer, she might have ended up finishing him off and would have woken up to the pleasure of his satisfaction—
Wait. Stop. Where had that thought come from?
He grinned down at her. “One more minute there, princess, and I’d start thinking you were hitting on me.”
“I didn’t mean to. I’m so sorry.” She scrambled and sat up. The sleeping bag fell down her arms and pooled around her middle.
“Don’t be. You gravitated toward me. I’m not one to turn away a lady in need of heat.”
“I bet you aren’t,” she said under her breath as she eyed the sexy search and rescue hero. He was hard with cut muscles capable of anything. She bet he could fashion an airplane out of nothing more than a hairpin and a smile. And she’d hop on that flight all day long. Must be nice to be so…skilled.
Competent.
Adventurous.
Independent.
She wished she had her pen nearby, because the newest addition to her To Do list would be Dex. She shoved those thoughts away, and a cool tickle of air hit her upper half, now unguarded by the ultra-warm sleeping bag.
“I’m cold,” she whispered again.
She sat there while he tugged the sleeping bag up the way someone might when helping a toddler get dressed. With it now up to her neck, he held it there, his big hands cupping her shoulders.
“How do you do this?” she asked.
“Do what?”
She motioned at him. “This. It’s like you know how to…”
“Survive?” he finished with a smile.
“Yeah,” she said. Because like it or not, she didn’t know how to do that. She was trying. Hence the lists, the life change, the middle finger to her ex, and the determination to be independent. She’d started this damn adventure to prove to herself that she could see through a difficult endeavor. And everything about tonight was difficult. She couldn’t quit. Couldn’t be “the girl who ran home” before this was over. But she was currently failing at the most basic survival skills. Dex was a pro and made it look effortless, while she had been forced to hog his sleeping bag just to stay warm.
She saw the goose bumps on the base of his neck. The fire wasn’t flickering; it was roaring hard. Dex had likely been maintaining it while she slept. God, she felt like a brat. And a failure. She was back to someone else taking care of her.