Ali bit at the inside of her cheeks, gave the smal bedroom a detailed once over. The old chest of drawers still barricaded the door.
The windows were still boarded and the shades still drawn. Everything was where it should be. The filtered light gave no clue as to the time of day or how long she had slept with him beside her. Beneath her. Bloody hell.
Things were heating up. Her skin was sticky, no matter the water wasted last night. Sticky and sweaty and she had been spread al over Daniel like honey on toast. Her fingers knotted themselves up in the top sheet. Over and over.
Alex had hated her clinging. Clinging being his term for any touching taking place outside of sexual congress. Oh, no, Alex had preferred to be adored from afar. Made it much simpler for her sister to slip on in and have him.
What a beautiful moment their wedding was. It had truly brought new lows to family awkwardness.
Ouch, a year on and still she felt the sting.
And why that old wound had chosen to pop up and nip her on the ass here and now she couldn’t say. It fit with her flurried, messy state of mind. Hell, she didn’t even know if any of her family were alive. Being betrayed dwindled in importance in the face of cold, hard death. Her insides felt strangely empty, as they always did when she thought of her family. She’d well and truly been left alone. Alone, except for the giant in her bed.
Daniel yawned again, cracked his neck and watched her. The other people out there wanting who knew what didn’t seem to concern him. That made her want to thump him. Hard.
Right on his big, fat, pretty, patient head.
“Talk to me, babe,” he said gently. When she didn’t reply, he raised an arm, pointed a lazy finger toward the chest of drawers. “Your gun’s up there. I didn’t want you accidentally blowing my head off during the night. Because that would be sad, right?”
She smiled and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Right. Sad.”
“I get the need to be cautious, Ali. I do. But you’re assuming everyone’s out to do harm before you have proof. Shoot first and ask questions later.”
Tension drew her tight, across her shoulders, down her spine. She was a puppet at its mercy. “You’ve been on the road for six weeks and you think otherwise?”
“Yes. Though frankly, on the roads I used, I didn’t see anyone,” he said with the same cool, calm expression.
“We have a decision to make. We can stay here, holed up for a while, or we can sneak out. Avoid whoever the hell is out there and the infected, hopeful y.” Daniel rolled onto his side and put his head in his hand. The bed wasn’t big enough for him, his feet dangled off the edge. “You know what I want, this decision is yours. I’m not going to push you into anything.”
Which was a nice change from his high-handed pushy bullshit of yesterday. She kept her mouth shut, but her whole body leant forward, toward him. It was more than the dip in the mattress. Something about him drew her in, slowly but surely. A weakness in her armor needing remedy. Caring for someone else, given the state of the world, was crazy. She might as well just press the self-destruct button now and be done with it.
“We can give it some time, wait till you’re ready. We do however need to make a move sometime, babe. You see that, don’t you?
Staying here … it’s not good.”
The thought of leaving her hidey-hole had those rabbity instincts rising to the fore. Hide. Hunker down. And hurry up about it.
But where? Back up to the roof? For once, it wasn’t the answer. Not after cleaning up, sleeping in a real bed, talking and interacting with someone as if she were a normal person.
Whatever normal was now.
Moving on would involve trusting this man.
Sprung so tight, she barely trusted herself.
“You think I’m going to get cornered staying here?”
“Yes,” he said.
The rabbit kicked hard in protest. She rubbed her breastbone with the side of her hand. “Supplies are … they’re getting hard to find.”
He nodded.
“Yeah.” Her stomach dropped away, and she shut her lips tight to hold in the words for a moment longer. When she forced her mouth open, her jaw clicked in protest. “You’re right. We should go.”
He blinked, stunned. “Real y?”
“Yes.”
The big man whooped like a kid let loose in a toyshop. She sat in his lap, his arms wrapped around her, kisses peppering the top of her head before she even registered he had moved. “You won’t regret it. It’ll be great. Promise.”
“Okay. Put me back.” She swatted at his arms, a half-hearted protest at best. Al the warm male skin surrounding her, the heat and scent of him, created a heady combination. The impulse to grab him back and hold on tight startled the crap out of her. “Enough.”
“Never. Or not yet. We’ll pack up what you want to take, and make for the highway. First, though …” He rubbed his cheek against the top of her head and made a happy humming sound. “Quality time together is very important for new couples.”