For a moment shock kept her frozen in place. The warm pressure of his mouth on hers was the last thing she had been expecting. His lips were firm and experienced and absolutely, unmistakably male. They moved persuasively against hers. Blisteringly hot, his tongue touched the crease between her lips. She felt a jolt of heat, a wave of longing. His tongue slid into her mouth, and she was suddenly on fire, burning up inside, kissing him back. Wanting more. In what amounted to a lightning bolt of sensation she felt a thousand things at once, most of which she was afraid to even try to put a name to. But she recognized the hot flare of desire an instant before it was swamped by fury, and fear.
No, her mind screamed in rejection even as, on a whole different, more conscious level, warning sirens went off inside her head: He can do anything he wants to me. Here in this tent, in this storm, I’m at his mercy.
Then her spine kicked in. Not.
Tearing her mouth free, she slammed her fist toward the center of his chest in a hard punch guaranteed to make him think twice before he touched her like that again. He caught her fist before it could connect. Easily, his palm trapped her clenched fingers and stopped the blow in midair.
It dismayed her to realize that, besides being the approximate size of a gorilla, the man had lightning-quick reflexes.
She made an enraged sound.
“That was meant as a thank-you,” he said before she could summon the words with which to annihilate him. “For saving my life. I owe you.”
She jerked her hand out of his grasp. He didn’t try to keep it.
“You don’t kiss me,” she said through her teeth. She could still feel the imprint of his lips. It was all she could do not to scrub the back of her hand over her mouth to try to wipe it away. “You don’t come on to me. Are we clear?”
He held up both hands in surrender. “As glass. Gina. It was a thank-you, not a come-on. That’s all.”
“Next time, I suggest you use your words.” Her voice was icy. It didn’t escape her notice that he had used her name, but it didn’t make her feel any more kindly disposed toward him. Snatching up her coat, she backed away from him on her knees, then pulled her coat on and zipped it up to the neck. Finally she gathered up her hair and knotted it at her nape again.
Fixing him with a hostile stare all the while.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.
“You didn’t scare me. You crossed a line. I’m angry.”
“I’m sorry.” She couldn’t quite put a name to the look in his eyes, but abject apology wasn’t it.
He settled back down with his head on the backpack, pulling the sleeping bag up around his shoulders in a way that left most of his arms bare. Bulging biceps, powerful forearms dusted with dark hair, large, long-fingered, square-palmed hands—finding herself eyeballing so much brawny masculinity did nothing to lessen her antagonism. With his fingers laced together on his chest he even looked almost comfortable. Gina eyed him with annoyance coupled with mistrust. He added, “If it makes you feel any better, I now believe your story. You really are a college professor up here looking at birds.”
“Wow, you’re making my day.” She turned away to adjust the Mylar blanket around the pan of rocks. It was a way of putting an end to their conversation—she really didn’t want to talk to him anymore—and, also, it was important that the heat be husbanded so that it lasted as long as possible. Even though the sounds were muffled now, the howling of the wind and the drumming of the sleet on the rocks were a constant reminder of just how terrible conditions were outside.
He watched her in silence for a moment. Then he said, “This would probably be a bad time for me to tell you to come on over here and climb inside this sleeping bag with me so we can get some sleep.”
Looking around, she bared her teeth at him in a savage nonsmile. “Never gonna happen.”
“So, what, you’re planning to sit there thinking evil thoughts about me all night?”
“What I’m planning to do is none of your business.”
“I’m not going to attack you, if that’s what you’re worried about. We can sleep back to back. Head to foot. However you want to do it. The key word is, sleep.”
She scooched around to face him. “Like I said, never gonna happen.”
“You’re not going to share this sleeping bag with me?”
“My, you are quick on the uptake.”
They exchanged measuring looks.
“Right.” He flung back the top of the sleeping bag and sat up again. Under the circumstances, seeing so much honed and chiseled male flesh coming at her made her nerves twitch with alarm. It was all she could do to stand—well, sit—her ground. In that she was aided by the fact that there wasn’t anyplace for her to go.
Her voice bristled with suspicion. “What are you doing?”