“Go.” Daire studied the nearly frozen woman in front of him. Did he have the strength to start a fire?
“I’m still in Russia researching the planekite mining, and there’s a blizzard going on. As soon as possible, I’ll pick you up. Might be first light tomorrow. Be ready.” Adam’s voice roughened. “Are you hurt?”
“No. Just get here. Bring clothes for me and for a petite woman. And food.” Daire clicked off before Adam could ask any questions and then yanked a waterproof tent from the go-bag.
Cee Cee’s lips trembled in the parody of a smile. “Aren’t you prepared?” Her teeth chattered as she spoke.
“Always.” He unfolded the tent and quickly hammered it into place against the nearest rocks, and then he grabbed a rolled-up sleeping bag to toss inside. “I keep an escape helicopter on a remote island north of the Arctic Circle.” Testing the ties of the tent, he nodded. “A go-bag for bad weather seemed like a good idea. Just in case.” The current situation was by no means the worst he’d ever been in, although he’d never had a small blonde to worry about before. He held open the flap. “Take off the jeans and get in.”
She glanced down at her wet jeans and boots before shivering. Surprisingly, she didn’t argue but shrugged out of the wet clothing and then hightailed it inside.
The wind pierced him, and snow began to fall. He sucked in air and tried to force fire to the surface.
Nothing.
He shivered. Wet clothes weren’t going to help. His hands shook as he kicked out of his jeans and placed them right inside the tent before toeing off his boots and socks. His limbs were heavy, and his head pounded. Being naked was the last of his worries. Without a word, he opened the flap and crawled inside to find Cee Cee in the bag. She’d unzipped it and tossed open the side.
“Get in,” she said, her voice cracking.
He climbed in and zipped up behind him. The wind moved the top of the tent back and forth. Her scent wafted lightly around him along with the smell of salt and ocean. “I can’t make fire, but if we sleep, we’ll both heal.” The woman felt like one long piece of ice. Trying to be gentle, he turned her back to his front and spooned around her. “Body heat will have to do.”
She trembled, shivers rubbing her skin against his. Even through the wool sweater, she felt cold.
He rubbed her arms and tucked his knees up and under hers. “Sleep will help.” Not that there was a choice for him. After fighting, being injured, helping Cee Cee to heal, and then crashing a helicopter into the freezing sea, his body was done. So he tucked his nose into her wet hair, took a deep breath, and let himself fall.
Even sleeping, his subconscious kept track of the woman in his arms and the storm berating the tent, but he went under deep enough to allow his body to heal, resting for several hours.
A strong gust of wind whipped across the tent, and he came fully awake with a jerk. No light permeated the darkness, so it wasn’t dawn as of yet. He’d slept for the rest of the day and then a good portion of the night. Heat surrounded him in the tight sleeping bag. As his mind settled, his body kicked alive. Smooth, soft hands were caressing very lightly across his chest and down his abs, soothing each one as if counting them.
Cee Cee faced him, one smooth thigh between his legs, her hands exploring.
Desire, desperate and hot, burned through him. “What are you doing?” His voice was beyond rough.
She lifted her head, her soft and now dry hair brushing across the bristles of his whiskers. “I didn’t mean to awaken you.”
That voice. That sexy, hoarse, fuck me voice. His cock sprang hard as steel. “Yet you did,” he rumbled.
She finished counting the last rib, her small hand so close to his dick, he stopped breathing. “You’re just so hard and ripped, I wanted to feel.”