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He had other scars, too. One on his left shoulder. Another on his flat belly. And she’d had a glimpse of red puckered skin on his calf. Was that the reason he was limping? He’d made it pretty clear he didn’t want to talk about that, either.

The thing was, she wanted to know more about him. Everything about him. They’d been together such a short time, yes, but she felt closer to Tanner Akecheta than to any man she’d ever dated, even for weeks at a time.

Not that she and Tanner were dating.

She knew better than to call having sex, the best sex of her life, “dating.” But they would date. When they left this place. She wanted to see him in the real world, be with him in the real world…

“Hey.” Tanner ran his fingers into her hair and tilted her face to his. “Why so quiet?”

She shook her head, pushed aside his dog tags and pressed a kiss to the center of his chest.

“I’m just thinking.”

“About?”

She smiled. “About the likelihood of us turning into prunes.”

He laughed. “Excellent point, Bellini.” He reached for a container of shampoo, opened it, took a sniff. “More vanilla.”

He dumped some into his hand. She brought his hand to her face and inhaled.

“Lovely.”

“How about I wash your hair?”

“Oh, that would be wonderful.”

It was.

The feel of his hands combing through her hair, taking out the tangles, then rinsing it clean, was wonderful.

He thought so, too.

The feel of her hair under his fingers. And the sighs, the sweet little purrs she made… After a while, they drove him crazy because he imagined her making those soft cries while she lay under him in bed.

He scrubbed himself down. Head. Torso. Body. Legs. He rinsed them both off. Then he turned off the water, wrapped her in an oversized bath towel and carried her to the bedroom. He lay her down on the bed and drew up the covers.

“Sleep for a while,” he said softly. “Then we’ll get something to eat.”

“Mmm.” She gave a huge yawn. “What about you? Aren’t you going to lie down with me?”

He pressed a light kiss to her hair.

“I have to call in first.” He kissed her hair again. She smelled of vanilla and, inexplicably, of wildflowers. “Five minutes.”

“Promise?”

“Promise. Not a second more.”

But she was already asleep.

Tanner stood looking at her. A muscle knotted in his jaw.

Then he got the satphone from the pack and went into the hall.

Chay picked up so fast Tanner knew he must have been waiting for the phone to ring. “Dude, everything okay? Where are you? Took you a while to make contact.”

“Yeah,” Tanner said again, rubbing his forehead. “Everything’s fine. We’re at the house.”