Page 62 of Healing Conviction
“You helped, my little lumberjane. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
She snorted. “If I’m your lumberjane, then you’re my lumbersnack.”
The laugh that was always brimming under the surface around her burst from his chest. “As long as you’re just mine, I don’t care what you call either of us.”
Nora turned slightly away from him with her hand over her mouth, but he saw her smile before she’d been able to hide it, and he couldn’t help but radiate the one he felt, too.
He stayed with his arms crossed, feeling the moment and the weighted energy between them. After a moment of staring into the fire, she bumped into him with her shoulder and grinned. “You’re sexy when you smile, you know that? You haven’t stopped since we started making camp.”
“That so?” He felt his lips widen a fraction. Around Nora it was becoming a regular occurrence, but out in the forest, it made sense that it would come naturally, too. “Maybe I should try it more often.”
Nora’s forehead wrinkled and her lip poked out in a frown before she widened it into a stiff grin. “If that’s what you want, go for it. The ladies—and some gents, too, I’m sure—will love it.”
He snorted before taking a sip of the water Nora had gathered using a straw purifier and flask. “You think I give a fuck about anyone else? I meant for you, obviously.”
The hurt on her face vanished and she smiled back. “That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.” She rubbed her arms. “Unlike the outside of me right now. Geez Louise, it’s supposed to be summer and it’s colder than a frozen dildo out here.”
The water spewed out of his mouth as he laughed.
“Hey! I slaved over every drop of that! It was hard making sure I didn’t fall in. The water’s chilly, you know.”
“But I thought you liked the cold,” he deadpanned, before tilting his head. “Unless the frozen dildo doesn’t get you off?”
She swatted him in the stomach and shrugged. “Judge not, lest ye be judged vanilla, sir. I’ve neverdonetemperature play, but I read it in a magazine and I’m game to try anything once.”
Her words made his cock twitch in his jeans, he shifted on his feet and successfully gulped down another sip of water. “I’ll have to remember that. It can get cool at night still and it’s probably affecting you more since you’re small. Here, take my jacket.”
He bit the flask tip between his teeth in order to hold it and shrugged out of his tactical jacket before handing it to her. “Wear this and sit on the blanket by the fire while I make us dinner.”
Her eyes widened and looked at him, then the offering, then back at him. “Are you sure?”
He nodded. “I’ve got Icelandic blood. Plus, my stepdad and I used to do this stuff all the time. And I had to endure a chilly night or two as a SEAL and in MF7.” He shrugged his shoulders under his black T-shirt, welcoming the cool air against his skin after working up a sweat building their campsite. “This is nothing.”
She eyed him again, almost as if she was waiting for him to take back the offer, before she finally nodded. “Thanks. This is super-duper sweet of you.”
“It’s a jacket, Pix. Not a kidney transplant.” He laughed and gave her a wink before pointing at the log he’d rolled over for them to lean back on. “Now sit your ass down while I feed you, woman.”
She snorted but did what she was told and sat on the blanket she’d laid out, resting her back against the log. His jacket was comically large and swallowed her whole. Her eyes were full of hungry interest as she watched him pour an ounce of water in both MRE bags to activate the heater.
“Who knew I had to come to the wilderness to get a man to cook a meal for me?”
“You don’t want me cooking for you. This is about as gourmet as I get, and trust me. This shit gets really old, really fast. Hope you like” —he checked the wrapper— “vegetarian chili and crackers.”
“Ah! It’s a vegetarian option, too? How’d I get so lucky?”
“What do you mean, lucky?” he asked before sealing both his chili mac n’ beef bag and her bag in their respective boxes to heat.
“I’m sure you don’t normally go for vegetarian so I didn’t expect one to be an option.”
“No, I’m not a vegetarian, but you are, so I packed it.” He tilted the boxes up against a rock and sat back on his heels, accidentally landing on his ass instead.
It’d been a long day and his underused muscles had been screaming at him since their hike. It hadn’t helped that before he’d built the camp, he’d done a quick assessment of their area, making quick traps, and walked the additional round trip half mile to test out his binoculars and a good perch for spying on the distribution center. It was a Friday night, and he’d been correct in assuming the whole place was closed down. It probably would be until Monday, but they would be there if anything fishy happened. He wasn’t sure what they were going to be looking for, but he had a feeling they’d figure it out when they found it.
“You… you packed it for me?” Nora’s voice was small and hopeful and he turned toward her with a frown.
“Yeah? Why wouldn’t I?” he snorted and looked up at her, but her wide green eyes averted to the fire as soon as he met them.
“Nothing. Just… thankful is all.” He frowned at her and opened his mouth to question her but she beat him to it. “I think the MREs are done. It’s been a few minutes and I think I read on the back of one of them, that’s all it takes.”