Page 69 of Healing Conviction
“I mean… uh, maybe I can help.” His brow raised, obviously disbelieving that was the case, and she decided to go back to the flirting angle. She massaged his forearm and gave him a cheeky grin. “Or, ya know…. we can finish what we started this morn—”
He snatched his arm away from her and she stumbled back. A pointed look darkened his face as he crossed his arms. She averted her eyes so she wouldn’t get sidetracked by the beautiful dragon ouroboros tattoo peeking out at her from his forearm.
“Nora… are you flirting to distract me again?”
She felt her cheeks redden and sputtered. “Oh, I um… wait, what do you mean‘again’?”
A blond brow raised in question.
Ugh, wrong question, dummy.
“You don’t think I realized what you were doing this morning? When you flirted with me? And practically herded me like a sheepdog in the direction you thought I wanted to go so I wouldn’t realize you were tagging along?”
Her cheeks were on fire and every thought had as much substance as ash. She couldn’t for the life of her think of a response.
“I, um… usually nobody catches me.”Wrong again. What am I doing?
“Not really an answer.” He stepped closer, crowding her space and making it impossible to breathe anything but his crisp, minty scent mixed with the woodsmoke that clung to his skin, reminding her of the night before. Her skin flushed as his stormy ocean eyes bore down on her. “And I’m notnobody. Tell me why you wanted to tagalong so badly that you resorted to trying to trick me? Listen or talk to me, but don’t manipulate me.”
Manipulate. Ouch. But that’s exactly what I’m doing, though… isn’t it?
That reality made her chest tighten with guilt. And as much as it terrified her, he was right. Drake wasn’t ‘nobody’ to her. The least she could give him was the truth.
She took a breath and decided to come clean. “I’m afraid you won’t come back.” His eyes narrowed and her heart quickened at making him angry, but she forged on. “I know you don’t want to admit it to me, but you’re struggling today. I realize it’s totally different, but my brain can’t stop thinking about the last time we separated on a mission. You got hurt and… and we didn’t come back together.”
His mouth fell open slightly until his face shifted into a look of understanding. The deep voice that always made her lower belly flip replied back in a soothing tone. “That’s not gonna happen, Pix. You can trust that I’ll protect us both this time. I promise.”
“I know.” Her voice was embarrassingly small. “It’s a fear all the same, though. But I get it. I’ll stay here—”
“No… it’s fine.” A teasing note played in his voice as he interrupted her, easing the pressure in her chest. “It’s why I didn’t say anything earlier. I’d rather you tagalong on my own terms than think you successfully conned me into it. But I did warn you that stakeouts are boring as fuck.”
She giggled, thankful for the lifeline he threw her in their sea of awkwardness. “Absolutely agree. Next time you suggest stakeout, I’m ordering something else from the menu.” At his confused look, she smiled and winked. “Get it?Stakeout. You know, since I’m a vegetarian?”
He snorted. “Good one.” It was the first time he’d smiled since yesterday, and she hadn’t truly realized how much she already craved it. And that she’d missed it.
Terrifying.
Her delicious nightmare turned around and continued back toward the camp on a different path than the one they’d used to go to the stakeout tree.
“We’ll check the traps together, then. We’re already close. Shouldn’t take too long.”
She glanced around on their walk, as if he’d made it easy to spot any snares. As it was, trees shaded them from the afternoon sun, making it hard to see, while branches and vines created thick walls beside them.
“Traps are freakin’ cool. You’re practically therealSurvivorman, like from the TV show.”
His long steps were slow enough, but they easily left her behind. She stretched her tired legs to keep up with him as they navigated the skinny path. When the path got slightly wider, she jogged around him to get ahead a few feet.
“How far from the camp are they—”
She yelped as the floor beneath her fell. Her arms flung around as she tried to gain purchase from the branches and roots around her. But before she could drop to her doom, strong arms banded around her waist.
“This far.” Drake’s breath puffed against the top of her head as he held her back flush to his chest. She shivered in his arms but didn’t demand to be let down. The ground in front of them had indeed disappeared, and a loosely woven blanket of thin branches and dead leaves now caved into a steep hole.
“You saved me.” Her own chest was heaving from the adrenaline as she clutched his forearms for dear life. After a few more breaths, she realized the pressure at her back was gone. Drake had loosened his grip to set her on her feet and was now chuckling at her.
“You can let go now, Pix. You’re safe.”
“Oh… right.” Very slowly, she released her grip on the poor man and he positioned her beside him, cautiously, away from the hole. “No need to cling to you like a koala.”