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Carly didn’t even blink. “None.”
He nodded and then leaned in for a kiss, burying his hands in her hair. The kiss stretched on, neither of them willing to break it.
Sam butted his head inside the tent and gave an irritated “Hmph!”
They parted and laughed. Carly crawled out of the tent and grabbed some clothing from the pack. “Justin, I’m going down to the creek.”
“I’ll come with you. Let’s pack up first, and we’ll park the wagon on the bank where we can keep an eye on it.” Justin was becoming much more cautious with more people around. He rarely let Carly go anywhere out of his sight.
The creek was hip deep, and the water was icy cold. Carly shivered through her bath and darted back up onto the bank as soon as possible. She pulled on her clothes and searched through her pack. “Justin, do you know where my hair ties went?”
There was a long pause. Carly turned to him and saw a flash of guilt on his face. “I... uh... I like your hair loose.”
“So you took my hair ties?”
His smile was sheepish. “Sort of. I kind of made sure they got lost.”
“Justin!”
He strode up out of the water and used his towel to dry his hair first.
“Are you hoping to use your sexy body to distract me?” Carly demanded, her hands on her hips.
“Is it working?”
She struggled to suppress a smile. “A little.”
Justin turned around and gave his bottom a little shake in her direction. He looked back at her over his shoulder. “Are you distracted yet?”
Carly laughed. “Yes, now I’m officially distracted. But I’ll probably be mad at you again around lunch time, so as a preemptive measure, you may want to get naked as soon as we stop.”
“If I must.”
“Oh, you must! You must!”
Justin pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I missed you so much, Carly.”
“I missed you, too.”
They started off down the road, and Carly took a deep breath. “Isn’t it beautiful today?”
Justin smiled at her. “It certainly is. But that reminds me of something we need to talk about.”
A worried frown flitted across her face. “What do you mean?”
“We’re not going to make it to the South before winter, Carly.”
She was faintly alarmed. “What are we going to do?”
“We’re going to find a nice, old farm house with thick walls and working fireplaces and a comfortable barn for Shadowfax. I’d like to try to get through North Dakota because the winters can be very harsh there, but I’m not sure we’ll make it. We have to have some time to gather up the supplies we’ll need before winter.”
Carly glanced back at the wagon.
“Not just food. Though we could use more of that, just to be on the safe side. We’ll need firewood, and hay for Shadowfax to eat.”
“Can’t we just give her the pellets?”
He considered. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Maybe there’s something in the hay they need.”
