“That’s so weird to think about. If anyone famous survived, they’d be just like the rest of us now, having to choose a side, good or evil. Money and fame are useless out here. At least I wouldn’t have to wonder about Betty White. She’d be one of the good ones.”
They pass another container between each other and he stabs the contents with a fork. “Okay, what’s a skill you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t yet?”
Kara smiles. “I wanted to ask you that one.”
“That’s easy, your sniper rifle.” He’s surprised her enough that she wrongly assumes he’s joking with a purse of her lips. “Really. You’re damn good at that thing. I can manage well enough with a pistol, but I ain’t no sniper.”
“Sounds like a lesson is in order,” she says, after taking a moment to judge his sincerity and finding it acceptable.
He hisses between his teeth. “The army tried and failed at teaching me to hit anything further than twenty feet away. I need a broad target, you know that. Hand to hand is more my speed.”
“I’m notthe army.”
“Alright, then. I wanna see your tricks.”
She laughs. “Really?”
“Really.”
She shakes her head with a fond smile. “Next time we hunt, you’re on.”
There used to be some sort of stigma that says a man should feel a certain way about learning these types of things from a woman, but he’s never given that bullshit any thought. Kara is the best shot he’s ever known, probably the best left alive on this planet. If she wants to train him to hit more than the broad side of a barn, then he’ll happily learn.
“You can teach me anything,” he replies.
Her eyes flare with mischief. “Oh yeah?”
“Mhmm.” He remembers just how well that worked out in bed when she told him about that vibrator, and he felt her trembling around his fingers as he perfected that new skill.
All he has to do is listen. The answers are right there for the taking.
In the blink of an eye, she’s already climbing past the food to straddle him, thighs bracketing his, and her kiss on his lips. He forgets for a second that he wanted to talk about anything else. It would be so easy to let her slide down his shaft and push up into her until they’re both sore, but he forces himself to be as serious as possible with a beautiful woman in his lap.
“So ah…does this mean you’re my girl now?” he asks carefully, hating his own uncertainty.
She assumes it’s a tease and throws one right back. “Well, I hope so, considering you’ve been face-first in my—”
“Start talking like that again and we ain’t gonna get much further into this hike.”
She leans in, tasting sweet on his tongue. “That’s okay. I’m good with stopping here.”
“I mean it, though.” He tries again. “I figure you are, right? But, everything is always different with us. If there’s some other step or something, I’ll do it.”
She pauses, all that sass fading fast. Settles gently in his lap, arms around his neck, and the most accepting look on her face once she understands he wants a straight answer.
“I’m your girl,” she confirms. “I always have been. The only extra step is that you kiss me again.”
He can do that. Cole might call him a sap or worse, for how easily he melts just for Kara, especially after all the times Wade teased him about leading with his heart, but he doesn’t give a shit about that now. They’re together.She’s his girl.He’s going to kiss her breathless in this park just like she asked, exceptwhen he goes to do just that, she stops him with her fingers on his lips, looking off into the distance with a curious frown.
“Hear that?” she whispers.
He squints. “What?”
“Sounds like crying.”
“Don’t hear anything.”
She’s off him quickly, grabbing the supplies to stuff into the bag. “Need to check. I hear it, I swear I do. It’s making this awful sound.”
