She turns his way, brows knit together as she graces him with soft confusion. “It’s obnoxious when you’re nice to me. Feels weird. Quick, do something annoying so it’ll pass.”
He inhales as if to speak, and she holds up a hand as if his breathing is reason enough. “There we go. That’s enough. I’m fully irritated again, thank you.”
He puffs out a half-laugh. “Just wait. I’m gonna grow on you eventually. It’s inevitable.”
“Odds are slim.”
He raises his brows. “So you’re saying they’re not zero?”
“Rapidly approaching zero as we speak.”
There’s less sting to her words today. He lets his next reply go soft and serious, holding her gaze for a moment so she knows he’s not bullshitting her. “You’re worth being nice to.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew me better.” She goes silent, fishing out a folded paper from the back of a drawer before opening it with a flourish. “Still no can opener, but I just found a map.”
* * *
His finger follows a path between the only landmarks on the worn paper. “It looks like Barrow is only sixty miles away.” He says it like sixty miles is six yards, but at this point, some hope is better than none.
They have the map spread out on the coffee table detailing a path to safety, and it wasn’t that long ago that he assumed they’d be stuck out here in one way or another for far longer.
“When the blizzard clears, we’ll pack up and get going,” he continues. “It’s a clear shot, gonna take us a while on foot depending on the weather, but we can do it.”
Her full, white toothed smile that replaces the usual tight-lipped version is even more beautiful, and he struggles to keep from staring.
This is stupid. They just met. So he got hard thinking about her one time. It happens. Doesn’tmeananything. They survived a plane crash together, of course he’s going to feel attached to her in some way.
He’s simply not used to being this close to anyone, for this much time, and he’s short-circuiting because of it. Making the best of a bad situation has got his brain firing on brand new cylinders with no idea what the hell to do about it.
Ignore it. That’s what he needs to do. That’s what’s best for both of them when there’s no possible chance this attraction is mutual. People bond in traumatic situations, that’s all there is to it. He needs to keep reminding himself of that before he does something idiotic like showing his cards when he can’t take them back.
They plan out a route toward the village on the map before finally folding it up and reaching for that box of crackers again. Settling into their corners of the sofa like the night before, and this isn’t the first time he wishes they were closer. No. Nope. He does not wish that. He enjoys his space and she’s just fine over there where she belongs. Would be fine across the damn house in a whole new room for all he cares.
It’s only now that he realizes his migraine is gone before it ever fully started. Talking with her relaxed him enough that his body stopped betraying itself, at least for now.
“We’ll be telling Oliver and Gwen all about this soon. I can’t believe it’s almost over,” she says wistfully.
“Me either. We got lucky. Real lucky.”
That’s when a flicker of something new flashes in her blue eyes. “So what do you wanna do on our last night here?”
“You might be vastly overestimating how fast we can clear sixty miles,” he teases.
“Shhh. Embrace the positive thinking.” Her voice drops an octave and thins out into a sultry half whisper while her eyes dart down to his lips and then further south to his crotch. He swallows hard. She can’t mean what he thinks she means. “We could…you know…if you want to.”
Fuck. That’s exactly what she means.
His heart beats fast, and his limbs go numb. She’s screwing with him. Has to be.
Unless she’s not. He’s never that lucky, though.
Except maybe this time…
“Not funny.” He winces at the unexpected high-pitched crack in his voice.
“Wasn’t trying to be.”
“You can barely tolerate me, and now you want to get naked together?”
