“I thought you’ddied.” On the verge of tears, she poked him in the chest. “I was so fucking scared, Max, and so fucking horrified that you’d drowned to protectme.”
The angry jut of his jaw softened, and darkness bled from his gaze, leaving his eyes a warm faded blue once more. He studied her face, then tugged a strand of her dripping hair and ducked his head. Right before he made contact, he paused, one eyebrow lifted in question. In silent answer, she closed the remaining gap between them.
She was angry, but not angry enough to deny both of them what they needed.
His lips were soft and cool, the kiss slow and deliberate. After a breathless few moments, his thumb on her chin parted her mouth and tipped her head to the exact angle he wanted. The slide of his tongue electrified her, sent sexual heat sparking down her spine, and she exhaled sharply into his mouth as his thumb brushed her earlobe.
By the time he ended the kiss, lifting his head after one lastsweep of his tongue along her lower lip, incipient hypothermia wasn’t the sole reason for her dazed state.
“I didn’t imagine you’d be concerned.” His hand, supportive on her back, stroked another soothing circle. “I apologize for your fright, my Edie. It wasn’t intentionally inflicted.”
Unable to speak, she simply inclined her head in acknowledgment.
I didn’t imagine you’d be concerned. It was such a gut-twistingly sad statement that the remaining warmth from his kiss faded into a bone-deep chill and she almost lost her renewed battle against weeping. What the hells kind of life had he led, that he simply assumed she wouldn’t care if he lived or died, even after he’d saved her own life multiple times? After everything they’d already shared?
“Your lungs sound much better.” In response to her crinkled brow, he explained with exaggerated patience, “Vampire hearing. Much more sensitive than the paltry sensory capability of mere humans.”
She flicked her gaze to the blue sky above. “Naturally.”
That auditory sensitivity was a vulnerability as well as a strength, as he would soon discover. From now on, she intended to hum the Gaston song whenever he was within a country mile of her, in recompense for all the funChadhad had at her expense.
“Are you otherwise uninjured?” He shot a glance toward the bridge once more, then returned his attention to her. “Because we need to leave soon, and my vehicle should still be drivable.”
Apparently they were going to overlook his calling hermy Edieand pretend their kiss hadn’t happened, even though her lips were still tingling faintly. Which could also be due to frostbite, come to think of it.
Fine. She didn’t have the mental wherewithal to puzzle out what the kiss and his choice of endearment meant or didn’t mean right now. If he wanted to let the elephants in the room trumpet unacknowledged, so be it.
She nodded. “I’m fine. You’re okay too?”
“I’ve already healed from my minor wounds.” Haughty condescension soaked his every word, and he regarded her pityingly. “Just another aspect of vampires’ inherent superiority to your kind.”
His eyes gleamed as he watched her reaction. The corner of his mouth twitched, then stilled again.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” she said dryly. “Before we go, do you want to get back into the water to search more for your supplies?”
“No time.” He rose to his feet in a single graceful motion and offered her his hand. “Besides, we need to get you warm. You’ll be useless if you go hypothermic on me.”
“Which would happen because—what was it again?” Standing with his assistance, she took a moment to regain her balance. “Humans have such an inferior range of acceptable temperatures?”
It wasn’t a bad imitation, especially when she looked down her nose at him and sniffed loudly.
“Yes.” His gusty sigh tickled her ear. “It’s tragic, really.”
As he clasped her arm in a gentle hold and got them walking toward the bridge, she told him, “I know why you’re playing up that patronizing vampire shtick, Max. You can’t fool me.”
He wanted to stave off her incipient tears. To distract her from the kiss they’d shared. To amuse her. Amuse them both, maybe.
“I have no idea what you mean,” he declared loftily, and helped her back to his SUV.
***
The zombies hadmanaged to batter through the SUV’s bulletproof glass in several places and flatten part of the roof, which was both impressive and terrifying as hells. Luckily, they’d discontinued their efforts after their potential prey had leapt into the water, so her emergency supplies remained intact, and the spiderwebbed glass surrounding the windshield’s holes didn’t entirely obscure Max’s view of the road as he drove to the nearest defensible shelter: a giant, abandoned, once-swanky mall just inside Zone B.
When she’d suggested that they keep driving straight through to Zone C, he’d ignored her. “Until you’re dry and warm again, we’re done. We need to get you indoors,” he’d told her, and that had been that.
The sun still shone brightly above them. The heated seats were on full blast, the interior temperature set high enough to roast a turkey. Didn’t matter. She couldn’t stop shivering.
A frigid December wind whistled through the gaps in the windshield, her clothing didn’t seem likely to dry anytime soon, and Max apparently didn’t have one of those foil blankets anywhere in his damn car.
