“Here we are. This is another tip. If you find yourself trapped in the woods, try to head toward the water if you can. Listen for it.”
“Oh. Well, I didn’t find the water. You knew where it was.”
“Yeah. Well, it’s my property.”
“Oh. The day that I came up here…”
“I bathe in the stream a lot. There’s a shower in the cabin, but it’s not that great. I prefer to be outside.”
What shocked him was how crimson her cheeks got. Him talking about his redneck bath shouldn’t get her cheeks red. But the problem was, there was something between the two of them, and it wasn’t entirely one-sided. It would be better if it were.
It would be better if it didn’t exist at all.
He cleared his throat. “That’s about enough for the day.”
“Oh. Really?”
“Yep. You’ve got your kit. You’re off tomorrow, right?”
“Well, not officially, like I said, because I already took those other days…”
“You should be off tomorrow.”
“All right. I guess I’m off tomorrow.”
“Then we’ll reconvene.”
“All right,” she said.
“You want to lead the way back out of here?”
“Do I want to… lead the way?”
“Yeah. Come on. It’s a very simple trail. We just made our way down.”
“Yeah. I… You’re right. It’s simple. I’m just in my own head a little bit.”
“In a survival situation, you can’t be in your own head. You’ve got to be able to think clearly.”
“Thank you. I didn’t realize that you taughtObviously 101.”
“I do. And I’m here all week.”
She looked at him and gave him the most comically angry frown he’d ever seen in his life. Then, she began to blaze the trail back toward the cabin.
So there, he had done something right. He had brought her to this point. That was something he could feel good about. It was something he ought to feel good about.
He would get this itch scratched. This worry about her keeping herself safe in Mustang River, and then he could let it go. He could gladly set her free like a catch-and-release trout.
She turned and smiled at him, and his stomach went tight.
Yeah. Catching and releasing. He wasn’t even really going to catch. This was all he had to offer her. A little bit of wilderness training.
Considering where they lived, that wasn’t nothing.
But it wasn’t enough. Which meant he could never do anything about the fire burning in his veins.
And he wouldn’t.
