Page 39 of Ash Fall

I grin at her. "All those hours with your hands on me really did the trick."

"Oh my God." She yanks her hand away and smacks me in the chest with it. "That's not what you made it sound like."

"I only stated the facts."

"You absolutely did not."

"I slept with you. You had your hands on me most of the night, and I woke up feeling fantastic. All completely factual statements."

Her mouth falls open. Reid snorts behind us.

I should probably stop but there is no chance of that happening with that pretty blush filling her face.

"Best I've felt in days, actually."

"You're an asshole."

"Also factual, love."

She's trying not to smile now, and it makes me want to grab her and kiss those soft sweet lips of hers.

"Can we talk about the fact that Kara somehow packed more food out of this house than Gigi and took from an epic Save Mart shopping spree?" Luna asks, still pink, pointing toward the truck bed.

"Thank you." I gesture toward the mountain behind me. "That's what I've been saying."

Kara looks offended. "Your survival planning lacked ambition."

"We had enough food to survive for months."

"And now we have more."

Elenor walks toward us carrying a final box and nods approvingly. "I like the way she thinks."

"Of course you do."

Kara takes the box from her. "Their kitchen was embarrassingly understocked, but the butler's pantry made up for it."

I look at the bins already crammed between the tools and fuel cans we loaded earlier. Reid and Kara didn't raid that house. They stripped it for parts, and she managed it while bringing enough designer luggage to survive a six-month European vacation.

"Are we done?"

Kara considers the truck long enough to make me nervous.

"We're done."

"Thank Christ."

"For now."

I point at her. "No. You don't get to add that."

She smiles sweetly.

Luna sits beside me in the truck for the short trip to Jules's place. Her hand rests on the seat between us, close enough that my fingers want to reach for hers again. I had it in mine almost the entire drive over here. She never pulled away, and after everything that's happened since I got back to Prairie Gap, that small point of contact keeps me settled.

I missed her while I was gone for the season. Not just hearing her voice over the phone or getting one of her rambling messages at two in the morning because she forgot normal people sleep. I missed her. The way she gives you shit one second and leans against you the next. Or the way she says my name when she's worried about me, softer than she says anyone else's, even though I'm probably imagining that.

Her fingers shift on the seat. Mine move before I think better of it, brushing against them, and she turns her hand over. Just an open palm waiting beside my thigh in invitation. I slide my fingers through hers and keep driving.