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A second later, we both hit the ground with a thud, Lachlan landing hard on top of me.
Heavy motherfucker.
The force of the blow stunned me, and the Ir
ish bastard pressed his advantage. He rolled me over and pinned my arms to the ground above my head with a smile, pressing his body against mine again, using his weight to help him hold me.
With no pack between us, I could truly feel all of him, and the reaction in my body was even stronger this time.
Ugh. Stupid body.
As much as I hated him, I couldn’t help but feel an odd, intense sexual chemistry burning between us. Sure, I could try to pretend the heat pouring through me was from the fire burning just a few feet away from us, but I wasn’t big on lying to myself.
No, it was definitely him.
Huh. Apparently, I have a thing for assholes. I should see if Magic Blessed has a therapist on staff I can talk to about this—if I make it out of here alive.
At least Lachlan was breathing as hard as I was. This fight hadn’t been easy for him, no matter what he might tell his little buddies later.
I expected him to press his advantage, but instead, he caught my gaze again, his green eyes narrowing.
“Let’s call a truce,” he murmured.
“What?”
He chuckled at the shocked sound of my voice, then shrugged. I could feel his body shift against mine with the movement. “It doesn’t have to be forever, just for tonight. For tonight, we’ll share this cave and whatever’s in the pack. When the sun comes up, we can go back to competin’. We’ve gotta get some sleep, and I’m sure neither one of us wants to go back out into the jungle right now.”
Huh. A truce? I was irritated and tempted by the offer at the same time.
Craning my neck, I glanced over at the archway leading into the darkness beyond. He had a point. I didn’t want to go back out there, and to be honest, I really didn’t want to send anyone back out there. The phrase “wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy” came to my mind. It would be truly heartless of me to force Lachlan back out into the dangerous jungle in the dead of night.
Assuming I won our fight, of course, which wasn’t guaranteed. As much as I hated to admit it, he was a good fighter.
As I looked back up at the strong lines of his face, heat flushed my chest. Our vicious fight had left me seriously turned on, and it was confusing the fuck out of me.
I wanted to hate him with everything in me… but I couldn’t.
Finally, I rolled my eyes and nodded. “Fine, but get the fuck off me.”
He grinned and stood up putting his hand down to help me to my feet. I let him, but yanked my hand away quickly, brushing the rocks and pebbles off my clothes. We’d both gotten a little scratched and bruised during our fight, but neither of us had sustained worse injuries.
A sudden thought occurred to me.
Did he hold back? Did he deliberately not go hard enough to seriously hurt me?
And even more terrifying, was it possible I’d subconsciously done the same with him? He had taken me by surprise, but back in the ring in Boston, I’d taken down guys bigger than him in less time.
Oh, gods. I need my fucking head examined. Maybe my vagina too, since it seems to be making all my damned decisions these days.
Shaking off the thought, I stalked over and grabbed the pack from where it had skidded, then sat down near the fire. Lachlan sat down next to me, much closer than was necessary—big fucking cave, plenty of room—and I shot him a glare before continuing to rifle through the pack.
At the bottom of the bag, there were several more packets of dry rations.
Not exactly the most lavish meal, but it would do.
We sat in silence, eating the food and watching the magical fire. I was never big on small talk, but after a few moments, the quiet began to wear on me. It gave me too much time to notice the heat of his body next to mine.
So I cleared my throat and asked the first thing that came to my mind.
