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“This isn’t me running toward the easy option,” she said.
“Princess, nothing about what you’ve done today has been easy. You’re fighting. There’s something to be said for that. Now you’re just going to choose hanging out with me over getting hypothermia tonight. Unless that’s on your checklist of things to experience?”
She glared at him, and it was damn cute. This list of hers was fun, and he had a feeling bringing it up flustered her. Which was also fun since it meant he got to see those pretty cheeks turn pink.
She took the flask he offered. “You know alcohol only creates the illusion that you feel warm, when in fact, you’re still just as cold,” she said. But she took the drink anyway. The way she informed him of facts was also kind of cute. Like she was teaching him something. She took a small swallow, then handed it back to him.
“You’re right, princess.” He took a swig, welcoming that warm burn down his throat. “But illusion or not, I love the feel of it. Worth indulging every time.”
When he handed it to her again, she took it. On a hard swallow, she tossed back more rum, then winced and handed it back.
“So, you want to tell me why you signed up for this?” he asked. “This doesn’t seem like your idea of a good time.”
“How would you know?” she asked, straightening her shoulders with a stubbornness he was already recognizing after their short time together. “Maybe I do this all that time. Maybe this is fun for me.”
“No way,” he said around a laugh. “If that were true, you’d be dead by now.”
She frowned, and damn it, that was what he was trying to steer away from.
“Look,” he said, handing her back the rum. “I really do think you’re doing a good job. You’re driven, and that’s a great thing to be when taking on any challenge.”
Her eyes went a little wide, as though she were physically hanging on his words. Wow, no one had ever looked at him like that before. Like he could do anything. Say anything. And it would matter in her world.
“Go on,” she said, the yearning in her voice driving him insane.
“You impress me,” he said, not sure why that little fact decided to slip out just then.
A small smile tugged on her lush slips. “Really?”
He nodded. “Men twice your size have shed tears by now.”
She laughed. “No way could I outlast you.”
“Well of course not. Be realistic,” he said with a wink, and she laughed again. “But you outlasted most civilians. Hell, think about that group you came here with. They’re back at the Hilton sipping cosmos, but you’re out here giving it your all.”
She looked down the front of herself. “All at the expense of Jimmy and Michael.” She brushed a hand over her damaged sweater and sighed. Dex didn’t know who Jimmy and Michael were, but he assumed they’d given her those clothes she was wearing.
“Thank you for instructing me,” she said. “It’s really incredible that you can take care of yourself and others the way you do. At a moment’s notice, the world could end, and you’d be prepared.” She glanced around the tarp tent. “You’d even provide five-star camping accommodations.”
The words rolled off her tongue and hit him was like a warm hug. Because there was a hint of seriousness in those words. She thought he was incredible?
“I know it’s barely dark, but I’m kind of tired,” she said.
He unzipped his sleeping bag and held it open for her.
She looked at his offering, then at him.
“I can’t take your sleeping bag. Where will you sleep?”
“I’ll just sit right here.” He patted the large tree and sat back against it.
“You’ll freeze.”
“Nah, I’ve got layers.”
She looked like she’d fight him more, but he coaxed her to take his offer. After discarding her boots, she climbed into his bag, and he could smell her sweet scent of lilacs and vanilla. He knew right then that the damn smell would never come out of his bag.
Michelle didn’t know if she’d fallen asleep or not. Surely at some point she’d dozed off, but it was so cold that she could barely remember. She was just counting down the minutes until this was over.
