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‘It wasn’t scorpions you were talking about in your sleep.’
She’d been talking in her sleep? Could this get any worse? She wanted to ask if she’d spoken his name, but didn’t want to hear the answer and anyway it was impossible to concentrate with him holding her. It felt dangerously familiar.
‘That’s another scorpion venom thing—’ Her cheek was still against his chest and she could feel hard muscle through the softness of his T-shirt. ‘Check out Wikipedia. I bet it will say something about nightmares. And I’m well and truly awake now, so you can let me go.’
He didn’t. ‘Go back to sleep.’
He expected her to sleep while he was holding her? She could have pulled away, of course, but she didn’t. Couldn’t. This was the way she wanted to sleep. Holding each other. Not wanting to be parted even in sleep. And she’d longed for it so much over the long, barren months they’d been apart. This was the last time they’d ever hold each other and she didn’t want it to end. Without warning, her eyes started to sting. ‘I don’t need you to fuss over me.’
‘You never need anything, do you, Avery Scott?’ His voice was soft in the darkness and she squeezed her eyes tightly so that the tea
rs didn’t fall. She couldn’t believe she was actually crying. She could just imagine what her mother would say to that.
‘Sometimes I pretend to need someone, just to stroke a masculine ego.’
‘I doubt you have ever stroked a man’s ego in your life. Knifed it, possibly.’
She smiled against his chest, safe in the knowledge that he couldn’t see her. ‘Good job yours is robust.’
‘Are you smiling?’
‘No. What is there to smile about? I’m scorpion chow.’ And she was a mess. The pain in her hand was nothing compared to the pain in her heart and he must have sensed her feelings because she felt his hand stroke her hair. Just the slight brush of his fingers, but it was enough to make her tense and he must have felt that too because he stilled, as if aware he’d crossed a line.
‘Go back to sleep, Avery. And, just this once, don’t fight me. A woman doesn’t have to be in charge one hundred per cent of the time.’ His soft voice melted everything hard inside her.
When they’d parted it had almost broken her. Being with him had threatened everything she’d built. She should be pulling away from him, but what she wanted to do was bury her face in his neck, touch her mouth to his skin and use her tongue and her lips to drive him wild.
Picturing Kalila in her head, she eased away from him and this time he let her go.
‘I’m still in charge,’ she whispered back. ‘I just let you hold me because it feeds your manly ego.’
‘You’re all heart.’
Well, that was true, she thought bleakly as she turned on her side with her back to him. It was a good description because, right now, it was the only part of herself of which she was aware and it was filled to the brim with her feelings for him.
Even with her back to him, she could feel him watching her and she squeezed her eyes shut and refused to let herself turn and look at him.
Gritting her teeth, she resigned herself to a night without sleep.
She was alone in the tent when she woke.
Outside she could hear noises. Mal was up and dismantling their camp.
Avery lay for a moment, staring up at the canvas, remembering the night before in excruciating detail.
Muttering a soft curse, she sat upright. The bite on her hand had calmed down overnight and was now nothing more than a red mark. If only all her other feelings had faded so easily. She didn’t want to think about the way he’d held her. She definitely didn’t want to think about what she might have said when she’d talked in her sleep.
Grabbing her bag, she cleansed her face with one of the wipes she always carried, applied suncream and minimal make-up and scooped her hair into a ponytail. Then she tugged a fresh shirt out of her bag and changed quickly.
That was the easy part. The hard part was leaving the tent.
Facing him, after what had happened the night before.
‘Coffee—’ Mal handed her a small cup of strong coffee and she took it with a murmur of thanks, avoiding eye contact as she sipped.
‘So you’re ready to move out?’
‘Whenever you are. How are you feeling?’
