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“Grey!” Harrison yelled without looking back at the Soul Weaver. “Is he Hale’s soul mate?”
“Nope,” Grey called, the hint of a laugh in that single word.
“See? He’s just a horny guy, trying to get into your pants.”
Hale took a step closer, getting right in his face as he poked him in the chest with one long, slender finger. “But you didn’t know that. He could have been my soul mate, and you’re acting all proprietary. What gives you that right?”
Harrison didn’t have an answer for him. When he’d stood, he’d told himself that he was protecting Hale. That the man could have been a threat, but the truth was much uglier. All he’d known was the burning jealousy that had overtaken him. His imagination had put Hale with that guy and anger had threatened to boil over.
Harrison jerked on the zipper opening to their tent and hauled Hale inside. He nearly lost his footing when his shoe got caught in a sleeping bag, but he quickly righted himself and glared at Hale.
“Seriously, what’s wrong with you?” Hale snapped.
“I didn’t like the way that guy looked at you.” Bringing Hale into the tent with him had been a mistake. His only instinct had been to take Hale as far as he could from the ranger, but now he was trapped in the small, enclosed space with Hale. There was nowhere to go. He didn’t even have enough room to pace. Crossing his arms over his chest, he frowned at Hale. “He purposefully targeted you. We don’t know if he’s with the pestilents or just a crazy serial killer who likes to prey on campers. You need to be more careful.”
Hale laughed right in his face. “Who are you trying to convince with that bullshit? You or me?”
Harrison was pretty sure he’d like to choose option C on that one: both.
The question was happily rhetorical because Hale was already moving on. The Air Weaver moved into his personal space and placed a hand on his arm. “Is the problem that you want me?”
Harrison knew he’d acted like an asshole, and the shame was hot on the back of his neck. But he stared at Hale and knew that was the problem in a nutshell. He wanted Hale for himself. And he didn’t know how to deal with that sudden, overwhelming desire.
He wanted a man. Wanted him with every fiber of his being. And he’d hated the way that ranger had stared at Hale. Maybe not like he was a piece of meat—not really—but he’d zeroed in on Hale immediately, as if he’d realized Hale was a precious star fallen to the earth.
Looking at Hale now, he took in his teasing expression, his cheeks, pink from flying in the wind and his disheveled blond hair. He was so damn attractive, he took Harrison’s breath away. Even if the man was now amused, Harrison owed him some kind of answer.
If only he had one.
He glanced away and cleared his throat. “I’m sorry I acted like that. I promise it won’t happen again.”
A soft, resigned noise escaped Hale and he touched Harrison’s cheek, turning his face back toward him. “Explain it to me. Because you acted ridiculous, and you know it. If you want me, I told you I wanted more with you.”
Harrison sighed. “I don’t know what I want. I just knew I didn’t want you with that ranger and I acted instinctively.” His shoulders drooped. “Look, I know you’re out to find a soul mate and I’m sorry if you thought that guy might be it and I ruined it for you. But Grey said he wasn’t, so it’s okay, right?”
“No, it’s not okay. Not if you’re going to act like that every time someone shows interest in me. You’re giving me some crazy mixed signals here.”
He knew jealousy was a bad look for him and again, shame heated his skin. “All I can do is apologize profusely and promise not to act that way.”
Hale merely stared at him until he had to fight the urge to squirm.
“Hey, guys, the ranger left, so you can come out now.” Clay shook the tent, laughter cracking his voice.
Everyone had witnessed his behavior, but there was nothing he could do about it now. Hale suddenly smiled at him and his heart began to race. That damn smile just flat-out got to him.
“You were so jealous,” he whispered. “We’re going to talk about this more later.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” Harrison grumbled. He wanted this episode never to be mentioned again. It was a moment of insanity and that was all.
“We’re definitely talking about it. At the very least, I want to discuss how freaking hot it was.”
This time, it was Harrison’s turn to sigh. There was no escaping this. “Let’s get this tent down.”
Together, they disassembled the tent and then joined the others to finish cleaning up the campsite. Once the vehicles were loaded, they hit the road.
