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His eyes on me when he thought I weren’t looking. Raking over my chest, my back. I weren’t blind, and I weren’t stupid.
I knew appreciation when I saw it.
“Here,” I said, standing on the other side of the bed. I reached for the rolled-up netting. “Let me get this side.”
He was quiet and didn’t speak much as we got ready for bed. He made sure his pillow was as far over as it could be, our sleeping spaces as separate as the bed allowed. He sat on the furthest edge he possibly could.
“I can sleep in the Jeep if you’d prefer,” I offered. I switched on my LED lantern and turned off the overhead light.
“No, it’s fine. You’d have no mosquito protection and...” He swallowed hard. “I think I’d prefer you in here. If I wake up to a freaking monitor lizard going through our camp, I’ll need you close by.”
I chuckled as I lay down. “Nice to know I’m good for somethin’.”
He slowly lay down, stiff and trying not to take up too much space.
“Ever shared a bed with a man before?” I asked.
He turned his head so fast to look at me, his blue eyes stark in the darkness. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I snorted and put my arms behind my head. “Just askin’. You look petrified, like you think I’m about to jump ya bones or something.”
“I am not.” He turned back to stare at the ceiling, huffing indignantly. “And for your information, I have shared a bed with... none of your business.”
I chuckled. I knew it. I knew from the way he’d been looking at me that he was inclined, or curious at the very least.
“Good to know. And for the record, so we’re even,” I said. “I’ve shared a bed with a man before too.”
I noticed his hands curl into fists by his side. “Well, that’s... good for you and none of my business.”
He was so easy to rattle. I shuffled onto my side so I could look at him, one arm tucked up under my head. “Okay, so super important question time,” I said.
He was silent and stock-still, waiting...
“What’s your favourite dinosaur?”
He stared at the ceiling, then blinked, then looked at me. “What?”
“Your favourite dinosaur,” I repeated. “Everyone has one, they just don’t talk about it.”
“Umm,” he hesitated, shaking his head. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.”
“Not even when you were a kid? Everyone has a favourite dinosaur when they’re a kid. Mine’s the Supersaurus. The biggest dinosaur to ever live. Most people say the T-Rex or a raptor or something, because they’re cool. But the Supersaurus is so overlooked. They’re huge. Like fuckin’ massive. And gentle, and herbivores. And you know, T-Rex’s and raptors are cool in a screeching violent-rampage kinda way, I guess. But the good ol’ gentle giants are where it’s at. Imagine being as big as a football field and not choosing violence.”
When I turned to look at him, he was smiling. But he didn’t say anything. Maybe he thought it was stupid or childish... whatever.
I sighed and closed my eyes.
Jeremiah was quiet and I was drifting off to sleep when he spoke. “The Quetzalcoatlus. It was a pterosaur, a flying dinosaur. As tall as a giraffe with wings like a bat and a long needle-like beak as long as a car.”
I stared at him. “Jesus Christ. That’s not fucking terrifying at all.”
He laughed, more relaxed now, and I smiled as I drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER SIX
JEREMIAH
Tully spentthe entire morning rigging up some kind of netting over the shower stall and the water tank that fed the shower. His concern over my phobia of frogs was a nice change to the usual ridicule I received, and it was poor judgement on my behalf to assume he would have laughed at me.
