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And not that they were really hiding, considering she’d made a fire. Anyone looking for them would spot the smoke. Well, maybe, if the snow coming down didn’t mask it.
She thought about it and realized they wouldn’t need to worry about the raptors until the storm broke. But she still wouldn’t sleep unless one of them could be on guard.
It never hurt to be prepared.
When dawn rose a few hours later, her eyes felt gritty from a lack of sleep. But seeing Gerald wake and well enough to use the bathroom by himself put her fears to rest.
He reemerged and stretched, showing off that impressive torso and all that muscle.
Despite her fatigue, her libido noticed. I’m not right in the head, there’s no other answer for it.
“Glad to see you up and about.”
He looked over at her and nodded. “The sleep really helped, thanks.”
“We have a ton of food to ride out the storm, and I don’t think we’ll have any trouble from the raptors either. It’s pretty bleak outside.” The weather had grown worse as the night wore on.
“Good to know.” He looked her over. “You look tired.”
“I am, thanks.” How lovely of him to let her know she looked like crap. “I need to get some sleep.”
He nodded. “I’ll keep watch.”
“Good. Wake me if you need anything.”
He gave her an odd look but didn’t reply except to nod once again.
With her eyes feeling like lead, she crept into bed, surrounded by his scent, and settled into an easy sleep. And dreamed of one particular fox with golden eyes.
Chapter Seven
If Laura caught him staring like some obsessive creep, she’d claw him in half.
Gerald stopped himself from looking at her once more, as he’d been doing for the past five hours. The poor woman had saved them all on her own while he’d been bleeding all over her. Then she’d stayed up while he’d napped.
He couldn’t believe he’d been so little help. That wasn’t like him. Or that he’d trusted her to handle things, because he had. One hundred percent. And that wasn’t like him either.
Gerald had always pulled his own weight. He was a perfectionist, which could and did annoy his peers, but he liked knowing he’d given a project his one hundred percent. He worked hard, never slacked, and had more than earned a partnership in Winter and Sons. And that attention to detail carried over into his regular life as well.
His home had no clutter or dust to ruin the order he strove diligently to keep. He maintained his vehicle, periodically went through his material possessions to toss what wasn’t of use, and enjoyed a healthy if unsatisfying social life. Everything well-heeled and systematic, not causing wild surges of emotion or passionate declarations—the antithesis of the way those in his clan often behaved.
He typically dealt with unruly lawbreakers, liars, and thieves. But he’d always managed to keep a calm front when dealing with his problematic clients. His friends constantly tried pranking him, trying to throw him off-kilter, but he enjoyed their antics, amused when they failed time and again.
No one really threw him. Oh, he’d had a few dating mishaps, a few breakups that had added stress to his life. But nothing that upset his carefully orchestrated sense of balance.
Until Laura Novak.
She usually annoyed him, so much that it took time to get himself back in control. He’d been careful not to let her see that, though he feared his best friend had witnessed a share of their interactions. Though the sheriff had never called him on it, Gerald had a feeling his friend knew how unsettled Laura made him.
Working with her more often, ever since he’d taken over a share of the criminal cases his firm represented, had shown him how irritating the woman could be. But he’d also known, even before this fracas, how adept she was at her job. Laura didn’t take anyone’s nonsense, behaved professionally, and ignored that which bothered her.
In that way, they were a lot alike, doing their jobs heedless to the obstacles placed in their paths. And they both dealt with the miscreants of Cougar Falls society on a daily basis too.
He just couldn’t get over her challenging stares, the way her voice lilted when speaking to him, as if secretly teasing and amused at his responses. She aggravated him to no end, often causing him to fall on his best defense—the cold, professional, bastard that he could be.
And yes, he’d heard her refer to him more than once as Winter and Sons’ “frost bitch,” which had been hilarious, to be honest. Not that he’d let on he cared.
But something had shifted between them. And it wasn’t just because she’d saved his ass from gun-toting raptors. He moved toward the bed once more, caught by the softness of her face, the full lips and stubborn nose, her broad shoulders and curvy hips. Her voluptuous build was the stuff of fantasies, and no matter how much he tried, he’d never been able to find her the least bit hideous.
