Page 40 of Duty Bound

He hesitated. “I think you’re good to go.”

He shifted position, and cool air thrust between them. The closeness had gone, and along with it, the right to ask personal questions.

Lily sat up, her eyes lingering on him thoughtfully.

“Get dressed.” He tugged on his wet clothes. “We’ll warm up once we start moving. You won’t have a problem now your metabolism has kicked in again.”

Lily got up and pulled on her clothes. She turned her back but thrust her perfectly rounded butt at him when she bent over to pull on her pants.

God help him.

What had he just been saying?

He let out a long, slow breath. The last thing he wanted was to be a hypocrite, but this woman was one hell of a distraction.

CHAPTER 14

Lily was glad to be out of that sleeping bag.

Away from him.

Sure, he’d saved her life by giving her the warmth from his body so she hadn’t succumbed to hypothermia, but holy crap, that had been intense.

His smoldering, bare-chested body wrapped protectively around her, his legs touching hers, his heart beating through her, making her feel things she hadn’t felt in a really long time.

Not since Joe.

Closing her eyes, Lily took a steadying breath. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to feel those things again. Somehow, with this guy, it seemed impossible not to. He just had that strong, protective way about him. Capable. Safe. With mind-numbingly well-developed biceps.

To be fair, it hadn’t been her idea to climb into the sleeping bag with him. Once she had… What girl wouldn’t melt with those arms around her?

But, she’d had an effect on him too.

He’d tried to hide it, but something like that… Uh-uh.

That made her feel marginally better. Still, they were victims of circumstance, stuck out here in the middle of nowhere together. It was like one of those reality TV programs where extreme conditions and near isolation drove unlikely people to partner up. In every way.

She shuddered at the thought.

It wasn’t real. It was a moment in time, that’s all. Once this was over, they’d go back to their separate lives. She mustn’t read more into it than there was.

He had a job to do, a mission to complete. They couldn’t afford to let anything interfere with that.

Like he’d said… no distractions.

“When are we crossing back over?” Lily focused on their current predicament. Her wet clothes were uncomfortable, but she was nowhere near as frozen as before. Blade had been right. Now her body had kicked into gear, and she was fine.

“Not for a while. We’ll put some miles between us first. Hopefully they’ll have given up looking by the time we cross back.”

She watched as he repacked his backpack, folding up the sleeping bag and stuffing it inside. He was carrying a much heavier load. Blade reattached his utility belt, with the rope clipped to it, then the holster around his thigh carrying that lethal-looking knife.

“Here.” He picked up her pack then held it out so she could slip her arms into it.

Why did he have to be so goddamn attentive?

Lips pressed together, she wriggled into it. His hands were warm on her shoulders as he adjusted the straps so they didn’t hurt her.

“I got it.” She took a step forward. She wasn’t ungrateful, but every time he touched her, her brain went into meltdown.

---