Page 35 of Extracted

He gazed at her slim, tanned, and dirty legs as she bent to rummage through the cans of food and provisions. Her shorts hugged her ass, and if it weren’t for the need to get settled before it became too dark, he’d pull her on top of him and do what he’d wanted to do for the last day. His cock hardened and his gaze drifted to her cotton shirt, pulled across her breasts. Her tight nipples pressed against the fabric.

A piece of meat stuck in his throat. He coughed, took a sip of water, and cleared it. Sitting here staring at Gemma was a surefire way to make him look even more hung up on her than he was, or to choke to death.

“I’ll see what else I can find that might be useful.” He stood and lifted the lid of the trunk he’d been sitting on. He moved the ammo and guns out of the way and reached for the cooking pots and some cloths tucked in a corner. “Want a hot bath?”

She jerked up her head. “Huh?”

He held up a pot.

Disappointment flashed in her eyes. “For a minute I thought you were serious.”

“Well, maybe not a bath. But I can heat some water and we can use it to get clean.”

Her eyes widened in awe. “That sounds heavenly.” But her face quickly fell. “We need to ration our water, though. Who knows how long we’ll be without.”

“Well, there’re more jugs in the trunk than we can carry tomorrow anyway, plus the five gallons there,” he said, pointing to the jug strapped to the wall. “We’ll be sure to leave enough in case Eli finds the plane. Plus, we won’t need much to get clean.”

Slowly, she smiled. “I guess if what we can’t carry will just sit here, then yeah.”

“All right. You work on dinner and I’ll get the water boiling. We don’t have long before it’ll be pitch black.”

He grabbed his gun from his bag and tucked it into the waistband at the small of his back. It was a damn good thing he hadn’t had the gun on him when he jumped from the plane or he could have lost it. For the rest of their trek, he wouldn’t remove it from its familiar spot.

He made his way out of the plane and set up rocks to contain the fire. Next, he tented sticks together and lit them. He returned to the plane and poured water from the five-gallon jug into the pot, then took it out to the fire.

A few minutes later, Gemma exited the plane with a small cardboard box in hand. She dropped it near the fire and knelt. “We’ve got pork and beans.” She placed a can on the ground. “Carrots, green beans, tuna, and instant oatmeal with powdered milk, which will be great for the morning. And soup. We can have this for dinner.”

“Nice find.”

She stretched her hand toward the flame. “I never thought I’d say this, but it’s getting chilly.”

“Yeah. Once the sun’s gone it gets cool. So much moisture in the ground and plants. I saw blankets inside though, and at least we’ll have a roof over our heads.”

The water bubbled. “The hand towels will have to work to dry off.”

“Fine with me.” She grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head.

His tongue thickened in his mouth on an attempted swallow. Christ, he wouldn’t allow himself to get turned on by a woman in a bra.

She stood and worked her shorts down her legs, revealing a black lace thong. Now that would definitely turn him on.

He tossed her cloth into the simmering water then fished it out with a stick. She snatched it midair and wrung out some of the moisture then pressed the cloth to her face and moaned.

“Oh my god,” she mumbled beneath the wet fabric. “You’re a genius.” She moved on to scrub her neck, arms, and belly.

He took the cloth from her again and wet it with fresh water then returned it to her. She went over her legs, butt, and feet then took the hand towel from where he’d set it on a rock and dried off. “Your turn. Holy cow, I can’t believe what a difference that makes. I’m going to go put on my change of clothes.”

She scurried back to the plane with her shorts and T-shirt in hand, her naked ass bouncing up the steps. He shucked off his cargos, his mind far from thoughts of getting clean.

In fact, he wanted to get hot, wet, and dirty rolling around with Gemma.

First, cleanliness. Because he stunk bad enough to keep the bugs away and there was no way Gemma wouldn’t gag if she had to lie next to him. He removed his shirt and washed away the sweat and grime. After he’d dunked the facecloth about five more times than Gemma had, he was finally finished and the water was a murky gray.

He entered the plane just as Gemma was walking out. She wore long pants and a long-sleeved navy-blue shirt and held another pot and a small frying pan.

He stopped at the top of the stairs and moved to the side to let her pass, but she didn’t budge.

“Thanks for the bath.” A smile quirked her lips. Her gaze dipped to his torso, and a deep-red tint coated her neck and cheeks. His abdominal muscles bunched under her attention. She snapped her focus back to his face. “Um. I’m going to warm up some food.”

---