Page 55 of Damned
“It’s full of protein bars and MREs, I know. I dragged it out of the burning plane. Is that what you’re looking for?”
“Yeah. Where is it?” If he were feeling more like himself, Kruze would’ve already found it, since she’d put it next to him while he’d slept.
“Not until you’re off your feet, mister,” Bree meant to sound stern, but he was tilting to one side. She ran to him and had her shoulder under his arm before he fell. “Why do you have to do everything the hard way?” she scolded as she steered his stubborn ass back to their makeshift tent.
“You’re beautiful when you’re mad. But I’ve got one more thing to do.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, what now?”
“This.” He jerked the tarp off the floor and sat heavily alongside his bag with it. Pain bracketed his lips, but out of his bag came another coiled rope. Kruze was a study in determination, sitting there, lacing the rope through the tarp’s brass grommets until he’d crafted it into a bulky bag.
“First rule in bear country,” he huffed. “Don’t give bears reason to ransack your camp. Secure all foodstuffs, edibles, anything that smells good. Bears have excellent noses. A metal box would be better, but this tarp’s all we’ve got. You want anything out of this bag of food before I hang it up a tall tree? Come get it now.”
After Bree grabbed two protein bars and four MREs, he tossed the food bag into the tarp/bag, tied it off, then lifted to his feet. By then he was in rough shape, leaning into the tree trunk. The long end of the rope dangled from one hand, as if that was all he could do.
“What now?”
“I need another rock.”
“I’ll find one. How big?”
“Big as my palm ought to do it.”
Bree ran to the river, grabbed a rock that looked like what Kruze needed, then ran back to him. She knew what he was doing now. “Give me the rope. I’ll take care of our food.”
“You sure?”
“It’s not rocket science, is it?” She took the looped rope from Kruze and wound the end of it around the rock, tied it off, then wound it the other way, making a crisscross pattern to keep the rope snug. “It’s just like wrapping presents,” she explained, hefting the rock now turned anchor, in her hand. “Go sit down. I’ll hang this bag high in some tree and be right back.”
Without waiting for an argument, Bree went back to the river’s edge, searching for a high enough branch, one she could still reach. She located the perfect pine a short ways up the river. It took a few tries to get the rock over a high enough branch, but the rope stayed tied on the rock, and that helped. At last, she made it, which was a miracle all by itself, considering the lack of daylight.
She tied the other end of the rope around the tree’s trunk and hurried back to camp. When she arrived, Kruze had his jacket and all his holsters off. He was flat on his back again. Bree stripped two bottled waters off the twenty-four pack, handed one to Kruze, then popped the other and took a long, slow swallow. After that, she hurried and warmed a couple MREs. Once they’d eaten, he stretched an arm out to her, fluttering his fingers to entice her. “Come lay down with me. Please?”
“But I’ve still got a couple bars for us to eat. Aren’t you still hungry?”
“I am,” he said with a sigh. “Just not for food.”
Before she joined him, Bree added two more bottled waters to the bars. She hadn’t fixed nearly enough dinner to satisfy a big guy like Kruze. Ducking into the lean-to, she started to climb over his long legs with the bars and bottles in her hands. Kruze stopped her before she made it all the way over. She ended up straddling his thighs, and his hands ended up on her waist.
“What do you want?” she asked, afraid of what he’d say. More afraid of what he wouldn’t.
“You,” he breathed raggedly. “A way to turn back time would be nice.”
He was breaking her heart. Bree set the bars and water aside, then settled her chilly, wet palms to his chest, loving the solid feel of manly power beneath her fingers. This was no college kid or untested wannabe. This was a tried and true American hero lying beneath her. Kruze was so much bigger than life. Broad-shouldered. Coiled muscular thighs and biceps. The man was strength incarnate, from his muscled calves to his thick neck. But she was a sweaty, dirty, smelly mess, and she’d already given him her heart. Did she dare get close to him again?
“Someone once said time stops for no man,” she whispered.
“Geoffrey Chaucer.” Kruze replied, his voice raspy. “‘Time and tide wait for no man.’”
That surprised Bree. “You know your English literature, Mister Sinclair.”
“I used to know a lot of things. Famous author mom, remember?” He sunk his fingers into the root of the braid at the back of her head. With one stroke, the braid was undone, and her hair fell in loose crimped waves over her shoulders and into his face. Kruze turned his nose into the end of the grimy strands and breathed, “You were a redhead. Why’d you change?”
“Because I didn’t feel like much after you left me,” she replied honestly, “and I needed a change once I realized I’d soon be a single mother. I thought blondes had more fun. What a joke, huh?” She didn’t want to hurt Kruze, but he’d asked, and he needed to know what she’d gone through after she’d found herself alone in that Paris hotel room. Dyeing her hair had been the least of her problems. “I wasn’t that naïve girl anymore. Red was the old me.”Dirty blonde is who I am now. Dirty, tired, sweaty blonde.
“You were a firecracker in Paris, full of energy and life and… Was it hard?” he asked quietly. “Were your parents with you when Robin was born? I mean, were you alone?”
“I didn’t have you,” she reminded him gently. “But yes, my parents were there the entire time I was in the hospital, and no, my labor and delivery weren’t particularly hard. Robin was in a hurry to get here. She only weighed six pounds and three ounces. She’s no lightweight now, that’s for sure, but she’s only three. Her baby fat will be gone before we know it.”
