Page 30 of Off the Grid
Wiping her hands together, she brushed off any crumbs as she stood. “It’s okay. I didn’t give you much of an opening to even try.”
“I’m sorry about that too,” he said.
She felt his gaze on her back but she didn’t turn around. Instead, she reached her arms over her head and stretched, lengthening her aching spine and returning some life to her tired muscles. They’d been sitting and talking for too long. If they didn’t start walking, she might do something she’d regret, something foolish like let him behind her defenses.
“I should’ve had a little more patience outside of your apartment,” Leo continued, ignoring her attempts to shut the conversation down. “I had no idea the memories my presence might dredge up, but that’s no excuse. My training taught me better, taught me to be calm. Instead, I let my exhaustion and frustration get the best of me.”
“I’m sure I didn’t help.”
“No, you didn’t,” he admitted. She could hear the smile in his voice, a little whisper of joy. It was the only reason she turned around. “But neither did I. And look where it got us.”
“Lost with limited provisions?”
“I was going to say abso-fucking-lutely nowhere, but that works too.”
She returned his grin. “Should we start over?”
He extended a hand. She slipped her fingers into his, ignoring the way her heart flipped in her chest as he tightened his hold. They shook in the middle of the woods as the sun beat down and smiled at each other like a pair of idiots.
“Leo.”
“McKenzie.”
They bobbed their clasped palms up and down for far longer than was necessary. She arched a brow. He arched one right back. She pressed her lips together to keep them from widening farther. He didn’t bother, and instead beamed across the small distance between them. The warm summer air grew hotter.
“You going to let go?” he asked.
“Are you?”
“I asked you first.”
“I—”
Before she could finish the retort, he tugged on her hand and twisted her around so her back pressed against his chest. Their whole bodies touched from head to toe as his strong arm wrapped around her stomach, holding her in place. The air fled her lungs in a whoosh.
“Be careful what you wish for,” he whispered into her ear, lips a hairsbreadth away as his breath teased with a ghostly caress. McKenzie jolted away in the exact same moment that he let go. “You know, I was going to offer a piggyback ride since you were so tired, but now I’m not so sure.”
McKenzie spun, feeling flames blaze to life in her eyes. “Over my dead body.”
“Technically, under it.” He winked.
She flushed, which just made her angrier…and him more annoyingly amused.
“Don’t be crass,” she jibed haughtily, even though she’d been the one making dirty jokes a few minutes before.
Leo shrugged. “Don’t give me the opening.”
That truce lasted about, oh, ten seconds. McKenzie didn’t care if she was going in the right direction, she just started marching, a fire lighting under her feet as his laughter echoed through the empty forest around them.
- 11 -
Leo
It took all his self-control not to shout after her as she stomped deeper into the woods,I hate to watch you go, but I love to watch you leave.Cheesy, obviously, but he knew it would get under her skin, which, for some reason, had become his new favorite form of entertainment. Leo suspected the feeling was mutual.
But in honor of their newly established and clearly fragile peace, he put the food into his backpack and ran a few paces to catch up.
McKenzie didn’t glance in his direction as they marched through the forest, but Leo found his gaze constantly slipping toward her. Sticks scratched at her arms, bringing red lines to her fair skin. Mud stained her shoes. A thin layer of dirt covered her entire body. The cut on her forehead had started to scab, framed by a nasty bruise. Yet McKenzie hardly seemed to notice. She didn’t complain. She didn’t cry. She didn’t succumb to hysterics. Concentration lit her blue eyes, and Leo couldn’t help but admire her tenacity.
