Page 35 of Wild in the Woods
Oh, shit. Nope. “Yep.”
He’d steepled some thin sticks and dried leaves at the bottom of the fire pit and had it lit already. A baby flame swayed and danced as it eagerly licked its way up the kindling. Mmm, she knew the feeling. Licking her way up Fox’s—
“Earth to Lulu.”
She couldn’t respond. Riveted by the depths of his eyes and how they darkened as he held her gaze, she wanted to burst into his arms. To lean into him and climb him like a tree.
Standing, he faced her, his forehead furrowing. He stepped closer. Lulu nodded a little. Yes, yes, come here. Do something to make these feelings inside me satisfied. That’s what she needed. She needed him todo somethingto soothe the war going on in her body.
One big hand snaked behind her head. Lulu jerked as every nerve inside her came to life. She melted beneath the feel of his possessive grip. Fox breathed hard, moved in, and forced her to look up at him.
“Lulu,” he growled, lowering his head.
She held her breath, watched his perfect lips come closer.
Closer.
His breath washed over her mouth. He quickly diverted to her neck, where he brushed back her hair. His fingers skimmed her skin, causing delicious chills.
“Were you saving this for later?”
The question pulled her from the longing. “W-what?”
Looking very pleased with himself, he leaned back with a worm in his fingers. It was the first one she’d tried to put on the hook and failed miserably. She’d wondered where it had gone.
Curling her lip, she shook out her hair and plopped down on a sawn log next to the fire pit. He continued on as if nothing had happened, or almost happened. Suddenly grumpy, she crossed her arms against the chill and yawned.
Satisfied with the fire, Fox poked around at it a bit and set the pan right on top of a log farthest away from the flames.
“You have to cook with what’s available to you. You won’t have oil or butter, of course, but a little clean, purified water combined with the heat will steam the fish just fine.” He poured water into the pan from his canteen. “If you don’t have a pan, just thread your fillets on a sharpened stick and cook them over the flame.”
“What, no special seasonings or garlic lemon aioli to go with it?”
“Just water and fire.”
Kind of like what was happening between them. She was the fire, and he was the water. He poked around at the fish, flipping it this way and that with the end of a stick, all without getting burned. It was impressive how easily he maneuvered around the fire and prepared the meal like it was nothing. They’d literally caught the fish less than an hour ago and he was turning them into a rustic meal that people in the city would pay big for so they could critique the shit out of it and tell all their friends.
Her body relaxed as she watched him work and studied the lines of his body, appreciating how fluidly he moved. What would it be like to see him transition into a bear? There weren’t any shifters in Chicago as far as she knew. They preferred an environment like this, which made sense. Fox had a wild animal literally inside him. What the hell would his bear do in the city besides run around terrifying people?
Using the hem of his flannel shirt on the handle of the pan, he removed it from the fire and set it on the ground.
“Get your cup from your bag.”
The fish smelled surprisingly good. He flipped three fillets in her mug and handed it to her. Lulu stared at it; a bit put off at how eager she was to try it. He sat on a log on the other side of the fire and ate straight from the pan. Not sure if she was supposed to eat the silvery skin beneath the plump, white flesh, she watched Fox. He picked the flesh from the skin, so she did the same. The meat was a little dry but packed with flavor.
He eyed her as he picked at his fish. "Why are you out here with me, Lulu?"
"What do you mean?"
"What's your why? Why are you doing this course?"
She spread her hands in a ‘what are you talking about’ gesture. "You know why I'm here."
He sat straighter on the log and took a bite.
"I ask every student of every class what it is that brought them here. And I'm not talking about the bullshit answers like, my boss made me come, or my dad enrolled me as Christmas as a gift. Do you know what the most important tool for survival is?"
His eyes shone with a preternatural light. It was the second time she noticed that otherworldly gleam and it was absolutely breathtaking. She faltered over her own thoughts for a second.
