Page 62 of Bound By Earth (The Nature Hunters Academy 1)

After several more beats of silence, Elias said, “Being outside really frees something inside of you, doesn’t it? You’ve got a very candid vibe going on. I like it. Go withit.”

Tara would probably be horrified later that she’d just sung a ridiculous song and argued for the lack of mental health stability in beloved animated characters. But at the moment, Elias was right. She just felt relaxed, free, and completely athome.

“I still say there’s something wrong with that squirrel,” shesaid.

“He’s not foaming at the mouth, so I don’t think it’s rabies or anything,” Eliassaid.

“Madcow?”

“Doubtful.”

“Birdflu?”

“Notlikely.”

“Attracted to yourcrazy?”

“I forgot to tell you that one of my alter egos is a cartoon princess,” he whisperedconspiratorially.

She stared at him silently, taking in all the handsome lines of his face, the unusual color of his eyes, just the sheer maleness of him, and sighed. “I really wanted you not to be too good to betrue.”

“Bloody hell, woman,” he suddenly growled, pushing off of the tree with his shoulder, causing the squirrel to scamper away. “I’m not a nutter, you beautiful, daft girl. I was just playing about when I said the wood nymphs were crazy for you. You asked how I could know how you looked when I’d been in front of you the entire hike, and so I teased you. That’s what you Yanks call it, right? Teasing? I should have just said that there had been quite a few times when you’d been looking down or away when I’d looked back to check on you and might have noticed more than the fact that you were still behindme.”

Tara’s eyes were wide as she stared at Elias. The last time she’d seen him this worked up was when he’d met Tucker at the job fair. She had gotten used to his flirty playfulness and had forgotten there had been something dangerous and mysterious about him that first day. Now she saw it again. He was a predator and, at the moment,irritated.

“So, you’renotoff your trolley?” she askedslowly.

He shook his head and leaned back again, though he didn’t look quite as relaxed as he had before he’d snapped at her. “I’m perfectly sane. Though I don’t know how long I will remain that way considering you seem determined to invent a reason I have to be too good to betrue.”

She pursed her lips and then quietly said, “Mybad.”

After a few minutes of tense silence, and of Tara watching him work, he blew on his project then scrutinized it. He walked over and held it out to her. A frown still marred his handsome face. “A token to remember this day,” hesaid.

Tara held up the small carving and laughed. It was a tiny squirrel. The shape was a little rough, but it was definitely asquirrel.

“Am I forgiven then?” she asked, her voice rising just abit.

He reached out and gently ran a fingertip down the side of her face, his own features softening. “You are. Try to be gentle with me, luv. The male ego is a fragilething.”

She rolled her eyes. “Where’d you learn to do that?” She motioned to the carving in herhand.

Elias dropped his hand, took a seat next to her, and looked over at the waterfall. “My grandfather. He loved to whittle. He was much better at it than Iam.”

“Thank you,” she said softly. “Pretty sure after the whole ‘it’s attracted to you because you’re batshit crazy,’ I’m undeserving of such agift.”

“I don’t remember you saying batshitcrazy.”

“That’s because I said it in myhead.”

“You do realizeyouare the one who burst out in song, in the forest, with a guy and an animal, and yet you were calling me the crazy one, right?” heasked.

When he put it like that… “Shelly would be so proud.” She shook her head at herself and then slipped the carving into her pocket, pushing it deep so it wouldn’t fallout.

Elias laughed. He leaned his body against hers, and Tara felt the heat from the top of her head all the way to the tips of her toes. After settling in, he didn’t move away. His left side from shoulder to knee pressed against her right side. It was like a half-side-body-hug without the arms. Okay, so maybe hewassaner than her.Half-side-body-hug, Tara?She mentally kicked herself.What is wrong withyou?

They sat in that spot, sometimes talking, sometimes just watching the falling water, for several hours. Tara couldn’t believe how easy it was to be with him. Even when she believed, for that very brief moment in time that he was actually crazy, being with him, talking to him, had been as natural as breathing.It was as if they’d known each other for years instead ofdays.

“If you could go anywhere in the world, right this second, where would you go?” Elias asked her as he pulled two wrapped sandwiches from his backpack. “I figured we’d get hungry,” he added as he passed herone.

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