“Terrible,” he said. Finn’s eyes were only half open but she saw gold through the dark lashes. His arm looped around her waist and kept her tight to his side. “Need water.”
“Of course,” she said. She leaned to stand up, but his arm only flexed like a massive, muscular seatbelt. Lauren laughedbreathlessly, a little nervous to actually feel how strong he was, and patted his bare shoulder. “Gotta let me go, big guy.”
He grumbled again and adjusted his arm. His broad hand settled against her hip with a gentle squeeze. “You stay.”
“I need to get the water,” she said. Lauren’s heart tripped and stuttered. Holy crap he was strong. Her fingers didn’t even meet around his wrist as she tried to pry his hand away. “And you need to eat.”
“Better with you here.” He turned his head toward her, distressingly close to her ass, and sighed. “Much better.”
Lauren’s vision blurred in a surge of emotion. What the hell was going on? How could he possibly feel better with her around? And why did he feel strongly enough about it to try to embrace her with his leg half-cleaned and gory, feverish and flushed, and naked on a mattress in a shitty cabin? The knot in her throat stuck no matter how hard she swallowed. She slid her fingers through his wild hair, suddenly adrift and afraid but also…affectionate. “You don’t even know me.”
“I do,” he murmured. He made a face as he moved to his side, and slid his other arm around her as well. “I’ve been looking for you.”
Every inch of her went cold. He’d been looking for her? He was a bounty hunter? Her heart crashed to her feet and the cabin blurred around her. Obviously he was in that part of the forest for a reason, and it wasn’t to admire the wildlife or search for a Sasquatch. She pressed her hands to her face. Stupid Lauren. Yet again she’d screwed up. “How did you find me?”
“Luck.”
Of course. Her bad luck and his good luck. Well, if his good luck was getting caught in a bear trap, she didn’t want to be around when he ran into bad luck. She tried to wall her heart off. Just as well. She would make sure that his leg was as good as she could make it, then she’d leave the satellite phone near himto call for backup or whatever, and she’d get the hell out of there before he woke up again.
Where she’d go, she had no idea. She cleared her throat and hauled at his arms. “Let me go, Finn.”
He growled in annoyance but his hold loosened. She wriggled free and ignored how the firelight made him look like some kind of nude old timey painting. He had no right to be so good-looking and built and…perfect. She struggled to breathe evenly as she retrieved cool water to drink, and put the cup to his lips without getting quite close enough for him to catch again. His arm definitely moved like he meant to pull her close. But Lauren skirted the attempt and spent time on the other side of the cabin like a damn coward, hoping he would pass out again.
Instead, Finn pushed upright and shook himself like a wet dog. “What’s wrong?”
His eyes had returned to that smooth milk chocolate. Lauren gnawed on her lip as she struggled with how to answer. He had to be fishing for more evidence, some kind of admission. He’d already said he’d been looking for her. What more did he want her to say? “Nothing in particular.”
The light from her headlamp moved over his face and his eyes reflected it back to her like a cat’s. Lauren’s head tilted as she studied him. That was odd.
He squinted. “Come back, Lauren.”
“I have to get you water. And…and food,” she whispered, except the food was near the fire. She hoped he didn’t realize it. Maybe there were more pain killers in his first aid kit, and she could knock him out. Keep him unconscious until she knew what to do. It was a shitty thing to do, and probably dangerous, but her thoughts scattered and splintered until she didn’t even remember how to move her feet.
Finn flopped to his back, groaning, then gestured at the remains of his pack. “Protein bars. Just toss me a couple. Two bottles of water. The silver bag.”
Warily, Lauren collected the items he wanted and tossed them onto the mattress next to his left side. Finn studied her with his head tilted, curiosity sparking through him, and he wadded up the blanket covering him under his shoulders so he could watch as she sat near his injured leg again. At least he left the silver emergency blanket in place.
Finn ripped open a protein bar and devoured it in two bites. “You don’t have to do that. I’ll clean it up.”
“You shouldn’t have to,” she said. “And you might get an infection. I didn’t know how long you were going to be out so…” She shrugged.
He moderated his tone, his voice turning gentle and quiet. The very opposite of what he appeared to be. He didn’t try to touch her again, at least. “You did a great job. Thank you. And you helped get me out of that trap, even when you didn’t have to. I can’t say how much I appreciate it, Lauren. I owe you my life.”
Her cheeks heated and she shrugged again. “I’m sure anyone would have…”
“No,” he said. “Not everyone would have done what you did. You must be exhausted.”
She was. She really, really was. Not just from the intense physical exertion of that particular day, but from all the emotional and mental exhaustion that hung around her every day. Not knowing when someone would kick in the door to arrest her, not knowing when or if Ginger would bring her food or she’d have to venture into town to beg and steal, not knowing what she would do for the rest of her life. Her fragile control frayed still more. Her vision blurred and she struggled to swallow the knot in her throat.
Finn’s expression softened at whatever he saw in her face. He slowly reached for her hand, and Lauren didn’t pull away. She should have, maybe, since he was a bounty hunter and everything. And still really naked. But she was too tired to bolt to her feet again, even though she knew she should have and she needed to put more wood on the fire and get her sleeping bag out and figure out where she was going to sleep, since obviously she couldn’t…
“Hey,” Finn said. His thumb smoothed over the back of her hand. “Come back for a second.”
“What?” Lauren blinked as she looked at him, puzzled. She couldn’t see as much of his face with the wild beard, and she wondered what he looked like clean-shaven. Probably even more handsome, with her luck.
“You were thinking really hard about something and you went somewhere else,” he said. A hint of a smile crept into the lines around his eyes. “Stay with me for a second.”
She flushed and tried to turn her attention back to his leg. “I should finish this up. Then you can get some rest.”
