He stepped back, as though he needed to create a buffer between them.“My focus—my only focus—has to be on keeping you safe.I can’t afford distractions.Out here, one mistake could get us both killed.Wanting you…it clouds everything.”
“Fair enough,” she said, trying hard to keep her voice light.“When we get back, we can—”
“No, we can’t.There is no ‘when we get back.’We’re coworkers.That’s a recipe for disaster.”An edge crept into his voice.“If we stop right now, we can blame this on the heat of the moment.Pretend it never happened.And maybe things won’t be too weird at the office every time we pass in the hall.But if we let this go any further…” He dragged a hand through his hair again.“Can you imagine how uncomfortable things might get if this doesn’t work out between us?”
His reasoning struck a chord with her.Workplace romances were nothing new.She knew a few women—like Nina—who’d met their significant others on the job.But she’d also heard as many cautionary tales from women who’d hooked up with a colleague, only to have the relationship sour.Talk about a toxic work environment.One of them even had to find another job because the workplace had turned hostile.And although she didn’t think that would happen with Navarre, it was probably better not to risk it.
Still, it made her heart heavy, because she couldn’t help but wonder if she’d given up on something special.“So what do we do now?”
“Same as before: stay alive, evade the enemy, and find our way to civilization.”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
His features softened, and the pair of lines between his eyebrows faded.“I’m not going to lie and say I don’t find you attractive.You’re smart, and funny, and sexy as hell, and you’ve handled all this much better than I expected.And yeah, that kiss came pretty damn close to short-circuiting my brain.If the circumstances were different, if we didn’t work under the same roof…”
He didn’t need to finish the sentence.She understood the point he was trying to convey.And on some level, she agreed with him, though she wasn’t happy about it.
“Just friends?”she asked.
He nodded.“It’s the best I can offer.”
In the grand scheme of things, she supposed it could be worse.They’d worked past their differences, and maybe one day she’d stop wondering what he looked like naked.She had other guy friends; she just had to find a way to lump him into that category and move on with her life.
She shook the hand he offered, trying her best not to notice the way her pulse quickened with the simple contact.
Overhead, the forest had awakened with a symphony of birdsong.Sunlight filtered through the canopy of trees, casting intricate patterns of light and shadow on the ground below.Pretty soon it might even be warm enough for the air not to fog her breath.
Navarre reached into his bag and pulled out a meal bar.“Hungry?”
At the mention of food, her stomach rumbled.More than twelve hours had passed since she’d eaten the last bar.But he’d only taken out one bar instead of two.“I’ll eat one if you do.”
He shook his head.“I’m not hungry.”
That couldn’t possibly be true.The man hadn’t eaten a bite since yesterday.But rather than argue with him, she tried a different tactic.“Then I guess I’m not hungry either.”
He arched one eyebrow.“Are you trying to guilt me into eating?”
“No, I’m emulating your pigheaded nature.How am I doing?”
“Surprisingly well.”
She beamed.“I’m a quick study.Now are you going to eat, or do we both get to starve?”
Navarre made a noise that was somewhere between a growl and a grunt.He reached back into the bag for another bar and tossed it to her.“Happy?”
“Delighted.”She tore the wrapper and bit off as much as she could fit into her mouth.This one was blueberry with little bits of walnut, and she was pretty sure it was even better than the one she had last night.
They ate in companionable silence, the only sound coming from the twitter of birds and the rustle of wind through the trees.She could have sworn she felt his eyes on her, but every time she glanced his way, he was looking in another direction.
“So which way are we going?”she asked before she took her last bite.
“Well, we were heading northeast toward Sierra’s estate, but since the mercs took off in that direction, we’ll have to change course.”Finished with his bar, he stuffed the wrapper in his rucksack and took out a map.He pointed out several locations.“We’re here, that’s where we ditched our vehicle, and they’re moving in that direction.If we cut through this valley and go around the lake, it should bring us close to the road.Then we can walk parallel to it until we reach this little town here.It doesn’t look like much, but there should be a place where we can make a call.”
If the map was correct, they’d be covering even more distance than they did yesterday.“That’s an awful lot of walking.”
At least he didn’t seem happy about it.He shot her a sympathetic look.“Yeah, I know.How are your feet holding up?”
“Better than they’ll be by the end of the day.”
