He wanted to take her down the hall to her bedroom and curl up with her there, but it had been at least ten degrees cooler than out here. Instead, he jogged back to get her blanket, kicked off his boots and jacket, and laid behind her on the couch, pulling her into his chest and covering them both with her comforter.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he said, rubbing her back. “You gotta wake up.”
Lenore groaned again, and Brandon said, “That’s right. Come on, girl. You gotta wake up now. You gotta wake up for me.”
The groan stopped, and Lenore sucked in a breath. She started to flail, beating against him as she screamed, “Let me go!”
Admiral and Susie-Q barked then, both of their voices filling the cabin with thunderous protests.
“Hey, it’s me,” he yelled into the commotion, irrationally tightening his arms around her. “It’s Brandon. It’s me. We’re in your cabin.”
Lenore stopped thrashing, but he now held her on the very edge of the couch. “I’m going to drop you,” he said.
“Brandon.” Recognition lit her eyes.
“Lean into me, Len.” Thankfully, she did, and Brandon settled her back into his arms as the dogs calmed down. “You passed out,” he said. “Do you remember what happened?”
A long exhale came out of her mouth, heating his chest where she’d curled against him. “I was so cold.” She shivered then, and Brandon tucked the blanket in behind her and all along the back of her head.
“I had to go outside to change the water containers.”
“You didn’t wear a coat?” he asked.
“I was just so excited,” she said. “I even burnt my dinner while I was looking at your calculations.”
Yes, he’d seen it.
“So I haven’t eaten. I’d built a fire, but it had burned way down by the time I came back inside. I opened up the stove and had just put a log in, and…I don’t know. I don’t remember anything else.”
“We’re getting you warm now,” Brandon said. Though he didn’t feel a hundred percent comfortable with the situation, at least Lenore had woken up and was talking. Her stomach growled violently enough for him to hear and feel.
Despite the situation, he smiled. “Let me get you some dinner, baby,” he said, and he carefully eased her out of his arms and laid her back onto the couch. “You stay right there.”
He moved around to the back of the couch and pushed it so that it faced the stove, all of its heat flowing right onto Lenny.
Brandon had lived here and worked with her for six weeks now, and he could make her something she’d love. He shone the flashlight into her cooler, pulled out the package of pepperoni, and moved back over to the stove. She’d made a plain cheese quesadilla, but he made her a pepperoni pizza one. He found one of her electrolyte packets in the drawer where she kept them and emptied it into a bottle of water.
He took the meal over to her and sat down on the floor near her. “All right, Len. You gotta eat.” He held up the triangle of pepperoni pizza quesadilla for her. Their eyes locked. She opened her mouth, and he fed it to her.
The moment was intimate and hot—and not just because Brandon was sitting next to the fire. He couldn’t look away while she chewed and swallowed.
“You changed my clothes?” Lenore asked.
“I used a towel to keep you covered. Don’t worry.” He grinned at her and fed her another bite of quesadilla. As she ate and drank, more color came into her face, and she sat up, tucking the comforter around her legs.
“Thank you, B.”
“You need something else? I can whip you up a smoothie.”
“The power is out,” Lenny said.
“Oh, right.” Brandon wanted to be closer to her, and he groaned as he stood up, complaining, “That floor is hard.” He settled onto the couch beside her, stroking her hair back and enjoying the way she fit against his side.
“I got sixty gallons of water off the roof,” Lenny said, a touch of pride in her voice. Then she coughed, a sound that concerned Brandon.
“Wow, sixty gallons?” he asked.
Lenny beamed up at him. “I kept changing them when they filled up. That’s why I was outside for so long.”
