Page 45 of Embers

“Nah, they’re fine since I’m not walking on them right now.”

“That’s good.” I scoot closer to him and reach over to rub my fingertips down his rumpled beard.

“I’m okay,” he murmurs, evidently seeing something on my face.

“I know. I was really scared.”

“I know you were. I knew you would be. I’m so sorry ’bout the whole thing. I never shoulda left you.”

“No. You shouldn’t have. So don’t do it again.” Despite the words, my voice is nothing but soft.

He cups one of my cheeks with his big hand and doesn’t say anything. But his eyes are speaking plenty. I’ve never seen them so full of tenderness.

Like he loves me more than anything.

I don’t want to break the moment, but my bladder eventually defies my wishes. So I have to roll out of bed and run outside to pee, and then I fill up a couple of glasses from the well water I got yesterday and bring them over to the bed.

I gulp my water down because I’m suddenly parched, and he sits up enough to drink his too. When we’re done, by mutual silent agreement, we reach for each other again and settle into a relaxed embrace.

“What did you do with the truck?” I ask, still trying to process everything that happened yesterday.

“I managed to push it off the road. I think I got the spare parts I need here to get it goin’ again, so I’ll head back and fix it up.”

“Wecan go back. We can ride out on the motorcycle, and then when you fix it, you can drive the truck back.”

“Yeah. Got chicken feed in the back. Shame to waste it.”

“We can do it tomorrow maybe.”

“I’m okay to—”

“But I’m not okay to do it today. So let’s do it tomorrow.”

He nuzzles my hair. “Okay.”

We’re quiet for a few minutes. Then Cal finally rolls onto his back with a soft groan. “I should get up and take care of those chickens.”

“They’re fine.”

“I have a feelin’ they’d disagree with that statement.”

I giggle and edge closer, stroking his bare chest in slow circles. “They can wait a little longer. We don’t have to get up quite yet. Anyway, you should take it easy, after being all heroically injured.”

He snorts at that. “Some hero. You could definitely do better in the hero department.”

“I don’t want better.” Very daring, I press a soft kiss just above his left nipple. “I just want you.”

His hand tightens in my hair. His whole body tenses up. The palpable tension could mean any number of things, so I shift my gaze to his face.

His eyes are hot. Hungry. Needy. Possessive.

Everything I’ve ever wanted to see there.

“Baby.”

“I mean it, Cal. I don’t want anyone else. I only want you.”

“You sure?” Something is almost shuddering in him now. Shuddering in the air between us. It feels like he’s barely holding himself back.

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