Page 21 of Return to Me Always

"You don't have to do that, you know," I said.

He continued to repack everything, zipping and compressing my bag down so it was much smaller. When he was done, he put my pack in front on his chest and his own huge bag on his back.

"What are you doing?" I asked, not believing he was going to carry my backpack too.

Finally, he turned to face me and said, "You shouldn't be carrying anything right now."

I didn't know whether to be mad or relieved. "But that's a lot of weight for you to carry."

"Nah, not really. I've done it before."

"What?" I felt my eyes widen.

"Let's go. Ten minutes is up."

Without even looking to see if I was following, he headed toward the trail. As I started off behind him, another urgent need let itself be known.

"Wait, Tyler!" I called out.

He paused to look back at me as I caught up to him. "Yeah?"

"Um, I kind of need, um..." I glanced around, wishing the ground would swallow me right about now.

"Ya need to take a leak?"

I felt myself flush as I nodded.

He pointed to a group of nearby trees. "There's your toilet."

Great. Just great. I'd never peed in the woods before, and I didn't love the thought of baring my bottom in the cold either.

"Think there are any critters over there?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Probably not. You'll be fine. It'll put some hair on your chest."

Um, excuse me? Was he actually teasing me? "No, thank you?"

Ignoring his quiet chuckle, I wandered over there to inspect the area. Okay. So no critters... yet. I could do this. First, I made sure I'd be well hidden because the last thing I wanted was for Tyler to see my butt hanging out.

I made it quick and smiled triumphantly as I walked back. Tyler looked like he was trying to stifle a grin as I approached him.

"Feel better?" he asked.

"Yes, and thank goodness I have a bladder of steel because the less often I have to do that the better."

Oh, goodness. Why did I just tell dream man I had a bladder of steel?A little TMI, Kat!

But he only laughed again as he walked away. "And don't worry," he called over his shoulder. "I couldn't see any pale arse peeking through the branches."

Wait, what? Was he joking? How embarrassing! You know what? I wasn't even going to ask because he had to be kidding. Of course, he was kidding.

Not long after, my humiliation faded away as pure exhaustion settled in. To be honest, it took all my focus and energy just to keep up with Tyler.

I was beginning to think this guy really was a secret agent or some kind of military special forces. His unbelievable strength was something I'd never seen before. Not even close. And he hadn't even slept at all last night. I was in pretty decent shape, but Tyler... there were just no words for his superhuman abilities.

By some miracle, I continued to trek along behind him for several more hours, not wanting to admit that now both my backandmy feet were killing me. At least, the physical pain overpowered all the mental anguish, worries, and anxiety racing through my head.

But most of all, I just had questions for Tyler. At some point, we would have to stop and sleep, right? Then, I would hopefully find out what he was keeping from me. And I was certain there was quite a bit he was not telling me.

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