Page 37 of Chaos Destiny
My eyelids rose. “They weren’t closed.”
“Of course not.” He motioned with his head toward where I’d grabbed a handful of his T-shirt. “You’re not doing that, either.”
Reluctantly, I let him go.
“That was just my way of saying thank you,” he explained. “And don’t worry. Ari gave me clearance for a few kisses. I just have to make sure I use them wisely.”
“Well, youarelooking for a ‘third.’”
The corner of his mouth twitched, and I found myself growing attached to the gesture. It was cute, the little hint of a smile, but Gage Wolfe was more than cute. Men like Gage were everyone’s type, even if they weren’t. Never in a million years would I have ever thought I’d be here, lusting over a blond from the Outback.
I tried not to touch my lips as his thumb slid along the bare skin of my forearm. With the way he looked at me, I wondered whether he remembered he was supposed to be married, and that I wasn’t supposed to know he wasn’t.
“I should go,” I said. “Ari’s waiting.”
He released me one finger at a time.
After a departing nod, I hurried down the hallway, and I didn’t have to turn around to know he was watching. I felt his gaze through my scrubs, touching me in places I hadn’t thought about since before the start of the collapse.
13
GAGE
The factthat I’d managed to go a week and a half without touching Tayler again felt like a monumental achievement. It felt like receiving the Victoria Cross but then storing it in the back of a junk drawer in favor of my ability to resist Tayler’s confusing allure.
For the moment, I was no longer starving.
Thandie was better, and Ari was recovering well.
At night, I slept beneath a ceiling and inside four walls, and I didn’t have to listen for the throaty gurgle of a once-human creature stalking the earth in search of the flesh of my loved ones. On my hierarchy of needs, I was satisfied in nearly every way a human in our situation could be.
Nearly.
Over the past several days, I did my best to avoid her, which was made easier because I’d started taking on jobs around the camp. With her on medical duty, I kept myself away from the infirmary, mainly caring for anything requiring physical labor inside the building and out in the yard. I wasn’t ready for the camp to know how good I was with a firearm, so I didn’t bother with weaponry. Also, I’d overheard Allen bragging aboutkeeping me “in check,” and I figured letting him believe he possessed the ability was easier.
Still, Tayler regularly checked on Ari and Thandie, and all it took was a slip-up’s worth of eye contact to set me two paces behind. Things were getting so dire that I was heavily considering other women. However, when Tayler had mentioned that there would be others who were willing, I’d underestimated whatwillingmeant. That I was “married” seemed to matter solely to her.
I approached the camp’s front gate with only a hunting knife strapped to my belt. My “job” for the day was a food run with Omar and the twins, but instead of foraging, we planned to hunt for live game. At best, we hoped to snag a deer or wild boar, but a rabbit or two squirrels would still be considered a success.
With cooler weather fast approaching, we were hoping to stockpile as much protein as possible. Overall, there were forty people at the camp: five children, twelve men, twenty-two women, and one adorable little, now-healthy baby. To get everyone through an unpredictable winter, we would need a decent amount of provisions.
The woman who’d been heaviest in her pursuit of myprivate partsstood waiting at the gate. Whenever she had the chance, Dana Novetti chatted Ari up like an old friend. Once Ari was out of sight, the woman offered me a “suck” of her nipples and to “choke” on my body parts.
Admittedly, Dana was a good-looking woman.
Yet, only one woman tempted me, and she did so with much less effort. God forbid Tayler ever came onto me this strong; she was the only person at the camp who could deliver a baby, and it was highly likely I would wind up giving her one.
“Where are you off to?” Dana asked, her arms folded underneath her breasts.
I pointed to the gate behind her. “I’m heading out with the twins and Omar.”
“Allen’s not going with you?”
“Don’t know.”
And I didn’t care.
“How much time do you have before you need to leave? Because…” She lowered the neck of her top, briefly baring the nipple on her left breast. The bud, encircled in a dark areola that matched the color of her hair, contrasted against her olive skin.
