Page 71 of Kiss Across the Universe
He stirred, his discomfort making him uneasy, but then forced himself to stillness, lest he wake her. Instead he looked down at her face, so pale in the growing daylight. The strongly arched brows framed her features and her lips with the classic bow were the highlights. Her face was so pale, so perfect, so pure.
She was breath-robbingly beautiful, but would never accept that was true. She measured herself harshly against everyone else she admired and thought well of, including him. Although why she thought well of him was as much of a mystery to him as his high regard of her seemed to be a puzzlement to Alannah.
It had shocked him to realize she liked him. Enough to turn to him in this way.
Could he accept just this much of her?
Did he have to, though? For the first time in many years, hope edged into his mind and his heart. Hope was a glorious thing. Just a drop of it could sustain a man forever.
He’d be a fool, he decided. He’d be a fool and let himself hope, if it meant keeping her in his arms for just a bit longer.
And he’d deal with whatever happened when they got back home, even if it wasn’t the outcome his hope was painting for him.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
They slept until the sunwas well up over the mountains. Alannah was startled to wakefulness when Kit climbed over her, still gloriously naked, and giving her for the first time, a full view of his body as he moved around the fire adding wood. He was exactly as muscled, lean and long as she had guessed…and explored, last night.
Alannah threw off the sleeping bag and swiftly dressed, for itwascold.
“Coffee for both of us, first,” Kit told her. “Can you take care of that?”
“Absolutely,” she said, tying her boot laces and getting to her feet.
“Then breakfast. Oatmeal with jam for the energy. Lots of it.”
“I could eat a bison. All of it,” Alannah confessed.
“You can have some of that, too, if you want.” He paused. “You’re just standing there.”
She put her hands on her hips. “If you actually want me to make coffee, then you’d better get dressed.”
His smile was slow to form, but full of heat that made his black eyes glow. “It’s only the thought of civilization, hot showers and a flushing toilet that is making me get dressed,” he told her, as he moved toward the shelter and where she stood, which made her heart flutter. “Otherwise, I’d be happy to stay out here for a whole month, with just you and the fire.” He kissed her, his fingertips stroking her cheek as he did.
“And the mosquitos. And the gourmet standard diet,” she said, when he released her. Her legs were unsteady now, not just her heart. “And don’t you…I don’t know…shouldn’t you report to your office or something? What day of the week is it, anyway? I’ve lost track.”
“I sent them an email. They know I’m out of reach for a while.” He dressed rapidly. He had to be feeling the cold, even though he didn’t seem to be nearly as sensitive to it as she was. She wondered if that was a learned thing. Constant exposure to the cold had to de-sensitize one. She’d been living in torrid California for years, while Canadians would faint if the thermometers hit eighty-five.
Alannah turned to look towards the east, the direction they were travelling. “Will we make it out today?” she asked.
“Late today, if we don’t linger anywhere.”
“I can eat meat as I walk.”
“And do without coffee?” The corner of his mouth quirked upward as he pulled on his coat.
“Well…” She grimaced. “It does help offset the cold,” she confessed.
“We’ll stop for coffee,” he assured her. “And a hot meal. There’s one more dehydrated meal in the pack.” He frowned. “I’ll have to add more, I think. Two days’ worth isn’t enough.”
“You’re feeding two. Next time, I could bring my own pack and my own rations.” And she closed her mouth with a snap, realizing how he might interpret, and perhaps resent, the assumption it sounded as though she was making.
Kit’s eyes narrowed.
“That was a joke,” she said awkwardly.
“Okay,” he said evenly.
She drew in a breath and collected the pan to boil water for coffee.
