His hand enveloped hers, and yet he was so gentle that when he wrapped his fingers around hers she only felt warmth and a prickle of awareness that always ended up south of where it should be.
He snagged her backpack with one hand, lifting it as if it didn’t weigh anything at all. He pulled her close to him, so she was virtually walking beneath the protection of his shoulder. With every step she took, she felt his heat. She could feel the way his muscles rippled and glided so fluidly beneath his skin. And that was through his clothes. She couldn’t imagine what he would feel like skin to skin.
She bit hard on her lip to try to steady her mind. “Um. Andre. We can’t just leave the fire burning.”
“I dealt with it.” He kept walking right through to the next chamber.
She glanced behind them, and as she did, the firelight was gone and the chamber went totally dark.
“I don’t have my flashlight.”
“I do not need one. Your eyes will adjust in a moment.”
“How did you . . .” She trailed off. She hadn’t seen him pour water on the fire. She had been so absolutely enamored by him she might not have noticed him dumping the water from the kettle on the fire. It hadn’t been that big, but even so, could a kettle full of water actually put out the flames?
“Tell me more about your family. Your other sisters,” he prompted.
It was strange, she actually could see where they were walking. Her eyes really did adjust to the darkness. More, she liked walking so close to him. She didn’t need safe. She didn’t want to live her life safe. She wanted adventure.
She had grown up with four strong women. She had never felt strong. She was the smart one. They all said it. Not the beautiful one. Not the one with the confidence to get up and sing in church, although she had the voice to do so. Or the one who could model. Worse, she was totally afraid of everything. It wasn’t just a small panic attack, sometimes she was actually paralyzed with fear.
Teagan refused to live her life with fear ruling her. She took martial arts. She worked out. She climbed, facing her greatest fear, of heights. She loved the wilderness and was determined to see as many places as possible, even if she had to go alone, which was often—and that was terrifying. Still. She did it.
Over the last couple of years, she had gained some confidence. No matter how she really felt on the inside, she could project confidence, but walking with Andre so close to her made her safe in a way she’d never felt.
She felt the brush of his gaze like a physical touch. She knew if she looked up, he would be looking down at her. The knowledge sent a little shiver of delight down her spine. She wasn’t flirty, but she suddenly wished she were. She wasn’t daring, but she thought about putting a hand on his rib cage as if to steady herself. Of course she wasn’t going to actually do it, but the fantasy was there. She suspected she wouldn’t have the courage to have a vacation fling with him, either, but she’d come away from this with one nightmare and a million fantasies.
She sighed. Instantly, Andre let go of her hand and swept his arm around her. He had a big arm. Lots of muscle. The moment his body was against hers, she considered fainting. It was the only viable option other than sliding her hands under his shirt to run them up his perfect chest. All that muscle and those intriguing scars. Yeah. Perfection.
“This is not an appropriate question I asked you?”
She blinked. What was he talking about? She had no choice but to look up at him. The moment their eyes met, her stomach went on a roller-coaster ride all by itself. Her knees went weak, which was stupid but true. Her toes even thought about curling, but she sent them a fierce command not to react. Still, she couldn’t stop the tremor that ran through her body at the impact. Who knew that ice blue could go dark navy?
“What question?”
“About your family. Is that not what strangers do when they try to get to know each another? Ask about family?”
He didn’t blink. She knew because she watched and blinked for him. Like a million times. Staring into his eyes was just plain dangerous, but she couldn’t look away. Her body was tight against his. In a lover’s embrace. Except it wasn’t actually a lover’s embrace, it was more like a—Teagan was making a fool of herself and was going to fall at his feet and he was keeping her up embrace.
His body was cool at first. His skin cool. It heated quickly in all the places she touched him until he burned right through her clothes. Her dirty clothes. She nearly groaned. Why did these things happen to her? Why couldn’t she be totally glamorous and assured like her sisters? By now, there was no doubt about it, her deodorant had failed. He smelled—yummy. He’d been lying in dirt, covered in blood when she found him, but somehow, he looked and smelled like heaven.
“Teagan.”
There it was again. Her name. That caressing voice. His accent. Her toes totally ignored her earlier command and had a field day curling right along with her stomach doing flips.
“Um.” That was certainly showing him her intelligent nature. Her witty conversation. Her mind was blank. Well. Okay. Not exactly blank—it was filled with all sorts of things that shouldn’t be there. Like Andre with his shirt off. It was as far as she dared to imagine. Seriously. Anything else would have made her head explode.
A slow, amused smile lit his eyes for one small moment and faded, but the dark navy receded a little and all that beautiful glacier blue began to return.
She narrowed her eyes. “You’d better not be reading my mind.”
“I am doing my best to be courteous.”
Color swept her face. She dared to put a hand on his rib cage to push him away from her. His body didn’t so much as rock back an inch, and, touching him was a huge mistake. Like huge. Her hand seemed to mold to his body. She was fairly certain it had melted into his skin and there was no way to ever remove it again.
“You’re lethal, Andre. Really. I don’t even know what to do with you. You’ll have to just step back and give me some breathing room so I can act like a normal human being again.” She made the confession in a little rush.
“You are not acting normal?”