wanted me to be there. He reminded me of my ambition to become a judge…and how proud Hank would’ve been of me.”
Emotions spent, Chance drew a long breath. Kyndal didn’t say anything, and he wondered if she would ever speak to him again now she knew the truth.
“Thanks for being honest with me,” she said at last, her voice tight with emotion. “I needed to know.” He watched her throat convulse as she swallowed. “And, like I said before, we’ve moved on. There’s no need to go back.”
* * *
KYNDAL HELD THE T-SHIRT UP as Chance crawled through the opening for the fourteenth time since they’d set up camp in the niche. She didn’t have to ask. She’d listened and had easily heard his long blows on the emergency whistle he kept in his pack.
There had been no answering shouts any of the previous thirteen times, and this one was no different.
It was almost ten o’clock. Rescue wasn’t going to come tonight. She was almost glad her stomach was near empty because it drew into a hard knot that would’ve forced any contents upward.
Chance gave a resigned shrug. “Nobody out there. I don’t think there’s much chance of anybody showing up tonight.” He rubbed his hands together, blowing on them. “Are you cold?”
“Not too.”
The earlier argument, his confession, her realization his life hadn’t been so easy… Those things had broken down some barrier between them and made the past few hours much more amiable. Kyndal had never had anybody around long enough to tell her what to do—listening to him gave her a new understanding of what life would be like with a father like Bill Brennan. No independence. Little privacy. Unbearable.
Chance picked up the deck of cards he’d produced from his backpack earlier along with a small wooden case of dominoes. The games had helped the hours pass.
“It’s probably safe now to get into a serious game of Strip Poker.”
She glared at him. “Don’t start with me again. No Strip Poker. No Strip Crazy Eights. No Strip Hearts or Strip Spades.”
His low chuckle mocked her outburst, which infuriated her even more. “You’re cute when you’re all huffy like that.” He scooted up beside her. “All joking aside, if we took off our clothes and cuddled, we’d probably stay warm. Your jeans would have to stay on, but we could use our shirts as blankets, and my jeans could be a pillow. You need some kind of cushion under your head, and we need to leave the packs under your foot.”
The thought of them even partially naked sent a heated flush through her body, but the idea of laying her head on the ground made her pause. The ibuprofen had helped the pain and the swelling of both her ankle and her head. Neither one throbbed much anymore, but both were sore.
“Or you could lay your head in my lap.”
“No, thanks. Too hard and lumpy. And no nudity.” She answered his smug grin with a sweet smile. “Here.” She pulled one of the packs from beneath her leg. “You can use this so you won’t think about putting your head in my lap.”
She was still all too aware the chemistry he spoke of was indeed there. The hours of close proximity had her wound so tight she would explode on contact if his warm breath so much as flickered against her skin.
“We need to get some rest.”
Hearing the weariness in his voice, she scooted down and lay back carefully, placing her arm behind her head.
Chance placed the flashlight between them. “Do you want this on or off?”
She didn’t expect to sleep a wink, but maybe he could get some rest if the area was dark. “Off,” she said.
He flipped the switch that plunged them into absolute darkness.
Kyndal swallowed the surge of panic that rose in her throat. It was so dark. So freaking dark. “Chance?”
“Yeah?” His breath touched her cheek, which told her he was lying on his side facing her.
“Would you think I was being too clingy if I asked you to hold my hand?”
She heard the scrape of the pack on the floor and felt his body slide even closer to her. She tensed. He raised her head gently, placing it in the nook of his shoulder. He rested the flashlight on her belly and covered it with her right hand. Drawing her close against him, he clasped her left hand, relaxing his arm across her middle.
The tension left her body. She felt safe in his comforting embrace.