“Yo,” I greeted him with a smile.
He kept scowling at me.
Then he grunted, “Come.”
I blinked before asking, “What?”
“We’re going to dinner.”
I blinked again and, get this, I felt my heart get light.
“What?” I breathed.
“I need a pulse and you need food. Come.”
“A pulse?”
“The feel of the land, a sense of what’s happening out there… the pulse. Now, come.”
I shot to my feet, still smiling and agreed with an, “Okay.”
He glowered at me as I walked (with only a slight limp, I had on my killer slippers but that didn’t mean my feet weren’t still raw) toward him.
The minute the pelts fell into place behind us, he swept me up in his arms and I let out a surprised girlie shriek before my arm automatically circled his shoulders.
“What on –?”
“Gods, Cora, just be quiet,” he muttered on a sigh.
“Okey dokey,” I muttered back.
If he wanted to carry me, so be it. I mean, the cave wasn’t that big so he didn’t have to carry me far.
And anyway, I was feeling good. I was clean, had on actual clothes and he was going to feed me without me having to kiss him (or alternate activities) to get it.
I was not going to argue.
He set me on Salem, swung into the saddle behind me, rounded me with an arm and dug his heels into the steed.
Salem bolted out of the cave.
The sun was setting and it was close to dark as we cantered down the mountain.
“Is this safe?” I asked.
“We’ll soon find out,” was Tor’s not very reassuring response.
That shut me up.
But only for awhile.
“This outfit kicks ass,” I informed him and his arm tightened around my midriff in a weird way, like the movement was spontaneous and he didn’t mean to do it.
Then he asked, “Pardon?”
“This outfit,” I pointed to myself and twisted my neck to look back at him, “kicks freaking ass. I love it. It’s awesome.”
He looked down at my face as one of his thighs moved almost imperceptibly under my legs and Salem slowed.