“You are.” Shifting her against him, he tipped her chin up and looked down at her with narrowed eyes. “You are, Georgie. And I didn’t think of it much until now. Growing up, everyone was strong, man or woman. But out here, everyone’s almost always weaker. Not you, though. You’re infected?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“After you left the last time. You always seemed so afraid of hurting me. It seemed practical to make certain that hurting me wouldn’t be so easy.”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference. Hurting is still easy. Just the healing is faster.” Gently, he smoothed his thumb across her bottom lip. “Most people are afraid that the tower will go up again—or that they’ll be zombies. You weren’t?”
“I was more afraid that you wouldn’t return to my bed again.” Her eyes filled suddenly, and she blinked at the tears, willing them away. “And I think it saved me when the lump fever came.”
Because she hadn’t caught it, though both her parents had.
“I’m sorry, Georgie.” His voice thickened. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I wish I had been.”
She wished he had been, too. But she shook her head.
“If you hadn’t gone, Thom, I’d never have infected myself. I probably wouldn’t be alive now.” And as much as she’d missed him, Georgiana liked the woman his absence had let her become. “All that matters is that you’re here now.”
“I am.” His arms tightened around her. “I am.”
“But only until tonight.” She grinned up at him. “You’d better not be here after that.”
* * *
They waited until after midnight—when, hopefully, whoever stood watch on deck would be half-asleep and huddled down against the cold.
Carrying the blankets and her satchel, Georgiana watched Thom pinch the head of the steel bolt that fastened the thick window to the porthole frame. He twisted and pulled.
A metallic squeal rang through the cabin.
Thom froze. Heart pounding, Georgiana stared at the cabin door, waiting for the guard to burst through and see them attempting to escape.
No one. She looked back at Thom. “Try again?”
He shook his head. “We’ll need to make some other noise to cover this.”
“What noise wouldn’t bring them in?”
“No one came in when we were making noise last night.”
“Thom!” Her blush warmed her cheeks.
He grinned.
Unable to stop herself, she laughed and looked to the bed. It would be the sort of sound that might draw attention, but wouldn’t be unexpected in the cabin of a married couple. “Shall I jump on it?”
Thom shook his head again and led her to the door. Softly, he said, “That won’t be loud enough. Do it here, instead.”
Where? “I don’t understand.”
“You bang up against the door, like I’m having you against it.”
She met his quiet explanation with a look of sheer disbelief.
Without a word, Thom wrapped his hands around her waist and hefted her up. With her thighs around his hips, he pushed her back against the wooden door and gently rocked between her legs.
Oh. Her fingers curled into her palms. This was actually . . . quite . . . wonderful. Despite the urgency of their situation, despite knowing a guard stood in the passageway just beyond the door, heat began to coil inside her, winding tighter with every slow thrust.