her head a bit so that her cheek rested on his shoulder. After a while, it appeared the coyotes had no urge to stake their claim. She didn’t care, though. It suddenly seemed like staying right here forever would be a great thing to do.
A man was holding her and she wasn’t nervous. The night was quiet and soothing, and even the chilly air felt good on her cheeks. Why in the world would she ever want to leave these moments behind?
Then the brief fantasy crashed. “Better get you inside,” Craig said. “You’re going to turn into an ice cube.”
The only thing that saved her from protesting was knowing how much she would reveal. She didn’t want to be vulnerable to a man, not ever again.
She did a fairly decent job of convincing herself of that, too, as she rose and folded her tarp.
Just an interlude of watching stars and listening to wolves. Not one thing more.
Chapter 5
Craig knew he was being a fool, especially when it had felt so good to hold Sky in his arms while stargazing, but after a night in adjacent but separate sleeping bags, he made the offer anyway.
“If you like it that much here,” he said as he got ready to head out for the day, “I can arrange for you to use the cabin for a while. As far as I know, nobody’s scheduled it for anything special.”
“Won’t that inconvenience you?”
“Me? Nah. I can share the floor when I need to.” Yeah, right. And spend half the night, as he had this past one, thinking about how good that woman had felt lying beside him in his arms. It was enough to drive Buddy and Cap out of his thoughts. Well, almost. They were still out there like some kind of toothache that was going to need more than a little aspirin before long.
“I’ve got to go to town,” he remarked. “I’ll stop at the station and clear it with them. Then if you want, I’ll bring back some food tonight. You’re welcome here.”
He watched her hesitate and wondered if she was thinking this might be as ill-advised as he was. Damn, he found her attractive, but he wasn’t all that sure she felt the same. She’d also told him she was recovering from a recent breakup, so she was fragile in more than one way. If he had a brain in his head, rather than his groin, he’d stay clean away.
Half of him hoped she’d turn him down. Best to cut the link between them before it got tangled in knots and it became a real mess when she went home. That was a sensible idea but he was almost holding his breath anyway.
“I’d like that,” she said finally. She gave him one of her rare smiles, one that lit up her face and seemed to light the world around her. “It’s great out here. But only if you’re sure I won’t be in the way.”
In one sense she was going to be in the way until she left the state. In another, she wouldn’t be a problem at all. He’d managed to build a life where he didn’t experience a lot of internal conflict, but here he was, diving in head first. Genius.
“It’s cool,” he said. “Besides, you’re determined to come out here every day anyway. Might as well save the gas. I’ll just get enough food and ice for a few days.”
As easy as that, it was settled. Well, having her stay there was settled easily. Actually dealing with it was apt to be something else. Maybe he needed to take a look inside his own head and figure out where he’d slipped a cog. Of course, he could always camp out in the open, the way he usually preferred.
As he bumped down the service road with Sky in his wake because she wanted to do laundry and pick up a few things, it occurred to him that after having invited her to stay at the cabin, she might be offended if he took to sleeping under the stars.
Crap, he’d blown it all to hell. He’d failed to keep a safe distance, and now he’d put himself in a position where he might hurt someone unintentionally. Bright, Craig, very bright.
For the second day running, returning to downtown Conard City made Sky uneasy. She told herself to relax, that what had happened to her sitting in the square two days ago wasn’t likely to happen again. And it wasn’t.