basic than what they had at Cougar Creek. Who cared?
He turned his cheek to her as it hit him that she did. She cared.
And for some godsdamned reason that made him care too.
“The cabin is old,” he grumbled, anger towards her swift to morph into anger towards himself. He didn’t need to explain why his cabin lacked one of the most basic of facilities. He didn’t have to explain anything to her.
Wasn’t as if he wanted her approval after all.
“I can’t pee out there in the freezing cold!” She tossed another disgruntled look at the open door, at the white-washed world beyond it.
Saint opened the cupboard to his left, close to the stairs, and pulled out a chamber pot. He regretted it the moment he offered it to her, as her wide eyes leaped between him and it, going back and forth so many times he was sure she was going to make herself dizzy.
“Good gods, no.” She turned her nose up at it, and then some of her bravado slipped as she cast a glance at the outside world and her voice dropped to a hushed murmur. “I’ll go outside because I’m not having you standing over me.”
Saint shoved the pot back in the cupboard and kicked the door closed. “You’ll have me standing over you either way. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
She glared at him, fire igniting in her eyes, bringing out the green. “Not a chance. I’m not peeing with you anywhere near me.”
“It’s the chamber pot or a sixty-foot trek through the snow. Be thankful Lowe cleared a path to the outhouse. Only other option is crouching in three feet of snow…” He looked out at the grey morning, at the snow whipping past the cabin. “Might be more by now. Might not even have a path to follow to the outhouse.”
She pressed her thighs harder together, and he couldn’t believe how seriously she was debating this, or how big a problem it was for her. All she had to do was cop a squat on the chamber pot or brave the weather. She was acting as if he was asking her to scale Mount Everest to reach a toilet.
“Sooner or later, Holly, you’re going to have to go. You’re not going to have a choice in the matter either. You really have so much pride that you would rather wet yourself?”
Her eyes widened again and she looked ready to hit him as a blush burned her cheeks.
She turned her profile to him and folded her arms across her chest, pulling her purple coat tight across her shoulders.
“Fine.” She huffed and slid him a sideways glance. “Is there at least toilet paper in the outhouse?”
He frowned at her and went for his shirt, plucking it off the back of the couch. “We’re not that uncivilised. Plenty of paper for your delicate parts.”
He stilled with his arm halfway into his left sleeve and looked at her, suddenly aware of her again, of those feminine curves she hid beneath thick layers of protective clothing. Her gaze scalded his chest, heat back in it that said he wasn’t the only one whose thoughts were rolling down dangerous routes.
Wicked routes.
When she looked ready to bolt out into the storm to escape him, he quickly pulled his shirt on and buttoned it, and closed the distance between them again. He reached over her, every fibre of him aware of how close she was to him, how she didn’t move to distance herself, just stood there and let him be near her. He breathed deep as he grabbed his coat, savouring her scent of sweet berries, his mouth watering at the thought of dropping his head and tasting her lips.
He hadn’t been born yesterday, knew that her complaint about the fire being too hot had been a flimsy excuse to cover what had really been happening to her. She wanted him. She wanted him with the same ferocity as he wanted her, only it frightened her.
Hell, maybe it frightened him a little too.
He had never felt like this around anyone before her—torn, confused, unsure what the hell he was doing, craving the feel of her eyes on him.
Hungry and wild for her.
She swallowed hard and twisted away from him, kept her gaze fixed on the storm as he pulled his coat on.
There was a tremble in her voice as she said, “Is it day?”
“It’s day. Late morning maybe. Not going to get much lighter than this.” He stepped up