upper body cradled between her thighs, his chin on her bare stomach.
Not the worst place to be.
Red dust billowed around them.
Their gazes locked. Heat crackled between them. His dick hardened as the scent and feel of her hit home. He’d missed both.
“That was kind, but foolish. You could have been hurt.” He checked her over as best he could with two arms tied behind his back. “You’re too small to catch me.”
Chin rising in defiance, she ignored his concern. “We stop here.”
“I do like this particular spot.” He could have rolled, caught her between his thighs, and squeezed hard enough to incapacitate or crush her. But hurting her was the last thing he wanted to do. Instead, he nuzzled the tiny patch of skin laid bare when her shirt had ridden up. “I missed you, Nayla.”
She stilled. Then sucked in a sharp breath.
Two hands landed on his shoulders and pushed. She squirmed from beneath him, accusation and uncertainty simmering in her gaze as she hobbled to standing. “Th-this cliff hard to travel without Sharluff. We safe from your people for little while.”
“You’ll always be safe with me. Doesn’t matter who else is around.”
Her scowl deepened. She’d retreated behind her walls. He might have torn the old ones down, but she’d built her new ones just as high. Luckily, breaking things down was his forte.
“What happened between us is nothing to be ashamed of.” He rolled onto his side and used the rock at his back and the heels of his boots to leverage himself into a sitting position. Not his smoothest of moments but, sadly, far from his worst.
The prick of a jagged edge at his back indicated he’d chosen his position well. Still, it wasn’t going to be easy. His ropes were thick and she hadn’t been overselling it when she said she was good at knots.
He was glad for the moonlight. It let him see not only her but also his surroundings. She’d brought them to a high cliffside on the south side, lots of craggy crevices, shadows, and sharp, pointed high rocks that blocked them from view. It was a smart location for staying out of sight.
As he surveyed the place, she turned away and limped to Sharluff, drawing supplies from the pack slung over the beast’s body.
“You need to stay off that ankle.”
“No walk, no food. No walk, no survive. No walk, no rescue missing females.” She dropped his fire starter less than an arm’s length from his legs.
She hadn’t been quite so feisty when he’d had her spread on his lap.
He wasn’t sure which side of her he liked more. Luckily, he planned to be spending a lot of time getting to know both.
He settled against the rock, resting the back of his head and squinting against the moons’ light as he looked up at her. “Let me at least look at it. Maybe splint it. I don’t want it to heal wrong.”
She held his gaze for a long time.
He already knew she wasn’t used to people caring for her. When he thought of how many injuries she’d probably tended on her own, no one giving a shit if she was in pain, he wanted to kill someone.
He stared right back, letting her see everything that was in his gaze. There’d never been anything but honesty and raw emotion between them. He refused to allow that to change because of her fear and a few overheard words said in the heat of the moment.
It took a while, but she finally limped closer. “N-no tricks. Sharluff guarding.”
“You’ll always be safe with me, baby. I told you that before.” Looking up, his gaze traveled the length of her thighs and the shadowed sweetness hidden just beneath his shirt. His fingers twitched, the need to touch her near overwhelming.
He told himself to get a grip and dropped his gaze to her ankle, his mood sobering. There was purple bruising and teeth marks he hadn’t noticed before, but it actually didn’t look as if anything vital had been harmed. “I’m sorry that happened. Sorry, too, I wasn’t there. That changes now. From here on out, it’s us against them.”
“You my prisoner. No us.”
“Does it hurt?”
She was silent for a moment, as if weighing the costs, but eventually she spoke. “A little. I put paste on it. Getting better. Other attack make worse again.”
He wanted to kill the bastards all over again. “Would wrapping it help?”
She considered. “No. I put more paste. Then let work. Swelling go down again.”
“Okay.” It