Wild Men of Alaska Collection - By Helmer, Tiffinie Page 0,14

pressing hard through the opening. She closed her eyes and bit her lips before she could lick them.

Or lick something else.

What was wrong with her? It was like she hadn’t had sex...well she hadn’t had sex in a really long time. But sex with Skip would really fuck things up. And they were really fucked up to begin with. Hell, they were fighting for their lives. Unbuttoning his jeans and freeing that thick bulge wouldn’t help anyone.

“Yes, it would,” Skip growled, reaching for her.

Oh, no, she didn’t! Not again. She was such a mess. She couldn’t control her thoughts or what came out of her mouth. This was worse than the out of control feeling the drugs had given her. At least they had numbed. She wasn’t numb. She was a freaking live wire.

She scrambled back like a crab and jerked to her feet.

“Are you afraid of me?” Skip asked, his eyes ablaze with need. There was enough heat in his gaze to keep her burning all night.

“Right.” She gulped.

“You don’t want to be alone with me. Afraid of what I’ll do or what you’ll do?”

“You are way off base here, buddy.” Hell, he was right on target.

“Am I?” He inched toward her. She inched back. He smiled. She panicked.

“Okay!” She threw up her hands as puny stop signs. “I need some space. I need to think.”

“What’s there to think about? I want you, and you still want me.” His nostrils flared as though the realization impacted him deeply. Did he still care about her? How could he with all she’d done to him.

She was no good for him. He needed a woman who was stable, competent. Who didn’t hurt people.

She shook her head. “No. I want dinner. Food.” She’d used food as a substitute for sex the last five years and was damn good at it by now.

Though she had a feeling it wasn’t going to work tonight.

CHAPTER NINE

“We’re sleeping together,” Skip said. “Get used to the idea. You’re not going to be able to keep the beds apart.”

They’d torn the cushions off the seats—well mostly Wren since she had the use of both of her hands—and made a bed of sorts on the ceiling of the plane. The ceiling was sloped so the cushions slid together. Skip was perfectly fine with that. It meant she’d slide into him too.

Wren glared at him, but he knew it was a façade. She wasn’t angry, she was scared. He knew she wasn’t scared of him. He wasn’t the kind of man who would ever jump a woman. He’d never take advantage of her. Unless she asked him to. Didn’t mean he was above talking her into being taken advantage of.

He hid the smile that split across his face with a cough. They’d worked hard in the limited light that was left. He’d hung a flashlight off the exposed metal of the cushion-less seats. He’d also done his best to block the wind, rain and sleet, from coming in. With the plane upside down, the windows were low to the ground. Snow was already covering them, insulating the plane more from the elements. They had enough food to feed a wedding party, and the little village of Egegik, so they’d be fine for quite a while. Plenty of time for the Coast Guard to find them. Snow could provide water if they ran out of the four cases he’d brought along. Heat was the main issue.

There was only one way he knew how to get warm without a fire.

Time to play the injured card. Besides, he had to get Wren to calm down.

“Wren, can we just sit? My arm aches like a sonofabitch. Are there any more pain pills? And I’d like some more of those candied almonds.” They’d torn open a bag of wedding almonds Wren had found in the groceries he’d brought back for his sister’s wedding. Wren hadn’t wanted to eat them, but he’d talked her into it since his sister would be really upset if they died out here because they wouldn’t eat the wedding food. The almonds had made a nice dessert after the deli meats and cheese in the cooler. He had a pretty good suspicion the wedding cake hadn’t survived the crash. His sister was going to be furious about the cake once she was over hugging and crying that they were still alive.

Now if he could get Wren to stop fluttering around the damn plane. She was doing her best to stay as far