"Is this a 'if I tell you, I have to kill you' conversation?"
Arizona has curled up on the sofa across from the one I pulled out and made up for sleeping.
Her feet are tucked up underneath her and the t-shirt she found among the cabin's stash of spare clothes is loose on her, but doesn't do a damn thing to hide her full breasts or the fact that they are obviously braless beneath the soft cloth.
Every movement of her body causes them to shift, to sway, to bounce noticeably and it has me distracted as fuck.
"Something like that," I answer with a grin.
Zona smiles back at me and it hits me somewhere inside my chest. It's different from the way her soft curves pull at my core and have my dick hard as rock behind the fly of my pants.
"Did you like being in the military?"
She shifts, moving her feet out from under her and pulling her knees up to her chest. Wrapping her arms around her legs, Zona lays her cheek to her knee and looks over me where I'm sitting on one of the kitchen table chairs, turning it around and straddling it, using the back of the chair as a barrier between us so I remember to keep my hands to myself.
"Mostly." I answer honestly. "I met good people. Learned things about myself I wouldn't have known if I hadn't joined up."
Like that I'm good at killing. And that I don't hate doing it when it's necessary.
And how to be observant of my surroundings and the people in them. Which is why it hasn't escaped my attention that Zona has managed to turn every light in the cabin back on after I'd gone through and turned most of them off again.
Every time the cabin creaks or a gust of wind moves one of the trees outside, she jumps. Her eyes watch the corners and any place where shadows are cast.
It's barely after nine o'clock when yawns begin to accompany her heavy eyelids and it's clear that she's fighting sleep just to talk to me.
As much as her interest in me only fuels my growing desire for her, I can't act on whatever it is between us that pulls at me.
She's a witness; holding clues to our mission and she's been through a hell of a day.
The job notwithstanding, Zona's close to a decade younger than me.
I'd have to be complete asshole to make a move on her.
"You've had a rough day." I eventually force myself to point out the obvious, standing up and pushing the chair back to its spot at the table. "Why don't you get some sleep? We'll check in with the guys in the morning and see if we can get back up to your camp and at least pick up your things."
"Yeah. Probably a good idea." The yawn she tries to stifle agreeing more earnestly than the hesitant tone of her words.
Even with the door closing off our separate areas, I wait till I hear her finish with the bathroom and see the light go out under her door.
Only once I'm sure she's gone to bed for the night do I move through the cabin, turning off all the lights but one, leaving the low wattage light in the short hallway on in case she needs something out here in the night.
It seems unlikely that a woman who enjoys overnight backpacking trips is scared of the dark, but watching her nervous glances at every shadow has me suspicious that's not the case after today.
The bedroom is dark beneath her door though, and when I hear her room go quiet, I finally allow myself to stand down.
Checking for updates from the team, I see none, so I strip down to my boxer briefs and slide under the blanket I threw over the fold-out couch, surprised at its relative comfort.
I don't know how long I've been asleep before I feel the weight of another person in the bed beside me.
Arizona
As soon asI slip into bed, I know I made a mistake in turning off the light.
For what feels like ever, I lie hidden under the covers like I'm six years old again; the summer weight comforter pulled up high enough to cover my face so the monsters can't find me.
When I peek out, all I see are shades of darkness. Black upon black layered over one another. Shadows within shadows and most of them impossible to identify in the unfamiliar space.
Through the windows, the forest moves in the night breezes and the moonlight moves with it.
