“Dirk, don’t do that again.”
“I have no objection to not being killed.”
She grasped my chin and shifted so she was looking down at me. “You could have fought me off. Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want to fight you off. I wanted to hold you, like now.”
She bit her lip. “I shouldn’t have come on this race. Everyone probably heard me screaming.”
“You know who is loud? Jezebel when she shoots things in the middle of the night. You can’t sleep through that, except for Trix. She could sleep through being mauled by a bear. Nix gets up every twenty minutes to check the perimeter, so I’m not sure if he actually sleeps at these things. I wasn’t quite asleep when you got restless, and I slept so well when I accidentally fell asleep in your excellent sleeping bag that it made up for any disturbances I may have had.”
She stared at me for a long time, emotions roiling in her eyes. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
I kissed her nose and sat up. “We are in matching pajamas. We need to do a photo. Say, ‘flannel pajamas!’” I took a selfie of our profiles. She didn’t look at the camera, only leaned forward and kissed me. I got a picture of that too, but then the feel of her reminded me of our last kiss, the one where she’d been so revolted by me, and I needed to kiss her until I wiped out that memory.
Nix clapped his hands outside the tent, making her jump and look guilty while I tried to look pleasant and not furious that I’d been interrupted from something so important for something so trivial as winning a race.
“Hot breakfast is waiting, lovebirds.”
I kissed her one more time and then said, “Your timing is impeccable,” louder, to Nix.
She was staring at me, eyes soft, lips soft, everything soft, inviting, irresistible. “We could skip breakfast,” she whispered, and touched my cheek, fingers lingering on my skin, sweet, delicate touch like I was a musical instrument that my wife wanted to play. My wife. She was my wife to have and to hold. And it was starting to feel like it.
I blinked and then kicked back the sleeping bag and got out before I never moved again. “Hot breakfast means that Jezebel is cooking. If you insult her cooking, you might wake up with a rattlesnake in your bed.”
“I heard that,” Jezebel called. “That’s not polite. It’s not entirely untrue, but not polite. I’d make sure to kill the rattler before I put it in your bed, Daniela, but Dirk, yours would be alive.”
I grinned, still looking at Daniela, but loud enough for Jezabel. “You know that’s how I like it.”
Daniela cringed and then pulled the sleeping bag over her head. “Everyone heard me last night,” she mumbled through the thick fabric.
I hesitated at the door in my bare feet and collected the knife and gun I’d abandoned the night before. “Probably not Trix. She snores so loudly, she can’t hear anything.”
“I heard that,” Trix said. “I won’t bother with a snake; I’ll just drive over you.”
Daniela pulled the sleeping bag down to reveal her beautiful smile and adorably mussed pink hair. “It seems like we’re surrounded,” she whispered.
“Completely cut off. Surrender is the only option. You are so beautiful. We’ll continue this conversation at the finish line.”
“Lunch?” she asked with an elegantly raised brow.
“Dinner. We won’t have time to stop for any moving musical numbers and steamed asparagus today. It’s all go, go, go, until we hit that finish line. I miss you already.”
Her eyes brightened, and her cheeks went pink. Was she blushing? Who knew that goddesses of death could blush? My wife. To have and to hold. Now I was blushing. “We’ll have to go quickly. Wasn’t there something about you giving me my prize?”
I swallowed hard. “That’s right. I’ll give you whatever you want.”
“Play with me.” Her eyes danced, and I was brought back to the night before.
“For real,” I said, and slipped out of her tent.
32
VILLAIN
Iwoke up happy. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d woken up feeling safe, comfortable, and content. I had an imprint on my cheek from the texture of his flannel pajamas that I couldn’t stop touching.
This is why people slept together in beds, because when you woke up, you felt like this, like everything was possible, the potential for the day so much greater since it started so well and would perhaps end just as perfectly.
