What the hell was he doing? That kiss had left the distracting-her-from-almost-catching-him category within the first three seconds and had gone straight to...
Hell if he knew.
He stepped back, giving him some much needed distance, and found her clear blue eyes blinking up at him as if she couldn’t quite figure out what was going on.
Know the feeling, Peaches.
He gave her a smile and moved away, trying—way too late—to make this more casual. And fighting the fear that this was going to leave them both bloody in the end.
Chapter Ten
Ren was showing her how to clean a fish.
Definitely not very romantic—although more romantic than teaching her how to skin the rabbit they’d caught a few hours ago—and yet, Natalie couldn’t deny the closeness between them. An easiness that almost bordered on fun, which was crazy since they were lost in the middle of the wilderness.
But for her, not crazy at all. Not since she woke up this morning and realized she had nothing to fear out here.
Okay, maybe wild animals and blizzards. She could handle those. But the fear that she would turn around and possibly find Damien standing there was gone. For the first time she was one hundred percent certain he had no idea where she was.
Hell,shehad no idea where she was. How could Damien possibly find her?
He couldn’t.
That was the truth she’d come to grips with this morning. And that left Natalie with a feeling of freedom she hadn’t known for as long as she could remember. A sense that anything was possible, even if she did have to learn to catch and cook her own meat in order to supplement what they had inside the cabin.
And then there was Ren.
If she had to be trapped in the wilderness, she couldn’t have picked a better person to be trapped with. He knew how to hunt, fish, clean and prepare food.
And kiss.
That kiss. It hadn’t been far from her mind since this morning.
She’dneverbeen kissed like that. Not even before Damien had become a vicious monster. Never been kissed like someone wanted her more than he wanted his next breath. Like he might forget they were in the middle of the frozen wilderness and take her right there against the tree.
And Natalie was pretty sure she wouldn’t have stopped him. Especially considering she hadn’t even been able to remember her own name at that moment, had only been able tofeel.
He hadn’t kissed her again. Hadn’t really touched her, except as needed when they were hunting and fishing. She would almost think she’d imagined the whole thing if it wasn’t for the slight tenderness of her lips because of the onslaught from his.
“You ready to chop the head off?”
His words yanked her back. She made a face.
He smiled, rolling those green eyes. “You did pretty well earlier. I would think a fish would be easier.”
“I was hungrier earlier.” And the meat had been delicious. But she took the hatchet from him and quickly lopped off the head of the fish like he’d shown her and they began to clean it together.
Although she didn’t particularly like doingthis, providing for herself gave her a sense of accomplishment. Purpose. A couple of hours later they had a fish broth with canned potatoes. And damned if it wasn’t one of the best meals she’d ever eaten. Because she’d been responsible for it herself.
After a lifetime of never being good enough at anything, some fish broth made by her own hands felt pretty fantastically rewarding.
“Did you do a lot of hunting and fishing on your farm?” she asked as they washed the dishes.
He looked at her for a long moment, as if he needed to decide something. He closed his eyes, tensing, and she hated that she had broken the easiness that had been between them all day by sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.
“I’m sorry,” she began. “I—”
“Actually, I learned most of my hunting tricks in the military. It was part of the wilderness and survival training I did during my time in the special forces.”
