“Right. Obviously. It was just… I mean. Situational. And we’re on a work trip. And winter nights are cold. And we weresharing body heat. And it doesn’t have to be a thing. Exercise warms the body up.”
“…a thing,” I repeated. “Exercise.”
She nodded fast. “Exactly. Not a thing, merely exercise.”
The cold inside me deepened.
I hadn’t expected her to call it a relationship. I hadn’t expected declarations or promises. But dismissing it, minimizing it, whatever she was doing?
That surprised me.
I pulled on my clothes and zipped up my jacket. “For the record, I don’t do one-nighters.”
Her head snapped up.
“I don’t treat people like that,” I said quietly. “And I don’t…” I exhaled, searching for the right phrase. “I don’t share a sleeping bag with someone unless it’s more than just convenience.”
Color touched her cheeks, high and uncertain.
“Oh,” she said softly.
I waited, trying to read her face. Trying to understand whether she was caught off guard, or uncomfortable, or disappointed. I wanted to figure out if she had meant it—if she really thought last night was disposable. Forgettable. Something to shrug off like the weather.
Because it hadn’t been forgettable for me.
Not even close.
She pulled her boots on with more force than necessary. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“How did you mean it?”
She hesitated, sitting back on her heels.
“I just…” She swallowed. “I don’t want to assume anything.”
“Neither do I.”
Silence stretched between us, thick as frost.
She twisted the end of her braid.
“Carson… I don’t do well with… with big feelings. Or expectations. Or—” She gestured helplessly. “Anything that looks like permanence.”
There it was.
The truth under her bravado.
Sienna Harper, lightning in human form, afraid of being held.
“I’m not asking for permanence,” I said quietly. “But I’m also not pretending last night didn’t happen.”
Her breath caught.
“Are you?” I asked, softer still.
She looked at me with eyes wide and vulnerable in a way I hadn’t seen before. Something unsteady flickered in her expression.
“I don’t know,” she whispered.
