“Okay,” he said slowly as his own eyes reflected the fact that he could see from looking at her that no, she wasn’t joking or intentionally being silly. “I guess we’re gonna have a debate right now. Not entirely unexpected, but okay. Let’s do this. I believe the rebuttal is mine. Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “So I’m gonna go with... I have no intention of letting either of us die.”
“I get that,” she said, knowing that if they were really going to properly talk, she should get off him and cover herself. But he’d gone back to holding onto her hips, so she focused on staying very still. Because, God, if she moved, even just a little... “I’m with you. I have that same intention—to do whatever I can to make sure we survive. But when we leave here, before dawn, we have no idea what’s going to happen. We don’t even have a weather report.” She knew that was a sore point for him as the consummate planner, and sure enough, his mouth tightened. “We could evade the hostiles and die in a blizzard, even with the super-pantsand blanket socks.”
Except now he was shaking his head, about to argue, so she got to her point.
“This feels like a bucket list thing,” Tasha said swiftly, searching his eyes. “I mean, you selflessly fulfilling my bucket list, just to be kind?” But then she heard what she’d said.
Thomas couldn’t hide his smile. “You gotta admit, that one goes in the euphemism hall of fame.”
She couldn’t keep from laughing.
Which made her move. Just a little.
Just enough to make his eyelids lower and his hips go up, possibly involuntarily, because he murmured, “Sorry, sorry, sorry,” even as she said, “oh God, yes,” as she also couldn’t stop herself from pushing him even more deeply inside of her.
She heard herself moan again, and he took that plus heryesfor the permission to proceed that she hadn’t truly intended it to be. And when he pulled her down for a brain-melting kiss as he moved beneath her, she moved against him, too, because God, she really wanted this, and God, it felt so good.
But she wasn’t done arguing and as he freed her mouth to kiss and lick and suckle her breasts, she gasped and then breathed into his ear, “But it’s a euphemism... for a... for a pity fuck.”
He lifted his head at that. “Oh, nah, Tash,” he said, stopping his movement and holding her tightly in place so she couldn’t move again either. “Ah, God... Okay, okay... That isnotwhat this is. No. Nope.”
He was sweating—she was, too—as they stared at each other, immobile again, like they were playing some truly masochistic adults-only version of freeze-tag.
She wanted to believe him, she really did. “But you said you wanted to wait, to take it slowly, andI’mthe one who—”
“Yeah, well, sometimes life doesn’t cooperate, so you gotta revise and adjust,” he told her. “In a perfect world, I’d do a lot of things differently. In a perfect world, I would’ve gone to talk to you years ago and woulda not only sat there and listened, but I would’ve heard you and realized everything I’d gotten so damn wrong about who we are and... what we could be.”
He’d said something similar before, but Tasha knew that she would’ve fled the scene if he’d ever showed up to talk. It took being locked in with him for enough hope to grow—enough for her to find the courage to risk her heart again. But at the core of that was another truth—one that she hadn’t dared yet to put voice to. So she took a deep breath and said it. Or at least tried to. “But I quit on you. If this hadn’t happened—this trip and the... this? Being locked in, together?” Their connection never would’ve happened, and she probably would’ve gone ahead and married Ted, who didn’t love her, whom she didn’t love. That was the part that was really hard to say aloud. “I gave up on us, Thomas. I ran away. I let you go, and I letmego, too. I don’t deserve your... kindness.”
He lifted his eyebrows, just a little, and she rolled her eyes and added, “Yeah, I heard that, too. Damn it, I’m trying to be serious here.”
“Tash, I’m listening. I am,” he told her.
Clearly,shewas the one having trouble staying focused. So she pulled back from him, and he released her immediately. And God, she missed him instantly—not just the part of her that wanted to orgasm around his thick heat, but the part of her that treasured the intimacy, the closeness and warmth, thelove. Especially since now they were both just sitting there, awkwardly naked and obviously aroused, on the sofa.
But oh, God, she needed to talk to him about this.
Thomas swiftly reached for a blanket—handing it to her—as she likewise gave him a pillow to cover himself. It would’ve been funny if—okay, no, itwasfunny, regardless of anyif. He laughed a little, too, even as he radiated warmth and kindness and calm patience.
And he didn’t wait for her to start. He just dove right in.
“I’m not a fan of focusing on who’s to blame for past mistakes,” he told her, his voice gentle. “What you callgiving up, I call you going to college, you growing up. And yeah, you may have been running away from me, but you were running toward your life, and that’s never a bad thing. The way I see it, we both just came full circle, thanks to, yeah, being locked in here. And it’s okay for you to be as surprised as I am. Was. Am.” He laughed. “Do I wish this happened sooner? Hell, yeah. Am I gonna waste any time worrying about it? Hell, no. We make mistakes, and we course correct.”
Tasha was already shaking her head. “But what if I’d been... stupid—God, I hate it when women and girls call themselves stupid, but it would’ve beencompletelystupid if I’d actually gone and married Ted.”
“But you didn’t,” he pointed out.
“But I might’ve,” she admitted. “Ted was pressuring me and... I was way more ready to do it than I let you believe. What is wrong with me?”
Thomas sang the lyrics to an old song. “If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody baby. That’s actually kinda flattering.”
“Or I’m an awful person,” she countered.
“Let me think about that—no, you’re not,” he shot back. “Are you young? Yeah. Are you human? Very, thank God. Are we here right now? Hell yes. Course corrected.”
“Except for the part where we might die.”
“Tomorrow’s tomorrow,” Thomas pointed out.
