That got a laugh from her, bright and startled. "I don't think I'd be all that amazed! I told you, you're huge! And no, but I'm going to hang on to the idea of you doing that. No, like I said, tall, skinny, carrot-haired, and my name…" She sighed gustily. "My full name is Jolene."
"Oh, but that's a great name. Like the so—oh."
"Yeaaaaaaaah."
Colton screwed his face up, trying not to laugh but also genuinely sympathetic. "Oh. And kids are jerks. And you got the whole package. Emerald eyes and everything."
"My voice," Jo said, "isnotas soft as the summer rain."
"No, it's deep. Sexy." Colton bit his tongue on the last word, but the way Jo shook her head, but also ducked it, suggested she was pleased. He still said, "Sorry. We're stuck in here, and I don't want to make it weird."
She glanced up at the orange tent walls, lit by the warm yellow lights, and then around the little tent, before shaking her head again as she met his eyes. "Stuck, yes, but the only weird part is that I'm totally okay with being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a strange man. Withthisstrange man, anyway. I don't think I'd be quite as comfortable with anybody else."
Yooooou should telllllll her,Colton's chimera sang in his head, but before he could even respond, Jo's gaze sharpened and her spine straightened.
"Did he just talk to you?"
"What? Yes! How did you know?"
"I don't know. Something in your expression changed a little, like you were listening to something very close but very quiet."
"He's notthatquiet."
I am as quiet as a…His chimera's offended response petered out as it landed on the human phrase 'quiet as a mouse,' but didn't want to compare itself to teeny tinyprey. After a moment it tried again:I am VERY quiet!
"What's he saying?" Jo asked.
"That he's very quiet."
And that you should tell her you're her fated mate and you're going to live happily ever after forever and always!
Jo looked suspicious. "And?"
"And that he thinks we'd be good together," Colton hedged. "And that you feel that, too, so you feel safe."
Her shoulders relaxed a bit, although she hadn't been tense so much asintense. "Maybe that's it. It's nice, whatever it is. Lord, I'm tired," she added abruptly. "Do chimeras get worn out, stomping through snow and cold?"
"Not the way humans do. He's big, for one thing. But shifters also heal when they change shape, so it shakes some of the fatigue off. If you want to sleep, I'll keep watch for a while."
"What are you going to watch for? Bears? They're all sleeping." Jo stripped her coat and snowpants off, but left the rest of her clothes on before she climbed into the sleeping bag. It would be a tight fit with both of them, Colton thought, but they'd certainly be warm. Assuming he was rude enough to?—
As if she'd heard the thought and where it was going, Jo lifted her brilliant green eyes to Colton's face. "Wake me up if you have to, but don't sleep outside the bag, okay?"
He nodded. "I promise. Get some rest. It's been a long day."
"Don't stay up all night." Jo rolled over in the sleeping bag, and a few minutes later she was asleep.
Colton did stay up a while, watching, as he'd promised. Watching overher, because nothing else in the world could be as important as making sure his mate slept safely and soundly. Eventually, mindful of his promise, he pulled his outer layer off, too, and made an attempt to climb into the sleeping bag. Jo grunted a couple of times, squished to one side, and somehow made room, although it was physically impossible to not snuggle as they slept.
Weariness, the cold, and the events of the day made it easier to sleep than Colton had expected, though, and within another few minutes, he, too, drifted into sleep with his mate safe in his arms.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jo's waking thoughts went something along the lines of, first, she'd never been so snuggly and warm; second, that she really had to pee; and third, that she was smooshed into Colton Drew's arms with his whole big long self pressed all the way up and down her body.
Heat that had nothing to do with external temperature swept through her, intense enough that she managed to forget that she needed to pee. It had beenagessince she'd woken up with somebody sharing her space, and she'd never had anybody sharing quite thislittlespace before.
Most of her heated thoughts dissolved into a muffled giggle. She didn't think she could even remove enough clothes for anything exciting to happen, they were so squished. She certainly couldn't roll over. There would be no hitching a thigh over a hip, not unless she suddenly gained the strength of ten men and could tear the sleeping bag apart with her mighty thews.
