“Of course.”
“Then I’ll have the Great Wall of Chocolate.” She almost shivered at the thought of all that deliciousness.
“Damn,” he said. “You must be hungrier than I thought.”
“It’s cake, silly.” She frowned. “Wait a minute. Haven’t you ever been to Chang’s before?”
He shook his head. “I tend to eat mostly at the DCO cafeteria at the training complex.”
Was he serious? “Well, that just isn’t right. The moment we get home, we’re going to Chang’s and I’m going to order you the Great Wall. It’s a huge slice of chocolate cake smothered in raspberry sauce. I promise you’ll love it.”
He grinned. “I do like chocolate cake. You’ve got yourself a date.”
Declan probably didn’t mean it in the literal sense of the word, but the thought of going on a date with him made her pulse kick into a whole other gear.
He suddenly sat up and leaned in close; for one wild moment, Kendra was sure that he was going to kiss her—and she was more than willing to let him. But he only reached out and gently brushed his thumb over the corner of her mouth.
“You, um, had a crumb sticking to you.” The back of his knuckles lingered ever so briefly on her cheek before he took his hand away. “I figured you wouldn’t want something nibbling on you while you’re sleeping.”
She didn’t want to even think about that. Unless Declan was the one doing the nibbling, of course. That prompted all sorts of erotic images, and she bit her lip.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
He cleared his throat. “Speaking of sleep, we should get some rest if we’re going to get an early start in the morning.”
Like she could sleep with the feel of his fingers lingering on her skin. It didn’t help that Declan lay down behind her, placing one of his big arms over her in what he probably thought was a very nonsexual manner. Okay, so having his big forearm and bicep lying across her hip and stomach wasn’t necessarily sexual, but it sure was nice as hell. She could definitely get used to snuggling with him like this every night. She was already getting warm all over and her body hadn’t really come in contact with his…yet. She was tempted to wiggle her bottom back against him, but resisted the urge. This was not the time or place for that, no matter how much her body wished it were. No, she’d just lay here like she was. Thinking that was one thing, but doing it was another.
Declan must have mistaken her restlessness to mean she couldn’t sleep because he leaned closer to her ear. “Get some rest. I’ll stay awake and keep an ear out for any hybrids.”
Having his warm breath that close to her ear certainly wasn’t going to help her stop fidgeting. “Are you going wake me when it’s my turn to stand guard tonight?”
“Yeah, of course,” he said. “I’ll wake you up in a couple hours.”
Kendra didn’t believe that for a second, but she didn’t call him on it. The night had gone too well to end it with an argument. She stifled a groan.Wasthissadorwhat?It took a screwed-up mission with both their lives at risk for her to finally realize how good she and Declan were together. She’d never be able to kick herself hard enough for how stupid she’d been. The guy she’d been looking for all these years had been right in front of her the entire time. Unfortunately, it was too late to do anything about it.
Declan had been cordial tonight, even warm. And he would probably keep his promise and take her out to dinner if they got out of this alive. But she couldn’t miss the huge gulf existing between them. Declan still had his walls up higher than ever. Even now, while his arm was close enough to provide a sense of comfort and warmth, he was being careful not to touch her.
She’d been banging her head against the wall trying to figure out why Declan had shut her out so completely and could only come up with one reason. He’d found out she’d slept with the one person he couldn’t stand—Clayne.
Kendra lay there with him almost touching her but not quite, feeling like she wanted to cry. Part of her wanted to tell Declan that Clayne wasn’t the one she wanted. But then she cringed. She refused to be the girl who said that stupid line,Yeah, I slept with someone else, but it didn’t mean anything.
Because it would mean something to Declan. It would mean she’d chosen Clayne over him. Chosen the loud, in-your-face, aggressive shifter who embraced his inner animal without apology. If there was one man who was the one-hundred-and-eighty-degree opposite of Declan, who acted in every way different than the introspective, calm, quiet bear shifter, it was Clayne.
And she’d slept with him.
Tears stung Kendra’s eyes and she wiggled, pressing herself closer to Declan, as if that would somehow make everything better. But Declan moved away, silently confirming her worst fear. Even if they made it out of this jungle alive, there was just no way he could ever get past what she’d done to him.
Chapter 7
“Okay, I think they’ve moved far enough away,” Declan said softly in Kendra’s ear, then immediately wished he hadn’t done it. He didn’t regret the words—he really felt the damn hybrids who’d literally forced them up a tree an hour ago were finally far enough away for him and Kendra to climb down. No, what he regretted was leaning in close to say those words. Even after running around the jungle for four days, she smelled so damn good he could barely keep himself from licking her.
Fortunately, Kendra removed the temptation by grabbing a branch and lowering herself to the ground. Declan found himself dropping his head back against the trunk of the big tree, breathing deep as he tried to get her scent out of his head.
Whythehellwasthishappeningtohimnow, when they were in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by hybrids who wanted them dead?
They’d scrambled up the big tree when he’d heard two groups of hybrids converging on their location. It had been a dangerous place to hide, but there hadn’t been any other options. So, after he’d rubbed a few of the orchids he’d had in his cargo pants’ pocket on the lower trunk, up the tree they’d gone. The hybrids had passed by without even looking up. Still, he and Kendra had stayed in that tree just to make sure it wasn’t a trick.
Declan had his nose back under control by the time he hit the ground beside Kendra, but just barely. It seemed to be getting harder and harder to ignore her as the hours passed. By the time they got out of here, he’d probably be drooling on her.
