“Don’t, princess. This certainly isn’t your fault.”
“I’m not talking about this. I’m sorry about the party. And not letting everyone know how much you meant to me. I’m sorry for being such a spoiled rotten brat and for anything else I did that made you hate me.”
Her tears were apparent and her words madehisclog in his throat. Clearing it, he said, “I don’t hate you, princess. Far from it. I want you to be happy more than anything else in the world. I figured you wouldn’t be with me.”
“You do make me happy, Scott. More than I’ve ever been with anyone else. I wish I’d handled things differently that night, and we hadn’t had that fight. I hate that our last thoughts of each other will be of anger.”
“Nah, my last thought will be of how freakin’ hot you look in those painted-on jeans. And that T-shirt seems like it was washed a few too many times.”
Her chuckle had his muscles relaxing. Not much, but she wasn’t sobbing at least.
“The shirt is Charlotte’s. It’s been around for a while.”
“I wasn’t knocking it. I wish I could see it a little better, though.”
“Should I admit to how much I like seeing you in your work pants?”
“More than seeing me without them?” God, he wanted nothing more than to be with her without clothes right now. Someplace a bit more comfortable though.
“I like that too. We definitely need more light in here. Oh, wait, then I’d be reminded of the horrible situation we’re in.” Her voice was growing stronger, but there was still a catch every now and then.
“The shackles on your wrists aren’t giving you enough of a reminder? Damn, I wish I could see what we’ve gotto work with.”
“More light, huh? Let me see. Can I…?” Her feet maneuvered closer to the flashlight and soon stopped. Moving one foot, she attempted to pull it closer. Slowly, slowly, it rolled an inch. Two inches. A few more and it rested in front of her.
“Can you push it so it shines in my direction?” It would be aimed at his feet, and he wanted to see the manacles but he couldn’t askfor everything.
“Maybe I can do better than that.”
Grabbing onto the bolt above her head, she kicked up. What was she doing? Her feet swung low again and this time she closed them around the flashlight. When her feet flew up this time, the light came with them. Her legs twisted right up in front of her and she grabbed the lightwith her hands.
“Shit, woman, that was amazing. Where did you learn to do that?”
“I took gymnastics growing up. I’m quite flexible.”
That he knew from their short lived bedroom escapades. “I shouldhave guessed.”
“Where do you want me to shine this?” She sounded stronger, more confident, more like the warrior princess heknew her to be.
“Up here on my hands. I want to see what’son our wrists.”
The light moved and he twisted checking out what he could of the metal surrounding his hands. Strong, unbending and far too small to even tryand get out of.
“Heather, are your manacles tight? Any possibility you can wiggle your hand out?” Her hands were definitely smaller than his.
“I’ve been trying since I woke up. No good.”
“Hmm, it looks like there’s a lock holding it closed. If I had something to pick it with I might be ableto open them.”
“You know how to pick a lock?”
“They teach you all sorts of things in the military. You wouldn’t happen to have a hairpin on you?”
“Even if I did, how the heck would I get it over to you? I certainly don’t know how to pick a lock. And it’s kind of hard to throw with your hands like this.”
“Can you flash the light around the room? I want to see what’s here.”
The light bounced from surface to surface and froze when it landed on the stack of wooden boxes near theopposite wall.
