He shook his head and gave her an indulgent smile that made her stomach flutter. “Nope. Just give me five minutes.”
True to his words, he had a one-person tent with arcing aluminum poles set up with practically the snap of his fingers. He rolled out a sleeping pad and bag and gestured her inside the shelter. “Leave your boots in the vestibule on the tarp.”
The tent had an overlay that extended beyond the door to create a “covered porch” effect that could zip closed for extra protection. Just being out of the wind felt like a miracle. She removed the pilfered boots from her ravaged feet.
Todd said something about checking her bandages, but she lay on top of the slick sleeping bag and closed her eyes with a sigh.
In her entire life, no mattress had ever felt so wonderful.
Hours later, she awoke in the dark, still groggy, but refreshed. Outside, insects buzzed and chirped. Or were those frogs? She’d never camped before and didn’t know much about Montana’s fauna. Her stomach growled and her mouth tasted like tar. She sat up, ribs protesting. How long had she slept?
She tried to run a hand through her hair, but her fingers tangled in the wild mass. Little particles of what felt like twigs and leaves fell into her lap. And she didn’t smell too great either.
Not that she needed to impress anyone. Nor was she particularly bothered by sweat or dirt. And her highest priority was getting to Megan. But since that was off the table until daylight, maybe she could take a minute to clean up and feel more human than wild animal.
Unzipping the tent flap, she peered out into the dark vestibule—as Todd had called it—and felt around for the boots. Loosening the shoes as much as possible, she slipped them on, unzipped the outer cover, and crawled into the faint moonlight.
Frigid, damp air quickly infiltrated the gaps in her clothing, but nothing stirred.
She found Todd sitting up against the rock wall on the lee side of the tent, eyes closed, barely visible beneath a knit cap and a shimmery blanket.
Her heart plummeted. Was he warm enough? What if he got hypothermia and died?
Careful to keep her distance, she called out softly, “Todd.”
He didn’t startle, or lash out, or any of the other responses she’d worried about. His eyes opened and he watched her serenely for a second before speaking. “Everything okay?”
“I think so.” The unforgiving air cut right through her fleece jacket and jeans. “Aren’t you cold?”
“Probably not as cold as you.” His words were thick, tinged with sleep.
“The tent was perfectly comfortable. I feel bad that I took the whole thing for myself.”
“Hog-em-all.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Did the cold go to your head?” Her teeth chattered in earnest now. Maybe the cold was going toherhead.
He chuckled softly. “It’s something my brothers and I used to call anyone who wouldn’t share. As in, ‘don’t be a hog-em-all.’ I have no idea where it came from.” He opened the blanket wide like a set of wings. “Come here before you freeze to death.”
She crawled onto his lap and into his arms without hesitating. “I’m sorry. I stink. And I’m dirty.” How mortifying. She was sitting in a hot guy’s lap and she looked and smelled like one of the bison she and Megan had seen from afar while hiking.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I can’t smell you over me anyway.”
He closed her into the delicious, warm cocoon he’d created inside the fleece-lined blanket and eased her back against his chest, partially covering her head since she didn’t have a hat. It should’ve been weird, basically spooning with a complete stranger, but somehow it wasn’t. Sure, some women met a guy in a bar and were naked and sweaty with him twenty minutes later, but even if she’d experienced that kind of desperate attraction, she’d never have let herself act on it. Far too risky.
But Todd wasn’t just some random guy. He’d saved her from falling, and had been keeping her safe and alive ever since, even sleeping outside presumably so she wouldn’t feel threatened.
What better way to learn who someone was than to see how they reacted in a crisis? So far, he’d been nothing but selfless, respectful, and kind. And honest to the point of bluntness. She could be forgiven for trusting so quickly.
“We can clean up in the morning when it’s warmer,” he said.
“That would be great.” The cold bit into the skin of her face, but her shivers had subsided, and she could talk without endangering her tongue. “I feel beastly. I know it shouldn’t matter…”
“It doesn’t make you weak, or even selfish, to want to feel good. Especially after the couple of days you’ve had.”
She sighed and fully relaxed into him. “I just keep thinking about Megan stuck in that compound with JJ and—”
The tears came out of nowhere catching her completely by surprise. Todd held her as she sobbed in a way she hadn’t since her grandmother died, her throat so tight she gulped for air. “Oh, myGod,” she said, wiping her cheeks and trying to will the waterworks to cease. “I’m sorry.”
