To his credit he didn’t tumble; instead, Theo slowed to a stop. He looked down at her feet as though to ensure she wassecurely grounded, his clean-shaven chin brushing her forehead. A tingle crept up her spine as he let go.
For a couple moments they just stood there, inches apart, the wind dancing on newly sprouted leaves as it passed through the trees.
And then, most awkwardly, she realized she hadn’t let go.
“Your shirt ishorrible,” Skye said, letting go of his tree-trunk neck and half expecting her cheek to have been rubbed raw. She touched it and looked up at him, partly wanting to laugh, partly wanting to ask if he’d just gone clinically insane.
“There was a snake,” he said through breaths. He pointed behind her. “There was a snake.”
Skye blinked and took in the man, like a poor alien in this place called Earth. “So you hoisted me up and knee-highed me out of there.”
She smiled, her tone lighthearted, but the world in her periphery was shifting subtly. The blanket of trees and their leaves gained a more vibrant green hue. The sunlight peeking through the dimpled leaves shone a more golden yellow.
The man deathly afraid of snakes had stepped into striking distance to save her. Was willing to put himself in front of his greatest fear in order to help her escape. It was touching. Absolutely crazy and ridiculous and paranoid, but also... touching.
“A rattlesnake can strike up to half its length in distance,” he continued. “And given the rattlesnake typically can get as large as six feet—”
“There’s no way you just saved me from a rattlesnake, or any lethal snake for that matter,” Skye said, putting a consoling hand on his shoulder. The stiff, itchy fabric bit her hand and she immediately retracted it. “I’m sorry, Theo, I really do hateto break it to you after the heroics and all, but black snakes are a dime a dozen out here.”
“It wasn’t black.”
“I’m sure it was—”
“It wasn’t.”
“I’ll bet you anything that’s what it was.”
“You’d bet dinner?”
The words came out of Theo’s mouth so quickly he looked almost as startled as she was that he said it. Skye looked at him for several seconds, watching for clues in his expression. For regret in his words.
But his onyx eyes only grew steadier as they gazed at her.
Finally, she nodded. “Dinner. Fine. If you win, you buy me dinner. But if I win”—Skye raised a brow—“I get to hand you the snake.”
Theo looked as though he had just choked on his own breath. “No. Something else.”
Skye shrugged. “What’s the problem? You’re the one so sure of this bet.” She grinned, seeing the red splotches forming on his neck. “Good grief, Theo. Either you’re getting hives from the idea or you seriously need to take off that flannel.”
“Fine. Deal.” Theo put out his hand.
Skye shook it, a smile starting to form. “This is going to be so good.”
A minute later Skye was standing on the spot.
“Okay, Romeo, where is it?”
Theo, looking both incredibly uncomfortable and committed, stood in the barest patch of dirt cleared by the tractor and scanned the area. Skye, meanwhile, began stalking through the thick underbrush beneath the canopy of woods.
“There.” Theo pointed, looking ready to jump on the tractor itself.
“Theo, it’s a yard snake, not an anaconda. It’s not going to get you twenty feet away.”
Skye moved toward the base of a lightning-cracked tree.
“Stop. Not that close.” Protesting spasms came out of Theo’s throat with every step.
Finally, she stepped directly on the spot he was pointing at and looked up. “There’s nothing here.”
