I wanted a badge saying, “Survived pig smuggling.”
Laken grabbed his dagger from the back of the guard (the one I’d stabbed) and pulled me to my feet. Despite our unsettled argument and undecided fate, when he pulled me into a hug, I welcomed it. His hand held the back of my head against his chest as his lips kissed my hair. He still smelled like mint and honey. “Let’s go home, McCarthen.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
When Laken had said, “Let’s go home, McCarthen,” he meant, “Huddle down in the back of this cart with me and hide as Moon runs our asses out of here.”
Because that’s exactly what we did.
Under a thin sheet, stuffed into the back of the cart with two pigs, Laken and I were crammed against each other like sardines in a can. His arm provided a decent enough cushion under my head, but I kept my arms crossed over my chest because if I undid them, I’d be touching his chest or his dick, so.
I thought about it, the“Is this really necessary?”and judging by the sound of horse hooves racing toward us, yes. It was necessary.
The putrid, rotten,foulscent of sweat, pig, mud, blood,and possibly other bodily fluids brought tears to my eyes, nearly suffocating me beneath what protection our sheet provided.
Glaring up with a frown, I hated him. “I hate you so much for this.”
“Yeah, sure you do.” He rolled his eyes. “Well, I hate you more.”
Pulling my head back as much as I could, I gawked. “What?”
His breathing faltered against me. “What?”
“You never say you hate me; you argue that I don’t hate you. That’s what we do, you can’t change the game now.”
Blue eyes flickered down to me where I lay with a scrunched brow. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Oh, I’m ridiculous?”
“No, you’rebeingridiculous.”
As if I hadn’t saved his life; I thought that earned me a little wiggle room on the ridiculous scale. (If we pretended he didn’t save mine like three times more, but who’s counting?)
Laken shifted his legs, bringing them much too close to me and opening the opportunity for too much danger of touching him.
“Move your legs.”
“No?” He observed my unsatisfied scowl and laughed. “I don’t know if you’ve realized, but my legs are a lot longer than yours, so I need more room.”
Okay.I shoved his face away from mine. “Well, I have a bigger chest, so back up. I can feel your breath.”
Laken shoved my hands away. “Reece,” he called out while trying to find my face. Our hands swatted at each other. “Get off of me.”
I laughed. “Never heard you say that before.”
His chest heaved, whether from laughter or something more bitter, I didn’t know. “My Gods, woman—”
We both stopped as water splashed our cheeks. Not water—rain. Thunder cracked in the clouds, and even under the sheet, the night sky was illuminated from lightning.Perfect, I thought. This couldn’t possibly get any more perfect.
With raindrops dripping down my face, I aimed my gaze at him. “You couldn’t have bought a waterproof sheet?”
I felt his annoyance enough from his glare. Enough said.
“Stay here.” He yanked the sheet back and stood as we moved. Hopping from the back to the seat, Laken grabbed Moon’s rein and veered us left, down a less established path.
In his absence, the air grew cold and the rain splattered my face. I tried to cover up as much as I could while covering the pigs too, but it did no good. Without him, I felt cold.
So I watched the rain spill from the heavens and cursed the Gods because I didn’t want to end things with him and the universe knew it, too.
