Goddammit.
Goddamnher.
Fucking feelings and shit.
After returning the last seat cushion to the helicopter and making sure the seats were adjusted correctly, I made my way back to our little camp. Kiera was tidying up and packing my puzzles and books.
“I thought you were gonna rest,” I said, leaning against the doorway.
Her period had started right on time after I’d succumbed to her wicked ways and agreed to give us a real chance. Something she was likely to regret, sooner or later. But it was what it was. I was clearly too weak to resist her, so I’d be around until she’d had enough. In the meantime, I was getting to experience her with cramps and a bit of a grumpy attitude. The latter was cute.
“It’s okay. It’s good to move around,” she replied. “Although, I do wonder how someone can pack to stay a whole week at a place like this and not bring chocolate.”
I felt my mouth twitch. She’d brought up chocolate about half a dozen times today alone.
“I’ll give you all the chocolate you can eat once we’re back in civilization,” I promised. “Which we should discuss—if you’re up to it.”
“Yeah, of course.” She straightened up and winced, presumably from the pain, and she rubbed at her back. “I cannot wait to go back to the land of tampons.”
I chuckled and couldn’t help but wince too. I felt for her. Noura had provided some pads, though Kiera claimed they’d been different. And up here… Well, she’d gotten creative with the fabric from the burqa.
The sun was setting over the mountains, and we sat down by the fire.
We’d wrecked both chairs by now.
She got as comfortable as she could between my legs, and I squeezed her to me.
Seriously, what the fuck was she doing to me?
“I’m sorry for being so cranky,” she sighed.
I pressed a kiss to her shoulder and shifted my hands down her back. More specifically, the sides of her lower back. She said the cramps spread to there.
“We’re not sure it’s the cramps yet,” I said. “It could be my constant state of grumpy rubbing off on you. I hear couples eventually sync everything from wardrobes to moods.”
She giggled tiredly and peered back at me. “You called us a couple.”
Yeah, well.
Fuck.
“That’s on you,” I told her. “You set the trap and caught me. I tried to fight against this for your sake, but now you’re stuck.”
She shook her head in amusement and leaned back against me again. “For my sake… You’re funny.”
It sure as fuck hadn’t been for my own sake. She was a walking fantasy—and she was smart, funny as hell, gorgeous, and independent. Reeling me in couldn’t have required much effort.
“So, about the future…?” she hedged.
Right.
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. So…I’m definitely in—when it comes to giving us a real chance, as you said. And if you catch me actin’ hesitant, it ain’t because of my own doubts. It’s because former partners have eventually split when I can’t be around enough. Which, yeah—it’s changing. My fieldwork days are on their last chapter. But it’s a slow transition.” I scratched the side of my head and scrambled to find an example. “Just last week, for instance. Literally on the evening I flew to Kabul, I came home from a week of drills off the grid. And in the next fewweeks, I will have two trips down to South America. I fly out on the 27th.”
“Fun. Where to?”
That was her question?
“Or maybe you’re not allowed to divulge?”
