"Later."
"Your floor is going to be disgusting."
"Don't care."
"Tarmek Stonefist, willingly tolerating mess? Who are you and what have you done with my roommate?"
He shifted, and the movement reminded her that he was still right there, still pressed against her in ways that made thinking difficult.
"Your roommate," he repeated.
"Landlord? Host? Captor?" She grinned up at him. "What's the proper term for someone who kidnapped you during a blizzard and then thoroughly debauched you on their dining furniture?"
"I didn't kidnap you."
"You literally picked me up and put me in your truck without asking."
"Your heater was broken. You would have frozen."
"Consent is still a thing, even when there's hypothermia involved."
He went still above her. "I didn't mean to?—"
"I'm joking." She reached up to cup his face, feeling the tension coiling through him. "Hey. I'm joking. I could have protested a lot harder if I'd actually wanted to stay in that camper. You gave me an excuse to accept help without having to admit I needed it.That's not kidnapping. That's..." she searched for the right word. "Aggressive hospitality."
The tension eased slightly. "Aggressive hospitality."
"It's a compliment, I promise."
He studied her for a long moment, those dark eyes searching for something she couldn't identify. Then he nodded, apparently satisfied with whatever he found.
"Can you stand?"
"Unclear. My legs seem to have stopped working."
Another almost-smile. "I'll carry you."
"Where?"
"Bed. You need sleep."
"I need to go back to my?—"
"No."
The single word was absolute. Non-negotiable. The captain's voice, the one that made teammates fall in line without question.
She should argue. She should insist on her own space and her carefully maintained boundaries. Edie Anderson did not spend the night. Edie Anderson left before things got complicated. Edie Anderson had a camper for exactly this reason—an exit strategy, a way out when intimacy threatened to become permanence.
But she was so warm. And so tired. And his arms were already sliding beneath her, lifting her with an ease that should have been illegal, cradling her against his chest like she weighed nothing.
"This is becoming a habit," she murmured.
"What is?"
"You carrying me places."
"Would you prefer to walk?"
