Page 51 of River Wild

I swallow roughly.

“What’s that?” He lifts his chin in the direction of the gardening fork that’s on the floor from when I fell on my ass.

“Oh.” I pick it up. “It’s my gardening fork.”

“Well, that explains why it’s on my floor.”

“I dropped it when you startled me, and I fell.”

“I startled you?” One of those humorless laughs of his. “Riiight.” He drags the word out. He lifts his tattooed arms from his sides and folds them over his chest.

Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

I force my eyes to stay on his face. I fidget on my feet. “I brought it with me. As a weapon. You know, in case I needed one.”

His eyes go to the fork in my hand and then back up to my face. “What were you going to do, dig me to death?”

“Not you. Whoever was hurting you. And very funny.” I roll my eyes.

“No, it’s fucking not. You’re pregnant, and you came in here, not knowing what you were walking into, with a shitty gardening fork as a weapon.”

When he puts it like that, it does sound reckless.

“Okay, so I didn’t exactly think it through.”

“No shit, Sherlock. You’re a fucking idiot, Red.”

“Hey! That’s … not nice! I came here to save your ass, you ass.”

“And landed on your own.”

He turns, picks up a pair of jeans slung across a chair, and pulls them on.I see a big tattoo framing his back, but I don’t get to see what it is because he covers it up by pulling on a T-shirt.

Then, he flicks on the lamp on his nightstand and turns to face me.

I blink against the light. My eyes adjusting from the darkness.

“Nice pajamas. And do you mean that literally?”

“What?”

I look down.

Christ almighty.

Seriously, God?

Seriously?

You couldn’t cut me a break just this once?

I’m wearing my new pajama set. I got them for a couple of dollars on sale. I bought a couple of sizes up, so they’re baggy at the moment but not for long with my growing waistline. They’re that soft, brushed cotton fabric. Comfort over fashion, right? And it’s not like I ever expected anyone to see me in them.

But it’s not the large size of them that he’s referring to.

Oh no.

It’s what’s written on the top that has him smirking.