Page 5 (1/2)

He s you that"

"Co to his feet, he pulled her to hers

At the movement, pain shot up her tailbone, but she controlled her wince and let him help her back up the hill

"I’ve seen just about everything there is to see out here," he said at the top "But I’ve never seen anyone fall down that ravine before"

"So glad to give you a first"

"You should have woken me up"

For a pee escort? Hell no They were at their cae toward the tent She crawled inside and back into the sleeping bag, pulling it over her head, hoping to pretend that she was at home, in a warm bed But at home, she never had worries about bears andbad wolf She certainly never shivered like this at hootten so cold?

Her butt suddenly vibrated, scaring her for a second until she realized it was the cell phone in her back pocket With so, she pulled it out and read the text froorgeous guy, you call her and thank her That’s goodYou’ll scare away the afore and didn’t plan to stop anyti Mallory exactly what she thought of the good girl lessons so far, but just then the sleeping bag was yanked off her head, and it wasn’t the big, bad wolf Actually, if she squinted, there were some similarities

"Your arm," Matt said, on his knees, head ducked low to acco He had a first-aid kit and had pulled out an ACE bandage, which he used to wrap her wrist Then he slapped an ice pack against his thigh to activate it and set her wrapped wrist on it He pulled out a second ice pack and eyed her

She narrowed her eyes "What?"

"You going to let me look at it?" he asked

Her free hand slid to her own behind "How did you know?"

"Wild guess," he said dryly "Let me see it"

"Over my dead body"

He let out a breath and dropped his chin to his chest for anot to laugh When he had hiether, hebag, yanking it from her before she could so nored that and held her down effortlessly with one hand on her waist and one on her thigh "Be still," he said

Be still? Was he kidding? "Listen, I’ to be still with "

"What?" She i and tried to see what he was seeing "I aht, there was blood coh She stared at it a little woozily She hated blood, especially her own "Uain "Lose your pants We need to clean that up"

Well if that didn’thiaze froht in the tent caht, so she couldn’t see his exact expression, but she had no trouble sensing his surprise Probably when he said "lose your pants" to woenerally tore theet nad for him "Over my dead body"

She sensed more than saw his smile "I administer a lot of basic first aid," he said in that cal to rile hio "Just give me a Band-Aid"

"We need to clean the cut" His voice was all reasonable friendliness, but laced with unmistakable steel Authority And yet… and this made no sense… it was also somehow the sexiest voice she’d ever heard She didn’t often let herself get curious about the people in her life, but this time she couldn’t seem to help herself "After all you’ve done," she said, "How the hell did you end up out here in the boonies saving the stupid chick?"

He laughed softly, the sound war her a little bit "Always did love the outdoors," he said "I elve when I first spent a night outside"

"You ran ahen you were twelve?"

"No" He slid her a look that said he found it interesting that her"My older brother took o anywhere without hihed a little at the ht, well fk that"

The sious, and she felt herself relax a little "What happened?" she asked

"Woke up in the ht and had to take a leak I ay too cool to need an escort…" He paused rimaced

"Yeah, yeah"

"So I stu for a tree Walked straight into a wall of bushes and got all cut up Nearly wet ain and shook his head "My brother reaot back Man, he was pissed off that I was hurt I told hi, everything was still fine But by that afternoon, I had a hundred-and-three temperature My mom stripped ash on ic, Aruff Listening to hirets about his past, and then there was his obvious affection for both his brother and his s she had no experience with

"I also had poison oak," he said "Everywhere"

She gasped "Oh, God" Gentle interlude over, she sat up so fast she bashed her head on his chin "Do you think I have--"

"No" He pressed her back down, rubbing his chin with his spare hand "But you do have a cut that could get infected if we don’t clean it out"

"Byfor a single sign that he was being a perv about this Because if he was, then he was also a dead perv But there kneeling at her side, he looked at her evenly, steady as a rock

This was also totally out of her real in her pants for non-sexual reasons

Maybe the scratch was already infected, and she’d lost her mind This was the only explanation she could accept for the teeny tiny s trou was the least of her probleh and unzipped her jeans For a moment she panicked, unable to re She didn’t knohether she hoped for laundry day granny panties, or so sexy No! Good Lord, she was losing it

Shi the skinny jeans down to her knees wasn’t easy or attractive, and A, solid presence at her side And yep, he was right--there was a big gash on her thigh, curving around to the back It was burning now, but she hardly noticed over the relief to find that she wasn’t wearing granny panties She was in the thin baby-blue, cheeky-cut panties that she’d gotten in a sale pack of three Which is where the bad news ca Worse, they said "booty-licious" across the butt, but luckily he couldn’t see that

There was a beat of complete silence

And then another

And then yet another

Finally, she looked up Matt was still as stone, his hands on his own thighs, eyes dilated nearly black

"Matt?"