She stood up and stretched, then tugged the shirt down over her panties, remembering that her thong didn’t cover much. He’d stood and began to put on his pants again, and she didn’t watch, but she did notice what he was wearing. Tighty whities. She could see that. He was all business to the core.
Beth Ann reached out and grasped the hem of her dress and grimaced. “Still wet.” Wet and cold to boot. The cloak was like one big soggy towel. She sighed and turned back to him. “So what’s the plan?”
He put his hands on his hips and she noticed the marines symbol tattooed over one hard, flat pectoral. His stomach was flat and lean and his shoulders were hard with muscle. Had she really rested up against that all night? Mercy. She felt weak in the knees.
“You lead. I’m just here to make sure you don’t get into trouble.” His lean, predatory gaze stroked over her.
She was staring at him. She flushed and dropped her gaze, pretending to look at a fleck of mud on her big toe. “Well, seeing as how I have no clue of what I’m doing, I think it’s your call.”
“There’s a supply shack the survival business keeps stocked in case of school emergency not too far from here,” he admitted. “We could skirt the river and head toward it. Might not be drier than here, but there’s some emergency supplies. And enough open area to build a fire.”
“That sounds like as good a plan as any,” Beth Ann said. Fire sounded awesome.
She leaned over and picked up her bag, and fished out one totally destroyed Louboutin. “I’m not going to be able to walk far in these.” She stared at it, and then peered over at him. “I don’t suppose you could snap the heels off?”
“Snap the heels?”
“Like in that movie.” Beth Ann didn’t remember which one. “So I can walk better.” She held the shoe out to him.
He took it in hand and gave her an odd look. “Might not be a bad idea. Hope they aren’t expensive.”
“Twelve hundred dollars,” she admitted, just as he snapped the first heel off and handed it to her.
He looked a little sick at the thought. “Twelve hundred?”
“Yup,” she said cheerfully, and handed him the other shoe to destroy. “If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t my money.”
“Allan?” he guessed, and snapped the other heel off and handed it back to her.
“He always thought I had a weakness for shoes,” she admitted.
“And do you?” His keen gaze rested on her legs as she slid the shoes on. They were tilted at an odd angle to support the heel that was now missing, but she wouldn’t sink in the mud anymore. That was a plus.
“Not really,” Beth Ann said. “All I ever asked from him was faithfulness. Instead, I got expensive shoes, Coach handbags, and Tiffany jewelry.”
“I don’t know what any of that is,” Colt drawled. “Expensive?”
She nodded. “Useless, too.”
That dimple reappeared, and she felt like she’d suddenly said the right thing. “Keep the heels. Maybe you can get part of your money back.”
She snorted, and then touched the hem of her damp dress. “I’ll change back into this if you don’t mind turning around.”
He turned away from her, and she slipped his shirt off and her dress back on. She shivered as the damp, cold fabric slithered down her body, and then held his shirt out to him reluctantly. “Here you go.”
He took it and turned, then frowned at her. “Cold already?”
“I didn’t buy this because it was incredibly warm,” she admitted.
He handed the shirt back to her. “Put this on over your dress.”
“I—but you—”
He ran a hand over his own chest and her gaze was drawn there like a beacon. “I can stand a little cold.”
She needed to quit staring at his far too nice pectorals. “Okay,” she said weakly, and tugged the shirt back over her head. It helped, a lot. “Thank you.”
He squinted at the sky, then at her. “It’s letting up. We can grab some of those apples to eat and head out for the cabin before it starts to rain again. You sure you want to do this?”
“I’m good,” she affirmed. “A little hike won’t kill me. And your knee?”
Colt gave her a hard look. “If I avoided hiking because my knee hurt me, I wouldn’t be much use as a survival instructor, would I?”
Ouch. She’d insulted him with her question. “Sorry. You’re right. I wasn’t trying to question your ability.”
For some reason, his mouth quirked at that. “Oh, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of your needs.”
A hot flush swept over her face at that. Oh mercy, he didn’t mean that how she’d taken it. Did he? Because now she was thinking naughty things.
He handed her a few apples, oblivious to her blushing.
She took them and placed them in her plastic bag, along with another bottle of alcohol. Why not. She’d probably need a stiff drink by tonight. Her hand hesitated over the now-soggy box of condoms. She could toss them. Or she…could keep them. Beth Ann flushed even harder, thinking of his hand casually grazing over his chest, and how she’d wanted that to be her own hand.
I’m perfectly capable of taking care of your needs.
Wishful thinking, she told herself, but she left the box in. She was way too cowardly to make a move anyhow, and he likely saw her as an annoying burden for the weekend.
“Anyone looking for you?”
His sharp voice startled her out of her reverie and she clasped the bag tightly shut, cheeks flaming. “What?”
He gave her another one of those intense, narrow-eyed gazes that seemed to see right through her. “You didn’t go home last night. Anyone going to be looking for you?”
“Oh.” She thought for a moment. “My clients will be annoyed when they get to the salon and I’m not there, but I’ll reschedule them and give a discount, and we should be okay.”
“I meant family. Boyfriend?”
There went that flush again. “My parents will think I flounced back to the salon to hide out for the weekend. When I get mad at them, I do that. Living at home is too claustrophobic.” She thought for a minute, and then grinned. “I’ve been doing a lot of weekend flouncing lately.”