She wanted to put him in his place…or kiss him. Right now she couldn’t decide which, and loathed herself for it. She was supposed to hate the man, not think about his mouth on her body all day. Not blush when he looked in her direction. Where was her righteous indignation? Or was she starting to lose her edge?
Scowling at the thought, she turned back to the fire. She needed to focus on work, not on sex. Starting a fire would distract her.
There was a scatter of larger rocks nearby and she spent some time gathering them and forming a circle to ring the fire and keep it from spreading. Once that was done, she dug out the small area inside the rocks and then began to place the wood on it, stacking it the way she had been shown as Will came back with armful after armful. Poor Will had a thankless task—yesterday they’d realized just how much wood was needed to keep a fire going all night, and she suspected he’d gotten the raw end of the deal…and she’d gotten the easy job that kept her at camp and close at hand.
Miranda’s mouth soured at that. Protecting the girl? Or keeping her close for other reasons? Frowning to herself, she stacked the wood and then sat back to examine her fire pit. Not bad. She’d gathered some fallen leaves and dried grasses to use as tinder as they’d hiked. Her pockets had bulged with the material and now she pulled it out and began to set it at the base of the fire. Her fire bundle had been carefully tended all day, and every time she’d coaxed a bit of smoke out of the coals, she’d grown aroused all over again, thinking of Dane and his promises to her.
I’ve had plenty of o**l s*x.
And no orgasms? I’m heartbroken at the thought. Those must have been some shitty boyfriends.
She pictured Dane between her legs, her hands rubbing on his too-short hair as he kissed the lips of her sex. Her ni**les went erect just thinking about it and she squirmed, clenching the fire bundle tightly.
“Miranda, before you begin,” Dane said, interrupting her thoughts.
She looked up and jerked backward when she realized that Dane was standing over her, his crotch at eye level.
Damn. Was he thinking what she was thinking? She looked up at him and licked her lips, confused.
A bolt of desire crossed his face and he glanced around to make sure the others weren’t watching, and then he crouched next to her. “Stop that, Miranda,” he whispered.
“Stop what?”
“Stop looking at me like you want me to throw you on the ground and f**k that dazed expression off of your face.” His voice was husky, as if he’d been thinking about the same thing. “Hours to go before sunset and it’s not a good idea to let the others know what we’re planning.”
“Oh,” she said, and frowned at him, resisting the urge to give him a shove. “If you don’t want me thinking about later, then don’t shove your junk in my face, all right?”
Sure, she’d gotten a glimpse of the package last night, but when he practically pushed it into her face? She couldn’t help but think of other things. And to make it worse, he was definitely…well equipped. Of course he was, she thought sourly to herself. Dane Croft had been built like an Adonis and she was being swayed by his good looks and godlike smiles. She hated herself for being so very shallow.
He chuckled and patted her on the shoulder, standing up again. “That’s better. Now, can I see your fire bundle?”
She slapped the bundle into his hand, then winced at his surprised expression. It wasn’t like it could hurt him anyhow. The fire bundle was nothing more than a long piece of rubber pulled from the inside of a shoe that had been wrapped tightly around an ember buried in packed tinder. The bundle had been tied tightly with a shoelace. He’d shown them how to make it—to carry fire from campsite to campsite without having to make it all over again.
It was extremely important to survival, Dane had said, and Miranda had treated it so. She’d kept a careful eye on it, blowing on it from time to time to stoke the embers again. It had smoked and smoldered all day long.
Just like the desire that still burned through her body. And it irritated Miranda that Dane had decided to just waltz over and put his hands all over her bundle. “It’s still lit,” she pointed out. “Give it back.”
“Can’t do that,” he said with a smile. As she watched, he carefully unwrapped the fire bundle and exposed the ember, then poured water over it.
She sputtered in shock and tried to snatch it back from Dane. “What are you doing? That’s our fire!”
“It is,” he agreed with a grin. “Or I should say, it was.”
“I worked hard on that,” she blurted. “I kept it going all day long.” Was this some sort of message he was trying to send to her? If so, she was not amused. “Or does this mean you’re no longer interested in nurturing my spark, Dane Croft?”
Her voice had risen to a rather loud level, and he winced and gestured for her to lower her voice. When he’d glanced around and had determined that no one was listening to them, Dane looked back at her. “Doesn’t mean that at all, Miranda, and you know it.”
Actually, she didn’t know it.
“This course is about survival,” he said a little louder, and handed her the wet fire bundle. “And I need to know that you can make a fire on your own. So no bundle today.”
“You are a horrible man.”
Dane only laughed and smiled down at her with a satisfied expression. “You won’t be saying that tonight, I promise.”
Flustered, she knelt next to the fire pit. Her hands searched through the wood, trying to recall what he’d taught her. Focus on work, she told herself. Not Dane. Think about fire, not about his mouth on her body. So she sat back and concentrated, gathering her thoughts. She needed to make a bow. After a few moments of searching, she found a long piece for a bow and a second piece of soft pine that would be suitable for a baseboard. She examined the wood for a moment more, and then glanced over at Dane.
He crouched near the fire pit, looking like he had nothing better to do than to sit and harass her.
“You can quit hovering,” she pointed out. “Don’t you have someone else on this team to bug?”
He grinned, seemingly unbothered by her prickly attitude. “Fire’s important. Once I’ve established that you can get a spark going all on your own, I’ll check on the others.”
She wasn’t going to touch that double entendre with a ten-foot pole. “You’re going to be waiting a while if you think I’m going to spark anything with you sitting there staring at me.”