She coughed and gasped, struggled to escape the surely vermin-infested bedding, only to find herself pinned by Lawrence.
“What are you doing?”
“Sleeping,” was his grumbled reply.
“We can’t sleep. What if those people come after us?”
“They won’t. And it’s not them you need to worry about.” Rather than explain what that meant, he nuzzled her and growled. Like literally and it was rumbly enough to vibrate her skin.
She could have sworn he turned angry. “What’s wrong?”
“I can still smell him on you.”
She assumed he meant Jarl. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it won’t be long before that’s replaced by whatever dead and pee-covered aroma permeates this place.”
He rubbed his cheek on hers. “I want you to wear my scent.”
“That’s weird.”
“Indeed it is given I’ve never wanted to do that before.” He lifted his head enough he could gaze at her. “There’s something different about you, Peanut.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
His lips quirked. “I don’t know yet. After all, we’ve only known each other a day.”
“Not even.” And what a tumultuous time so far.
“I’m tired.” He rested his forehead against hers.
“Shouldn’t one of us keep watch?”
“I won’t let anything harm you.” The words flashed hotly over her lips, which parted, as if anticipating a kiss. Only he returned to nuzzling her neck, whispering against her skin, “Why do you smell so good?”
Why did he feel so good? Tingles raced throughout her body. She couldn’t help but subtly writhe as his mouth dragged over her neck.
She should push him away.
She deserved this. After all she’d almost died.
She enjoyed it until he bit her.
“What the hell?” she yelled.
“Mine,” was his guttural reply.
“And then you started snoring like a freight train.” She concluded the story with no mention of how she’d spent a good while after aching between her legs, calling herself all kinds of dumb.
“I do not snore,” Lawrence protested.
“Yeah. You do. Loudly. And you weigh a ton.”
“Do not.” Hotly exclaimed. “I am in excellent shape.”
“Never said you weren’t. Everyone knows muscle is heavy. I can even testify about it since I was the one squished under you for hours. Maybe even days. You’re lucky I didn’t have to pee!”
“I was drugged,” was his sulky reply.
“Is that the excuse you’re going to use to explain why you went all vampire and bit me?”
“Excuse me but I am not a blood-sucking vampire. Wait, I didn’t suck your blood, did I?” He sounded hesitant.
“No, but you broke skin. See.” She tilted her head to show him her neck.
He appeared shocked. “I cannot believe I did that.”
“You did.”
He closed his eyes, and his head rolled back. “This isn’t good.”
“Ya think?” She remained on the bed for the moment, wondering if they’d missed an entire day given how dark it was inside the cabin. Colder now, too. Struggling to sit, she drew her knees to her chest and hugged them.
“It’s probably too late to reverse it,” he mumbled.
A dumb observation and an odd way of phrasing it. Wait… Was he implying he might have some kind of sickness? Like rabies or something? Wasn’t that the bad thing that could happen from bites, or did that apply only to wild animals? Did they have a shot to fix what he’d done?
He reached out to touch, but she flinched. “Oh no you don’t. Last thing I need is your dirty fingers introducing even more bacteria into the wound.”
“It won’t get infected.”
“You can’t know that for sure. I need medical attention.”
“You’ll be fine,” he grumbled. He rubbed a hand through his hair. “I don’t suppose you happen to know where we are.”
She shook her head. “Nope.”
“Have a phone?” he asked rather hopefully.
“They took them, and we escaped without getting them back.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Unfortunate?” she screeched. “We’re lost in the Russian wilderness with killers after us, no food, no car, nothing. We’re fucked.” She didn’t often resort to strong cussing, but these weren’t ordinary times.
“You are super cute when you’re mad.”
“That is the most chauvinistic thing you’ve said thus far.”
“How is telling you you’re cute bad?”
“Because.”
“And that’s where we’re different. I’d love to know how handsome I look when I’m angry.”
“Less handsome and more like a beast.”
His expression turned sober. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
“Because it is. You looked like someone else. It was kind of spooky.” Hot too, but she wasn’t about to mention that part out loud.
“This is awkward.” He grimaced and paced the tight space.
“Shouldn’t we be concentrating on finding our way back to civilization instead of worrying about the fact you have a beasty angry face?”
“We are not going anywhere. Given the amount of time we’ve been gone, it won’t be long before someone comes to find us.”
Her mouth rounded. “What? Then we need to leave.” She didn’t want to imagine what would happen if Jarl and the others caught them again.
“Don’t panic. The people I’m talking about won’t hurt you. Physically at any rate. But they are quite good at embarrassing. Given it’s been more than a day since they’ve been in contact with me, they’ll be starting their search soon.” He went to the door that had swung closed but barely.
“So we just need to wait for your friends to find us? How? No one knows where we are.”
“That won’t stop them.” He shoved his head outside for a moment before declaring, “About two o’clock in the afternoon. If they’re on the ball, then I figure we won’t see them until this evening at the earliest. More likely tomorrow. Maybe even the day after if the snow doesn’t stop.”
“Snow?” She scrambled from the bed, feeling the chill even more than before. Apparently, he’d done her a favor by mauling her in his sleep. She’d not realized just how cold and uninsulated the cottage was. “We should get out of here. Why are we waiting for your friends?”
“Because you’re cold and exhausted,” he pointed out. “And so am I.”
He had a point. He’d carried her for hours, longer than she would have lasted. Still…She hugged herself, as the cold felt more pronounced now that she wasn’t draped over him.
“Let’s see if I can get a fire going.”
“By what? Lighting up the place? It might be an improvement,” was her dry remark.
“How about we use the fireplace instead.” He gestured to a hole in the wall lined with rocks and dark with soot.
“Can you really get a fire going?” At the possibly of heat, her expression brightened.