“I don’t want to put anyone out,” she said immediately.
Cole chuckled. “How did I know you were going to say that?” he asked rhetorically before continuing. “Believe me, no one will be put out in the least. And I’m guessing once they hear your story, they’ll be clamoring to see who gets the privilege of keeping you safe.”
She shook her head against his shoulder, and she felt more than heard his rumble of laughter deep in his chest. He leaned over and grabbed something, then held it up to her. “Why don’t you see if you can finish the rest of your pasta now.”
Avery blinked. One second she was about to have a mental breakdown, and the next it felt as if her life had been organized and she was being told to eat as if she were a toddler. And realizing she was a little hungry had her reaching for the plastic pouch Cole was holding.
“I’ll come back as soon as I can,” Phantom said from somewhere above their heads.
Avery looked up but didn’t see much more than his silhouette. “Be safe.”
“I will. If I’m not back by sunup, continue on as we planned.”
“Will do,” Cole assured him.
“Phantom?” Avery said quickly.
“Yeah?”
“If you don’t come back before sunup, I’m gonna track your ass down and beat you over the head with a stick.”
There was silence before she felt a hand gently caress her hair…then it disappeared again. “I think that was the nicest thing a woman’s ever said to me, Lieutenant. I’ll be back,” he vowed.
She heard his footsteps walking away and had a feeling he deliberately let himself be heard. If he’d wanted to be undetected, she knew he could’ve faded into the night completely silently.
“Was he being sarcastic?” she asked after Phantom’s steps had faded away.
“Nope. I told you, he had a not-so-good childhood. We used to suspect Phantom’s the way he is because of a perfectionist father, someone who was extremely hard on him, but we’ve since learned that wasn’t the case. Instead, it was his mother and aunt who were physically and mentally abusive. He’s always shied away from relationships, and I don’t think he’s ever trusted a woman in his life as a result.”
“Well, that sucks,” Avery said. “He’s a little prickly, but he’s a good man. I can tell.”
Cole tightened his arm around her, and she realized she was still sitting in his lap. She tried to move off but he refused to let her go. “My lap is a lot softer than the ground,” he told her. “Eat.”
Swallowing hard at how nice he was being, Avery decided to stay right where she was. He was right, his thighs were a lot more comfortable than sitting on the hard-packed ground and having rocks poke her in the ass. She finished up the rest of her dinner and once again felt as if she were going to burst. But she could almost feel her body absorbing the nutrients as fast as she swallowed. It would take time before she was back to her old self, but she was getting there.
After a while, she said, “I feel as if I should be doing something.”
“Like what?” Cole asked.
“I don’t know. Something. Anything. Trying to remember what the traitor looked like. Coming up with a plan to get us back to the base. Cleaning a weapon. Something.”
“There’s literally nothing you can do right now that will help you more than relaxing. Your body has been through hell. You need to heal. How’s your head feel? You said you thought you had a concussion?”
“I did have a concussion,” she retorted. “I’m a nurse. I know every single thing that’s wrong with me.”
“Like what?” he countered.
“Bruised ribs. Malnutrition. Muscle atrophy. My eyes were just beginning to adjust to the bright light when it got dark, and I have a feeling tomorrow’s gonna suck trying to get used to the light again. My face is tight, which means I probably got sunburned today, and while my feet feel okay, I’m worried about my ankle getting infected.”
“I can’t do anything about your ribs, but I’ll continue to feed you the protein and carb energy packs until I run out. Your muscles will probably be sore from the exertion you’ve been putting on them, but we have painkillers to help. I’m sorry the sunglasses were lost, and about the sunburn…but I’m kinda looking forward to seeing even more freckles on your face tomorrow than you had today. I’ve got some sunscreen you can use. And in the morning, I’ll check your ankle, re-clean it, wrap it, and give you some antibiotics.”
“Do you have an answer for everything?” she asked a little testily, even though she melted inside at each of his answers to her complaints.
“Yup,” he said without a trace of hesitation.
Shaking her head, Avery slowly settled more of her weight against his chest. “Cole?”
“Yeah?”
“I was terrified in the river today.”
His arm tightened around her waist for a second before he relaxed again. “Me too,” he said softly. “I knew I was fucked. I was pissed at myself for letting you down. I’ve been shot at, held captive, and hunted by the meanest terrorists in the world, but knowing I was going to be taken down by a damn tree branch was humiliating and so damn pathetic.”
“I feel as if it happened to someone else. As if I were floating above everything, watching.”
“You were there, Avery. Right fucking there.”
“I was scared to death that I was going to lose my grip and float away. Or that I wouldn’t be able to stomp on that small branch hard enough to break it. Every time you lifted your head to grab a breath, I thought that would be your last. I know we don’t really know each other, even if we do seem to have crazy chemistry, but I swear to God I had the depressing thought that if you died…I’d have lost something extremely precious. That I would’ve lost out on a hell of a lot.”
Cole didn’t answer her for the longest time. He just held her against his chest. She counted thirty-one inhalations before he finally spoke, and his voice was a little wobbly when he said, “You’re going to think I’m lying, but I swear I’m not. I had a flash of a little boy kneeling in the water downstream. He was staring at me, begging me to hold on. Said I had to live, so he could too. It gave me the strength to push myself up one more time to get another breath of air. Then I was free and careening downstream toward Phantom.
“Don’t think for one second that I don’t know you saved my life, Avery. I’m fully aware of it, and I owe you more than I could ever repay.”
“Don’t,” she ordered.
“Why not? It’s true,” Cole countered.
“No. I feel the same way about you. You’ll never know how amazing it was for me to see your silhouette in the cave entrance. I hadn’t seen another human for what felt like forever. And you climbing through the rubble was literally a miracle I didn’t think was going to happen. You saved my life, and I saved yours. I think we’re even.”
“No, we’re not,” Cole argued.
“Cole,” Avery said in exasperation.
“You don’t get it. You shouldn’t have been able to do what you did,” he told her. “Not in your condition. Not after everything you’d been through. I’m well aware that women are tough and strong, this isn’t about that. But I’ve been in your shoes. I know exactly how you felt after not eating and getting beaten. And I’ll admit, I don’t think I would’ve been able to do what you did today. You can think we’re even all you want, but Phantom and I know the truth.”