Page 86 of Silk & Sand

“Not until this evening. This pan wasn’t in my pack—then it was.”

“I thought you gave me one of your looks.”

“One of my looks?”

“One of these.” Raider narrowed his eyes and set his mouth in an exaggerated frown.

“I do not look like that.”

“Oh, yes, you do.”

Seth scowled. “You didn’t answer my question.”

Raider gave Seth one his looks, a wry, teasing one that Seth had no trouble interpreting as, You’re doing it right now. Refusing to yield, Seth kept the expression on his face until Raider gave in and shrugged.

“Since I started feeling better.”

Seth narrowed his eyes. That still wasn’t an answer.

Raider pointed to the fire. “Who’s in charge of this rabbit?”

“Shit.” Seth used a stick to turn the meat, revealing some unintended blackening.

Raider shook his head. “After all the trouble I went to skinning those.”

“Yeah, yeah. Damn it. I hate when I burn the food.”

Raider chuckled. “You’re such a perfectionist.”

“It’s very upsetting to me!”

Raider nodded slowly. “I am aware of that. Just like it’s upsetting to you if the tent is crooked. Or the firewood isn’t arranged with enough structural integrity to withstand gale-force winds.”

“That’s unfair. The tent, at least—”

“Yes, I know you have your reasons. You explained them to me already.”

Raider’s tone and warm smile said he was teasing affectionately, and, fuck, that did something to Seth. So he sighed, pretending to be annoyed, and focused on his cooking.

He’d had a plan for this meal, and now he’d ruined it. Determined to salvage it as much as possible, he dug into his pack for a handful of the remaining almonds and the last of the dried sage.

Raider, meanwhile, had taken up the stick and was checking the rabbit. “It’s fine, Seth.”

“It’s not how I imagined it,” Seth grumbled and sprinkled the sage and almonds into the pan.

“Sometimes things aren’t like you imagined them, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still good.”

It took Seth aback. Such an offhand comment, but it was true, and it spoke so deeply of the man who had uttered it. All those nightmares. All that darkness. But Raider didn’t let it consume him.

“You’re doing it again,” Raider said.

“Doing what?”

“Giving me one of your looks.”

“Yeah, I guess I am. Give me that stick.”

When the rabbit was done (more on some sides than others), they ate from the pan. And it was still pretty damn good. Even if it hadn’t been, Seth would still have enjoyed it, eating like this. With Raider.