Page 18 of The Heat is On
“To where?” Riley rolled up his trash and stuck it in a plastic storage bag, shoving it back into his pack. “There’s nothing but wilderness in every direction.”
Maybe. But yes, she’d sat up on top of the mountain long enough to get the lay of the wilderness. They were miles from civilization.
Seth picked up his sleeping bag and set it down next to Skye’s, then pulled his PG bag over and began to unpack it.
She looked at him as he hunkered down. “Babysitting?”
“There’s a better view from here.”
She shook her head. But yeah, she might feel better with the big sawyer near her. Seth had the girth of a moose but the demeanor of a golden retriever.
He unloaded a few items—toilet paper, signal mirror, bug dope, and a small Ruger revolver. Her gaze cast on it, and he put his big hand over it. “Rueben told me to carry. He said I just had to land next to a grizzly once to figure out why.”
“Right.” She was putting her garbage away in her own PG bag when her hand landed on the protein bars she’d stuck in her pack. Two of them. She pulled one out and opened it. Chocolate peanut butter.
Rio had leaned his head back against the tree, one knee up, holding a cup of coffee, and had turned his gaze to the horizon. And why not—the sun, not quite setting, had cast ribbons of gold, peach, and lavender across the mottled sky. Denali rose to the west, the sun threading fingers of light into the dark valleys, turning the grasses to flames of deep red and amber.
The fire still smoked to the north, more of a smudge against the sky. The thick humidity of the night would probably knock it down, and by morning they could mop up.
She glanced around at her team—Riley took his bag a few feet from camp. The two Zulies set up their sleeping bags a little further away also. Tucker and the brunette leaned up against a boulder, far enough away for her to not hear the conversation. Whatever happened in the bar, they’d made friends now.
Romeo had hunkered down on the other side of Skye, apparently feeding his inner protector.
Super. Just what she needed. But they’d never worked with prisoners before. And they were in prison for a reason, right?
So yeah, she wouldn’t mind some protection.
Although, they hadn’t tied anyone up like it might be the Old West, and the US marshal looked like she planned on sitting up for the night, so maybe everyone would be just fine.
As long as the fire didn’t waken over the ridge.
Skye got up, considered for a moment, then grabbed the other protein bar and walked over to Rio.
He looked up at her.
Those eyes. Yeah, something about him, the way he looked at her. She only saw it for a second, a sort of hunger that he quickly swallowed back and hooded, but it shook her.
He said nothing, so, “Hey.” She crouched next to him. Held out the protein bar. “Thanks for what you did today.”
He stared at the proffered treat, then back at her. And for a second, the hunger flashed back, stuck around a little longer. “Really?”
“I figured that maybe you don’t get a lot of…well, treats where…you…”
Oh great. She hadn’t exactly thought this through.
“In prison, you mean?”
“Mmmhmm,” she said.
“No.” But he still didn’t take the protein bar. She lowered her hand. “Tucker is…he’s a good guy. And he was in trouble and you did something. I’m grateful.”
His mouth tweaked up on one side, almost a rueful smile, and it did something to his face. Turned him almost sweet.
Nope. She wouldn’t go all soft for some stranger on a hillside. A prisoner, no less.
Still, he was a human being, who’d worked hard all day and…
She offered the protein bar again and this time he took it. “Thanks.”