22. 22
22
D onna sat at one of the picnic tables in front of the bunk house, wondering what she should do. The men had gone down to the other barn leaving the women here to do whatever. Savage had said they were having a meeting and he’d be back later but had told her he would understand if she didn’t wait up for him.
She glanced around and noticed she was the only person who didn’t have something alcoholic to drink. And it wasn’t that she had anything against drinking or alcohol, but she didn’t want to tell anyone why she wasn’t drinking, and she wasn’t comfortable with even a sip to keep them from asking. She did her best to act naturally but stuck to water or a soda as they visited and chatted. She didn’t know if anyone noticed or not, but to her surprise, no one said anything.
She didn’t know how long they’d been chatting when the men started wandering back, a few here and there, most stopping by the cluster of ice chests where the drinks were kept and helping themselves before going to wherever their women sat and joining them.
Donna glanced around wondering where Savage had gone when she felt someone step up behind her. Since no one around her said anything, she knew it couldn’t be Noah or any of the other goons from the commune. That alone kept her from panicking. As hands settled on her shoulders, she couldn’t resist the need any longer, so tilted her head back as far as she could and found herself looking up at Savage.
“Hey babe, how you doing?” he asked, something she didn’t know how to interpret lighting up his eyes.
“I’m okay.” She found herself resting the top of her head against his belly as she leaned back slightly and continued to stare up at him. “Everything go okay?” She knew better than to ask what had happened during the meeting, but hoped he’d understand what she was asking. How had they taken being told about the men who may or may not be looking for her.
“It’s all good, babe.” He bent down and placed a quick, chaste kiss on her mouth before leaning back up and watching her for a moment. “You look tired.”
“I am, but I didn’t want to disappear on you.” She fought back the urge to yawn as he reminded her how sleepy she’d been for the last hour.
A soft smile curved his lips. “Come on. Let’s head back to the tent.”
“Are you sure? It’s still early and I don’t want to take you away from the others. I know you weren’t planning on such a wet blanket when you came up here.”
“I’m sure. Come one.” He used one hand on the back of her head to lift it back up right then waited while she stood and stepped out of the bench on the picnic table before taking her hand and heading out toward the pasture where the tents sat.
Several voices behind them called out some teasing about his leaving early. She started to apologize again but as she glanced at him, she caught him watching her. With a wink in her direction, he didn’t say a word but lifted his other hand and sent his brothers the bird without ever looking back. Laughter erupted behind them.
“It’s just teasing. And only because I’m the first of the night. It would be the same for whoever called it a night first.” He tugged her closer and wrapped his arm around her waist. “I have something I want to suggest, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to. It’s just a suggestion, okay?”
She frowned at him, wondering what he was going to suggest that she wouldn’t like. “Okay…” she drew the word out as if it had several syllables as she tried to figure it out.
They reached the tent, Savage unzipped it and held the flap open while she stepped out of her shoes and inside, then he did the same, before grabbing both pair and setting them inside before zipping the flap back up. While he did that, she turned off the electric lantern he’d hung at the top of the tent, then sat on her sleeping mat, back on her side of the tent where she’d put it this morning while getting ready for the ride.
She didn’t have long to wait, as when he had the tent secure, he came over and sat, not on his own bedroll but beside her on hers. Before speaking he reached over and picked up one of her hands, and just held it in his as both hands sat on the small gap of space between his thigh and hers. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before speaking.
“I want to make sure you don’t feel like I’m pressuring you into something you don’t want, but I think we should move the beds together.” He lifted his other hand to stop her as she started to speak, then continued, “And I’m not talking just the mats like I did last night. I mean the whole thing. Zip the sleeping bags together. I wasn’t prepared for how cool it gets at night and these are summer weight for the desert, not enough for up here. Together we’ll be warmer. You can wear whatever you want to bed and while I can’t stop my body from reacting, I can keep from acting on it. Just think about it a minute before you say no.”
Donna scowled, wondering why his initial thought was that she would say no. Well, the more she thought about it the more obvious that part became but she wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea. Still, she wanted to know why he thought this was a good idea.
“Tell me why? I don’t mean convince me. I mean give me your reasons.”
“The first is that it will be more comfortable. For you and me both. On top of that, both nights so far, I’ve woken up to you shivering and curling up in a little ball. If we’re in the bags together, we’ll share body heat, and you won’t be so cold. Not to mention that we can pull the sleeping bag all the way up to our necks or over our heads to stay that much warmer instead of my tucking mine under my arms to pull you close and hold on to you.”
Donna stared at him for a moment, then blinked but still couldn’t put her thoughts into words. She hadn’t known that he’d noticed that she’d gotten cold. Was that why she’d woken up next to him that first morning?
This morning hadn’t been a surprise as she remembered him dragging her over there before they fell asleep. But she had assumed that she’d made her way across the empty space on her own the night before. She felt like she’d been over these things before, but couldn’t be sure. She’d heard women talk about pregnancy brain. Was this what they meant?
She turned and looked at him, tempted to agree, but still wary. “I don’t know.”
“I’ll sleep in the sweatpants I brought, and you can wear anything you like, but please not jeans. Only because neither of us will be comfortable.”
She watched him for a moment, her mind spinning with possibilities.
“You think about that for a minute or however long you need. I’m going to take my things and go visit the bathroom.” He released her hand, moved over to his bag, pulled a small, zippered bag out and went to the door. “If you decide you’re okay with it, and you want to, you can rearrange the beds or you can wait for me to come back, and I’ll help.”
She watched as he left, zipping the tent closed behind him, then sat where she was for maybe a minute, debating his offer. Then it popped into her head. What the decision boiled down to at its most basic.
Did she trust him?
That answer was instant. She wasn’t entirely sure why but over the last couple of days she’d decided she did trust him. With everything. Plus, she couldn’t count the number of times she’d wanted to close the distance between them and kiss him.
She was still blown away that he didn’t seem to care that she was pregnant or that there was no chance it was his. While it would have been nice to say it hadn’t changed the way he’d treated her, that wasn’t entirely true. If someone had asked her before she told him, she would have said he couldn’t have treated her better, but she would have been proven wrong.
Now he wasn’t just helping her and making sure she was safe, but he was taking care of her. She pushed herself up off the sleeping mat and got to work as she told herself she could, and previously had, do worse in choosing which men to pursue.
She might be proven wrong in the end, but she didn’t think she would be. Her gut, and something more, told her Savage was special.