Chapter 36
Thirty-Six
HAVEN
Imogen practically comes skipping back into the cabin after her patrol shift with Kade. He, on the other hand, enters with a dark glower, looking miserable as ever.
“How was the patrol?” Becks asks.
“Quiet,” Kade answers the same time Imogen says, “Magical.”
Kade shakes his head and goes straight to the kitchen to make himself food, grumbling something about how it was the longest two hours of his life. I’m sure Imogen hears him, but she doesn’t look fazed at all. In fact, just the opposite.
“I have him exactly where I want him,” she whispers to me.
I raise my eyebrows. “Really?”
“He doesn’t realize it, but that piece of man-hunk is this close to professing his undying love for me. Just wait.”
I glance at Kade in the kitchen, opening and closing cabinet doors and drawers with unnecessary force, still grumbling under his breath, but too far away to hear. He doesn’t look like a man about to profess undying love.
“See ya in a bit. I’m going to go freshen up before my next patrol,” she says, and then zips up the stairs.
I stroll into the kitchen in time to hear Kade say to Becks, “Hypothetically, if Imogen has an ‘accident’ on the mountain—say, a boulder falls on her or she gets buried in snow and suffocates—how upset do you think Talon would be?”
I start to laugh, and then cover it with a cough when Kade scowls over at me. The man is a bit scary.
Becks gives him a firm pat on the back. “Maybe you can get Ensley to switch with you. She’s learned to put up with Imogen.”
“Already asked. She said she couldn’t because of girl code, whatever that means.”
“It’s just for a little while. If you can make it through the night, then we’re in the clear.”
“It’s going to be a miracle if both of us make it through the night,” he says, and then takes a bite of the burger he just made for himself.
Becks eyes the burger, looking like he’s considering second dinner. He grumbled through most of it about the lack of meat protein.
“Do you want me to make you one?” I ask him when Kade skirts us to sit at the table.
“Naw, it’s okay,” he says. Throwing an arm over my shoulder, he tucks me into his side and steers us toward the couch. “Want to play a board game? We can play that word game you love so much. I’ll let you win.”
“Let me win, huh? If I remember correctly, your shining moment the last time we played was the word ‘bear,’ for a whopping six points.”
He grins down at me. “I don’t remember you doing much better.”
“I was killing it until you decided to distract me,” I say, my cheeks heating when I remember what his shirtless distraction ultimately led to. I can’t say I’m sorry he pulled that antic.
He chuckles. “Have I ever told you how cute you are when you blush?”
Of course, I blush harder.