Chapter 15
H oney liked to think of herself as a self-reliant, capable woman. The sort of person that others could count on to stay calm in any crisis.
She was, however, only human.
And when an unexpected hand shoots out from under your bed to grab your ankle, even the most unflappable person would be hard pressed not to react.
She shrieked.
The hand let go at once. As she leaped away, she caught a single, split-second glimpse of Buck staring up at her from the shadows under the bed, face frozen in an expression of utter horror.
“ Honey!”
Footsteps thundered toward her room. With lightning speed, Buck’s arm shot out again, this time to seize her blanket.
He disappeared under the bed again, taking the blanket with him.
Honey had just enough time to yank her nightshirt back down to cover her body before half a dozen girls burst through the door.
“Honey, are you okay?” Estelle demanded. She glared round the room, pillow raised like a sword. “What happened?”
“I—I’m fine, girls.” Through force of habit, she adopted a reassuring smile, though her heart was still trying to climb up her throat. “No need to worry.”
“But we heard you scream,” Claire said, eyes wide.
“Oh, um,” Honey stammered, thinking fast. She attempted a little laugh, as though she was embarrassed. “I was just startled, that’s all. I thought I saw a rat.”
This did not quite get the response she’d expected.
“Maisie!” a girl from one of the other packs exclaimed in exasperation. “We’ve told you before, that’s not funny!”
“It wasn’t me!” protested a girl wearing light blue pajamas printed with cheese wedges. She turned to the other girls in her pack for support. “You saw me, I was in my bunk the whole time!”
A different girl squeaked, hands flying to her mouth. “Maybe it was one of the boys! ”
General pandemonium broke out at this suggestion.
Several of the girls shrieked, pulling dressing gowns closed.
Some of the ones already in her room tried to retreat to the corridor, only to bounce off the girls still craning their necks round the door.
Honey glimpsed Beth at the back of the crowd, attempting to push through the crush.
“YOU’D BETTER COME OUT THIS SECOND!” Estelle yelled, with far more volume and aggression than should have been possible from a pint-sized kid in rainbow unicorn pajamas. “OR I’M GONNA STOMP YOUR WORMY BUTT!”
“I could stomp him with my butt,” Flora volunteered helpfully.
“Girls!” Honey shouted, putting on her ‘school voice.’ They all fell silent at once. “Calm down. It was just a rat. A perfectly ordinary rat.”
“Oh.” Estelle lowered her pillow, looking a little disappointed. “You sure it wasn’t a boy?”
“Absolutely,” Honey said, very aware of the motionless shadow under the bed. “No boys in here.”
“Can I help you catch it?” a girl said eagerly. “I’m a fox. Foxes are great at catching rats.”
“Hey!”
“No offense, Maisie.”
Flora sniffed the air. A thoughtful expression crossed her face. “Are you sure you saw a rat, Honey? I can’t smell any trace of one. Just you and—”
“OKAY EVERYONE, EXCITEMENT’S OVER!” Beth interrupted, finally fighting her way to the front. She grabbed Flora’s wrist, hauling her back. “You heard Honey, she doesn’t need any help. We should leave her in peace.”
“But,” Flora started.
“Everyone needs to get dressed!” Beth’s gaze flicked to the bed, then quickly away again. “Or we’ll be late for breakfast!”
“Beth’s right.” Honey shooed the rest of the girls out of her room. “Go on, you don’t want to miss out on pancakes. Beth, can you ask one of the other counselors to take our pack to the dining hall? I’ll be with you as soon as I can.”
“Of course! Leave it to me!” Beth yelped, herding the rest of the pack ahead of her down the corridor. “We can swing past the boys’ cabin and pick them up too. Just in case Buck is, uh, late. No need to rush!”
“Why are you acting so weird?” Estelle asked suspiciously.
“I will tell you ,” Beth said through clenched teeth, “ later. ”
“Ohhhhh,” Estelle said, in very different tones. Suddenly all sweet compliance, she gave Honey a cheery wave. “See you at breakfast!”
Face set in a rictus smile, Honey waved back. She closed the door, put both hands over her face, and indulged in a long, silent scream.
“Right,” she said, dropping her hands. “Buck?”
“Good morning,” said a muffled voice.
“It really, really isn’t.”
“Yeah, I realized that was stupid the moment the words left my mouth. Are they gone?”
“Only into the next room, so keep your voice down. What are you doing under my bed? ”
“At the moment, attempting to die of mortification.”
“Well, stop it!” she hissed, before realizing this didn’t make much sense. “I mean, come out this instant!”
A pause.
“There’s a slight issue with that,” he said at last.
“What kind of issue?”
“Let’s just say you’re going to have to turn your back first.”
“Turn my—Buck, are you naked under there?”
“Technically, no. But I don’t think I can crawl out of here while holding this blanket.”
Which meant that he had been naked at the point where, for some unfathomable reason, he’d decided to take up residence under her bed. While she’d been sleeping. And now he was under there in nothing but her blanket, while she was dressed only in her nightshirt and—
Honey looked down at the underwear still puddled around her feet.
“Close your eyes!” she yelped.
A very Buck sigh drifted from under the bed. Even without being able to see him, she could precisely picture his expression.
“Woman,” he said testily. “Closing my eyes is not going to stop you from seeing a lot more than either of us want.”
“I know that!” Hot from throat to forehead, she hooked her panties with her toes, sending them sailing into the pile of laundry in the corner. “ I’m not dressed.”
“Believe me, I am aware of this fact.” A pause. “Painfully aware.”
“Well then, close your eyes and face the wall.” She added, belatedly, “And make sure you keep that blanket in place.”
Another sigh, followed by shuffling sounds. “Fine. I’m facing the wall.”
Honey risked a quick glance under the bed. Satisfied that the shadowed, shrouded shape there did indeed have his back to her, she bolted for her clothes. She’d never gotten dressed so fast in her life.
“Okay,” she said, straightening her t-shirt. She went to the window, checking that no kids were in sight. “You can come out now.”
Rustling noises. She kept her gaze firmly fixed on the next cabin over until Buck said gruffly from behind her, “Okay, I’m decent. Safe to look.”
Honey turned, and immediately wished that she hadn’t.
Buck’s definition of ‘decent’ apparently included ‘naked from the hip bones up.’ He’d wrapped her blanket around his waist like a sarong, but that still left his entire torso on display.
Technically, she’d seen him entirely naked, of course. But that had been a brief, fleeting glimpse, and she’d been too busy freaking out over the whole giant glowing winged wolf thing to properly appreciate the view.
Now she couldn’t look away.
Every inch of him was honed like a knife-edge, hard and dangerous.
Her eyes traveled of their own accord down the taut planes of his chest to the sharp ridges of his abs.
A line of dark hair started at his navel, disappearing under the edge of the blanket.
Buck shifted position, adjusted his grip, and the soft material slipped a fraction of an inch lower.
He said something, but the words went straight through her head without making the slightest impression on her brain. He took a step toward her, and another, every muscle in his body in harmony. She could only stand there, frozen, as he leaned in close.
“Honey.” Buck’s hypnotic growl shivered down her spine, making nerves tingle all the way to her toes. “ Honey. You’re in the way.”
“What?”
“The window.” He gestured past her. “You’re standing in the way.”
“What?” she said again; and then, as her brain finally caught up with her ears: “Oh. Right. Sorry.”
She took a step to the side, only to find that he’d gone the same way. They stared at each other for a second of profound mutual awkwardness before Buck dodged round her. He leaned out the window, back muscles bunching, and muttered a curse.
“Too late,” he said, pulling back into the room. He yanked the curtains closed as he spoke, shrouding them both in shadow. “The kids are starting to come out. No chance I can make it back to my cabin without being seen.”
Honey could hear the chatter of kids outside, punctuated by the occasional exasperated call from a counselor. A thunder of feet in the corridor signaled their own cabin group departing for breakfast. They both froze, holding their breath, until the noisy herd had streamed out.
Buck twitched the curtain aside, peering through the crack. “I’d better wait a few more minutes in case there are any stragglers. You go on ahead though.”
“Oh no.” Honey’s higher brain functions had started to return, along with a great many questions. “I’m not going anywhere until you explain what you were doing under my bed.”
“Hiding,” Buck said shortly. He glanced outside again. “On second thought, I’ll risk it now. Meet you at the dining hall in ten minutes.”
Before he could make his escape, Honey planted a foot on the trailing edge of the blanket. Buck got partway out the window before realizing that he was leaving his scanty cover behind. He grabbed at the slipping corner just in time to prevent a spectacular wardrobe malfunction.
Honey kept her full weight on the blanket. “You can leave me with answers, or this blanket, Buck. Your call.”
For a second, she thought he’d genuinely decide to run buck naked across the camp. Then he sighed, shoulders dropping in defeat.
“I guess you should know,” he said, coming down from the windowsill. “Since this is probably going to keep happening.”
“ What? ”