Chapter 36 How About Giving Yourself to Me?
“But that’s only pretend,” Chloe said softly.
“I helped because I could. If I hadn’t been able to handle it, I’d have been the first one running.” Ryan smiled. “No need to make too much of it.”
“Why do you always do that? Make yourself sound worse than you are?” She studied him. “Are you afraid of someone depending on you?”
He paused, then smiled more honestly.
“Maybe. I like my freedom. The fewer obligations, the fewer complications.”
“Most men would be showing off after something like that.”
Ryan wiped the blood from his chest.
“There’s always someone better. Brag too much and eventually you meet him.”
Her expression grew serious.
“You saved my life. How am I supposed to repay you?”
He looked at her, recognizing something of what she was struggling with.
“You want to repay me?”
“Of course. Without you, I’d be dead.”
“Can I ask for anything?”
“Go ahead.”
He leaned closer, his grin turning mischievous.
“How about yourself?”
She flushed scarlet.
“In your dreams, pervert.”
He looked crushed.
“Misread that one. Fine. Dinner will do.”
She stared at him, then understood.
He was doing it deliberately. She was overwhelmed by gratitude and feelings she couldn’t sort out, and he was giving her a reason to be irritated instead.
She slapped his bare back.
“That’s for talking nonsense.”
He laughed and wrung out the towel.
“Don’t overthink it. We may not be a couple, but we’re friends. I don’t need another reason to help you.”
He stood.
“Come on. I barely had a few skewers before the wolves interrupted. I’m hungry.”
Looking down, he added, “And I need a shirt. I didn’t bring another.”
Once he was dressed, they returned to the food. The others were waiting, their earlier terror giving way to exhilaration.
“You saved us, Ryan. Anything you need, ask.”
“Anything.”
They kept replaying what they’d seen: the blood, the wolves, Ryan standing among them with two grilling forks. It was a story they would tell for years.
He accepted their gratitude with a smile.
“I’ll remember that. Don’t vanish when I need a favor.”
Megan thumped her chest.
“Anyone who does is dead to me.”
“You’re good company, too,” Connor added. “All that skill and no ego. We got lucky meeting you.”
Megan looked at Ryan admiringly.
“If you didn’t have a girlfriend, I’d be making a move myself.”
Connor laughed.
“Ask if there’s an opening for another one.”
Chloe knew they were joking. It didn’t stop the little stab of irritation.
“Find your own,” she said with a laugh. “He’s mine.”
Ryan smiled into his beer without looking at her.
He had no intention of using what had happened to draw Chloe closer. He’d come to Asheville for the pendant and the truth about his origins.
His marriage was temporary. Once it ended, he might leave the city altogether.
It would be easier if he left no attachments behind.
They stayed up drinking and talking until around midnight, when the camp finally settled down.
Ryan and Chloe crawled into their tent and lay side by side in the dark, close enough to hear each other breathing.
Chloe wasn’t sleepy. She turned slightly, studying the faint outline of his face.
Then a sound came from the neighboring tent.
Its occupants were trying to be quiet. They weren’t entirely successful.
Neither Ryan nor Chloe said anything, but both grew still. Their breathing changed.
Chloe’s face burned in the darkness.
She thought of everything that had happened that day: his teasing on the hill, his hand catching her when she fell, the way he’d stood between her and the wolves.
This was more than gratitude.
She liked him.
He might not have money or family connections, but the longer she knew him, the less those things seemed to matter. He had a confidence and competence she couldn’t stop noticing.
She bit her lip.
Then, gathering her courage, she reached for his hand.