And when his muscles relaxed completely and his eyes had darkened to a stormy gray again, he pulled the covers over them and cradled her in the crook of his arm. With one forearm under his head, he stared at the ceiling as she listened to his steady, drumming heartbeat that pounded a strong rhythm under her cheek.
His tattoo stood stark against the soft sconce lighting, a reminder that he’d loved her even after she’d gone from his life, and she traced the arcing abstract shapes there.
“Denny?” she murmured.
“Hmm?”
“Someday you’ll let me in, won’t you?”
He was quiet for so long she thought he wouldn’t answer. His voice was deep and serious when he finally spoke again. “Someday I’ll show you all of me. And then you’ll run.”
There was no use denying him when he sounded so sure of their fate. He was wrong, though. No matter what happened, and no matter what he was hiding, she wouldn’t run again.
She hated herself for earning his distrust.
Around the emotional lump in her throat, she whispered, “I’m sorry for leaving.”
His fingers combed through her hair, and he leaned down and brushed his lips against her temple. “I forgive you.”
Chapter Ten
Denison rubbed the place on his chest Danielle had almost pierced with her teeth last night. Damn, he’d wanted her, too. Usually it was the male bear shifters who left a mark on their mates, but he and Danielle weren’t like any of the pairs he’d ever met. He would’ve gladly bore her mark.
If she knew what it meant, that was.
Bo, the half-grown pygmy goat, followed Danielle around a giant pine tree like a puppy. They’d hiked for hours this morning as she collected bark samples from trees in various stages of beetle infestation. She’d taken water samples and packed vials from different ponds into a cooler she carried in a loaded backpack. He’d offered to carry the thing since it looked atrociously heavy for a smaller woman like her, but apparently she didn’t need the help. She’d swatted his hand away and continued her mutterings about some kind of blue fungus.
The forest green backpack, he’d come to learn, was an entire portable library on animals and fauna native to this region.
Denison got why her boss wanted her to have a guide. She was plenty capable in the wilderness and was obviously a knowledgeable woodswoman, but she would’ve had to depend on topographical maps to find what she wanted. That and wandering around these woods on her own.
The realization of how close they were to the Gray Back Crew’s current job site made him downright grateful to her boss for pushing the issue. He could hear their machinery from here, though Danielle with her dulled human senses likely wouldn’t notice anything but the sounds of the woods. Sure, he missed the jobsite and working with his crew today, but at least Danielle was safe when he was with her.
He settled onto a fallen tree, nestled in patches of waving summer grasses, and watched Danielle take another measurement of the tree she was muttering to. It was cute that she talked to herself when she was working. Already, he’d learned more about the squishy green moss at the base of some of the trees than he had in his entire outdoor experience.
Pulling a long stem of grass, he gave a private grin as she bent down in one fluid motion and gave Bo a drink of canteen water from a tiny Dixie cup Kellen had given her this morning. Usually, he and the boys took shots out of those, but today, this one served as the goat cup.
“Can you help me cord this section off?” she called.
“Be happy to,” he answered.
She’d been roping sections off all morning, then counting the affected trees versus the healthy ones for more accuracy. Then she would scribble the numbers in her notepad and likely use some formula later that would give her an accurate idea of just how devastated this forest was.
If he was honest, he was in awe of her knowledge of the area. He was an animal and learned by exploring and listening to instinct, but Danielle was smart. Book smart. She knew most of the plants and trees and knew scientific facts about each one. And if she didn’t know something, she dropped down and flipped through her plant books, then repeated the name over and over until she committed it to memory.
Now, he wasn’t a smart man, or an overly educated one, but he had other qualities about himself he liked just fine. He could play music and make people happy with his songs. He didn’t have stage fright, and he was good with his hands. He had a strong back and could work big machinery on the job site. His alpha trusted him with just about everything up on the landing.
Danielle though—she had intelligence to go with her quick wit and happy demeanor. And he found that damned sexy.