What You Need(60)

Why were we on opposite ends of the hallway? To keep me out of the range of temptation?

I opened the door slightly and peeked in.

Of course he was snoring.

If he was that sound asleep, maybe he wouldn’t notice until morning that I’d crawled in with him. I took a step closer and a floorboard beneath me creaked.

The snoring stopped. He sat up. The light shining through the crack in the bathroom door cast a sliver of light across his bare torso. “Lennox? What’s wrong?”

“I think there’s a bear trying to get into my room.”

“A bear,” he repeated.

“Yes, a bear. You told me there were bears up here, so you can’t expect me not to”—obsess—“think about it.”

“Since we’re on the second floor, I’m pretty sure we’re safe from bears,” he said dryly. “Besides, I told you the bears were hibernating this time of year, so we wouldn’t see any.”

I guessed I missed that part of the conversation. “Oh.”

“What’s this really about?”

He said that . . . accusingly. As if I was pretending to be scared just so I could get into his bed.

Screw that. I was scared. I’d never slept in a cabin in the woods before, but god knows I’d seen my fair share of slasher movies detailing the horrible things that happened to people staying in a cabin in the woods—especially for the first time. My fear was not misplaced; however, my pride was much stronger than fear and I’d cower in my bed alone.

I spun around and booked it down the hallway. I heard a noise behind me and my flight response kicked in. I screamed but I didn’t stop running until two bare muscular arms immobilized me.

“Christ, Lennox, it’s just me.”

My heart pounded so hard and so loud that it distorted his voice.

“You scream loud enough to wake the damn dead.”

“Leave me alone.” I hustled into the bedroom and slammed the door shut behind me. I dove onto the bed and scrambled beneath the covers.

The door opened. The bed dipped. A warm, hard body moved in behind me. “Baby, you’re shaking like crazy.” He paused. “You weren’t pulling a prank. You really are scared.”

Nice of you to notice and make fun. “Yes.” I scooted closer to the edge of the bed.

“Come here.”

“I’m fine. Go away.”

He snaked his arm below my shoulder blades and hauled me against him.

Immediately my shudders lessened. I relaxed into him even more when he pressed his lips into the back of my head and murmured something nonsensical and soothing.

After I’d calmed completely, he said, “Talk to me, Lennox.”

“I don’t know what to say. I’m not the outdoorsy type. Stuff in nature freaks me out.”

“You don’t like camping?”

“I’ve never been camping.”

“Seriously?”

“I’ve never stayed in a cabin in the woods either—although this is several steps above the rustic cabins in horror movies. But still . . . it’s unnerving to be in this big house out in the middle of nowhere.”

“You grew up in Minnesota, right?”

“I grew up in the Twin Cities suburbs. On the weekends my mom’s husband stayed inside and watched TV. So all the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’ and outdoor life that most Minnesotans love? I never experienced any of it.”

“That makes me sad for you. During my growing-up years I spent more time outside than inside.”

“But you had playmates in your brothers, sister and cousins. I had no one to play with. So I stayed in my room and read.”

“I did that late at night when I was supposed to be sleeping.”

“See? You’ve got a rebellious wild side.”

“I doubt that a twelve-year-old secretly poring over Fortune magazines under the bedcovers with a flashlight counts as adventurous,” he said dryly.

I smiled. I could just see him, owl-eyed, hair sticking up everywhere, the financial magazines a different form of porn for a brainiac kid like him.

“So you didn’t play sports?”

“No. We didn’t go to church either. Sometimes I got to go over to a friend’s house, but it had to be a special occasion. My mom’s husband didn’t have any family around. Neither did my mom. I know I missed out on a lot. But when I was old enough to make my own choices, I didn’t choose to do anything outside or sports related because I didn’t like it.”

“How could you know if you liked it if you never tried it?”

“I had real-life stuff to keep me occupied, Brady. By then I didn’t have time for extracurricular activities because I had to get a job.”