They ran out of firewood and the fire burned low at about the same time the rain let up. Its drumming noise faded to a light patter, and Sherri finally rolled off him and sat up, looking around for her clothes. He lifted his hips and pulled her pants out from underneath him.

“Looking for these?” he asked lazily.

“Pants thief,” she teased.

“Honey, I’d take away all your clothes and make you run around naked all the time if I could.”

“Right back atcha. But the scratches and bug bites…” She shuddered. “No thank you.”

“You’re going to get plenty banged up in the field. You should get used to it.”

“That’s work. It’s different.”

He knew what she meant. In mission mode, he shut down physical sensation. Turned off things like pain and feelings. But here with her, like this, alone with the night stretching out forever around them, he could afford to let all that stuff in.

Huh. Did that mean he trusted her?

“Pass me my hoodie, will you?” she asked. “And here’s your T-shirt. I don’t know how it ended up all the way over here.” She picked up the black garment across the room and carried it back to him.

“You threw it in an excess of eagerness to get me naked,” he teased.

She smiled back. “Guilty as charged.”

“I’ll drive,” he offered.

She nodded and passed him the Jeep keys. They ran for it through the last of the rain, and he expertly guided the vehicle around potholes and cracks in the ruined road.

When they reached the main road back to the compound, he stopped the Jeep, turning off the headlights.

“What’s up?” she asked quickly, alert for danger.

In a corner of his mind, he took pride in the reflexes he’d helped her develop. “We’re about to return to the real world. Well, the training world, at any rate. Tomorrow morning, I’m going to have to go back to being my usual asshole self. I didn’t want you to think that this evening didn’t mean a hell of a lot to me or that I think any less of you.”

She nodded soberly. “I understand. Nothing has changed between us.”

He frowned and restarted the Jeep, pointing it at the cluster of buildings lit up against the night. Except something had changed. Everything had changed between them, in fact.

Problem was, he didn’t have a single solitary clue what to do about it.

Chapter 9

On its surface, the next morning was just like every other morning for Sherri. Up too early. Exercise too hard while being harassed nonstop. Achieve utter exhaustion. Realize it wasn’t even 8:00 a.m. yet.