“Yes, but you were beside me,” he replied, folding his arms around her, and hauling her entire body on top of him.

She squirmed, laughing. “This cannot be comfortable.”

“Who said anything about comfort?”

He caught her mouth in a searing kiss that made her forget all her intentions for the day. Almost.

She let the kiss go on as long as she dared, then pulled back, the cold air rushing in to numb her swollen lips.

She sat up, folding her arms around her bare chest to try to fend off the cold. “We should get our bearings, find the best place to do our storm work.”

Normally, they scouted areas that they thought were likely to produce a storm, but now they needed to find a place that would keep their activities as private as possible, and hopefully somewhere isolated enough that there was little chance of any damage spreading.

Kiran sat up too, throwing his arm over her shoulder and pulling her closer to his natural warmth. “Right you are.”

That did not stop him from ducking down to kiss her again, lingering longer than a peck, but not seeking to deepen the kiss. When he did pull back, it was with a sigh.

“We are going to freeze our arses off the moment we step away from this fire,” he said.

She snorted. “My arse already feels halfway gone.”

Kiran gave a look of mock horror and pulled her across his lap, planting her as close as possible to the simmering remains of the fire. “I will not let any damage come to your royal behind on my watch.”

He left her there, laughing, as he darted naked for the rocks where they had left their clothes the night before. He made a grand show of presenting her clothes to her, and she could not help but giggle, not over the clothes, but the fact that he had done the entire thing unabashedly bare as the day he had been born. Though he looked decidedly grown. Aurora’s cheeks flushed, recalling just how adult he had made her feel the night before.

Their humor quieted as they put on their clothes, some of which were still damp from the day before. It would make for an unpleasant day, but they did not have much of a choice. Kiran caught a rabbit, while Aurora gathered berries and greens for their breakfast, then they set out from their camp, being careful to mark their journey by placing piles of rocks or large fallen tree limbs to help them recall their way back.