The words had slipped from him as though he hadn’t meant them to, like a stray thought had been trapped in a bit of breath and set free by accident.

Somehow the image of Theo having children, let alone camping with them, didn’t jive. Roasting marshmallows over a fire? Backpacking in the woods? It seemed odd, yet in some ways Theo would make a great father. He’d be protective, that was for sure. If he ever had a daughter, her boyfriends would have to tread very carefully.

She gave him a sidelong glance. “Do you want kids?”

He glanced at her and shifted a little. “Yeah, maybe. One day.”

“I just thought that—”

He turned toward her. “What? That a person with an upbringing as fucked up as mine wouldn’t want to risk parenthood?”

“No!” She held out a hand as if to ward off his belligerent tone of voice. “I wasn’t thinking that at all. It just seems like your life is all about your work. You seem so hell-bent on taking the Duskoff down and not really all that interested in dating, let alone building a family.”

He rubbed a hand over his mouth. “Yeah, well, maybe one day we will take the Duskoff down and I can concentrate on other things.” He paused. “More important things, like marriage and a family.”

“I hope so.”

“Maybe,” he said again. “If I can ever find a woman crazy enough to stay with me.”

She laughed. “You have your charms, Theo, even if they’re a little buried under a crust.”

He grunted, turned, and walked toward the cycle. “You ready to head back?” His tone really didn’t invite disagreement. Apparently, it was time to go.

She turned toward him. “I would like to be your friend, Theo.”

He halted with his back to her. His shoulders tightened. “That’s nice. Do you want to hold my hand, too?”

Sarafina blew out a frustrated breath and walked to the bike. “I’m trying to extend an olive branch here.”

“I didn’t know we were fighting.”

“It’s just that, things seem tense between us after what happened, you know, in the hallway . . .”

“You mean when I kissed you, Sarafina?” He turned toward her and she stilled like a deer in a hunter’s line of sight. His voice had gone a shade lower, a bit more velvety. Almost . . . seductive.

She couldn’t take another kiss-and-run.

“Yes, you kissed me, then pushed me away.”

Theo turned back toward the bike. “That was a mistake.”

“What was a mistake, the kiss or pushing me away?”

He fiddled with the helmets lying on the cycle’s seat. “The kiss, Sarafina.”

“Not from where I was standing.”

“Your perspective might change if you knew that every woman I become involved with ends up dead somehow.”

“What?” She put her hand on her hip. “That sounds really ominous, Theo. What exactly are you saying?”