Page 39 of Cole

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned by her silence.

"Damn, you’re built like a Greek god," she said, the words tumbling out before she seemed to realize what she was saying. Then she blinked, her face flushing. "I... I mean... I didn't mean to say that out loud."

She started to apologize, but Cole couldn't help it. He laughed. The tension, the fear, the adrenaline from the past hours all came out in a laugh that felt like relief.

"Don't," he said, still chuckling. "Don't ever apologize for that."

"It wasn't professional," she protested weakly.

"We're not really professionally related, are we?" Cole pointed out, moving closer to her. "We're more like acquaintances who met under unusual circumstances."

A smile slipped out from her, small but genuine, and he was struck once more by her natural beauty. Even with her hair plastered to her head, no makeup, and wrapped in a blanket, she was stunning.

But she needed to finish getting warm. He went to the plastic tub under the bed where he’d seen her pull out clothes, and removed a thermal T-shirt, thick socks, and sweatpants. He also grabbed a bra and a pair of panties. Everything she'd need to stay warm.

"Here," he said, handing them to her. "Get dressed. I'll make us something warm to eat."

He turned away, giving her privacy, and moved to the kitchen corner of the cabin. His hands were steady now as he pulled out a can of soup and a box of crackers. Simple food, but it would help warm her from the inside. Comfort food. Exactly what they both needed after the ordeal they'd just been through.

When he turned around, Janice was dressed in dry clothes and stood by the wood-burning stove, still wrapped in the blanket despite being fully clothed. She looked small and vulnerable in a way that made his chest ache.

Cole brought the bowls over and handed her one, along with a handful of crackers. "Eat. You need to get your core temperature back up."

She took the bowl with both hands, wrapping her fingers around it as though the warmth of the ceramic was as valuable as the food inside. Then she took a sip and sighed contentedly.

"I need to analyze the samples," she said after a few moments of eating in silence, her spoon scraping the bottom of the bowl.

Cole studied her face. The color was back in her cheeks, and her hands were steady as she held the bowl. "Do you feel like you can do that now?"

"Yes," she said, nodding as she smiled. "I'm much warmer. Thanks to you."

Their eyes locked and time seemed to stand still. The air between them felt charged, heavy with something unspoken. Cole wanted to close the distance, to cross that invisible line they'd been dancing around since he'd broken into her cabin yesterday.

Instead, he said, "You don't have to thank me." The words came out softer than he'd intended, almost intimate in the quiet cabin. "But you're very welcome."

Again, their gazes held, and even though he’d only known her for twenty-four hours, he felt something shift inside him. Something fundamental, terrifying, and completely undeniable.

Her little smile gave him hope that whatever it was, she felt it too.

18

Janice finally went to retrieve her pack that had been abandoned by the door when they'd rushed inside. She looked around the small cabin, her gaze sweeping over the table where her laptop and research materials still sat from this morning, then landing on the pack in her hands.

"I normally sit at the table to work," she said, hesitating. "I’ll cover it with a tarp to protect the surface if I make a mistake handling the samples."

"Use it," Cole said from where he stood near the kitchen area.

Janice nodded and moved to the table, setting her pack down carefully. Cole watched over her shoulder as she pulled out the sample containers, each one labeled with meticulous precision, including date, time, and GPS coordinates. She arranged them in a neat row, then retrieved additional equipment from a storage bin under the table.

A portable pH meter. Test strips. Small vials of reagents. A sophisticated field microscope. She worked with the focused efficiency of someone who'd done this before, her hands steady despite everything they'd been through.

Cole moved closer, seeming fascinated. "What exactly are you testing for?"

"Everything I can with the equipment I have here," Janice said, pulling on a fresh pair of nitrile gloves. "pH levels first to tell me if we're dealing with acid mine drainage. Then I'll test for heavy metals, nitrogen compounds, phosphates. The field tests won't give me precise concentrations, but they'll confirm what's present."

She opened the first sample container, and Cole caught a whiff of something chemical and wrong. The water inside was darker than it should be, with an oily sheen on the surface that caught the light.

Janice dipped a test strip into the sample, waited for the prescribed time, then compared it to a color chart. Her lips pressed into a thin line.