Page 55 of Winter’s Teeth

He left my leggings alone and wrapped around them to stabilize my knee. I wasn’t sure I could take it if his hands had been on my bare leg any higher than the ankle. Probably a blessing in disguise.

Even if my traitorous body heated at the thought of his hands on my thighs.

“You’re sure you’re okay?” His voice had dipped low. Soft and rasping in a way that made me tingle in places I was embarrassed to admit.

“I think so.” My voice came out smaller and daintier than usual. I wanted to slap myself back to sanity. “I guess I’ll find out when I try to stand on it. Will you help me up?”

After trading out the ski boots for hiking shoes, I reached for Fox’s arms, but his hands went straight for my body. I shivered violently when he lifted me, thumbs grazing a little too close under my breasts. The way he put his hands on me, so confident, so sure of himself, and yet so gentle.

My God. I really haven’t been touched in a long time, have I?

By now my cheeks were blazing, and I would wholeheartedly blame it on wind burn if he made any sort of remark about it. I took his hands and begged my brain to not think about how good and warm they were. I’d already thought about that plenty enough when he’d been touching my foot.

I was starting to think I was the one with a fetish.

For hands, of course.

“Well?”

“Hmm?” I looked up at him, panicked I missed a question because I’d been thinking about his hands again.

“Your leg. How’s it feel?”

“Oh, right.” Duh. I looked down, transitioning my focus to the painful, traitorous joint that refused to let me move at full steam these last few days. Shifting my weight slightly, it was still painful, but it wasn’t broken, and I wasn’t on the verge of toppling over again. My knee didn’t seem keen to do much either, but...

“I think I’ll survive. We don’t have dozens of miles to walk, right?”

“No. We’ll get to the cabin soon, and I think we can crash there for the night.”

“Good...” The relief was genuine in my voice. The sooner I could sit down, the better. Then in the morning after I rubbed and rested all my joints, I prayed I would be good to go again, and if I wasn’t...

Then I’d just have to deal with the pain.

Everly’s life and freedom mattered more.

“I’ll carry your skis,” he offered, already bundling them up under his arm and clearing the way forward. “I know a safe way the rest of the way down.”

I nodded gratefully, passing under his arm as it held up a branch to keep it from smacking me in the face. My heart thundered stupidly fast when I got a whiff of him in passing—his deodorant, his natural musk, and the scent of nature clinging to his skin that I kept wanting to feel for some odd reason.

I turned around abruptly. “Hey.”

His brows jumped up. “Yeah?”

“Thanks. For all of this. I know you’re probably risking a lot, and I’m not exactly up to your speed and everything with all of this...” I gestured vaguely to the mountain around us. “But I appreciate it.”

His lips pursed, and he bobbed his head. “Don’t mention it. I guess I’m just repaying the favor. You’ve helped me twice now.”

Right... The stream. The woods. The kiss.

The kiss that wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but now I couldn’t stop thinking about how my lips had been on his before, and how it had felt really good, despite how terrified I’d been with his brother and cousins watching.

My head spun in dizzying circles. Had I hit it on the way down the slope?

Fox smirked, dimples appearing in his cheeks that made my breath catch. “Stop staring and get moving.”

I whirled around. “Yes, sir,” I said mockingly, my tone cavalier, but it was all to hide the fact that my face was burning.

Chapter 25