A Rebel's Promise by Sara Blackard

Author:Sara Blackard [Blackard, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sara Blackard

18

Julie groaned and curled further into the ball she’d rolled into. She wasn’t shivering, praise the Lord, but her entire body ached from the cold. She’d lost count of how many times she’d woken up frozen to her core. One would think after more than twenty years of mushing, that she’d be used to the cold. During the day, she was constantly on the move and the temperature didn’t get to her as badly. Nights were miserable, though.

No matter.

She’d eventually fallen asleep, so she shouldn’t whine, even if the big baby session was only in her head. Stretching out in her bag, she let another groan out and buried her head deeper into the cover pulled up to her face. Why did it smell like Gunnar and rush all kinds of memories into her morning brain fog?

Slowly emerging from the cocoon, she blinked to focus her eyes to the light and narrowed her eyes at Gunnar’s parka clutched in her fingers. Her heart swelled in her chest as she pulled it up to her nose and breathed in his scent that reminded her of the outdoors and happier days.

She opened her eyes and found him feeding snow to the pot with a satisfied smirk on his face. Had he seen her sniffing his coat like a lovesick dog?

“Good morning.” She might as well get going.

Hanging out in her sleeping bag all day wasn’t an option, especially when they had good weather. There might be days ahead with them stuck inside if a storm blew in. Then, she’d have all the time in the world to make a fool of herself.

“Morning.” Gunnar smiled at her.

It was the one where only one side of his mouth hitched up. Oh, how she wanted to press her lips against that lift. That would make this morning good. Why shouldn’t she? Because she wouldn’t be the first one making a move, that’s why.

Right?

Maybe.

Her reasons for keeping her distance made little sense now.

“Thanks.” She sat up and handed the parka to him.

“You were shivering. I wanted to help.” Gunnar slid his fingers along hers as he took the coat. “You’ve always been so cold.”

His low voice and warm touch tumbled excitement into her stomach like a litter of wrestling puppies. Memories of how he used to pull her close to warm her up flooded her cheeks with burning heat.

Great.

Not only had he caught her sniffing his coat. Now, her cheeks were broadcasting his effect on her. The last thing she wanted was to make their circumstance uncomfortable for him.

“Coffee?” Gunnar went back to tending the pot.

“Definitely.”

She crawled out of the sleeping bag and got to work rolling it up, grateful Sunny had taken the first morning watering the dogs. Julie loved that about being part of a team rather than how she normally dog sledded. They all worked together and took turns with jobs. That few minutes of extra time in the morning could be what helped kept their spirits up.

When she finished packing her gear, she worked on stowing Sunny’s sleeping bag.

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