Swept Away: A Camp Lonely Pine Romance Novella by Michelle Zeynep

Author:Michelle Zeynep [Zeynep, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hidden Forest Publishing
Published: 2024-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

I do not sleep well.

It’s only a few hours until I’m so chilled that I can’t fight the impulse to toss and turn, bouncing my leg and moving my body until I exhaust myself into another short fit of sleep.

Sometime later, I wake with a headache. I grope blindly in the darkness for my water bottle and, when I find it, take a few swallows. I lay back down, achy.

Now, I’m shivering. What time is it? I consider checking my watch, but that would mean opening up from the ball I have curled into, and I’m not sure my arms are limber enough to do that at the moment. They feel stiff, cold.

Random thoughts ping through my brain. Am I going into shock? Is it possible to get hypothermia when it’s fifty degrees Fahrenheit outside? What about if you’re dressed in damp leggings, a tee shirt, and a teenager’s backup socks? Does that change the odds?

I don’t know what alerts Dominick to my distress. Heck, I’m shaking so much maybe the entire tent is moving along with me. Maybe it’s the whimper that slips out between my lips, an unwelcome plea to the darkness.

Regardless, Dominick stirs. Seconds later, he’s shifting, his clothes brushing against the tarp of the tent bottom, and he’s whispering my name with a raspy, tired voice. “Ruey?”

“Yes?” I think my teeth actually click together in an honest-to-goodness chatter as I reply.

“You okay?”

I let the question stretch out between us. What am I supposed to say? I haven’t been even remotely close to “okay” since that tree fell and I thought he was trapped underneath it. I got even further away from “okay” when our canoe went missing. Now, it’s like, “okay” and I have never even made each other’s acquaintance.

“I’m cold,” I tell him. It’s an understatement. I’m fairly convinced I am going to be sans at least one toe after this experience is over. This time, my teeth definitely chatter.

Behind me, he’s moving around, but I don’t figure out what for until his arm is pulling my body against his own. I startle, and he pulls away, the movement jerky.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says, his voice still thick. “I—I’m tired. I should have asked. You’re cold. So am I. Can I put my arms around you?”

“To share body heat?” I ask stupidly. He doesn’t make fun of me, though.

“Exactly.”

“But you don’t like me. Why would you want to… I don’t know, cuddle?”

There are a few beats of silence before he answers. “Who told you I don’t like you?”

I roll over so I can face him. If I am going to die out here, I might as well get this particular grievance off my chest.

“No one had to tell me. It’s obvious.” After laying in the darkness for hours, my eyes have partially adjusted, and there is just enough light for me to notice how Dominick’s eyebrows are pulled together in a frown.

“Obvious?” The word is flat, not even a question.

“You’re always picking on me,” I tell him.

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