“Someone’s coming. Hurry up.”
“What?”
“I said someone’s—”
“I heard you.” I cut my pee off midstream.
“Then why did you say what?”
“I meant it like WHAT!”
“Like what the fuck?”
I rolled my eyes and scrambled for my panties, but they were caught in my jeans because one of the legs to my jeans was inside out.
“What are you doing?” He turned around, and I didn’t have time to care.
“My jeans are messed-up!” I stabbed my arm in the inside-out leg.
Beanie.
Thermal shirt and fleece jacket.
And socks. That was it. All I had on.
I glanced to the right. The couple coming up the hill were getting closer.
“Fisher!”
That stupid smirk slid onto his face as he took his time trekking toward me. I wadded my jeans in front of me to cover as much as possible as Fisher stood in front of me, facing the trail and angling his body to keep me as hidden as possible when the couple passed us.
“Morning.” He shared another friendly greeting as I pressed my face into his back to hide from … life at the moment.
“Gah! I should have gone farther off this stupid trail. How embarrassing!” I fought with my jeans to free my panties. Then I dressed as fast as I could. When I glanced up while buttoning my jeans, Fisher had his lips trapped between his teeth while he adjusted himself. “Are you … turned on?” I asked in disbelief, feeling a little irritated that he had the nerve to find my unfortunate situation sexy.
He lifted one shoulder. “I’m not … not turned on.”
“Screw the foliage or eco-friendly etiquette. I should have just peed in the brush.” I stomped my way up the hill, keeping a good six feet ahead of him.
“Are you mad at me?” he asked.
“No.”
“Sounds like you’re mad at me. Is it because I have a penis and you don’t? Because I didn’t ask for a penis. It just came with my body.”
“Stop it,” I tried to say with a completely serious tone, but it was difficult.
“Stop what?” He took a few long strides to catch up to me.
“Stop talking.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re trying to make me laugh, and I don’t want to laugh. I want to be mad.”
“It’s your birthday. You can’t be mad on your birthday.”
I stopped and faced him, hands balled at my sides. “I can be mad on my birthday because I froze my ass—my butt off last night! And when I tried to warm up, your stupid truck’s alarm went off. And then I spent the rest of the night sleeping between my mom and Rose. And they both snore. And …” I started to run out of steam.
“Were you going to ask me to warm you up?”
“No. I wasn’t going to ask you. I was just going to wedge my cold body next to yours in your sleeping bag.”
“Naked?” His eyebrows lifted.
“I … I don’t know.” I shook my head, feeling irritated that he asked me that. And feeling irritated that he wouldn’t stop grinning.
“That would have been the only way to really warm you up. Both of us naked. You’re a nurse. You should know that.”