Page 139 of For Better or Hearse

“You love this, don’t you?” she asks. “The adrenaline. The wilderness survival skills.”

He gives a short, low laugh. “I’d love it more if you weren’t involved.”

“The skills will come in handy in the North Sea. Dodging vortexes. Fending off pirates.”

He kisses her brow. “Yeah. Maybe.”

She swallows hard. She still hates the thought of him leaving.

There’s a hand on her brow. “How do you feel?” His voice is low, concerned. Experiencing the doctor side of Nathaniel Whitford up close and personal is extremely sexy. He’s calm, so she’s calm. It makes her feel a little better, at least.

She checks her phone. Her blood sugar’s sixty-eight. The battery on her phone is at 20 percent. So is the granola bar. She had a few bites of it earlier to boost her blood sugar after the hike and her injection.

There’s one bite left. But what happens when it’s gone?

She shows Nathaniel her reading. They both stare at her phone like it’s a bomb. That tick of a green line down, down, down. After a beat, she palms his hard chest. Nods at the granola bar. “You should have a bite.”

“Ash,” he says, brows stern and so serious. “I’m not eating your fucking food.” He lifts himself from the sand to look down at her. “Promise me if you feel sick, you tell me.” That muscle in his jaw flexes. “Don’t be tough. Not about this.”

She nods. “I promise.”

Slowly, she chews the last bite of granola bar.

He’s given her the food, the blanket, the water. No one’s ever cared this much for her. She’s trying to hold on to that. The knowledge that he won’t let anything happen to her. Even as she pushes away the alternatives haunting her. Being stuck here potentially for days. Her mind screams it’s impossible. Right? Someone will notice. Someone will come. But what if they don’t?

Her blood is already on fire. It’s what happens when her sugar is low. Sweating and lightheadedness. She muted the shrieking alarm on her phone. She couldn’t take it anymore. Because she knows. It’s all no good.

Still, despite everything, she’s glad she’s here. With Nathaniel.

Using his change of clothes as makeshift pillows, Nathaniel lies down again. He reaches for her, his big, possessive hand landing on her waist.

She snuggles in closer, into the curve of his arm. “This is the best kind of terminal burrowing.”

His laugh is choked. “Let’s not get morbid.”

“Tell me a truth. Zombie apocalypse skill.”

“Being able to drive a manual transmission. You?”

“Mine would be the very powerful skill of annoyance.”

Silence falls. The crash of waves thud onto the beach.

Snuggled into Nathaniel’s broad chest, Ash rises and falls with the sync of his breaths. She closes her eyes.

“What if no one comes?”

“They’ll come.” He answers fast, certain.

What if no one comesin time.

More silence. He strokes her hair. Slow, calming strokes. She can’t be sure if they’re for her or him.

“Nathaniel?” She chances the question. “What do you think happens when we die?”

His body goes stiff, and he makes a kind of pained noise. “Ash.”

“No, I’m serious. I want to know.” Clearly, dark times call for baring all.