Page 61 of Enticing Her Love

“I’ve never heard anything stupid come out of your mouth, Steele. I’d like to hear what you have to say.”

“It’s just that I feel like being there changed me. I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel different.”

Being with you changed me. “That’s not uncommon after a harrowing trip. What feels different?”

“In some ways everything.” She paused, that reminiscent expression returning for a long beat, before being pushed away by something a little more distant. “When I was getting my nails done yesterday, I realized that here, there’s a sense of safety and power and stability. I don’t mean like I’m someone special. I mean as a society. We’re taught to work hard to buy things and gain recognition. It’s like the more we have, the safer we feel, but none of that matters in the rainforest. It’s a whole different existence. It showed me how vulnerable we really are and how insignificant all that other stuff is.”

“I understand that, but what does it mean for you, personally?”

“I don’t know. That’s just it. I feel different, but it’s not like I’m going to stop striving to be the best I can be at whatever I’m doing, or stop getting my nails done or give up my favorite coffee.”

He laughed. “You wouldn’t want to go hog wild.”

“Exactly.” She smiled, but then her brows knitted, and she lowered her voice. “But seriously, Flynn. It’s like we left a different world. It feels weird not being scared every second, or surrounded by that hot, damp air. Even being able to see the sun without trees in the way, and hearing my own thoughts instead of a symphony of animal sounds is strange. And this…?” She motioned between them.

Somehow he knew she wasn’t referencing what they’d done, but rather how strange it was for her to be talking to him like this, trusting him on this level outside the rainforest, where everything was different.

“How could seventy-two hours have such a big impact?” she asked.

This was more dangerous territory, because her eyes implored him to understand that now she was talking about a much bigger question, so he tried to answer carefully. “You connected with nature”—and me—“on a level most people never will. You relied on it to sustain you, and we relied on each other for everything. It was us against the elements. That changes people. I’d worry more if you didn’t come back feeling different.”

“Do you feel different? Or have you been on so many excursions, you’re used to it?”

Trips like that affected him, but it was Sutton who had left an indelible mark. “Like I said, those experiences change a person.”

THEIR GAZES HELD, a silent understanding of we’re not going there hanging between them like a sad neon sign. Sutton hadn’t intended to say any of those things, but she was glad she had. She’d come to work anxious about seeing Flynn, worrying everyone would take one look at them and know they’d slept together. It almost made her wish she’d had more one- and two-night stands, so she would have experience in faking this type of thing.

But there was no going back, and she somehow knew even if she’d had experience, it would be nothing like what she felt toward Flynn. She’d heard him approaching the break room when she was getting her coffee. But she hadn’t wished him away like she used to. Despite her worries, she’d wanted to see him, and her anticipation had magnified with his every determined footstep. When he’d stood in the doorway, she hadn’t needed to look to know it was him. Their connection had blazed a path between them. Even now, with that uncrossable line separating them, she felt their connection trying to coil around them like a snake.

At least now she knew where she stood. She needed to cut that snake’s head off, but needing to and knowing how to were very different things.

She drew in a deep breath, sitting up taller, and said, “I’m glad it’s not just me. Can we watch more of the clips?”

He nodded curtly and hit play.

As they watched, she could smell the rainforest, feel the damp earth giving way beneath her feet, and instead of the coiled connection binding them together right now, she felt the thrum of it, as it had been in the rainforest. Felt it weaving around them like a web, capturing the very essence of who they were, drawing them closer until there was no space between them at all. She mentally gathered all those images and feelings and filed them away in the recesses of her mind, where they couldn’t steal her every thought, just as she’d done with Jock and Archer’s rift when she was in college.

“This is a great part,” Flynn said when they came to the clip where they were going to collect water.

She startled anew when the scorpion jumped out from under a leaf, which made them both laugh.

“Well, you two seem to be getting along better,” Karen said from the doorway, surprising them. “I take it the trip went well?”

They both sat back, putting space between them.

“We made it back alive. That’s a plus,” Sutton said nervously.

“I never doubted you would with Flynn at the helm,” Karen said with a painfully serious expression.

“The trip went great.” Flynn nodded toward the monitor. “We got excellent footage, and Sutton was incredible on the fly. I thought it would be good for her to see the clips before they’re edited.”

“What do you think, Sutton?” Karen asked.

“I think it’s really good. I’m excited to see how the episodes turn out, and I’m interested in how the viewers will respond to it. It’s very different from what our audience is used to. Flynn’s a better survivalist than he is a cameraman.”

He shook his head, eyeing her. “You’ve always got to ride me, Steele.”

She felt her cheeks burn but couldn’t stop her smile from peeking through or the challenge from blurting out. “Excuse me, but the reason we had to go on that assignment in the first place was because of your unyielding need to ride me.”