“If she has a sports bra that will fit you, you need to change. And you need to take a spare. You won’t be comfortable hiking without a bra, and pulling on dry long underwear over a damp bra makes no sense. We can’t have you succumbing to hypothermia out there.”
She let out a heavy sigh and said, “Fine.”
She found hiking pants and thick wool socks and took two of everything. “I’ll change into one set now and keep the other in case these get soaked too.”
He nodded and reached for the doorknob. “Hurry. We need to get out of here.”
After making sure she had a flashlight, he left her in the closet and went downstairs to their pile of supplies that had yet to go into a bag. In the garage, he found a large box of heavy-duty garbage bags and set to work wrapping the tent, ground pads, and sleeping bags. He then strapped the wrapped items to the outside of their packs, making sure Audrey’s would be lighter than his by quite a bit. She was strong and a hiker, but he was trained to carry extremely heavy packs on ten-mile hikes while wearing body armor.
He was in the middle of this process when he heard Audrey’s footsteps behind him. He turned to see her arms loaded with clothing, including a heavy-duty raincoat made for winter hiking. “Danielle Baldwin might be my favorite person in the world right now.”
“I’d suggest we leave her a thank-you note, but if someone else found it, they’d know what supplies we took. They’ll guess we were here from the broken locks, but no need to advertise we’ve got camping supplies and food.”
She frowned. “I—” She paused and shook her head. “Never mind. Later.”
He cocked his head, but didn’t probe. They’d lingered here too long already. “Let’s roll.”
“You don’t want to see if any of Frank’s clothes will fit you?”
“No. I need my IR patches visible for the SEALs.”
“But aren’t they visible to the bad guys too?”
He smiled at her use of the term bad guys. “They already know I’m the enemy. Doesn’t matter. The team needs to know we’re both friendlies. The patch protects us both.” After a pause, he added, “If anything happens to me, you need to put on my coat. The tactical vest too.”
She held his gaze. He guessed her face had just blanched, but it was hard to see in the red glow. After a beat, she nodded agreement.
He turned back to packing, making sure she had the stove and pot and half the food. If they had to separate, she’d have what she needed to survive.
When they were ready, she pulled on the heavy raincoat. Before she donned the bulky, loaded-down pack, he grabbed the lapel of her open coat and pulled her to him. “Can I kiss you?”
Her nostrils flared, then she gave a quick, slight nod.
He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers. When he would have raised his head, she opened her mouth, inviting a deeper kiss.
He wasn’t one to question her offering, short on time or not. He slipped his tongue inside, and they shared a brief but deep kiss. Without a word, he released her and stepped back, then slipped the straps of his loaded pack over his shoulders. The injured joint throbbed, but there was no avoiding the pain.
He would suffer any amount of agony to keep Audrey safe.