“Sounds good, Bear.”
Max raised his eyebrows, a devastating gesture considering their thickness. “What?”
With a sickening thud, Julia realized he was thinking of a teddy bear. He thought she’d called him ateddy bear. “I meant Bear Grylls? You know, the survival guy?”
Max blinked. “Oh…Okay then.”
He gave her a strange look and Julia resigned herself to downing the entire bottle of whiskey the minute Max’s back was turned. Dehydration be damned. “Anything else?”
“Nope. We have to space out the water and bide our time. Totally doable.”
You’re totally doable, her brain spat out.
“Cool, except…” Julia wrinkled her brow in naïve puzzlement.
Max totally bought it. “What?”
“About the whole cannibalism thing…How soon istoo soonfor me to ask to eat your arm?”
Max gave her a smile both wry and gorgeous and she felt her heart blow out like a bad light bulb.
“Why is it my arm we’re eating exactly?”
“You’re the cop, it’s what people would expect you to do.”
“Is that right?”
“Yup, I can see the headlines now ‘Cop dismembers self to save IT woman. Is hero’.”
Max laughed. “I don’t know, I think I could get away with eating you.”
Julia’s mind instantly conjured up images of him kneeling between her legs.I should have never brought up eating people…
She forced a laugh. “No one would ever believe you overpowered me for good.”
“You sure?”
She batted her eyelashes. “See? You see how cute I am? Imagine this on the front page of news.com. You’d never police again.”
“Maybe I wouldn’t care?” Max’s smile was devilish, the exact look she imagined he’d wear if he was trying to get in her pants. Excitement pulsed low in Julia’s belly, immediately chased by guilt. Married. Max wasmarried. From here on out every thought she had about him was going to specifically reference his nuptials and like aversion therapy, the realization that she was a complete skank would sink in.
Julia hugged her knees tighter. “So how are we going to keep from going totally insane? You’ve ruled out drinking. Should we start a campfire and tell tall tales about our daring exploits?”
The married guy chuckled, a low and entirely perfect sound. Jesus, a woman could turn into a performing seal trying to make him laugh. If he wasn’t already taken. Which he was.
“I’m fucking starving. How’s that for a tall tale?”
“Me too, that’s why we need to distract ourselves.”In ways that have nothing to do with bodies or eating people or sex.
The married guy smiled. “Sure, let’s talk. What do you want to know?”
She knew she should mention Bonnie. Ask how they met, where they had their wedding, if they wanted kids, but she was tired and hungry and frankly she didn’t have the guts. “How long have you been working in Brenthill?”
Max’s forehead wrinkled. “About three years…Shit, that’s longer than I thought. I want to do a couple of secondments then get in with the SOG’s. Special Operations Group,” he explained, catching her look of confusion.
“What does that involve?”
“Responding to major crimes, high-risk stuff.”