Chaos Theory (Nerds of Paradise #2)(35)

The water eventually boiled, and their freeze-dried suppers were rehydrated and consumed. The temperature continued to drop, and Melody found herself inching closer and closer to Will.

“So what do we have on the schedule for tomorrow?” she asked. “Other than choking down dehydrated bacon and eggs for breakfast.”

“I think there was a canister of regular old oatmeal in with the freeze-dried stuff.” Will made a face as he dumped out the remaining, watery contents of his dinner pouch, then flattened it and handed it to Melody.

Melody added it to their designated trash bag. They were there to trek through and photograph the wild, after all, not to pollute it. “And after we eat?”

Will’s expression hardened in concentration—a look Melody was coming to know well and, yeah, love. He held his hands out to the fading fire. “If we are where I think we are, in order to get to the finish line, we’re either going to have to hike over that mountain there—” He pointed to the west. “—or walk around it.”

“My gut reaction is to walk around.” Melody knit her brow in unconscious imitation of Will. “Over sounds more direct, but something tells me we aren’t really supposed to put all those rock-climbing skills they tried to teach us to work.”

He nodded. “They didn’t give us climbing gear, so I agree.”

Melody sat up straighter. “I hope no one is dumb enough to try to climb a mountain just to win.”

He sent her a look in the deepening twilight that said people would do just about anything to win, stupid or not.

“Well, as long as you don’t consider it,” she added.

He let out a breath and stood, circling back to where his backpack rested up against a small rock formation. “I agree that it’s probably easier to go around instead of over.”

“Thank God for that.” Melody stood as well, following Will’s lead and untying her sleeping back from the pack.

Each pack contained a small, rolled pad for insulation between the sleeping bag and the ground. Melody watched out of the corner of her eye to see where Will planned to make his bed for the night. He spread his pad not far from the fire, then unrolled his sleeping bag on top of it. Melody started doing the same, but paused when it came time to unroll her sleeping bag.

“You know, It’s going to get really cold out here.”

Will knelt to smooth out his bed and unzip the bag. “Yeah, and?” He spared a glance up at her as he returned to work.

“We’d be a lot more comfortable if we layered our pads, zipped our bags together, and snuggled up.”

“I don’t think so,” he said without missing a beat in his work, and without looking up at her.

Melody grinned, shifting her weight to one hip. “Oh, come on. You can’t really be that squeamish.”

He stopped and frowned up at her. “I’m not squeamish, I just don’t think it’s necessary.”

There wasn’t enough light to tell for sure, but Melody was reasonably certain he was blushing.

“You can’t tell me that, as an Eagle Scout, you didn’t learn that sharing body heat is the best way to stay warm.”

“I’m not saying it isn’t.” He returned to work, rocking back on his heels, then standing and stepping over to his pack. “I’m just saying it’s not necessary.”

He wasn’t going to relent, so Melody went ahead with her bed preparations. “Sure. Because at this elevation and this time of the year, the nights are balmy and comfortable.”

He drew the extra jacket out of his backpack and brought it over to the fire. “I know it’s going to get cold. But these sleeping bags are good down to a temperature of twenty degrees. We’ll be fine in our own sacks.”

“As opposed to hitting the sack together,” she drawled.

He muttered something that she couldn’t hear and was fairly certain would only have pissed her off if she had heard. And frankly, with the stars quickly popping out above them and the din of the forest at night settling into her bones, she didn’t want to be angry.

“Suit yourself,” she said. “I assume that the plan here is to get to bed early, sleep as much as possible, and get an early start tomorrow?”

“Exactly.”

She chuckled, then went to grab her backpack, setting it within what would be arm’s distance of Will, once she was snuggled away in her sleeping bag. That done, she sat on top of the bag and took off her boots. Will had turned on one of the battery-operated lanterns they were issued and was deep in concentration, staring at the map once more.

Melody sighed, flicking on her own lamp and rifling through the front pocket of her backpack for the romance novel Howie had packed in there for her. It looked to be something way steamier than she usually read, but hey, beggars couldn’t be choosers. At least it would keep her very, very warm in her lonely sleeping bag. She used some of her extra clothing to make a pillow, then settled in, cracking open the book.

“What are you doing?” Will asked before she could get past the first page.

She looked over the top of the book at him, arching an eyebrow. “I’m sculpting a bust of Elizabeth Haskell.”

Will let out an impatient breath. “No, I mean, didn’t you just say you were going to sleep?”

She shrugged. “The book will put me in the mood.” Her mouth twitched to a grin. “For sleep,” she pretended to clarify.