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were very thick. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to
sleep here, and almost regretted asking to come on this mission.
    “ How are you holding up?” he asked gently.
    She
hadn’t been alone with him for any length of time since Saturday morning in her
apartment, and an overwhelming nostalgia for her home and job washed over her.
She had to keep it together for her father’s sake. She couldn’t simply sit
around and wait for someone to find him. “I’m fine.”
    He
raised his brows. “That’s it? You’re fine? Nothing else to say?”
    “ It’s a bit overwhelming.” She cut her gaze toward the
closed door. “Won’t they be looking for us?”
    “ No.”
    “ They’re making food.”
    “ Cold sandwiches and warmed up soup. It can wait a few
moments. George won’t be here for a couple of days at least, and we promised
we’d wait for him, so we have plenty of time.” Addison sat down on the cot and
patted the space next to him. “Have a seat. Let’s talk for a while. I’m worried
about you.”
    She
eyed the bed. There was no place else to sit, and if she didn’t do as he asked
and stay to talk he’d think it was odd. She wasn’t prepared to explain why she
was reluctant to be alone in a bedroom with a man. Not under these
circumstances.
    Nadine
sat next to him. He’d worn jeans and a t-shirt under his ski gear, which most
of them had done, but on him it looked better than on any of the others. “Why
are you worried about me?”
    “ Because you’re so quiet.”
    “ Wishing you hadn’t agreed to let me come?”
    He
shook his head. “No, not at all, but the others might wonder if my agreeing to
this was a wise move. Please tell me what’s going through your head. I want to
reassure you if I can, or answer any questions you have.”
    “ That cave run was a bit disconcerting.”
    “ Of course it was. We all feel the same way every time,
I assure you.”
    “ You do?” That surprised her.
    “ Yes. Absolutely. We know each time up here could be
our last. It might not show, but we’re not as foolhardy as you probably think.
We love the challenge of being up here, but we respect what the storms can do.
That’s why we seek shelter instead of trying to outrun them.”
    He
thought her hesitation right now was because of what they’d experienced on the
surface. It would be easy to let him continue along that line of thinking, but
she didn’t want to become the subject of gossip that would make him look bad
among his procurement teams or any of the Storm Troopers. “It’s not only the
storms.”
    “ I suppose all this must be awkward for you. Being
holed up in a bunker with strangers. We know each other so well, but you just
met everyone today. Well, except me of course, but it’s not like you and I have
had extensive conversations all these years.”
    That,
too, would be an easy way out of this. To let him believe she was so quiet
because she was with people she’d only just met. “I know Merrill, too.”
    “ True.”
    “ But overall you’re right. I’m the new kid on the
block.”
    He
nodded several times. “I realize that. I’ll be sure to make an effort to
include you.”
    “ Thank you.” She had to set him straight. They might be
on the surface for weeks, and she couldn’t keep allowing this kind of awkward
conversation to go on. It was already making her feel guilty, and the longer it
went on, the worse she’d feel.
    She
hadn’t stopped thinking about spilling her guts to him since Saturday, so there
must be a damn good reason why she felt compelled to do so. It was time to tell
him what had happened to her, and she’d just have to deal with the
consequences.
     

Chapter
Five
     
    Nadine
realized that she couldn’t hear the group in the other part of the bunker.
Maybe she’d been wrong about the walls here? She and Addison were isolated.
What if no one could hear them, no matter what they said or did in this room?
    As
soon as that thought took shape, she let the erotic images