The Pleasures of Winter by Evie Hunter Page B

place.
    ‘Jack, what are you –?’ Kev was the one who protested. Then he caught sight of something in Jack’s face which silenced him.
    ‘Abbie’s bra is mostly elastic, right? We can jerry-rig it so it will reinforce the sling and hold Zeke’s arm more securely. He has to be able to walk. Let’s face it, he mightn’t be that heavy, but we can’t carry him all the way.’
    Zeke grumbled but he didn’t protest. He was clearly close to his limit. If they had to, he and Kev could carry the older man, but that would leave Abbie trying to clear their path. Though she had offered, and she looked fit, she didn’t have the muscle mass needed to cut a path through the greenery.
    When he was wrestling the plane down, Jack had seen lights on the edge of a lagoon. He had been fighting to keep the plane airborne and not paying a lot of attention to the ground, so he’d only had time for a quick glimpse, but he believed those lights were their best hope. It was too much to hope it would be a proper town, but once they reached any kind of settlement there would be some form of communication so they could call for help. He had noidea how far away it was but calculated two or three days’ trekking. They could do that, he hoped, even with the dangerous lack of provisions and equipment. Kev was the only one who knew how dangerous their position was and agreed to say nothing to the other two for fear of freaking them out. Trekking to the lagoon depended on all four of them being fully mobile. Zeke had to be able to walk if they were to make it out of there.
    ‘Your bra, Abbie,’ Jack said. ‘We need it.’ He spoke calmly, but his voice left her in no doubt he meant it. They didn’t have time to deal with a lot of female fussing and arguing.
    She looked from Jack to Zeke and back again. ‘Oh, very well,’ she said, surprising him, and awakening speculation that he would prefer to ignore. ‘But you’ll all have to turn your backs.’
    He nodded. He would allow her that much. When he turned, the sound of rustling went on for far longer than he would have expected, and allowed his imagination to roam free. ‘Kevin, eyes front,’ she said sharply.
    ‘Spoilsport,’ Kev muttered. Jack decided that he was going to beat up his old friend soon. How dare he try to sneak a peek at Abbie? Then he imagined her nimble fingers unfastening button after button. The shirt sliding off her shoulders, exposing soft pale skin. The lacy bra underneath. Was it a front or a back fastener? Back, he decided, and visualized Abbie reaching behind to open it, the movement pushing her breasts forward as if they were begging for his touch. The bra opening, the straps falling down her arms, before Abbie removed the scrap of lingerie and finally revealed her breasts to his eager eyes. Eachone would be a round handful, trembling slightly with each breath she took, and tipped with pale pink nipples. They’d be soft when she took off the bra, but they would tighten up once they were exposed to the air, and to his eyes. She would stretch, put her arms back, making them rise up level with his mouth. He would –
    His erection pressed against the front of his jeans.
Relax. Think of something else. Insects. Think of eating larvae.
That did it. By the time Abbie said, ‘Here it is,’ and handed her bra to him, he was in command of himself again.
    The sight of the lacy pink garment she held out almost shattered his calm, and the slight trace of Abbie’s distinctive scent added to his problems.
    ‘Good girl,’ he said automatically. She gave him a look that would curdle milk, but he thought her breathing had deepened. God, he had to stop this.
    ‘Stop glaring,’ he told her. ‘You’ve got a face like a slapped arse when you do that.’
    ‘A WHAT?’ If anything her glare darkened and her eyes glittered dangerously.
    Kev guffawed. ‘Don’t mind Jack. He’s got foot-in-mouth disease.’
    Abbie moved to pull her bra back, but Jack snatched it out of