"I hope so."
Clay pushed aside a branch for me. "Watching you with Savannah, I was thinking--"
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"Good. Don't."
"I was just thinking--"
"No kids."
He laughed and put his arm around me. "That sounds definite."
"It is. Me as a mother?" I shuddered. "I can only imagine one thing worse. You as a father."
"Thanks a hell of a lot. I'd make a ... fairly good father. And if not, there's Jeremy. He's a great parent. He'd compensate for my shortcomings."
"Great idea. We have the kids and dump the responsibility on him. He'd love that."
"He wouldn't mind."
I groaned. "No kids."
Clay walked a few more feet, then grinned. "Hey, you know what else? If we had children, you couldn't leave. You'd be stuck with me. Now there's a thought."
"You--that's--oh!"
I threw up my hands and stomped off. Clay's laugh echoed through the forest. He jogged up, swung me off the ground, and tickled me.
"I'm hiding my birth control pills," I said, gasping for breath.
"We'll discuss it later."
"Nev--"
He cut me off with a kiss. A few minutes later, there came a rustling in the bushes.
"They're kissing." A young voice. Savannah.
I twisted to see Jeremy yank Savannah back. Then he peered through the bushes.
"Oh, you're dressed," he said, and released Savannah.
I wriggled out of Clay's grasp. "Of course we're dressed. Since when have we ever stopped in the middle of a dangerous situation to have"--I glanced at Savannah--"a rest."
Jeremy rolled his eyes.
"Did you kill Winsloe?" Savannah asked.
"Kill--" I choked. "Um, no, we--uh--"
"He's been taken care of," Jeremy said. "Now I think we should get you back to Paige before--"
"There you are!" Paige said, bursting through the bushes, face glistening with sweat. "I told you to stay close."
"I did stay close," Savannah said. "You didn't say who I had to stay close to."