Gingerbread Man

warning, he pushed her hair aside, and probed a spot on her head, above her left ear. She sucked in a breath, and he muttered a curse.
    "It's not bad," she said weakly.
    "You haven't seen the lump. You must have hit something on the way in. Probably the same rock the boat hit."
    She lifted her brows. But she wasn't thinking about the lump on her head. She was remembering what had almost happened in the boat—what had been about to happen when the wind had kicked up.
    "Why are you looking at me like that?"
    She shook her head, shoved the memory away, or tried to. "We'll freeze to death out here if we don't do something, Vince. We can't stay out here all night soaking wet."
    Vince met her eyes, then quickly looked away. "Let's start walking. We'll find a house, a road, something sooner or later." He took her arm, started off through the woods, picking his way.
    She walked beside him, but a new chill was settling over her now. "What if it was him? What if he's the one who put the light out on the shore, knowing this storm was about to kick up?"
    "We can't be sure of that." He laced his fingers with hers, and stepped over stumps and brush, between limbs. "You're borrowing trouble, Red. For all we know the light blew on its own."
    "That light hasn't gone out in five years, Vince."
    "Then it was due."
    "No. It was deliberate." She looked around. "And if the bastard saw us, he probably has a better idea where we are than we do right now."
    Vince picked up the pace a little. "It doesn't matter. Even if that was true, by the time he came looking, we'd be long gone. Holed up someplace warm and dry, I hope."
    She stopped walking. "Wait, there's lightning again."
    She climbed up on a stump, looking out toward the water, waiting for the lightning to flash a second time. When it did, her face was more intense than any he'd ever seen as she studied the lake in that instant. Reaching for his shoulder, she got back down. She wobbled a little, and he steadied her.
    She pointed. "That way's south. I'm afraid we're miles from anywhere, Vince. We came across the southern tip of the lake. To get back to town, we have to hike all the way around it." She started walking.
    Vince fell into pace beside her. "There's got to be something between here and there. A house, a hunting shack, anything."
    She shook her head. "The closest house is Reggie's place, and that's at least a few miles. If we make it that far, we can make it home. There's a shortcut through the woods past Reggie's place. From it we can get to Uncle Marty and Aunt Jen's, or keep going just a little farther to the cabins." Even as she finished saying it, her foot, numb with cold, hooked on a stump and she fell face first to the ground.
    Vince knelt beside her, helped her sit up. "You okay?"
    "Yeah, I just tripped. I'm fine." But she was shaking all over, and none too steady on her feet. She was worried about the pain in her head. She'd hit it hard in the lake, and she was still feeling dizzy and weak. It wasn't going away as she'd hoped it would.
    "To hell with this," Vince muttered. Before she knew what he was thinking, he scooped her up into his arms. Then he resumed walking through the woods, carrying her now.
    "Vince, that's really chivalrous and all, but come on... put me down."
    "You're injured."
    "I'm freezing. At least walking will warm me up."
    "I will warm you up." He tightened his arms around her as he said it, and she felt his body heat slowly seeping through their wet clothes, into her skin where her body rested against his. She couldn't help snuggling closer. She didn't feel the least bit embarrassed about pressing as close to him as she could manage. She wrapped her arms around his neck to anchor herself as he walked. And his body grew warmer as they progressed through the trees.
    "Do you really think there's a chance that light went out by accident, Vince? Or are you just trying not to frighten me?"
    "Good question. I'm not real sure myself right now."
    She closed her eyes, opened them again slowly. "You were... giving me mouth-to-mouth when I came around."
    "Best part of the whole trip." He said it lightly, like a teasing joke between friends, but the words made her stomach clench into a knot.
    "You saved my life, Vince."
    "You saved both our lives. If you hadn't been so stubborn about the life jackets, I doubt either one of us would have made it to shore."
    The wind picked up force, raking her wet clothes like a blast of ice. A shiver jostled her body, and his