A Baby for the Snow Beast

Chapter 5: Girl Scout Qualifications

SHANA

The silence between us lingers so long embarrassment worms its way through me. Our fingers are still entwined, the surprising strength of his hand overwhelming my much smaller one. Heat colors my cheeks. I drop my gaze. "Body heat," I blurt. "I'm experienced in survival techniques from...the Girl Scouts."

It's the lamest of excuses. Hearing myself say the words makes it worse. My cheeks burn. It's not quite a lie, but it's far enough from the truth that I have to keep talking so I won't confess how full of it I am. "When I was eight," I say, because I can't seem to shut up, "we learned about how necessary body heat is when you're in a survival situation and exposed to the elements."

If Penn were human, he'd laugh me right out of this cave. But he isn't, and his brow furrows as he takes my words to heart. I feel a little guilty, but I don't want him to leave. His presence makes me feel safe. Safe in a way Vinnie never could.

One day, I'll take that thought out and examine it the way it needs to be, but for now, Penn is here, and so am I, and there's a blistering, deadly storm outside.

I don't want to be alone, but I realize more than that, I don't want him to go. I'd come up with whatever wild tall tale I could if I could get him to step away from the entrance. The wind was closer here, howling like a beast through the mountains. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of being buried in it. If Penn hadn't been there...

His voice shakes me out of my thoughts. "I find it strange that humans would send their young to fight wars. Our scouts require years of intensive training in the art of stealth and battle before we send them out on missions." He gives me an odd look. "Humans are a strange breed with curious customs."

He thinks we're strange? Like I wasn't sitting here talking to a Snow Beast? But I could see his point.

I blink as a strangled noise escapes me. "What. No! War?" I shake my head. "Cookies," I say, chagrin making me dip my head. I'm close to cracking up at my idiocy, but I don't want him to leave, so I try to salvage it, even though every word feels like I'm digging my grave of humiliation even deeper. "Girl Scouts don't fight wars. They make...cookies."

"Cookies." Penn's voice is deadpan.

"Yes. In really cold kitchens, so they learn how to survive subzero temperatures." I chew on the side of my lip and keep my expression as earnest as possible. The fashion industry required me to be quick on my feet, and usually, I'm better at it, but the universe seriously needed to give me a break. I'd been cheated on, ran out of a wedding, almost died in a snowstorm, and wound up in a cave after being rescued by a handsome, intelligent Yeti. This was the best I could do.

His eyebrows hitch, and he gives me a long look like he's trying to figure out if I'm bullshitting him.

Which, I am. But if he stays, it's worth it.

I wait to see if he's willing to bite. If he doesn't, I'm not sure I could come up with something else as wild as Girl Scouts encouraging human/Yeti body heat contact.

"Of course," he says after a beat. "My kind has no metric for measuring the cold. We're born in it and die in it as well. It's part of who we are. Our bodies are built to withstand blizzard conditions and below-freezing temperatures." Penn shakes his head. "If the human scout children's wisdom dictates the use of body heat to survive, then I'll stay a little longer. Only until the storm dies down." He looks away, an emotion I can't name flashing in his eyes. Does he wish for the storm to drag on a little longer like I do? I shake the thought away. Of course he doesn't. That would be crazy. Wouldn't it?

A traitorous, selfish part of me wants him all to myself. Just for a little while longer. There's nothing wrong with that, is it? Going back to the real world can wait for a bit more.