Either way, I press closer, burrowing into his chest like he's a furnace I'm trying to crawl inside.
"You're s-still an asshole," I mutter against his neck, teeth chattering. "Making me s-sit out there forf-fucking everbefore you'd g-get in the car."
"You're the one who sat down in the mud."
"You were already t-there!"
"I didn't ask you to join me."
"Yeah, well, too b-bad." My fingers find the fabric of his shirt, clinging to it like a half-drowned koala. "You're s-stuck with me now."
His hand shifts on my back, trying to find a position that doesn't press against the wet fabric bunched at my waist, and his palm grazes the side of my breast.
He jerks back like I burned him.
"Sorry—" The word comes out strangled. "I didn't mean to?—"
"Rex. Relax. It's just a boob."
But he's gone rigid against me, his control slamming back into place so fast I can almost hear it. His arm hovers somewhere behind my shoulder blades, not touching, like he's suddenly terrified of where his hands might land.
"Oh mygods." I grab his wrist and physically place his hand back on my shoulder blade. "I'm not going to break. I'm not going to sue you. Just…"
"You don't understand." His voice is barely above a whisper.
"Then explain it to me."
He doesn't answer. His hand stays where I put it, but he's holding himself so carefully still that he might as well not be touching me at all.
"Rex."
Nothing.
"Rex."
"I don't—" He stops. Swallows. When he speaks again, the words sound like they're being dragged out of him with hooks. "I don't know how to do this."
"Do what? Share body heat? It's not complicated. You just?—"
"Any of it."
I tuck my head under his chin, settling back against him. "Just hold still and let me leech your body heat. That's the only assignment right now."
A pause. Then, so quiet I almost miss it, "Okay."
I don't respond to that. He doesn't say anything else either. Just holds me tighter, one hand rubbing slow, awkward circles on my back through the blanket like he doesn't know what else to do with me. The motion is almost gentle. Completely at odds with everything I know about him.
Maybe he really has lost his mind.
The shivering starts to ease after a few minutes. The combination of body heat, blanket, and the car's heater finally penetrating through the layers of cold that had settled into my bones. I can feel my fingers again. My toes. My brain is starting to function normally instead of in the sluggish, hypothermic haze of before.
"I'm going to find you something dry," Rex says eventually, and his voice is different now. Quieter. "Stay here."
He extracts himself carefully, making sure the blanket stays tucked around me, and climbs out of the car. I hear the trunk open. Rummaging. Then he's back, shoving clothes through the gap between the front seats.
"Hoodie. Sweats. They'll be huge on you, but they're dry."
I take them with hands that are finally steady. "Thanks," I mutter.