Can't Forget You

by Rachel Lacey

  “Okay.”

  He showed her how to build a fire-safe perimeter and gather the necessary kindling and wood to get started. “Best-case scenario, you’ve got matches in your pack.”

  “Worst case?”

  “You can use the battery in your cell phone, or any battery really.” He demonstrated with an old battery he kept in his backpack for just this reason, creating a spark but extinguishing it before it caught fire.

  “Whoa,” Jess said, looking impressed. “That looks so much easier than rubbing two sticks together.”

  “Yeah, that doesn’t really work, not for most people anyway. I’ll show you a few more fire-starting tricks after we eat.”

  They sat and ate their dinner—such as it was—on a rock beside the stream. Then he stored their trash in a bear-proof container inside his backpack.

  “Something else I should have?”

  “If you’ve got food and plan on camping in one place for a few days. Black bears don’t usually mess with us, but if you leave food or trash around, they’re going to come investigate, and that’s not something we want.”

  “So are you going to show me how to eat tree bark now?” she asked with a smile.

  “Sure thing.” He walked to a nearby pine tree. “What you want is the inner bark.” He pulled out a pocket knife and cut away a rectangle of brown bark, revealing the soft, yellowish layer beneath. “This stuff.” He cut away a piece and handed it to her. “It’s got protein, carbs, and some other nutrients too.”

  “Hmm.” She sniffed it and then gave him a funny smile as she put it in her mouth.

  “Chew it really well before you swallow,” he told her before popping a piece in his own mouth. The bark was thick and chewy, without much flavor. He chewed it until it had softened then swallowed.

  Jess did the same. “That tasted like…well, like tree bark,” she said with a laugh.

  “But if you were starving, it would fill you up and give you some decent nutrition in the process.”

  “And I had no idea it was edible.”

  “You can eat acorns too.”

  Her eyes widened. “Really?”

  “Yep. Not raw, though. They’ll give you an awful stomachache…or worse. You’ve got to shell them, then soak them in warm water for a few hours until they’ve lost their bitterness. Boiling them is best, if you have a fire going. If not, you can set them in some water in the sun, but it will take longer and your results won’t be quite as good. Once you’ve done that, you can roast them. They’re not half-bad.”

  “Huh. You learn something new every day.” Jess glanced around at the many acorns littering the forest around them.

  He spent the next hour showing her more food sources and other survival tips. She was limping—just slightly—but even so, it was all he could do not to use the sat phone to call Ethan and have him meet them out here with the Jeep.

  “You ready to pitch the tent?” he asked after he’d finished teaching her everything she needed to know.

  She nodded, her cheeks flushed from the cool mountain air. “You don’t share a tent with your other students, do you?”

  “Never.”

  She took his hands, going up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Good.”

  “And just so you know, nothing else I have planned for tonight is anything I do with my other students either.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  They got home midmorning on Tuesday. Rather than using their compass to hike over to the main trail in Haven like they’d planned, they’d backtracked to the access road where Ethan had dropped them off yesterday to get picked up. Mark had insisted.

  And even though Jessica wanted to protest, she hadn’t. The truth was that her knee hurt. It was still swollen, and Mark’s words yesterday stuck uncomfortably in her gut. What if her joint pain was another symptom? What if she’d never injured her knee at all?

  Ethan and Mark dropped her off at home before heading to Off-the-Grid. Since it was her day off, she went inside for a nice hot shower and a nap. When she woke, it was past noon, and she was in no hurry to get out of bed. Instead, she opened her laptop and went over the proposals from the three contractors she’d seen for her spa cabins. Melissa Gormier’s quote had fallen in the middle, cost-wise. But her rendering for the spa cabins was Jessica’s favorite, and her quote was within the budget. Plus Jessica felt like Melissa really got her vision for the cabins.

  Okay, apparently she’d already made up her mind. She called Melissa and left a voice mail. Then she spent the rest of the afternoon running errands and catching up on all the other chores she’d fallen behind on.

  The next day, she worked a full day at the spa. At lunchtime, she caught up with Melissa and made things official. The excitement over taking this next step put a spring in her step for the rest of the day. She was still tired, still achy, but these were things she was going to have to get used to. She could work through it. She had no other choice. Even if it meant ignoring that little voice in the back of her mind that said she was being foolish to move forward with the expansion while her health was still up in the air.

  By seven o’clock, she was in her office, finishing up paperwork. When she peeked out, she saw that the lights up front were off. She was the last one here. And Nicole’s advice was still ringing in her ears. Give him a spa treatment. She was in the mood to celebrate after hiring a contractor to build her cabins. And she hadn’t seen Mark in more than twenty-four hours.

  She pulled out her phone and texted him. You busy?

  No, he replied. As succinct in text messaging as he was in person.

  Meet me here at the spa in fifteen minutes. She tucked her phone back into her purse and went down the hall to get a room ready for him. She lit some frankincense in the incense burner, set towels and oils to warm, and started the music. She’d never given a “happy ending” massage before, but tonight…

  Oh, tonight, she’d make sure Mark finished happy. Very happy. And then they’d soak in one of the natural hot tubs together. Grinning like a fool, she headed toward the front door.

  Mark stood outside, wearing jeans and a black jacket, his expression guarded. “Everything okay?”

  “Everything is great.” She tugged him inside and locked the door behind him. “You got to show off for me with your survival skills class. Now I’m going to show off my skills to you.”

  His expression turned wary. “How so?”

  “I’m going to give you a massage.”

  “Nope.” He made to turn around and leave, but she grabbed his hand, dragging him away from the door. And he let her. She was under no illusion that he couldn’t have pulled free and left at any moment if he’d truly wanted to.

  “No one’s here. We have the whole place to ourselves, and I’ll make sure you enjoy yourself. I promise.”

  “The spa’s not really my thing.”

  “I know that.” She went up on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss. “You trust me, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Okay then.” She led him down the hall to the room she’d prepared. “You’re going to strip down, climb up on that table, and cover yourself with the sheet. Or, you know, leave the sheet off if you prefer.” She winked.

  Mark stared at her, hands in his pockets, expression unreadable.

  “I’m going to get ready.” She turned and went to the back of the room. Normally, this was when she’d leave her client alone to get undressed. But this was Mark, and he didn’t need privacy to undress. The question was, would he undress?

  Sure enough, as she prepared her oils, she heard him shuffling around behind her and then the creak of the massage table as he climbed on.

  Yes.

  She rubbed the warmed massage oils into her hands and turned. Mark lay facedown on the table, the sheet thrown loosely over his lower half, hiding his bare ass from her view. She dimmed the lights and walked over to him. She could feel the tension vibrating off him before she’d even touched him. “Relax, Mark. You’re going to enjoy this
.”

  He made a noncommittal grunt.

  She smiled as she touched her fingertips to his shoulders. Oh yeah, he was tense. She feathered her touch over his shoulder blades, gradually increasing the pressure as she located the knots of tension in his muscles.

  He said nothing, made no sound at all as she worked, but after a few minutes massaging his neck and shoulders, he was feeling pretty relaxed, if his muscles were any indication. There was no faking the fact that the tension had leaked out of him. The knots in his muscles eased. His breathing grew slow and deep as Jess made her way down his back.

  She took her time on his lumbar muscles, kneading deep into the soft tissue there, admiring his strength as she released his stress. She allowed her fingers to slide below the sheet, skimming over his ass as she headed for his quads.

  Mark sucked in a breath. “You touch all your clients this way?”

  “Only you,” she whispered as she sank her fingers into his hamstrings. She worked her way down the backs of his legs.

  Mark had lapsed back into silence, his breathing slow and deep, his muscles loose and relaxed.

  “You can roll over now.”

  He moved slowly, turning over on the table. She handed him a pillow to put below his head and another to go below his knees. As he settled into position, the sheet still covering his hips, she broke into a huge grin. There was no hiding the tent in the sheet.

  Mark was already fully aroused.

  A warm ache settled between her thighs as she worked her way over his chest, moving ever closer toward the promised land. She massaged her way over his pecs and slid down his abs, allowing her fingers to skim over the sheet. He was rock hard beneath it.

  She bent her head and traced her tongue over his length. His cock jerked beneath the sheet, surging harder still. Smiling, she tugged the sheet down, letting it fall to the floor.

  The sight of Mark on her table, naked and hard as steel, was possibly the most erotic thing she’d ever seen. “I’m going to enjoy this so much,” she whispered as she took him in her mouth.

  He let out a groan, and his hands fisted in her hair.

  She traced her tongue over the head of his cock and then sucked him in deep. Mark’s hips rose up off the table, and she would have given anything to see the expression on his face right then. She sucked hard, sliding up and down his shaft, taking him all the way to the back of her throat. Her tongue pressed against the vein that ran below his cock, pulsing with his arousal. She kept going, sucking harder each time, reveling in the way his hips thrust against her, his breathing grew ragged, and his fingers clenched in her hair.

  Yes. Yes. Yes.

  He tensed beneath her. She took him all the way in and sucked, hard. His whole body jerked as he came in a hot, salty spurt. She stroked him with her tongue and swallowed, urging him on.

  “Fuck.” His hips jerked again, and he was still coming.

  She sucked out every drop of his pleasure, finally releasing him after he’d collapsed in a limp heap on the table.

  “Holy shit, Jess.”

  “Good?” she asked, kissing her way up his stomach and over his chest.

  “Guess now I get the fuss about those happy ending massages.” He smiled, hauling her up on the table beside him.

  “I’ve never given one before,” she admitted as she sprawled awkwardly across the top of him. These tables were definitely not made for two.

  “Good.” His arm tightened around her, so possessive and secure.

  She pressed her cheek against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart as it gradually slowed from a gallop to a trot.

  “Gotta say, I’m not sure I’ve ever been this relaxed,” he said finally.

  Indeed, as she traced her hands over him, his muscles felt like butter beneath her touch. If only the same could be said about her…That restless ache still throbbed inside her, and oh, she couldn’t wait to get him in the hot tub.

  His hand slid down her side and inside her pants. Now it was her turn to squirm.

  “Christ, Jess. You’re so wet,” he rasped as he stroked her with his fingers.

  “I enjoyed your happy ending massage almost as much as you did.” Her hips moved in time with his fingers as the slow burn inside her burst into flames.

  “Almost isn’t good enough.”

  “No?” She gasped as the pad of his thumb scraped over her clit, sending a shockwave of sensation through her.

  “No.” And he made good on his word as his fingers stroked and plunged, driving her right over the edge.

  She tensed as the orgasm ripped through her, rocking her with waves of blissful release.

  “That’s more like it,” Mark said, his voice low and gruff.

  “Yes,” she whispered, breathless.

  His cock pressed into her thigh, already semi-hard again. “Okay so the spa isn’t all bad.”

  “Wait until you see what’s next.” She lifted her head to smile at him, and her heart melted at the expression on his face.

  Fierce. Protective. Smoldering hot.

  “There’s more?” His smile was wicked.

  “Much more.”

  * * *

  Mark walked across a covered patio behind the spa, following Jess as she led him past a row of hot tubs. Privacy screens were set up on either side of the tubs, which would offer guests a private setting to soak while still enjoying uninterrupted views of the spa grounds beyond. Tonight, he didn’t give a shit about privacy because he and Jess had the place to themselves. And after the way his massage had turned out, he was more than happy to indulge whatever she had planned for him next.

  “You know what makes these hot tubs special, right?” she asked, glancing at him over her shoulder.

  “You?” Because anything Jess created was special, as far as he was concerned.

  She swatted at his arm with a smile. “The natural hot springs.”

  “Oh. Right.” He had known that, and it was pretty cool that she’d been able to tap into the hot springs.

  “They’re full of all kinds of minerals and natural elements that help cleanse and heal your body.” She kept walking once they’d reached the end of the patio, following a flagstone path that led toward a gazebo at the back of the spa’s grounds.

  He followed her, somewhat disappointed that they wouldn’t be sharing one of the natural hot tubs together even though, an hour ago, he would have sworn on his life that he’d never voluntarily step foot inside a spa let alone want to soak in one of its tubs. Apparently, Jess could convince him to do just about anything.

  They walked to the gazebo, which turned out to be some sort of seating area with robes, towels, a private changing area, and even a bathroom. On the far side of it, facing the forest beyond and hidden from view of the rest of the spa, was a natural rock formation. It was hard to make out in the dim light, but it seemed to form a sort of natural pool.

  “This,” Jess said, turning to face him, “is the Crown Jewel of my spa tubs.”

  “I’d say so.” He stepped past her for a closer look. The stone was hollowed out, forming a natural pool that beckoned under the silvery light of the moon. “Was this already here?”

  She nodded. “I improved on what nature had given us. We enlarged the pool, smoothed it out, and carved some seating around the perimeter, but Mother Nature keeps it full. Ready to take a dip?”

  “Yeah.” He pulled her up against him for a lengthy kiss, helping her scramble out of her spa uniform. He wore only his jeans, which he’d hastily buttoned to follow her outside. She released them now, sliding them down his legs.

  “Will this be your first time?” she asked with a playful wink.

  “Huh?” He was distracted by the feel of her naked body against his.

  “In a hot tub.”

  He nodded. He’d never been anywhere that had them, nor had he ever felt any inclination to sit in a tub full of swirling hot water. But right now? It sounded like heaven.

  Jess led him over to the side of the rock, and
together they climbed in. The water swirled up over him, hot and bubbly. It didn’t have the chlorinated smell of pool water. This tub smelled fresh and clean like the mountain spring that fed it.

  “What do you think?” Jess asked as she settled in beside him.

  “I like it.” The edge of the rock had a bench seat carved into it, and he sat.

  She twisted her hair up on top of her head, tied it, and then sank down onto the seat next to him. The water reached her chin. She closed her eyes and leaned back, a blissful look on her face. A light from the gazebo area provided a faint glow over the rock tub, but not enough to illuminate their bodies beneath the black surface of the water.

  Mark wished for daylight so that he could have seen her better, but daylight meant the spa would be open to the public. So he’d take the darkness because it meant he got to have the spa, and Jess, all to himself.

  “It’s so peaceful,” she whispered, her eyes still closed.

  It really was. The water here didn’t pound out of man-made jets. It swirled gently over him, steadily moving, leaving behind a misty spray on his face.

  “I’ve been doing this a lot at night,” she said softly. “Kind of a natural detox for whatever’s going on inside me.”

  “That’s a good idea.” He wasn’t as holistic as she was, but he believed in the healing power of nature, and the mineral water swirling around them couldn’t be anything but good for her.

  “Might be wishful thinking, but I always feel a little bit better after a long soak.”

  “How’s the knee?” he asked.

  “Still sore. I’ll mention it to my doctor the next time I go in.”

  He tightened his arms around her, wishing more than anything that he could take it all away and make her better. Unfortunately, life didn’t work that way.

  She scooted closer, and her hand skimmed up his thigh. “I’ve always wanted to have sex in here.”

  “Is that allowed?” His dick surged from half-mast to full attention at the proximity of her hand.