Chapter 11
Penny
The last time I even stepped in the car was for Brent’s funeral. There are still tissues on the floorboard, stained with my tears from that day. Seeing those nearly stop me dead. My brain tells me to just head back in the house. That this week was a mistake, a blip in the life I’ve carved out for myself amidst all the misery and death and loss. But then I remember how Roy told me that all of this was Brent’s idea. That his last wish was for Roy to check up on me. But maybe Brent saw more than either of us realized. Maybe he knew Roy would need me as much as I need him.
The drive takes me right past Brent’s favorite restaurant. Or, at least, where it used to be. In the past six months that I haven’t dared venture outside, the building has been boarded up, a sign hanging over the windows letting the public know that the once local hot spot for fried chicken is now under construction and slated to become yet another fast food franchise. I almost smirk thinking of what Brent would say if he could see this. How he would probably joke about getting in touch with the old owners and obtaining their secret recipe. How he would come up with goofy names for the restaurant we could open together using this recipe.
But Brent isn’t here anymore. It's something that even six months later I sometimes forget. I’m alone in this world. Or at least I was until Roy showed up. For the first time in too long I had someone to eat meals with. We watched television together and even when we were simply cohabitating silently, each focused on our own thing, his presence brought with it comfort.
I turn off the highway and into the state park, past the Welcome Center and the public camping grounds with tents and RVs. I keep driving until the asphalt gives way to gravel. When the road up ahead ends in a grassy plain, I’m sure that I’ve missed him. Read the map I found on his bed wrong. Or maybe he decided to simply keep driving. And that’s it. He’ll be gone from my life forever.
Then there he is. Just getting out of his truck.
I whip my car up next to his and leap out, straight into his arms. I don’t even know what I’m saying as I just unload all my pent-up thoughts and worries. When he pulls away, I’m sure that he’s going to shake his head and disappear into the mountains.
“You’ll find someone better than me. Someone less broken,” is what he ends up saying.
I shake my head violently. “I don’t want someone better. I want you.”
He lets out a sad little exhale. “You don’t want me.”
Taking his hands in mine, I pull myself closer until our bodies are just touching. “But I do. And I know that you’re broken. I can’t even imagine what going through all of that with your ex must have felt like. What it must still feel like. The way I see it, though, is that we’re both broken. But I think that maybe our shattered pieces can line up perfectly with each other. That’s what I feel, at least.”
He squeezes my hands. Looks into my eyes. “Would it be weird to say that you two have the same eyes? I noticed it the first day we met.”
“A little,” I reply. “But people used to say it all the time. It’s nice hearing it again.”
Now is a good time for a kiss, but he wraps me in a hug instead. And it’s even better. We hold each other like that for several minutes, which wouldn’t seem that long in other contexts, like watching a show or driving a car, but three minutes of just holding someone you care about feels wonderfully long. It helps that we’re in a secluded patch of grass, far from signs of civilization and other people. No distractions. No sounds but birds fluttering about from tree to tree, calling out to one another, playing their own complicated game of tag.
Roy pulls away first, but his hands linger on my side.
“I wish I could come home with you, but—”
“No buts. You can’t leave. I thought we just went through this.”
The smile that has spread across his face hides the joy of an inside joke only he knows. He squeezes me. “I don’t mean that. Of course, I’ll come back with you. But not tonight. I just can’t.” A glance up at the sky reminds me of the night before. The good and the bad.
“The fireworks,” I say more to myself. “That’s right. I forgot that today is the fourth.” A glance at his pack and another to my side where the trail begins. “What if I come with you?”
Roy’s eyebrows react to this first, rising up his forehead. “Do you even like camping?”
“No. But I like you. And I can’t imagine spending the night alone thinking that you’re alone too. Besides, what are you going to do if some kids decide to launch a few bottle rockets out here?”
He tilts his head to the side, considering this. “My tent is pretty small.”
“That’s fine.”
“Tiny, actually.”
“Even better.”
Roy bends down and envelops me in a breathtaking kiss. When he pulls away, I can feel the flush blooming across my cheeks. “That’s for you to remember when you’re hungry and sweating in the humid night air tonight, wishing you had never met me.”
“I’ll never wish that,” I say. But then with a second thought, I add, “Is it really that humid at night?”
He laughs, adjusts the pack on his back, and takes my hand in his.
When I ask him if there are bears in the mountains, his laughter silences the wildlife for a few seconds. Then the flurry of life picks up again and we’re climbing away from civilization. Just two broken people whose ragged edges happen to match perfectly.
Chapter 12
Roy
The fireworks are distant enough that their colorful bursts can be seen but not heard. Not through the unceasing buzz of crickets chirping and frogs calling out for love. Not through the crackle of the fire that Penny insisted I make, despite the sheer heat of the summer, claiming that camping isn’t camping without a fire. And though the tent’s thin fabric keeps the rest of the world out, I’m sure that the way it’s currently shaking would leave little to the imagination of anyone looking on. That’s not even taking into account the fact that Penny’s moans are loud enough to hear over any of the forest’s other creatures.
“Oh, god,” she says, biting her lower lip and digging her nails into my chest. She’s on top at my insistence. I didn’t bring a sleeping mat of any sort, and the ground is far too hard for a camping virgin to sleep on, much less have sex on. “Yes, just like that,” she exclaims as I work my fingers between us, working at her clit while she grinds against me.
We could keep going like this, her riding on top of me until we both cum, but I want to give her a break from doing all the work. She’s already worked up quite a sweat, with the inside of this tent starting to feel like a sauna.
When I pull myself into a sitting position, Penny instinctively wraps her legs around my waist, sitting on my lap and continuing to ride me. Reaching behind her, I unzip the tent flap, and with a push from both my arms and legs, I lean forward and stand, clearing the door and carrying Penny into the fresh air.
“What are you doing?” she asks between kisses.
I’m still inside of her, waddling to the nearest tree. Leaning my back against it, I readjust my grip on her. Her legs are hooked over my forearms, which are bearing her weight. This means I have total control. It’s time to put all that muscle I earned in the military to good use.
Penny’s eyes go wide with the first thrust. Gone is the grinding from her being on top. Gone is my timidity from our first time in the bathroom. Now we’re nothing but a couple more wild animals, writhing against each other, shrieking into the air. Her breasts rub against my chest. Her hair falls behind her as she leans back, allowing guttural moans to fall from her lips. Then we’re cumming together, my legs shivering so that I can barely hold the both of us up any longer.
I manage to shift her weight around so that I’m cradling her body against mine, even as I feel her breathing out sighs of pure relief at the release she just experienced. I lay her back in the tent and then pull her against me. It’s not terribly comfortable, even for me, but she do
esn’t complain.
“I definitely want to try that again,” she purrs against my neck.
“With pleasure.”
“Do you think we can do this at least once a month?”
My eyebrows rise. “Personally, I was hoping for closer to a few times a week, but—”
She slaps my arm. “Not that. I mean this.” She motions around the tent. Then she groans and rubs at her side. “Though I think we’ll need to invest in an air mattress for the future.”
“I thought you weren’t interested in camping.”
“I wasn’t. But this is nice. Far away from everyone. Just you and me. It’s almost like we’re the last people on earth.”
I kiss behind her ear, and she tucks herself further against me at the ticklish touch. “That would be okay with you? If you were stuck alone with me forever?”
Penny yawns. The same exhaustion sweeping over my consciousness seems to have a grip on hers as well. “As long as you keep making French toast for me, forever sounds perfect.”
Despite the root poking into my hipbone. Despite the humidity leaving a sticky residue on every square inch of my skin. And despite the fireworks going off in the distance, I sleep better that night than I have in years. Because every time I open my eyes, Penny is still right there.
The Nude Artists Series
The Nude Painter
The Nude Writer
The Nude Musician
More Sweet, Sexy Shorts
A Drink in London
The Kitten Next Door
Road Trip Romance
The Rebound Bet
Kaylee Spring writes what she loves: steamy romance that ends happily ever after, but not before exploring unexpected paths and lusty embraces. She lives and writes in the South with her husband, two cats, and a growing collection of books.
A Sweet, Sexy Collection 1: 5 Insta-love, New Adult, Steamy Romance Novellas (Sweet, Sexy Shorts) Page 25
