Beyond Resistance (The Ransom Series)

by A. T. Douglas

“That’s the beauty of it,” I respond. “The rest of the world doesn’t matter out here. Nothing else matters. Where else can you escape it all like that?”

  Lily nods as she takes in the view outside her window. “Point taken. You come here a lot, then?”

  “I’ve spent my fair share of time here,” I reply as I pull the car over at a small widening in the old dirt road. To anyone else there wouldn’t appear to be anything of note here, but I’ve explored this area enough to know there’s a worn path that begins just off this part of the road that will take us to our destination. “This is where our drive ends. We have to walk the rest of the way.”

  “Hence the tennis shoes,” Lily says, clicking her heels together. “I’m glad you convinced me to ditch the sandals today.”

  I beam a smile at her, loving that I’ve planned this day just for us.

  Lily’s eyes suddenly brighten. “And you had me wear a bathing suit. Does that mean what I think it means?”

  I turn off the car and take a moment to soak in Lily’s excitement before I reply. “Perhaps. You’ll just have to wait and see.”

  She bites her lip in anticipation and leans across the center console to kiss me briefly on the cheek. “Show me. I want to see this place of yours.”

  Excitement and nerves pulse through me as we get out of the car and collect our things. It’s a beautiful day, the sun’s warmth blanketing the Earth’s surface through perfectly blue sky. I hear nothing but the sounds of nature around us as I throw on my hiking backpack and sling Lily’s duffel bag over my shoulder.

  When I come around to the front of the car, I see Lily digging in her purse and slipping her hand in her back pocket. “I wasn’t kidding about the knife,” she says with a laugh when she notices me watching her. She grabs her phone and drops the rest of her purse on the floor of the car before nudging the door shut with her hip. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  “This way.” I motion Lily toward a small break between two trees that mark the beginning of the hidden trail. She hesitates and gives me a slightly skeptical look when she sees the path before us. “I’ll be right behind you all the way,” I reassure her.

  “Promise you won’t stab me in the back,” she responds with a deathly serious expression that she can only hold for about a second before her face morphs into a grin.

  I hold up my hand to her. “Pinky swear.”

  She links her pinky with mine. “Good.”

  We make our way into the forest, and despite Lily’s initial reservations about the worn path we’re taking, she quickly warms up to it. I can tell she’s enjoying this just by the amount of energy in each step she takes. Seeing that she’s this excited to experience my favorite place in the world only makes me fall for her more.

  By the time we reach our destination and I see the look of amazement on her face, I know for certain that bringing her here was completely worth it. I’ve dreamed of showing this place to someone other than my parents. Today that dream becomes a reality.

  “Wow.” Lily steps forward toward the water as if the few feet she’s moved will give her a better view of the fifty-foot-high waterfall in front of us. “This is beautiful.”

  The water rushes from the stream above into a wide open pool below, its surface relatively calm and its bottom deeper in the middle than it looks from land.

  “This is only the beginning,” I explain as I step up next to Lily and take her hand in mine, “but this is primarily where we’ll be today. It’s the highlight of what I wanted to show you.”

  Lily pulls me by our connected hands so that I’m facing her. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

  “Thank you for coming with me. I’ve always wanted to bring someone here. I’m glad that person is you.”

  “You’ve never shown this place to anyone?”

  I shake my head. “My parents have seen it before, but that’s it. I’ve never shown it to anyone else or even seen someone else here.”

  A sly look crosses Lily’s face as she glances to the side at the waterfall. “I’ve had something on my bucket list…” she begins to say, but her words quickly turn into unexpected actions as she lets go of my hand and slips off her shoes and socks. Her jean shorts and T-shirt quickly follow, revealing the incredibly sexy black bikini she’s wearing underneath.

  The moment she starts pulling at the strings of the bikini top, I immediately put my hand on top of hers to stop her.

  “What are you doing?” I ask incredulously.

  “We’re going skinny dipping,” she declares, and I’m quite sure my jaw has hit the ground. “Or at least I’m going skinny dipping, but I hope you’ll decide to join me.” She glances down my body until her eyes narrow in on the black swimming trunks I’m already wearing, and I’m immediately grateful they’re black to hide the twitch she just caused in my cock.

  I quickly set down our bags and stand here in disbelief as Lily turns away from me and unties the bikini top, tossing it to the ground just before slipping the bikini bottoms down her slender legs.

  The moment I see the perfect lines of her bare ass, my decision is made. I yank my shirt over my head and pull off my shoes and socks before letting my shorts fall to the dirt.

  Lily doesn’t look back at me as she takes slow but steady steps toward the water. She doesn’t jerk back or otherwise react when her feet enter the pool even though the water has to be cold. Her legs begin to disappear below the surface with each step she takes, and I know this is my cue to join her if I have any shot of getting in the water before she turns around to see me.

  I quickly walk to the edge of the water and take even steps forward, pressing through the water quietly and without splashing so as not to ruin the pristine picture in front of me of Lily’s bare backside disappearing beneath the surface. By the time the water is to her shoulders and she’s clearly lost the bottom of the pool to walk on, my lower half is safely hidden beneath the surface.

  Lily glances back at the shoreline, no doubt noticing my pile of clothes discarded on the dirt, and she smiles broadly as I swim out to her. “Glad you decided to join me.”

  I’m glad this water is so damn cold, because this is definitely the most exciting and stimulating thing I’ve ever done in my life. “How could I miss an opportunity to mark something off your bucket list?”

  “Uh huh. I’m sure that was your only motivation,” she teases before splashing my face with water as she turns away from me.

  I watch in awe as her bare back and ass skim just beneath the surface of the water with each stroke of her arms to swim away. This is completely unexpected and new to me. I have no idea what to do or how to react, so I follow Lily’s lead and swim quietly behind her.

  We’re getting closer to the waterfall when Lily stops and turns to face me. “Have you been behind there before? Is it safe?”

  I nod to her. “The water’s rough where it drops down into the pool, so I’d stay away from there, but the cliff dips in a bit behind the waterfall. We can go back there.” I pick up my pace so that I’m swimming a little ahead of Lily now. “Let me lead the way.”

  When I made the move to get in this position, I didn’t realize that I’d be giving her a view of my bare backside in the same way I was just enjoying watching her, but I find that I don’t really care. This is exhilarating and amazing on so many levels. I just need to roll with it.

  I swim ahead with an occasional glance toward Lily behind me to make sure she’s still okay. She looks more than okay. By the mischievous grin on her face, I can tell she’s enjoying every second of the view she’s getting right now.

  The sound of the water crashing down into the pool gets louder the closer we get to the waterfall. I lead us along the shallow edge of the rocks, avoiding the area where the waterfall meets the pool by a few feet. The space between the rocks and the waterfall widens just a bit more until we’re well into the small cave-like area behind the rushing water.

  “This is amazing,” Lily yells over the echoing sound of the waterfall. To s
ee her excitement in experiencing this for the first time is incredible, almost like I’m experiencing it for my first time, too.

  As she inches away from the rocks and reaches toward the falling water, I find myself instinctively grabbing for her arm to pull her back toward me. “What are you doing?”

  Lily’s bare chest comes crashing into mine, an unintended side effect of my effort to keep her safe from the rushing water, and that’s all the connection it takes for something to spark between us. By the time we both look up from her breasts pressed firmly against my chest, our lips are colliding, our tongues entwining. My hands are all over her back and in her hair as she slowly rocks her body against me and doesn’t let our lips part for more than a second.

  The temperature of the water no longer matters. Nothing can stop the hardening of my cock as Lily’s leg rubs against it with each movement of her body against mine. My hand finds her firm ass, and it only encourages her to rub against me harder and faster until I feel like I might explode from the sexual energy igniting between us.

  I need to feel her. I need her to experience this pleasure she’s giving me in every way possible, so I let my hand travel from her backside to the front, my fingers immediately finding the hidden warmth between her legs. She gasps out as I touch her, and I immediately stop what I’m doing.

  “No,” she breathes out next to my ear as she links her hands behind my neck. “Don’t stop. Please don’t ever stop.”

  That permission is all I need for my fingers to resume their work as Lily clings on to me. I rub her in circles that make her moan into my ear. I can’t help myself as I go a step further, inserting two fingers inside her that cause her to cry out in pleasure.

  “Dante.” She says my name in bliss as I move my fingers in and out of her, savoring the warmth of feeling inside her. I want to hear her moan my name again. I want her to scream it to the fucking world when I make her come.

  As I quicken my pace, Lily’s hips begin to move with me, meeting my fingers with each thrust into her until she’s practically gasping for breath. My name bursts from her lips the moment I feel her tighten around my fingers as she rocks her hips against me, riding out her rush of pleasure while I continue to feel inside her until her movements slow and she collapses her head against my shoulder. I reluctantly remove my fingers and encircle her back with my hands, pulling her completely against me as she takes some time to catch her breath.

  “I’m not done with you,” she finally whispers in my ear.

  Lily pulls back from me and grabs on to a large rock against the solid wall at the back of the waterfall. She hoists herself onto the rock and stands up. Before I can even process the beauty of her wet naked body standing above me, she does something completely unexpected.

  She dives toward the waterfall.

  My heart rate seems to double the moment I see her body moving directly through the cascading water and disappearing beneath the surface on the other side. I’m holding my breath in the two seconds it takes for her head to reemerge. I can barely see through the breaks in the falling water between us, but by the look of elation on her face, she seems to be okay.

  “Your turn!” she yells at me over the cacophony of rushing water between us.

  “You’re crazy!” I yell back, but I find myself climbing onto the same rock as Lily just did a moment ago anyway. I don’t know how much of my naked body she can see through the waterfall, and I honestly couldn’t care less at this moment. Without hesitation I push off from the rock and dive forward into the falling stream of water. It hits me hard as I move through it, but I feel the rush of what I’m doing more than any pain.

  My body plunges into the tumultuous water on the other side, and when I come back up for air only a couple feet from Lily’s grinning face, I match my expression to hers, knowing exactly how she’s feeling at this moment.

  “Incredible, right?”

  “You are incredible,” I reply.

  Lily closes the distance between us and pulls me by the shoulders until our lips are connected once again. She gives me only a tease with her tongue before pressing off from my shoulders and sliding her hand all the way down my arm until her fingers connect with mine. “Come on. I told you I wasn’t done with you yet.”

  I let Lily drag me along through the pool while my thoughts race with what could possibly happen next. All I know is my heart is pulsing with anticipation and excitement. I feel more alive in this moment that I ever have before.

  When we get into the shallower water and our feet easily touch the ground, Lily stops our advance and turns me. As she stands up completely, her chest rises up just enough from the water to expose her breasts. It’s impossible to keep my eyes from their perfectly round shape and their pebbled nipples eagerly poking out toward me.

  “Touch me,” Lily commands as she directs my hand to her breast. “I want you to feel me, Dante.”

  I’m speechless as my hand immediately responds to encompass her breast. The moment I squeeze it in my grasp, I feel Lily’s hand enclose itself around the length of my cock, and it only causes the fire to flare up within me. Any control I had completely disappears as my free hand finds Lily’s other breast, kneading it with urgency and desire as her hand slowly strokes me.

  Within seconds my mouth is devouring her nipple, my lips hungry to draw it out and my tongue desperate to tease it to stay. Lily gasps as she pulls away from me, and I’m immediately concerned that I’ve done something wrong or gone too far.

  “What is it?” I ask with concern.

  She doesn’t say a word but grabs my hand and pulls me toward the shoreline. The closer we get to it, the more I realize we’re about to be naked out of the water together and I have no idea where Lily’s mind is at. The combination of the two is both terrifying and exhilarating.

  Lily takes the first steps onto the dirt, still pulling me behind her until we’ve both emerged completely from the water. We pass by our discarded clothes, and with just a few more steps, we reach a small grassy area.

  When Lily turns around to face me, I should be distracted by her dripping naked body, but I find myself completely lost in her dark brown eyes. I can’t take my eyes off them as she takes my other hand and encourages me downward onto the grass with her. Her hands move to my shoulders as she helps lower me until I’m lying completely flat on the ground.

  I expect Lily to lie down next to me, but instead her lips find the bare skin of my chest. She places delicate kisses there, trailing them slowly down my body.

  “I lied,” she murmurs between kisses as she approaches the lower part of my abs. “I am a sex-crazed animal, but only around you.” Her lips continue to move lower, and my entire body involuntarily jumps as her lips enclose around the head of my cock.

  “Lily.” I practically groan her name as she takes me in fully, encompassing me with the wetness and warmth of her mouth. It’s the most incredible feeling I’ve ever experienced, and it only gets better as her tongue starts massaging my shaft as she devours me.

  She’s too good. Everything about this is too damn good. I don’t know how much more I can take.

  “Lily,” I breathe out, and she instantly looks up at me. With one final kiss, her mouth releases my cock. She climbs up the length of my body until she’s directly over me, holding my gaze for a moment before rolling onto the grass beside me.

  As I watch her stand up and walk toward her clothes, I fear I’ve just insulted her and ruined this incredible moment we were sharing. She grabs her shorts, but instead of putting them on, she fishes something out of the back pocket and drops them back to the ground.

  She’s mesmerizing to watch as her breasts bounce and her hips sway with each step she takes toward me. In the moment it takes her to kneel in the grass and then straddle my waist, I realize exactly what she has in her hand and what’s in her mind to do next.

  With a quick rip she opens the condom package, and in that moment I don’t know whether to rejoice to the heavens or run like hell.

&
nbsp; “What are you doing?” It’s the first thing that comes to mind to say in my shocked and confused state and the only way I can think of to stall her.

  Lily leans in close to my ear, so close that her breasts are pressed firmly against my chest. “I’m checking something else off my bucket list.” She sits back on her knees and begins to work the condom down my cock.

  My heart is absolutely racing while my mind is at a standstill. Do I let her continue? Are we really going to do this? Do I tell her I’m a virgin first?

  “Lily, wait,” I interject, my body instantly wanting to kick my own ass for interrupting this.

  “It’s okay, Dante. I want this.” She looks at me curiously for a moment, confusion overtaking her expression. “Unless this isn’t something you want?”

  “I want this. I want you. God, that’s not the issue here at all.” Fuck. How do I say this without making this any more embarrassing than it already is? “I’ve just never done this before.”

  Lily’s eyes widen. “Oh my God. I should have realized…” Her voice trails off as her eyes skim my naked body underneath her. She bites her lip as her eyes meet my gaze. “The female population has been missing out, honestly.”

  A laugh bubbles up from inside my chest, and I’m grateful that Lily has made light of the situation to ease my embarrassment. The moment of humor quickly fades as I take in the beautiful naked woman perched on top of me. “I just thought you should know before–”

  “Before I steal your virginity,” Lily interjects with a playful grin. “I’ve never been a guy’s first before, but I’ll be your first if you want me to be.”

  I feel like Lily is my first for everything: my first friend, my first kiss, my first something more. She’s the first step toward the rest of my life, and I want to walk that path with her. We’re well on our way down it at this point, making me more than ready to give her this first.

  I grasp Lily’s hips and reaffirm her position straddling my waist. “I want you to be my first.”

  Lily grabs the base of my pulsing cock and lifts herself just above me. “I’ll take good care of you.”