by Shaye Marlow
“Friends,” I repeated, hating that word and all that it implied.
“Yes. Just enjoy each other’s company while it lasts.”
Mid-grimace, I saw movement over her shoulder. I leaned to one side, trying for a better view.
“What?” she asked, turning to look with me. “Did you see something?”
“Movement. Something brown, low to the ground.”
“Oh. Well… let’s go see what it is.”
“Thea…” I tried again to catch her arm, but she was already out of reach, moving to investigate. Someone’d lectured her about bears, but apparently she didn’t consider an unidentified brown animal a threat.
Several steps closer, she gasped. “It’s so cute.” She lifted her camera, and it wasn’t until after she’d snapped a couple pictures that I got a clear view of the subject.
A moose calf, dog-sized. Its four ridiculously long legs were planted, knees wobbling as it stared at Thea with fear.
I gripped her arm. “No, no Thea, this is bad. We need to back up.”
Thea shook me off. “It’s a baby,” she cooed. “Do you think it lost its mom?”
Crack. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. The loud sound preceded a flurry of smaller snaps and crackles, even as I was turning my head to look.
Mom was barreling straight at us. Her head was down, legs milling as she came on like a ton of bricks with really sharp hooves.
I grabbed Thea and half-carried, half-tackled her, feeling the wind of the moose’s passage as I bore her to the side, putting a tree between us and the enraged momma.
It was my bad that the slope there was particularly steep. My action sent us into a roll, one over the other. I grunted as the gun dug into my back, and Thea yelped as we crashed through the shrubbery.
“Oomph,” she said as I landed on her a final time.
I was on top of her for only a second or two, but it was long enough to get a damn good idea of what lay under those clothes. She was a collage of firm and soft, planes and curves, in all the right places. She felt like a woman.
I groaned, and it wasn’t from the thrashing we’d just taken.
Beneath me, Thea wiggled. And it wasn’t an inviting, rubbing-against-you, take-me-now wiggle—and yes, there were most definitely types of wiggles—but more of a you’re-heavy-and-you’ve-overstayed-your-welcome wiggle, better and more briefly known as the get-off-me wiggle.
Still, I enjoyed it. “You okay?” I asked, moving to support my weight. I hissed as pain stabbed at my hand.
Looking up, I realized we’d rolled into the edge of a stand of devil’s club. The prickly plants were covered with spines—though a few less now, since several of the burning little bastards were stuck in my palm.
Thea was wrestling with her mosquito net. Her hat had been knocked askew, and the army-green netting was twisted around her head.
She finally dragged it off entirely, and I got my first good look at her. Her hair was tousled, her expression dazed, and my thoughts turned instantly to sex. I wanted to peel her clothes away, and map all that smooth, pale flesh with my hands. I wanted to put that look on her face for an entirely different reason.
But, it’d probably be good if I made sure that moose wasn’t going to kill us, first. I pushed to my knees and scanned our surroundings, but momma and baby were nowhere to be seen.
“Ow!” Thea cried. She was struggling to rise, and had found out about the devil’s club the same way I had.
I clasped her elbow, and peeled her up and away from the prickly plants.
Once on her feet, she picked at her hand, breath hissing with pain. She had a funny look on her face. And she was hunched a bit, her right hip jutting out.
“What is it? Dammit, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Are you sure? You don’t look—”
Thea straightened slowly, and rolled her shoulders back. “The devil’s club got me.”
“Oh. On your back?”
She nodded stiffly.
“Burning?” I asked. God knew my palm was on fire.
“Yup.”
“Let me help. I can pull them out.”
“No, I’ll just…” She turned, and took a couple halting steps.
“Thea, let me—”
“I’m okay. I can get back.”
“Yeah, but what then? Who’s going to help you? You can’t see, or reach, your back.”
“My roommate—” she started.
“You’re gonna walk all the way back like that?”
She braced herself on a tree, stared off into the distance for a moment, then sighed. “You’re right. If you could help me with the ones in my back, that’d be great,” she said.
I approached. “I’m going to lift your shirt.” She nodded assent, and I lifted it carefully, holding it away from her skin. I revealed a narrow waist and a whole lot of pale, lovely skin. The sight of the red slashes crisscrossing that lovely skin canceled out the giddiness I felt at discovering her bra was blue satin.
“Dammit, Thea, I’m sorry,” I said, beginning to pull the little spines out. She clung to the tree, and made an occasional soft sound of pain. I worked my way down, noticing the lowest welt disappeared into her waistband.
“Were there any down lower?” I asked. Were those jeans of hers thick enough to deflect devil’s club spines?
“You got all the ones you could see?” she asked, stepping away. Her shirt fell to cover her back.
“Yeah, but—”
“Let’s head back.”
I caught up with her, which was easy to do, because she was walking funny. “Thea, did they get you below the waist?”
She waved me off, and limped on.
“Thea,” I said, exasperated. “Do you have devil’s club in your ass?”
“It’s none of your business what’s in my ass,” she said.
“I thought we were friends,” I argued.
“Like I said, none of your business.”
“Thea, friends don’t let friends walk around with devil’s club in their ass—try to walk around with devil’s club in their ass,” I corrected, watching her hobble.
She shot me a heated glance. “You just want to see my butt.”
I grinned. “Believe me, there is nothing that I would like more. However, I think that while I’m enjoying the sight, I can remove any foreign objects I might find there.”
Thea snorted, but the sound was suspiciously close to a laugh.
I adjusted the rifle across my back, and followed her a few more slow steps, waiting for her to cave.
“I can have my roommate help me with them,” she said.
“And how are you going to get back, so that your roommate can do that?” I asked.
“I’m going to walk,” she said stubbornly, mincing along.
I thought about offering to carry her, but the reality of it was: She was too heavy for me to carry that freaking far, unless something terrible had happened and she was near-dead. Yeah, if she’d actually been stomped, I’d carry her to help in a heartbeat. But for devil’s club thorns in her ass? I wasn’t that much of a gentleman.
“Oh goddammit,” she finally said. “Fine.”
I kept walking.
“J.D.!”
“Yes?” I asked, all innocence as I turned to face her.
She waved a hand around, blushing fiercely.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I don’t speak—” I flapped my hand sorta like she had.
She glared. “You’re an ingrate.”
“Take off your pants,” I countered.
“You’re not going to make this easy, are you?”
Au contraire, this was making it very, very hard. But, I didn’t tell her that. And I wasn’t gonna grope her when she had her pants down. I wasn’t going to kiss or bite, or let my hands wander at all. I was going to get in, do my job, and get out. No dicking around.
She glanced around, probably looking for any solution other than the one that had he
r exposing herself to me. She blew out a harsh breath, turned, and worked at her fly.
I watched with rapt attention, heart hammering as she started to inch her jeans downward.
She paused with a quick glance back at me. Her face was red. “God, this is awkward,” she muttered. But with a deep breath, she pushed on.
I enjoyed the show. The first couple inches, the hem of her shirt sagged to cover. But then it ran out of length, and it was all Thea under there. My mouth grew dry as she revealed soft, smooth curves. Her ass was truly fine, an 8 out of 10 at least, full and rounded, with two perfectly-defined cheeks. I wanted to sink my teeth into them.
“Well?” she said.
So hard I hurt, I approached, and fell to my knees behind her. Swallowing, I pushed her hem up for a little better light, a little better view. There was a red welt straight across her butt, dual cheek involvement.
Several seconds later, she shifted. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“I’m… considering the problem.” I was envisioning all the things I could do with this ass, all the ways I’d like to redden it. My imagination put her under me, over me, in front of me. Digging her nails into me as I dug my cock into her, crying out with every breath, until… until… I wondered if she’d be one of those that trembled wildly with orgasm.
“You’re making this weird,” she said, her voice husky.
Taking a fortifying breath, I touched her butt.
J.D.
I was hard the entire walk back. And, almost as silent. I just followed Thea as she practically ran from me down that hill.
As the Birch Chalets came into sight, as our time together came to an end, I put on a little extra speed, and caught up to her. “Are we not even gonna talk about what happened?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, too quickly. “Nothing happened.”
“You moaned,” I said. “When I was touching you. You moaned.”
“I did not.”
“You did.”
“No,” she said, shooting me a glance. “What you thought was a moan was almost assuredly a sound of pain.”
I scoffed. “If that’s the way you want to play it.” She’d moaned. I hadn’t even been pulling out a spine at the time. I’d been gripping her hip in one hand—to keep her from swaying away as I worked on her—and I’d run my hand lightly over her cheek, looking for any stragglers. And she’d moaned, and pushed back toward me. And I hadn’t been hurting her, dammit. No amount of argument on her part was going to change that.
She climbed the steps to her cabin, and I didn’t follow her. If I did, it would probably be to pin her to the door, and make her tell me the truth. It was good for you, wasn’t it? You liked my hands on you.
“Well,” I said, looking her over. I really wished I’d been able to take better care of her, not return her all mussed and welted. “See you tomorrow?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You’re forgetting your massage.”
I paused in turning away. “I fired you,” I said regretfully.
“No. I’m not letting that fly,” she said. She’d opened her door, and stood to one side. “Get up here.”
She’d told me what to do. And that look on her face, her stance, was impatient. She’d given me an order, and… I didn’t usually engage in power struggles. Usually—if it’d been anybody else—I would’ve waved it off and walked away. But what she was demanding was too tempting. She wanted to put her hands on me, in the privacy of her cabin.
Moving slowly, I climbed the steps. I crossed the little porch, and stopped in front of her, crowding her, making her look up at me. Her eyes widened, even as her color heightened.
“If I go in there with you right now,” I said, my voice low and silky, “I’m not going to be able to keep my hands off you. Is that what you want?”
She gasped. Interest flared in her eyes, but then she shook her head, denying us both.
Disappointment cut like a rusty blade. “That’s what I thought.”
“J.D….” she started.
My attention had been caught by a loose strand of her hair. Reaching up, I wound it gently around my finger.
Her eyes were large, her full lower lip trembling.
I lifted my other hand, tracing delicately along her jaw. I watched her, felt her. Listened as her ragged breaths filled the space between us.
Unable to resist, I began to lean in, closing that distance.
She ducked away with a little cry that just made me harder. When it came to my cock, apparently Thea could do no wrong. Even her good-bye eyes turned me on, as she stood in her doorway all frazzled and gorgeous.
“See you tomorrow?” Her voice was uncertain.
I nodded, and started down the steps. No, I hadn’t given up. I’d already resolved to wear her down. The simple truth of the matter was: If I stuck around any longer, I wouldn’t be able to control myself.
“And, J.D.?” she called.
I turned.
“Thank you for taking me hiking.”
Chapter Five
J.D.
I fell asleep that night, and my dreaming brain rewrote our encounter from yesterday. In this version, my version, we were in the woods, and Thea was wiggling again. She was lying across my legs as I finished picking devil’s club from her delectable cheeks, those perfect buns of hers turned up, and she was wiggling. But this wiggle… wasn’t a get-off-me wiggle.
“I think you missed some,” she said, her voice breathy. She turned over, the position arching her back, making her shirt slide upward over the soft skin of her belly. Her butt, her bare, beautiful butt, was pressed to my thighs, and her waistband teetered, riding just at the crest of her hipbones. Her hip pressed my erection, making me break out in a sweat.
“It burns,” she moaned.
“Where?” I asked, hand hovering. I was afraid to touch her, but frantic to help. “Where? Here?” I asked, touching the relatively safe acreage of her thigh.
Dream Thea lay with utter abandon, one arm over her head, watching me. “Higher,” she breathed. Her hips shifted restlessly as I slid my hand slowly upward. Her breath accelerated, and she tipped her head back on a long, luxurious moan.
My fingertips brushed the bare skin of her hip. “Here?”
She’d taken my hand, then—taken it, and placed it directly over the hot V between her legs. I distinctly remember the feel of her open zipper biting into my palm, the smoothness of her blue satin panties, the soft spring of the curls beneath. She held my hand in place, and met my eyes as she pushed up against it in a slow, sexy grind.
“It burns… here?” I managed.
“Yes,” she said, expression sultry. “Please, I need the burning to stop. Can you help me?”
Of course I could frickin’ help her. In the way of dreams, though, just when things were getting interesting, the scene had changed.
We were back in her cabin. I’d taken her up on the offer of a massage, and we were both naked. The lights were down, she’d oiled me up, and was sliding against me in a full-body slither. I’d vividly felt her nipples dragging against my back.
And then, we were bangin’. There was no other word for it. Fast, sweaty, tit-bouncing sex. She was loud, tearing at the sheets, calling my name. I made her orgasm over and over, and over again.
I was so aroused, trying to cum, wanted it so bad… but the dream wouldn’t let me. Around the time I realized I was stuck in sexual purgatory, her roommate had come in, and it’d gotten a little weird. Strangely good—but decidedly weird. There’d been a goat, possibly Suzy’s, and at some point we were all of us making shadow puppets.
Anyway, as I awoke, what lingered in my mind? I’d like to say it was Thea’s lovely face, but… Yeah, it was her other end.
Smiling, I sat up.
Thea wasn’t married. She wasn’t married! She wasn’t somebody else’s. That lovely woman, her silky hair, those smoky topaz eyes, those strong, deft hands: Unmarried, unclaimed. Free.
I was goin
g to pursue her. And I couldn’t wait to get started.
Whistling, I got dressed for a jog, and swung out the door.
“Oh, sweet Jesus!” I fell back against the door frame. I’d almost hit him, purely out of reflex.
Wreck leaned against the exterior wall, lurking in the shadows of the old cottonwood tree. His head swiveled creepily, and his eyes were dark. “So,” he said. “Did you do it?”
“What the hell are you doing here?” I returned. Showing up at my place—not just at my brothers’ cabin, but outside my little shed—waiting for me. It was crazy.
He came away from the wall. “Did you throw the fight?” he asked.
I stared at him. It was too early in the morning for this shit. And I didn’t want to be reminded of such things—such sad, bitter things.
What I wanted was Thea. “I’m going for a jog,” I said. Passing him, I started to stretch.
Wreck watched me. “How’s the shoulder?”
“Not well,” I said, not looking at him. My hamstrings were a little stiff this morning, probably from the hike. Thea thought I was in shape, but the opposite couldn’t have been more true. I hadn’t been exercising like I should have for months.
He made a sound that could have been sympathy.
I didn’t want it. I turned, and made for the woods.
Wreck pulled up alongside, matching my pace despite the button-down shirt and canvas pants, and the sturdy set of hiking boots he wore. “Going to get an espresso?” he asked. “I was just going to get one myself.”
I gritted my teeth.
“Thea’s lovely,” he continued. “She would be a tigress in bed, I can tell.”
“I’m going for a jog,” I stressed. “To the coffee stand. And don’t talk about Thea like that.”
“Why? You like the fille?” he asked with a sly smile and tilt of his head. The man had big ears. And at the moment, they were irritating me. “I don’t know… I think she might be too much for you to handle,” he mused.
“Oh, shut up,” I said. Very mature, I know. Then, so I wouldn’t hear any more of his heavily-accented bullshit, I accelerated.
