I Saw Her Standing There

by Marie Force

  Today, however, even the sight of his sexy body failed to cheer her the way it usually did.

  “How’re you doing up there?” he asked after a long period of silence.

  “Great. Never been better.”

  “Do you think I can’t hear the sarcasm in your voice after all this time together?”

  “I’m getting eaten alive. Are you sure that was actual bug spray you gave me and not something that actually appeals to them?”

  He stopped paddling and stood, coming toward her and making the canoe tip precariously.

  Lucy dropped her paddle into the boat and grasped the sides, preparing to be dumped into the freezing water at any second. No matter how warm the summer sun got, Colton had told her, the river never really warmed up. “What’re you doing?” she asked over her shoulder as he came toward her.

  “Turn around,” he said.

  Lucy moved carefully to accommodate his request without pitching them both into the river.

  “Time to reapply.” He pulled the can of bug spray from one of the pockets of his cargo shorts and squatted before her, spraying her legs and arms. “Do your neck.”

  Lucy took the can from him and did as directed.

  From the pocket on his other leg, Colton retrieved the sunscreen. “How can you still be getting burned under that big hat when I put eighty-five on you earlier?”

  “Irish skin. You knew this about me.”

  “Still . . .” His brows furrowed with concern. “I don’t want you getting burned.”

  “Might be too late for that.”

  Working with intense concentration, Colton reapplied the sunscreen to her arms, her legs and the tops of her feet. Though she wished she could click her heels together and be anywhere but floating on a freezing river in the mountains of Vermont, she had to admit the slide of his hands over her skin had her thinking about the amazing tent sex she’d been promised.

  Then he handed her the sunscreen stick she preferred to use on her face.

  “Don’t forget your lips,” he said. “I’ve got big plans for them later. We can’t have them sore or burned.”

  “Everything okay over there?” Will called as he and Cameron circled back to check on them.

  “Yep,” Colton said. “Just reapplying bug spray and sunscreen.”

  “Are you getting bitten, Luce?” Cameron asked.

  “Like crazy.”

  “You must be sweeter than me. They don’t like me.”

  “Good thing I do,” Will said suggestively, making Cameron laugh.

  Everyone was in such a great mood, excited for the getaway and the chance for the guys to share one of their passions with the city girls they’d fallen in love with. Lucy felt a little guilty for being so grumpy. Perhaps if she tried to embrace it as an adventure and time away from the rat race of life with the man she loved, she might actually enjoy it.

  She snorted inelegantly. As if. Okay, so you might not be enjoying it, but maybe you can let him think you are, she reasoned with herself. If she did that though, he might want to do this again, and that was not happening. Several hours in, Lucy already knew this was going to be a onetime thing.

  * * *

  She’s miserable and trying to hide it, Colton thought as he propelled the canoe forward along the lazy river that wound through the Green Mountains. He’d been coming here all his life and had wanted to share it with Lucy, but that might’ve been a mistake. He could feel her agitation despite the three feet that separated her seat from his. He could see it in the unusual slump of her shoulders.

  Since her happiness and comfort were always foremost on his mind, he decided to try to cajole her out of her bad mood by showing her how much fun the outdoors could be when you were with the one you loved.

  “We’re going to take a little detour,” Colton called to Will as they reached a fork in the river. “Meet you at the campsite?”

  “Sounds good.”

  Cameron waved as they took the left side and Colton directed their canoe to the right.

  “Where are we going?” Lucy asked.

  “Just down here a little ways. I’ve got something I want to show you.” He paddled along for another half mile or so before he steered the canoe around a bend and into a small cove that had been carved out of the earth by water rushing by over thousands of years.

  “This is pretty,” Lucy said as Colton beached the canoe, jumped out and dragged it up onto the small stretch of sand.

  “It’s one of my favorite spots along this river.” He held out a hand to help her out of the canoe, which again tipped when she moved. Luckily she pitched right into his arms, and he lifted her onto the beach.

  “I suck at this,” she said glumly.

  “No, you don’t. It’s just new to you. That’s all.”

  “You don’t have to pretend to be glad you brought me here.”

  “I’m never pretending to be glad when I’m with you, Lucy. I don’t care what we’re doing or where we are. If you’re there, I’m happy.”

  “I don’t deserve you.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because I’ve been thinking really mean thoughts about you all morning.”

  Colton tossed his head back and laughed hard.

  “You think it’s funny that your fiancée is thinking mean things about you?”

  “What kind of mean things?” he asked when he’d stopped laughing.

  “Mostly all the reasons I hate you for making me go camping—bugs, sun and bathrooms were tops on the list.”

  “Bathrooms? I hate to tell you . . .”

  “You don’t have to tell me there’s no indoor plumbing out here, Colton. I have eyes. So what’s a girl supposed to do when she needs to pee? Urgently?”

  “She tells her big studly fiancé that she has to pee—urgently—and he sets her up.”

  “Sets her up how?” she asked, eyeing him skeptically.

  “Leave it to me.” He went back to the canoe, rooted around in the huge pile of stuff that he’d tied into the back of the boat and returned with a roll of toilet paper and a plastic bag. “Let’s go.”

  “You’re not coming with me to pee.”

  “Hmm, well, I thought you’d want me to check for bears and bobcats and snakes, but if you’ve got this . . .” He held out the toilet paper and bag.

  “You can come with me.”

  “Thought you might say that.”

  “Are there really bobcats in these woods?” she asked as she followed him into the trees, looking everywhere for glowing eyes ready to pounce.

  “I’ve never seen one, but they’re native to this area. I’d hate to have one find you when you’ve got your cute little butt out on display. That would be a tragedy.”

  “It would be just my luck,” Lucy said.

  Colton led her into an area so dense with trees, the sun’s rays only faintly penetrated, sending weak beams to the ground. He took a deep breath of fresh air and pine. “Smell that?”

  Lucy breathed deeply. “Uh-huh.”

  “One of my favorite scents. Second only to the scent of Lucy, which is my all-time favorite.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, but a smile tugged at her lips. He considered that a small victory.

  “This one will do,” he said, sizing up a huge pine tree that was bare on the bottom with branches beginning about ten feet above them.

  Lucy looked at it with apprehension. “How will it do?”

  “My sisters swear by the tree trunk strategy of outdoor peeing. You drop your shorts, lean your back against the tree, keeping your feet and clothes in front of you and out of harm’s way, and let her rip.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Your other choice is to squat, but I’d recommend against actually sitting anywhere. You never know what’s on the ground, and that cute butt wouldn’t be so cute with poison ivy or sumac all over it.” He scratched his own rear to make the point.

  She took the paper and bag from him and turned her hand in a circle, telling
him to look away.

  “I’ll be right over here taking care of my own business if you happen to see any bobcats or bears.”

  “It’s not fair that you can just whip that thing out and go, and I have to lean against a freaking tree. I’m coming back in my next life as a man.”

  Laughing at her way with words, he said, “Don’t do that. You’d ruin my next life if you come back as a man.” He kissed her cute, sunburned nose and left her to do her business while he did his, all the while listening closely for any signs of trouble.

  CHAPTER 2

  “How ya doing?” he called to her when he was finished.

  “Fine.” She came out from behind the tree a minute later, carrying the roll of paper and the bag. “Now what do I do with this?”

  “I’ve got a garbage bag in the canoe.”

  “This whole thing is kinda gross.”

  “The first time or two, but after a while you get used to it and it’s just routine. We can’t leave the paper out here. That would be littering.”

  “God forbid.”

  “Indeed.”

  Back at the beach, Colton produced the garbage bag and then opened the cooler. “Hungry?”

  “Starving.”

  “How does turkey on rye with lettuce, tomato, cheese, mayo and pickles sound?”

  “You made my favorite turkey sandwich from the deli in the city?”

  “Yep.”

  “Oh my God, I think I might love you again.”

  “So wait,” he said, withholding the sandwich, “you actually didn’t love me?”

  “It was only for a minute. Maybe two. Right around the time the mosquito stung me on the butt. There was a little bit of nonlove at that moment. But it passed and now I’m all the way back in love again.”

  “You wound me, Luce.” He rested his free hand on his heart. “Right where I live.”

  She went to him and kissed him, wincing when her lips connected with the stubble he’d let go without shaving.

  “What?”

  “My lips are sunburned, too.”

  “I’ll shave later so you can kiss me without pain.”

  She kissed him again. “It doesn’t hurt that bad, and your kisses are worth the sacrifice.”

  He hooked his arm around her waist and drew her in close to him. “I know this isn’t your thing, but I love having you out here with me. All I ask is that you roll with it and let me show you how fun it can be, okay?”

  “I’m sorry if I’ve been a poor sport. I’m trying.”

  “You’re not a poor sport. You’re adorable, and I love you.”

  “I love you, too, but I’ll love you even more when you hand over that sandwich.”

  Smiling, Colton kissed her again and then gave her the sandwich along with a canister of lemon-scented wet wipes. He pulled a blanket from the canoe, spread it out on the sand and then went back for his own sandwich and a couple of sodas for them.

  Lucy shook her head when he offered the drink to her. “I’ll just have to pee again.”

  “I’ll find you another tree. You have to stay hydrated out here.”

  “Fine.” She took the soda, popped it open and took a delicate sip. “Are you happy?”

  “Never been happier.”

  Surrounded as they were by majestic trees, birds of all kinds, wildflowers of every imaginable color, blue sky and bluer water, there was plenty to look at. But Colton’s gaze was drawn again and again to her as she ate her sandwich and took in her surroundings. He’d give just about anything to know what she was thinking.

  “It sure is pretty here,” she finally said.

  Her appreciation of the scenery went a long way toward relieving some of the stress he felt about dragging her along on a trip he knew she didn’t want to take.

  “Wait until you see it at night. The stars are unlike anything you’ve ever seen.”

  “I’m kind of scared to be out here at night.”

  “Why would you be scared, honey? Do you think I’d ever, ever, ever let anything happen to you?”

  “No, but still . . . I’ve never slept outside before.”

  “You won’t be outside. You’ll be in a tent with me. I promise you’ll be perfectly safe and very comfortable.” He leaned over to kiss her, resting his forehead against hers. “Have a little faith in me?”

  “I have all the faith in the world in you. Why do you think I’m here?”

  * * *

  Lucy curled her hand around his neck to keep him close enough to kiss again. He was so adorable and sweet and wanted so badly to show her a good time that Lucy decided to let go of all her worries and fears as well as her irrational need for all the creature comforts of home. She was alone with Colton, one of her favorite places to be. What did it matter where they were?

  While she was perfectly content to kiss him, apparently he had other needs that became apparent to her when he lifted her T-shirt to gain access to her belly. “What’re you doing?”

  “This,” he said, placing kisses on her belly that made her squirm under him. Pushing her shirt up as he went, he kissed the slopes of her breast and then tongued her nipples through her bra. “And this.”

  “Um, Colton?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Not here.”

  “Yes, here. Right here.” He released the front clasp on her bra and was devouring her right nipple before she caught up and realized his intentions.

  Lucy began to squirm more intently, determined to end this before it got any further out of control. However, since she was no match for his formidable strength, she decided to fight like a girl and pulled his hair.

  “Ow,” he said while continuing to stroke her nipple with his tongue.

  “We need to stop! I can’t do this here.”

  “Yes, you can.”

  “No, I can’t!”

  He looked up at her, slaying her with those eyes that never looked at her with anything other than love. “Yes,” he said softly, “you can. We’re completely alone here. No one around for miles.”

  “Will and Cam are around.”

  “They went the other way, and he knows I wanted to be alone with you. They won’t be back.”

  “How can you know that for sure?”

  “Because I know my brother, and he knows me. Relax, Luce. Let me love you.”

  “We can do this later. When it’s dark.”

  “We’ll do it then, too.” He drew her nipple into his mouth, sucking hard enough to ensure there wasn’t room for any other thoughts in her head than the divine pleasure she always found in his arms. Then he was tugging at the button to her shorts, unzipping them and pushing them down her legs. His hand slid inside her panties where he discovered at least one part of her was fully on board with his plan for outdoor, middle-of-the-day, broad-daylight sex on a riverbank.

  “Ahh, God,” he whispered as he kissed his way down the front of her. “That’s so hot.”

  “Come back up here.” Her heart beat frantically at the thought of what he obviously planned to do.

  “In a minute.”

  “Colton . . .”

  “I love the sound of my name coming from you.”

  “Please come up here.”

  “I will as soon as I make you come. So the faster you come, the faster I’ll be back to protect you from the prying eyes of the wildlife.” This was said between kisses to her belly and nibbles to her hip bones that made her squirm with interest rather than retreat.

  Her panties slid down her legs and were discarded over his shoulder.

  “Don’t lose them!”

  “I’ll find them for you. Don’t worry.”

  “Don’t worry. Right.”

  “Relax, honey,” he said as he kissed his way from her knee up her inner thigh and then back down the other side, skipping over all the places that mattered most. Clearly, he was in no particular hurry as he propped her legs on his broad shoulders.

  She really ought to seriously call a halt to this. That was her last cognizant thoug
ht before he used his thumbs to open her to his tongue. Staring up at the bright blue, cloudless sky, Lucy gave in to the overwhelming desire he aroused in her so easily. All he had to do was look at her in that certain way, and she was a goner. But when he did this, when he made love to her with his mouth and fingers, she became a blathering idiot, incapable of anything other than holding on to his thick hair for dear life as he took her on the wildest of rides.

  Outside, in the bright light of day, the effect seemed to be intensified by the fear of getting caught. Her skin felt like it was on fire, and not from the sun. Her legs trembled violently and her sex clenched around his tongue, but the orgasm she needed to move things along was elusive and out of reach.

  Moaning, she buried her fingers in his hair.

  He sucked hard on her clitoris, making her see stars as he sent his fingers plunging into her. With his free hand, he squeezed her ass, which tripped her over the edge, screaming from the incredible pleasure that ripped through her body.

  Moving quickly, he managed to push his shorts down over his hips and align his cock with her still-clenching channel, surging into her and triggering another release.

  “God,” he whispered in her ear, his hot breath giving her goose bumps. “You are so hot, Luce. You make me crazy with wanting you.”

  “Obviously, you make me crazy, too, if I’m actually having sex outside in the middle of the day.”

  “Isn’t it fun?”

  “It’s scary, so hurry up.” She raised her hips, trying to move things along so they could get their clothes back on as soon as possible. Of course, her desire for haste only had him slowing down, his pace languid and unhurried as he moved above her.

  “I could do this all day,” he said before he captured her lips in a deep, erotic kiss.

  Lucy turned away from the kiss. “We can’t do this all day. We have to hurry up.”

  “Do you want me to stop?”

  “You ask me that when you’re overpowering me in every possible way,” she said with a nervous laugh.

  Poised on top of her, he smoothed her hair back from her face and compelled her to meet his gaze while he continued to throb inside her. “I love you,” he said, kissing her softly.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Then trust me to take care of you and to keep you safe.”