He pushed himself up, his lips touching hers. “My ass is grateful.”
She sighed. So was hers.
Leaning up on her elbows, she watched him throw more wood on the fire, stoking it to life again. The moon peeked over the top of the trees.
The night air chilled and she pulled the sleeping bag close.
He eased beside her. “Cold?”
“Not now.” She nestled into him. “It’s is so perfect out here. I can’t believe I ignored the country all this time.”
“I come out here to replenish my soul, or I get miserable. And miserable to be around.”
She had trouble imagining that. “What do you do in the winter?” Please don’t say camping.
“I still come out for hikes. Once in awhile, I’ll stay in one of the cabins on the Appalachian Trail, but you never know who you’ll be sharing it with.”
“That must get really cold.”
“Not if you build a fire. And have someone to keep you warm.” He gently squeezed. “I’ll bring you sometime.”
If anyone had suggested even two weeks ago she might stay in a cabin with no heat or running water, she’d have waved it off with a roll of her eyes. Now, the idea held real appeal. “All right.”
“Yeah?”
“If I don’t try it, how will I know if I like it or not?” The old Dana would never have said that. With Hank, she didn’t feel the need to guard her thoughts, screen them before giving them voice.
“True.”
They laid together, watching stars crowd the sky. He pointed out the constellations, explained how they shifted with the seasons. Time seemed to simultaneously stand still and move too fast.
“Are you cold?” he asked. “Tired?”
She nuzzled closer. “A little chilly.”
“We could break in your tent.”
“Seems a good idea to test it.” After gathering their clothes, she paused near the tent flap. “Don’t forget the backpack.”
He grabbed it, chased her inside and pulled her down on the sleeping bag on top of him.
She twisted her body and straddled him. “When did you want to start testing my theory?”
“Anytime.” He slipped his hands around her waist. “I’m all yours. Do what you will.”
No guy had ever given up control to her. She’d make it worth his while. “First, off with the old. And on with the new.” She reached inside the backpack. He extended his hand, but she held it high. “I’ll handle this one.”
She tore the package and knelt between his legs. A shame to cover such a beautiful penis. Its reclining pose needed a little stimulation. She bent over it, tickled the rim of the head with her tongue.
He moaned. “Oh yeah.”
She ran the tip of her tongue down the length of his erection, her finger following its pulse. Sucking along the outside, she ringed her finger tight around the base, pulling gently and moving back out to the tip. Her lips enveloped the head, rolling her tongue around it.
“Ohhhhh.” He raised his knee, and she took him in her mouth as fully as she could, her fingers lightly tracing the outside, slowly bobbing her head.
A groan rumbled in his throat.
Letting her lips hold just the tip, she rolled her tongue around it. He tensed, clutching the sleeping bag. A feeling of power overwhelmed her. He’d given his body to her, and she controlled it: made him groan and moan, gasp and heave. The more he reacted, the more pleasure she wanted to give him. She took him to the very brink, then reached for the condom. She straddled him, excited by his ragged breaths as she eased him inside, nice and slow. She pulled away gradually until only the tip remained inside, ran her finger along his length, then slipped deliciously down again.
He sucked air through his teeth and trembled, clutching her hips, allowing her to do as she pleased. He had given himself over to her, and she wanted to make it an experience he’d never forget.
She repeated the move, then couldn’t hold back. She thrust against him again and again, until her body collapsed atop his.
His shoulders and chest lifted as he shuddered in spasms, then fell back against the sleeping bag. “Holy fuck.” He kissed her, laughing. “You’re incredible.” His fingers ran up her waist. “I’ll make a wilderness girl out of you yet.”
She slid her hands up his back and pulled him closer. “I think you already have. In fact, I wouldn’t mind having a cabin here. If they could just run a DSL line out this far. I can see it now – sitting on the deck in the sunshine with my laptop. You with all your woodworking equipment and art stuff in a pole barn nearby. Away from the house so the noise didn’t disturb the kids.” She giggled, until she saw his face.
Pale. Wide-eyed.
Had she said that out loud? To cover her embarrassment, she clucked her tongue. “I’m only teasing. Don’t look so worried.” Though it sure made a nice picture in her imagination.
He rested his head against his arm, his sparkling eyes the only life in his humorless face. “Yeah. It’s easy to forget the real world out here.”
She forced a laugh. “Exactly. Some primeval instinct surfaced from the Neanderthal Age. Probably because I’m out here naked in the wilderness.”
He kissed her shoulder. “Mmm. You’d have made a really sexy Neanderthal.”
Warmth infused her cheeks. Odd to be embarrassed, given the circumstances. “Back at you. You’d have been fighting off more than mastodons. Every Monobrow Girl in the land would have her claws out.”
“Now I know you’re teasing.” He said it with such openness, it surprised her. Did he not know how beautiful he was? “I’d have to club the other cavemen who drooled after you.”
She giggled and snuggled against him, wired from the day’s excitement. A day to remember, if ever there was one. “I knew I could depend on you.” She didn’t want to sleep and miss any time with him. “I’m so glad you asked me to come out here.”
His hands ran lightly up her back. “Me, too. Funny, isn’t it?”
“What?”
“How things work out. I had a feeling we’d be good together. I just didn’t know how good.”
She nestled against him. For too long, she’d felt like a hit and run victim after making love with a guy – he’d roll away, always in a rush, always with an excuse. No snuggling. Everything good enough on the surface, but not enough beneath to sustain it. Nothing like Hank.
He kissed the top of her head. “The night I first saw you was the first time I felt good in a long time. You made me laugh.”
She rolled to her back. “Oh, yes. I can be very amusing. Many times unintentionally.”
He rolled onto his side. “Are you tired?”
“Not in the least. In fact, I’m going to have to um, you know.”
“Me too.” He sat up. “Let’s go outside. Bring your book.”
“Why? I brought tissues. And I know I’m not supposed to throw them away in the woods, I have a garbage bag….”
A smile filled his face. “You’re too funny. I meant, you can read me your favorite poems by the fire.” Grinning, he tugged at the sleeping bag.
“Oh. Right.” She wouldn’t bother to say she’d been teasing this time. She grabbed her tissues and garbage bag and followed him out into the night.
He stood off to the side of the tent and projected his stream, firelight rippling across his body. God, he even looked majestic when he peed.
She giggled. “Marking your territory?”
He grinned. “Something like that.”
She crept behind a tree balancing against it as she crouched. The wilderness should come equipped with better amenities. Emerging, a root tried to trip her.
Tending the fire, he glanced back. “Everything okay?”
“Couldn’t be better.” She fetched the book from her backpack and sat on the sleeping bag, pulling it around her shoulders. Where to begin? So many of these pages expressed her deepest longings. Reading them would feel like baring her soul. “I love so many.”
Settl
ing onto the sleeping bag, he clasped his hands behind his head. “Pick whichever you like. As many as you like.”
An ease permeated her core. She hadn’t felt so comfortable with anyone since…well, never. She sat beside him and read poem after poem.
He watched the fire as she read, and nodded with satisfaction. Her reading appeared to touch him deeper than any physical act could have.
And yet…since she’d turned to see him standing there, looking at her as if he’d been following her all her life and just now caught up to her…. She shivered remembering his smoldering touch, how it ignited fires she’d never known before.
“Cold?” He rubbed her arm.
“No. I’m good.” Great, actually, but she didn’t want to let her tongue get carried away again. Not with words, anyway.
He held her close and gazed at the sky, as if tonight were one of many they’d spent together. “What an incredible night.”
“Yes. Incredible.” He had no idea. “I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect night.”
When he looked at her, she thought he was about to say something earth-shattering. The sky seemed to shimmer, as though in expectation.
“We should say goodnight.” He rolled to his knees and stood in one movement. For such a tall guy, he was surprisingly agile.
She pushed herself to her feet. “You’re not leaving me?”
His face held such longing. “Not unless you want me to.”
“Of course not.”
The night came alive with sounds. Sounds she hadn’t noticed before. So much chirping and cheeping. Birds? Insects? How many were out there with her? Her arm suddenly itched. A lot. She slapped a bug away. “If I stay out here much longer, I’ll be the all-night, all-you-can eat bug buffet.”
He chuckled. “Let’s get inside then.”
Holding the sleeping bag, she rose, and threw it around him as they walked. He arranged the bag inside the tent again. “All set.”
She snuggled beneath the flap and patted the place beside her. “Come here.”
With the grace of a panther, he settled next to her and pulled her close. “Sleep tight.”
“You too.” She inclined her head toward his.
His full, beautiful lips pressed against hers, and she sighed.
Outside, the fire snapped on a green twig. His deep breaths relaxed her, and she let sleep overtake her thoughts, the night sounds gradually drifting away.
****
The bright morning sunlight burned into her eyelids, even through the tent. Birds out here sang entirely too loud. And too early. She checked her watch. Seven-thirty.
She groaned and pulled the sleeping bag over her face.
Wait. A mouth-watering scent seeped into the tent. A crackle and pop, the sound of a fire. Something moved outside her tent.
As slowly and quietly as she could, she opened the zipper tooth by tooth. The fire crackled. Someone in a grey sweatshirt moved past and stooped before it.
He was cooking. And it smelled delicious.
She tugged the flap open and he turned and smiled. “Hey, sleepyhead. Hungry?”
Sleepyhead. She widened her eyes. “In a minute.” She zipped the tent shut. Fumbling inside the backpack, she found her purse, which held a very valuable item. Her comb. She tugged it through her hair and hoped she didn’t look as awful as she suspected. Sean used to tease her about her puffy morning eyes. Makeup had seemed a frivolous thing to pack. What was she thinking? She rubbed her face to infuse some color. It would have to do.
At least she’d thought to pack another pair of shorts. Her microfiber sweatshirt hadn’t rumpled much, she noticed zipping it up.
With more energy, she opened the tent flap and climbed out. “What’s this?”
She stood next to him as he held a skillet in one hand and with the other, skewered a hunk of meat with a kabob stick and flipped it.
He looked up at her and smiled, his gaze skimming down her bare legs. “Sausage and eggs.”
“You’re kidding. And to think all I brought was a bagel.”
“To each their own.”
She crouched next to him. “I’ll split my breakfast with you if you’ll split yours with me. And I have orange juice.”
His eyes burned into hers. “Deal.”
How could he look so good this early in the morning? His tousled hair gave him a boyish appearance. She wanted to unzip his sweatshirt and nestle against the warmth of his chest.
Standing too quickly, she leaned on his shoulder. “Sorry. I need to go visit my tree.”
“Lean on me anytime.”
At the tree, she glanced back at him. Last night had seemed like a dream, but there he was, warm and real. He shifted his legs, but otherwise concentrated on cooking, as if they’d done this many times.
She crouched. Hopefully no poison ivy lurked nearby. At least she’d had the foresight to bring moist wipes to clean her hands.
Carrying the cooler to the fire, she opened it and set two small orange juice bottles on the ground, and pulled the bagel bag out. She shut the lid and sat on the cooler. “You even brought plates and forks.”
He speared a hunk of meat and placed it on a metal plate, followed by half the scrambled eggs. “Yup.”
She took the plate he held out and set it on her lap. “Ow. Hot.” Lifting it quickly, she stood and set the plate on the cooler, then sat by it.
“Sorry. I should have warned you I was trying to keep the plate warm. Let it cool a little.”
She opened her juice and sipped, taking in the blue sky, more trees than she’d seen since summer camp in eighth grade. “Such an incredible day. So what’s on the agenda?” She scooped some eggs into her mouth.
He squinted in the morning sunshine. “I was hoping to take you for a ride on my bike.”
Her mouth dropped open in delight, but she snapped it shut and finished chewing. “You brought your Harley?” So it was his motorcycle in the parking lot after all.
“Yup.”
The guy would make a helluva cowboy. “I’d love to. Guess I’ll have to wear my flannels for that.”
“No,” he said quickly. “No, your shorts are fine.” He rubbed her leg. “Just fine.”
She giggled. “When can we go?”
“As soon as we’re done, if you want.”
Holding her plate, she stood and started down the hill. “I’m done now.” She glanced back to see him gobbling the last of his bagel as he rose to follow her. A thrill ran across her nerves. She’d be spending the day with him. The thought propelled her to clean her plate and run back up the hill, tripping only once.
He halted as she puffed past. “Hey, what’s the rush?”
Forcibly slowing herself, she shrugged. “Oh, just want to put everything away, brush my teeth, that sort of thing.”
“I can help clean up.”
“No, I’ll take care of it. You cooked, after all.”
He opened his mouth as though to say something, then shrugged. “Okay.”
She turned and sprinted to the tent. By the time he walked back up the hill, she was ready.
He doused the dying fire with stream water. “All set?”
“Let’s go.” She slid her hand into his. She sensed his strength, the power of his muscles, but his grip gentle. He led her through the maze of trees as though following an invisible trail. The musk of the leaves and moss perfumed the forest beneath dappled sunlight. The tree line receded as they hit the parking lot below.
“Are we going anywhere special?”
He released her hand and reached for the helmets. “Yeah. Another favorite spot.” He handed one to her.
“Interesting.” Seeing another of his favorite places should reveal a lot about him.
He slipped the helmet on his head. “Wait till you see it.” Something in his tone sounded like a warning.
“I might not like it?” Did he have a hidden, ugly side to him? She doubted it – but then again, sometimes people surprised her. Sean had taught her that.
<
br /> “Maybe. Maybe not.” He fastened the helmet strap under his chin.
“Hmm. Mysterious.” And it was. The way he stood in his helmet, his face hidden beneath the visor. Mysterious and sexy.
He straddled the Harley and stood on the starter. The bike roared. “Get on.”
She swung her leg behind him, nestled her crotch against his ass. He grabbed her thigh and pressed it against his. Warmth permeated her skin. She linked her arms around his waist, still not quite believing it wasn’t all a dream.
The bike jerked forward as he revved it and they sped to the road. His control over the bike’s weaving gave her a rush. He used his muscles in all the right ways.
The road wound through the mountain, and they slowed. If not for a battered mailbox, she’d have missed the driveway disappearing through the trees. Hank pulled into a clearing, cut the engine and pulled off his helmet.
She slid off hers and shook her head to loosen her hair. “Where are we?” His flat curls invited her fingers, and she fluffed his locks.
His hand rested on her thigh and he angled toward her. “A friend’s house.”
Horrified, she stammered, “I can’t meet anyone looking like this.” She hadn’t showered today, or applied makeup. At least she’d thought to throw on a tank top beneath her sweatshirt, but her clothes were definitely not for company.
“What are you talking about? You look beautiful.” He squeezed her knee and stood, ready to go.
She was anything but ready, but climbed off the bike. “Yeah, right.”
He got off and held her shoulders. “I’m serious.” He took her helmet and set it on the seat.
He was outright lying now. She hadn’t checked the mirror, but didn’t need to. She looked anything but beautiful. “Maybe I should wait here while you go say hello.”
“No way. I wanted you to see this place.” His brows furrowed as he glanced away. Despite his light tone, he tensed.
Damn. Something about this place didn’t bode well.
She sighed in frustration. “All right.” Raking her fingers through the tangles of her hair. “Give me a minute.” When she began smoothing her clothes, he took her hands in his.
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