When he asked me things like that, I always wondered if I was supposed to answer with the yes, sir thing. It felt like we were just two people, out doing something together. Maybe he wasn't someone I'd have ever met in real life, but that didn't change how it felt at those moments.
So I just nodded even as I felt him come up behind me. I tensed, not knowing what to expect. Would he make me strip down to just my shoes and carry my clothes until we were very near the compound? Would he think this was a good teaching lesson, that I had gotten a little too confident, a little too sure of myself and it was time for a bare ass spanking out in the middle of the desert?
His arms slipped around me from behind, going around my chest more than waist. He was taller than me but he still seemed to fit there. He let his chin rest on my head, a gentle touch, his breath warm in my hair. After an initial moment of surprise, my hands went up onto his arms and I relaxed into his touch, letting my body relax against his.
For a little while we watched the morning come to life in the desert. Then Cole stirred and kissed the top of my head. I startled, moved, and he turned me gently in his arms until we were face to face. I looked up into his eyes, expecting the usual mocking, challenging expression, the devilish triangular grin.
And found him serious and still, his eyes searching mine, his mouth right there. I didn't move, didn't tilt my head, didn't go up on tiptoe, didn't move in any way except to lower my gaze, my eyes on his mouth, and then to look up at him again, feeling wonder creep through me.
Cole ducked his head and kissed me, his lips soft and cool with the desert morning. His hands slid around and pressed against my back, drawing me in and up to him. Without thinking I snaked my arms up and around his neck and I did go up on tiptoes, pressing myself against him as his tongue gently touched my lips, then licked into my mouth. His lips brushed mine as he pulled away, paused long enough to gently bite my lower lip, then brushed his lips over mine as he pulled away.
We stood looking at each other, wordless, even our gazes not speaking, just watching each other until he pulled my head against his chest and held me there, and I listened to the hard, fast banging of his heart, which matched mine.