Page 80 of Embers

Still brimming with deep emotion and affection, I turn slightly in Cal’s arm, which he still has draped around me, and I stretch up to press a light kiss on his mouth. His beard hair scratches my skin, but I’ve always liked how it feels.

“What was that for?” he asks.

“Thank you. For telling me all that. I know it wasn’t easy.”

“I should’ve told you a long time ago. Wasn’t right to keep it locked away like I did. I think it made it… bigger than it really is.”

“Maybe so. But I still know it wasn’t easy for you to let it go, so thank you for doing it.”

“I’d do way more than that for you, baby.” His eyes have taken on that hot expression that always gets me going.

I can’t think of any reason not to, so I lean up to kiss him again. This time he kisses me back.

His hand slides to curve around the back of my skull, holding me in place so he can deepen the kiss. Soon his tongue gets into the action, and it’s feeling so good that I make shameless, hungry sounds against his mouth.

He’s really into it too. His body has gotten blazing hot, and he’s breathing heavily through his nose. He slowly leans into me, pushing me down until I’m lying on my back on the blanket with him on top of me.

I’ve always loved the weight of him pressing into me. He kisses me until I’m throbbing all over and wrapping one of my legs around the back of his thighs.

He’s hard in his pants. I can feel the bulge of his cock pressing into my middle. I rock up against it.

He huffs and breaks the kiss, raising his upper body enough to stare down at me. He’s as flushed as I feel. “We better stop, baby. I got too carried away.”

“Oh.” I make a little whining sound as my pussy pulses with achy need.

Despite his obvious arousal, he’s searching my face urgently. “Unless you’re ready to do more.”

I squirm my hips. I’m honestly dying for him. But when I let my mind imagine our bodies getting naked and moving together, a flash of fear rises up to overwhelm me.

I don’t know where it even came from, but it casts a shadow over everything else.

“Nope.” With a groan, Cal heaves himself off me. “We’re not doin’ that yet.”

“I didn’t say—”

“I can see it on your face, baby. And there’s no way in fuckin’ hell that I’m ever gonna fuck you when you’re not sure.”

“I’m sorry. I do want to. I mean, my body isn’t at all happy with me right now.” I sit up too. Rub my face and try to smooth down my hair. “But maybe we better wait a little longer.”

“That’s what we’ll do. We got plenty of time.”

“But now you have a hard-on and nothing to do with it.”

He chuckles, just a little breathless. “Give me a minute. It’ll go away eventually. Not a big deal. After all, I got years of experience getting hard for you.”

* * *

For the whole next week, the thought of our cabin on the mountain keeps coming back to me. I don’t know why, but I can’t shake it. Since Friday is my day off from work around the farm, I start off after breakfast on my motorcycle. Cal’s motorcycle. Ours. Whatever it is. I take off and head toward the mountain.

I haven’t been home since he left me.

As I approach, I slow down. The air and trees and dirt road smell the same. Feel the same. The tree with the forked trunk is still there and so is the abandoned van on the side of the dirt road. When I make it up the gravel driveway and pull to a stop in front of the cabin, it looks smaller than it is in my memories.

But otherwise the same.

It’s clear no one has been living here for months, but it’s not in as bad a shape as I might expect. The yard is picked up. One of the windows must have gotten cracked, but it’s been neatly boarded over.

Cal’s obviously been coming here occasionally over the past several months and taking care of things.

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