Page 10 of Can't Get No Satyrfaction

She abandoned the attempt to reclaim her backpack and started walking. His hand lingered a moment longer before dropping away, leaving her back feeling cold and bare despite the already increasing temperature.

They’d only walked for a couple of minutes when she spotted a spiderweb with a huge crystalline spider perched in the middle. She immediately paused to take some pictures, although she made sure to keep a careful distance. She could admire its beauty but she didn’t particularly want to get too close to it.

He stopped and waited surprisingly patiently as she took her pictures. A little while after they started walking again, he unbent enough to point out a small cluster of star lilies half hidden in a drift of fallen leaves caught between the roots of an enormous tree.

She eagerly snapped more pictures, going down on her knees to capture some close ups. When she was finished he helped her to her feet, although regretfully this time she didn’t end up in his arms.

“I can tell this isn’t going to be a quick journey,” he grumbled, but then he reached down to brush the leaf debris off her knees.

His hand felt just as good there as it had on her back.Who knew that knees could be an erogenous zone, she thought as he stroked his hand over her now clean skin one last time. If only those big hands had been stroking higher up her legs instead. She immediately blushed at the thought, but it didn’t stop the heat from coiling low in her belly, and he shot her a startled glance.

“Thank you,” she said breathlessly as their eyes met. They were close enough that she could see the flecks of gold in those stunning green eyes. Their gazes locked for a moment before he quickly straightened and looked away, leaving her a little stunned by the intensity of her reaction to him.

She hadn’t dated much over the past few years. Her job meant that she was frequently busy on nights and weekends which made a normal dating life rather difficult. And to be honest, she hadn’t met anyone interesting enough for her to work around that limitation. She’d certainly never experienced this instantaneous rush of attraction before.

Whatever else you could say about Thorn, he’s certainly interesting, she thought as she followed him down the trail, watching his tail flick back and forth. She found herself studying the powerful lines of his shoulders, the way his hooves barely disturbed the earth beneath them. The silver streaks in his hair caught the light, and those magnificent horns curved upwards toward the canopy. He moved like a creature born of the forest itself—fluid, powerful, untamed.

Her heart skipped a beat when he glanced back at her with those luminous green eyes.

“You’re staring.” His tail flicked again

“I’m a photographer. Staring is kind of my job. Especially when I have such a fascinating subject.”

He snorted, the sound somewhere between dismissal and amusement. As he turned back around, a branch swayed out of his path without him touching it, and her breath caught. The forest seemed to bend around him, acknowledging its guardian with subtle shifts and whispers. Her fingers itched for her camera, to try and capture the relationship between forest and guardian, but it also felt… wrong to intrude on that bond. She focused on the rest of her surroundings instead.

By the time he decided they should pause for a longer break, they had already stopped numerous times. Most of the time it was because of something that had caught her eye, but he occasionally pointed out things as well. He even seemed less grumpy than he had when they started out. That didn’t mean he didn’t frown disapprovingly when she offered him one of her protein bars.

“You expect me to eat that?” he asked, giving the bar the same look she reserved for her father’s eggplant casserole.

“Well what else are you going to eat? You didn’t bring any supplies.”

“I didn’t need to. The forest will provide.”

He reached up a hand and a vine curled down towards him, depositing a cluster of the most luscious grapes she had ever seen into his hand, plump and purple and shiny. Her mouth watered just looking at them.

“How did you?—”

He popped a grape in her mouth when she started to question him and she automatically bit down on it, then moaned appreciatively as it burst on her tongue.

“Oh my God, that’s amazing.”

He was watching her mouth again and she deliberately licked her lips, watching that glowing green gaze follow the gesture before he suddenly looked away, thrusting a cluster of grapes into her hands as he did. But that heated look confirmed her suspicion that the attraction between them wasn’t just on her side.

Perhaps it should have concerned her being alone in the woods with a satyr almost twice her size, but she’d never felt more safe. Or more aroused, she thought ruefully, as another pulse of heat settled low in her stomach.

Attracted he might be, but she had no illusions that he was going to do anything about it—unless perhaps she pushed him a little. She’d never tried to seduce anyone before, but how hard could it be?

She finished the rest of the grapes, and sighed happily.

“Those were delicious. Do you ever make wine with them?”

“Why? Because of the stereotypes about satyrs?”

She rolled her eyes at him.

“No. Because it seems like a logical use for the grape, and I’m sure it would be delicious. You’re so touchy.”

“I am not,” he snapped.

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