Page 67 of Thunder Pass

She abandoned herself to the rhythm he set, moving her hips to meet his. It was strange, having him at her back instead of her front, and it allowed more of her inhibitions to melt away. She ground into him, chasing sensation wherever it occurred. Her legs quaked and her belly quivered and she felt another orgasm gather deep inside her.

His breath was coming faster against her neck, and the pace of his thrusts quickened. She felt his want for her, as well as his tenderness, in the way he held her hips—aware of his strength, unwilling to bruise her bones the way he probably could. Her heart swelled with affection for him. Not just love—affection. Another dimension of this swirl of emotions she felt for Gunnar.

She bit her lip with joy when she felt him reach his moment of bliss. As he gasped against her back, muffling the harsh sounds against her clothing, she felt a clench of sensation deep inside her. It made her inner channel close around him like a fist, which drew another convulsion from him.

“Sex is amazing,” she whispered to him when they were both safely under the covers, his condom tucked away in the trash, breathing deeply together, arms and legs intertwined.

“Mmmm.” He was already half asleep, and adorably so, his blond hair a disheveled mess and his face flushed.

“Can we do it again and again?”

“Any time, any place,” he said sleepily. “Know what else is good?”

“Sleep?”

“Mmmm.”

And so they slept. Her last thought was that never in her life had she been this happy. But it wasn’t because of the sex. It was because she’d never truly opened herself up to someone until now.

When she woke up, Gunnar was gone. She vaguely remembered him murmuring something about WiFi, and needing to check something, and came to the conclusion that he’d gone to the general store. She stretched her arms over her head, her entire body feeling relaxed and satisfied.

The moment of calm didn’t last long, as Lilith came bounding through the door a moment later and climbed onto the bed with her. “Auntie Ruth, are we going to Heaven?” the little girl asked as she curled her body next to Ruth’s.

“What are you talking about?”

The Chilkoots never discussed things like Heaven and Hell. She’d only become familiar with those concepts after she’d left the compound. That was when she’d realized that they hadn’t wanted anything competing with their authority.

“Is Heaven nice?”

“Well, I imagine so. It’s so nice that you can call almost anything you like ‘heaven.’”

“Oh. I guess that’s okay, then.” Lilith put her thumb in her mouth, then snatched it out and gazed at it. “Sucking my thumb is heaven,” she said seriously.

Ruth laughed and snuggled her close. She’d missed the little ones more than she’d realized. It felt so good to see Lilith’s impish little face and feel her warm body curled next to her. The thought of them running away on their own made her shiver. “Lilith, why didn’t any of the older kids come with you?”

“Noah’s older.”

“Yes, but he’s only ten. What about Miller?”

“I don’t know. He got into trouble. All of us got into trouble at the creek.” Lilith popped her thumb back into her mouth.

“What happened at the creek? Were you fishing?”

“Yes. I caught a trout. Then we found the gold.”

The gold? There was no gold in their creek. Ruth had fished it a thousand times and had never seen any gold particles. She even knew where to look—the inside bends of the creek where the current slowed, confluence zones where two creeks met.

“How did you know it was gold?”

Lilith’s eyes went wide and she clapped her hand over her mouth. She shook her head wildly.

“You aren’t supposed to say?” Ruth asked gently.

Lilith nodded. Then she opened her fingers and whispered, “They said we’d have to stay in the potato cellar if we told anyone. And then Uncle Dmitri said we’d have to work in the mines until our fingers fell off.”

“The mines? What mines?”

Lilith shrugged. There were obviously no mines. That wouldn’t be something Luke could keep hidden. It was just a threat to silence the children.

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