Page 136 of The Heart of Winter

A bit shyly, I glanced at Winter. But when he started undressing, I noticed something surprising: his cock was fully erect!

It caught me off guard. We’d literally exchanged one sentence. Why would he get hard so quickly?

Maybe I was just that irresistibly attractive? The thought made me smirk. Sure… I doubted my long, sinewy body was that much of a temptation to Winter, but who knew, maybe I was actually his type?

Winter sat down in the water, and I handed him the can I’d been keeping within reach. "Eat something. You’ve been walking around; you need to boost your energy," I said, trying to keep my tone light, as if this wasn’t slowly becoming a real problem.

He looked at the can, and I saw in his eyes the exact same thought that had been running through my own mind earlier. He knew our supply was dwindling, and the pretzels were almost gone too. We were already out of fruit bars.

But he had to be starving, because he grabbed a handful of peanuts and put them into his mouth, rather greedily.

I watched him, and I knew exactly what he was feeling. After eating one handful, his gaze returned to the can in a way that told me he wanted more, a lot more. And probably not just peanuts.

Winter and I were likely around the same weight. I was taller but leaner, while he was shorter but more muscular. Our calorie needs had to be similar. On top of that, he was the one who was constantly on the move, and sex most likely burned a lot of his energy.

"Take some more. You need your strength more than I do; you’re going outside," I said, even though the words were hard to force out. I wanted to eat too, but the truth was, our survival depended on Winter, and he needed it more.

"That might not be the best idea," Winter murmured hesitantly. "We should ration our food."

I shook my head firmly. "Winter, you’ve been walking for hours in open terrain. In a moment, we’re going to be doing something just as exhausting. Please, just finish what’s left in that can."

He swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on the peanuts. I could almost feel just how hungry he was, like it was my own body. Eventually, he reached for the can, poured the rest into his hand, and tossed them into his mouth. I saw the brief moment when his face relaxed in pleasure as he chewed, he must have been even hungrier than I suspected!

And with that, another can was officially empty.

I handed him two mints and half a piece of gum, taking the other half for myself.

For a while, we sat in silence.

I wanted to bring up the topic of food, but I wasn’t sure if it would lead us anywhere useful or good. I had no knowledge of the wildlife on a random island. Sure, I’d heard from my uncle Victor that marine crustaceans were one of the safest food sources in a survival situation, but we’d have to find them first. And Winter had already said that wasn’t easy.

"I walked along the volcano slope for a bit, tried to circle around it," Winter said, glancing toward the cave entrance. "On the other side of the island, there’s a pretty rocky area with deep ravines. Maybe I should explore it sometime, see if I can find anything useful."

"Rocky ravines don’t sound safe."

"I might be able to get there from the beach, but from what I saw, where the volcano meets the water, the shoreline looks hard to access. There are high cliffs. Still, maybe there’s a way around from the other side…"

"That sounds really risky, Winter. We don’t have enough food. A few hours of exertion will seriously weaken you," I said, my voice filled with doubt.

He shrugged. "One way or another, we might have to do it eventually. We need to explore the whole island."

I knew he was right, but we had to consider a lot of factors, how much food we had left, and whether the risk of depleting our energy was even worth it. What if we trekked all that way just to find more lifeless, rocky beaches with nothing on them?

My dick throbbed slightly, and I felt another wave rising inside me. My gaze swept over the smooth, pale planes of Winter’s body.

"I’d like to… do what we did yesterday. It kind of softened the wave," I mumbled, a little shyly.

Winter’s eyes locked onto my face. "Knotting?"

"Yeah. Sorry to ask, I know you're not into bottoming that much." I was probably bright red.

But Winter reacted much more positively than I expected. He reached out and placed his hand on my shoulder, his fingers brushing lightly over my ultra-sensitive gland.

"Sariel, it’s different with you. I’ve felt that from the start. I don’t have the same hesitation I did with Fin. Every relationship dynamic is different, I guess," he said with a small shrug, as if it wasn’t a big deal. Maybe it really wasn’t. "We can move to the mattress if you need it."

I felt a little embarrassed, but his face, his entire presence, somehow put me at ease. Winter seemed more relaxed today when it came to our sex.

He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on my shoulder, then another, directly over my gland.

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