Page 99 of Wood Riddance
We nibbled on fancy cheese and strawberries and watched as the sun began to set. The scene was peaceful, and it was made all the more beautiful by Adele’s presence beside me.
Not far down the beach, an older couple was snapping photos. With my heart thumping in my chest, I pulled Adele to her feet and dragged her along the sand, hoping she wouldn’t balk at my idea.
“Excuse me?” I asked, holding my phone out as we approached. “Would you mind taking a photo of us?”
The woman smiled broadly and shuffled closer to accept the device. “Oh, we’d love to.”
I pulled Adele against me, positioning us so that the sunset and the ocean were directly behind us.
It felt so easy and so natural. So I let instincts take over as the woman took several photos. I picked Adele up and spun her around, then lowered her until her feet hit the sand and pulled her in for a kiss. For that second, no one else existed, only me, my girl, and the sunset.
We were wrapped up in each other, panting and grinning, when the woman approached.
“I took about a dozen.” She shot me a wink.
“Thanks,” I said, feeling breathless. When I finally dragged my focus from Adele’s face, I noticed a handful of people nearby watching us. Not in a horrified way, but in anaw, they’re so cutesort of way.
Here, on this secluded mountain beach, we could be us. We could live out loud. Together. There was no baggage, no history, no trauma or tragedy.
We were two people in love.
Chapter32
Adele
The walk back to the Airstream was slow, mainly because we kept stopping to make out or admire the stars. Finn had thoughtfully packed headlamps, so we easily found our way up the trail and back to our special spot.
I was a mess of emotions. Every single minute of this day had been perfect, and I found it impossible to contain my affection for this man. I couldn’t keep my hands or my lips off him. For the first time in my life, I was completely consumed by another person.
And it wasn’t purely lust. That would be easy to explain, given that he walked around, day in and day out, looking the way he did. This was so much more complex. I trusted him, which was rare, and his presence soothed me. When we were together, I was less angry, more trusting. Open to all sorts of things I had never considered. Like agreeing to a full-on relationship with a man I’d considered my enemy only a month ago.
I wanted to talk. So badly. To hash out the details and make sure he knew the depth of my feelings for him.
But I didn’t know where to start.
The lights strung along the Airstream created an ethereal scene that struck me silent as we approached. Even if I’d had the words to confess the emotions that had taken over in the last few weeks, I was too in awe of the thought and effort he’d put into planning the perfect weekend. So I did the next best thing. I grabbed him and kissed the hell out of him.
He grasped my waist as he kissed me back and lifted me. In response, I wrapped my legs around his waist. I wasn’t the type of woman who could be easily carried around, but Finn loved to manhandle me, and I enjoyed it way more than I should.
“I need you,” I whimpered between frantic kisses.
One of his hands was already under my dress and making its way up toward my panties. I wasn’t usually a dress kind of girl, but when I found it in my closet this morning, it felt right. He had made such an effort planning this spectacular weekend away. Hell, he always went out of his way to make me feel valued and important, so I wanted to make an effort for him too.
Hence the gingham sundress and very expensive lace panties.
“My God,” he growled as he tromped across the open space, his fingers already stroking me over my panties. “You’re already soaked.” He set me on the picnic table and pushed my panties to one side.
A shiver coursed down my spine, and the heat in my core kicked up a notch. I leaned forward and kissed him again. “What can I say? Romantic gestures really get me going.”
“Then I’ll plan champagne picnics for you every day,” he said, nipping at my earlobe and flicking my clit.
I had to grasp the edge of the table to hold myself upright as he gently eased one finger inside me. The sensation was pure ecstasy. I’d been waiting for his touch all damn day.
My initial assumptions about Finn had been dead wrong. He wasn’t lazy in bed. He was alert, focused, and engaged. Much like he’d been when he was flying his plane, he was hyper-focused. This time, that focus was on my body and the noises I made instead of the sky. He tracked my responses to every one of his moves, cataloging which ones drove me absolutely wild.
He’d made a study of my body these past few weeks, teasing me in a dozen different ways until I was begging for him. Even now, he pressed the pad of his thumb to my clit with the perfect pressure, knowing exactly how I liked it.
He was in control of my body, and I was elated. As a lifelong control freak, I should have had more reservations about giving myself to him so willingly. But he had taken my trust and treated it with such reverence and care that I couldn’t help but fall even deeper.
