Page 45 of Alone With You
Her smile wavered as she contemplated possibilities. “Anyone could pass by.”
“The only creatures around right now are the birds. We’re three miles from the park entrance and haven’t seen a hiker in hours.” He lifted the hem of her tee-shirt, exposing a stretch of taut belly above the waistband of her shorts. “In all your years of field research, you’ve never gone skinny-dipping? Or made love naked in the great wide open?”
“No, actually.” She wrinkled that lovely nose and frowned. “Not even once.”
“Glad to be the first.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t get too cocky about it.”
He tugged the shirt harder. “Are you going to let the sun touch all your glory, Jenny?”
Hesitation hovered on her face. Why the reluctance? She was free enough with nudity when alone with him at the cabin. She seemed comfortable in her gorgeous skin. Whenever he’d coaxed her into hot sex, she’d been a willing and enthusiastic participant. But here, in a public place, risking public viewing, she wouldn’t meet his eye. It was an excuse, he thought. The sex itself, that’s what was troubling her, after their kiss this morning. Only one day had passed, but they were no longer two consenting adults enjoying mutual sexual stimulation. There was a lot more thrumming between them now. He couldn’t come up with any other explanation for her sudden shyness, this vaguely-panicked muting of her usual enthusiasm.
He let go of the hem of her tee-shirt to tug on the waistband of her shorts. “All right, just lose these.”
“Oh,” she said breathlessly, uncertain.
“Ditch the shorts,” he said, leaning in to whisper in her ear, “and I’ll pull the blanket over my head to cover us both.”
The skin at her neck turned a shade pinker. Her knees bobbed as the implications sank in. She chewed on her lower lip for a moment, and then, with a catch in her throat, she leaned back on the blanket to flick open the button of her shorts.
A half an hour later, mutually satisfied, they lay beside each other, the edge of the blanket pulled over his hips. Raking his hands through his hair, he tried to ease the pounding of his heart after the powerful orgasm she’d just given him. He glanced at Jenny, lying on her belly, a wicked light in her eye, still bearing the radiance of the sexual satisfaction he’d given her. The sweet perfume of her sex lingered on his lips.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her, looking so soft and vulnerable and relaxed and happy. The endorphins were kicking in for him, too, he felt the drift of his excitement into a lingering peace. But there was more to this satisfaction, now, it came with a compulsion to make her happy. He wasn’t worth her time, his life was on hold, and he hadn’t expected this. But he knew he had every intention of holding on to her, and seeing if this could work.
Yeah. He couldn’t deny it anymore.
Timing be damned.
He was in love with Jenny Vance.
***
Logan was catching up on a lot of sleep, that was sure. He woke up disoriented, blinking up at the underside of the forest canopy, over an hour after his romp with Jenny, according to his plastic-wrapped phone. He turned his head to find her, still on her stomach, rising out of her own pleasant doze.
Under the blanket he slid a hand down the incline of her sloping back, then over one still-bare buttock. “For a lady who was so concerned with public decency laws,” he said, squeezing the fullness of one plump globe, “you sure are reveling in the rule-breaking.”
She raised herself on her elbows, rewarding him with a view of cleavage beneath, and the weight and wonder of her breasts.
“Your fault,” she said. “You’ve corrupted me.”
“Excellent.”
“I used to be such a law-abiding citizen.”
“Now you’re a rebel.”
Her grin widened. “It is liberating.”
“Care for a swim?” Hell, it had been an hour. Just breathing the same air as Jenny made him want her again. “I could use some cooling off.”
“You’re just trying to get me out of the rest of my clothes.”
“Is it working?”
She laughed. “It’s not a very deep stream, you know.”
“All the better.” He ran a hand across her flat belly, to rest on the lightly protruding bone of her hip. “Are you game, Jenny?”
