Page 42 of Lost With You
His chest pinched. She’d be handing in the story after the expedition was over, when she climbed back into her van. She’d be off on her own again, covering some other man’s adventure.
A cloud slipped across the sun. The river tarnished from silver to gray.
“Weird, isn’t it?” she said, shortening the space between them. “You strive hard to achieve something. And yet, once it’s in your grasp, you feel a little sad.”
She turned up her face, hair slicked back, drops of water clinging to her eyelashes. He couldn’t put a label on anything he was feeling right now. Damn Casey. She was churning up his insides in ways he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
She murmured, “Are you thinking about Pops?”
Heshouldbe. Pops was always with him, ghosting along with them in the canoe, a presence at his side through all the portaging. But right now, Casey was a stronger presence. And like the vision he had of Pops, she’d be gone once this expedition was over. How much time left did they have alone together? Two, maybe three days?
“I’d like to include Pops in the article.” Casey pressed her head above the hollow of his chest. “If you and he approve, that is.”
“Pops would love that.” He slid his hands down her sides, memorizing the indentation of her waist, the flare of hip. “To think crowds would be reading about his story. He’ll be over the moon.”
Water gurgled around their bodies. A breeze teased the tips of the pines. Sun sparkled on the ripples in the water.
She said, “We didn’t make love last night.”
Make love.Dangerous hopes stirred.
“I miss you,” she murmured, lifting her face.
I will miss you, too.
He loved her mouth, the full lower lip, the pillowy give of it against his. He savored the taste of coffee on her tongue. She didn’t rush through the kissing, like she usually did, hungry for deeper pleasures. She pulled back just once, her heavy-lidded gaze close. He kissed her again, grateful for her willingness to slow things down, to bank for this one instant the urge that drove them hard toward the oblivion of pleasure. He trailed a kiss down her jaw, then back to her mouth. He slid a hand down her back, making her arch until even the river couldn’t come between their pressed bodies anymore.
She made a sound deep in her throat—a little, wild sound—and he opened his eyes to watch her pupils constrict. He could spend hours observing her face, cataloging the emotions flickering across it, the flutter of her lashes as she succumbed to sensation, the playful lift of an eyebrow as she let her hand roam, the twitch at the side of her mouth that spoke of bated anticipation.
He shot a glance to the shore, to where his backpack lay, wishing he could teleport what he needed into his hand.
A finger on his jaw turned his attention back to her.
She said, “We don’t need that anymore.”
Was she talking about…? His cock tightened.
“You’ve been responsible, Dylan. I know you respect women. You’ve kept me safe.”
What women? Right now, he couldn’t remember being with any other woman, ever. He sure hadn’t been close enough to any other lover to ride bareback for a very long time. The thought of being inside Casey like that…
“I’m on birth control, so no worries.” She swayed in the water, the tips of her wet hair splayed around her shoulders. “I want to feel you inside me, Dylan. Skin to skin.”
He crouched to wrap his arms around her bottom and lift her. She slapped her hands on his shoulders for balance as he twirled her, scouting locations. Should he bring her to the riverbank, press her down in the grass? Should he brace her up against that stone ledge on the spit that curved into the water? It felt important to choose the right place for this moment. He was swiftly losing the mental capacity to pinpoint why.
The spit of land it was.
The sloping stone warmed his hand as he set her against it. Water surged up and around her hips as he slipped between her thighs. She raised her knees and hooked her ankles behind his back, buoyed by the river. Inches below the clear, clear water, he positioned himself to join her, his senses reeling as his cock kissed her cleft.
“Dylan…”
Her teeth dug into her bottom lip as her face flushed. The sun came out from behind the cloud, painting her nakedness. He slid into her all the way to the root. Where he stayed.
Just for a moment.
Wanting to be closer.
Flattening a hand on the wedge of stone, he pressed his forehead against hers as the swirl of his feelings slowed and crystalized on one undeniable truth.
