Summer Kisses (292 page)

Blowing a stray lock of hair off her face that had worked its way out of the braid,. she looked more adorable than someone who’d just hiked two miles should. Her cheeks were pink from the exertion, but she had a smile on her face.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the look we’d shared at the last stop. I could no longer remember any of the reasons I’d been trying to resist her and knew that my promise to be a gentleman was in serious danger. Any small amount of encouragement from her would have me jumping her like a randy goat.

Her good attitude about the whole thing made me move a couple of steps toward her, forcing her back against the tree behind her.

“I’m unbelievably proud of the way you’re hanging in there,” I said, completely honestly.

“Really?” Her voice seemed a little hoarse.

I took that as a sign she didn’t mind me crowding her and pressed a step closer until my hands were on either side of her head, braced on the tree. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, not moving away and not really that sorry for what I was about to do.

“For what?”

“For this.” I dropped my head so that my lips brushed against hers. The heat from those lips turned my blood to lava. She melted against the tree and braced one hand against my chest, the other making its way into my hair.

What could have been anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours later—I’d totally lost track of time—I came up for air.

Katherine shook her head slowly before releasing the death grip she had on my shirt and smoothing out the fabric against my chest.

“Don’t apologize.” A smile toyed with her lips. She looked a little dazed and confused, and I’d be totally lying if I said I wasn’t very much looking forward to getting her alone in my tent.

“Okay, then. I won’t.” My voice sounded husky to my own ears.

After that stop, there seemed to be a new awareness between us. I admit, I used every excuse imaginable to touch her, and she wasn’t exactly hands-off herself.

By the time we hiked our last quarter mile, I was ready to throw her into the brush at the side of the trail and have my way with her. From the glint in her eyes anytime she looked my direction, I think she knew it.

We passed by the waterfall on our way to the campground. “Oh, this is so awesome,” she said.

“The last time I was up here there was almost no water. Barely a trickle. This is the best I’ve ever seen this site.”

If she’d had grand illusions of some sort of Tahitian lagoon, it was put to rest quickly. As far as anyone could tell, the water was still a trickle, but a heavy one. A pool of water gathered below the waterfall before forming back into a creek again as it spilled on down between a copse of trees. A couple of scraggly bushes on either side offered a bit of privacy, and I toyed with the idea of a quick dunk to wash the worst of the sweat and grime off myself.

Maybe she’d join me. I grinned at that thought.

“What?” Katherine asked.

Busted
. “Huh?” I played innocent.

“You had a look.”

I shrugged. “I was thinking that there’s enough water that we could actually take a shower of sorts after we get the campsite set up.”

She wiped her forehead with an arm, leaving a smudge in the sweat and dust. “God, that sounds good.”

We hiked around the edge of the gorge and stumbled upon our campsite, complete with a firepit surrounded by rocks with smooth, well-worn logs on three sides, and a flat, smooth place for a tent on the fourth.

We dumped our packs against one of the log benches. “Take a moment to catch your breath, then I’ll have you head over there—” I motioned opposite to the way we came in. “—to pick up kindling, and I’ll get the tent up.”

After relaxing for a few minutes and cooling down, Katherine left to find wood. By the time she returned, I had the tent—a standard dome number, big enough to sleep two or three—staked along the flat portion of the campsite.

“It’s awfully, um, small,” she said slowly.

My face fell. Had I misread her? And here I’d thought
I
was the one holding this relationship back.

Quite a kick in the ego.

“Well, I suppose I could sleep outside.” I fought to keep the reluctance out of my voice, without complete success.

“No way,” she said, restoring a bit of my hope. “I agreed to one tent. It’ll be fine.”

That wasn’t exactly a “please let me take my clothes off for you,” but I considered it hopeful.

“I think you’ll find it seems a lot bigger when you’re in it.” Though not
too
big, thank goodness.

She dropped the kindling next to the firepit and moved off to the side for smaller sticks, leaves, and quick burnables.

“You’ve done this before.” I looked at the firewood she’d left.

“My dad’s a big fan of fire.” She gave an impish smile. “My family has an annual bonfire where he tries to burn down the neighborhood and Mom stands off to the side with the fire extinguisher.”

I liked the way she talked about her family. I loved Mom and Mac but felt a little jealous of how close Katherine’s family seemed.

I pulled a few things from my pack and then put it in the tent. While I set the small twigs, dry leaves, and pine needles aflame with a match, she moved out of the direct path of the smoke.

“If you want, you can head down to the waterfall and take a quick shower while I do the manly stuff.” I grinned.

She rolled her eyes with an answering smile. For a moment, we were one of those old couples who knew every single one of their partner’s jokes but still found them funny.

“That sounds great...?”

I assumed that to her it sounded like a great idea until she started thinking about the possible ramifications of bathing bare-assed naked in the middle of the wilderness.

“No one’s going to wander by this close to dusk,” I assured her, hoping I read her right.

She didn’t answer for a long moment. “You won’t peek?” she asked, not entirely joking.

I stood up and stepped toward her, looking deep into her eyes. “If—no
when
—I see you naked, trust me when I say you’ll be fully aware of it.”

Katherine raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond, except for the blush that crawled up her cheeks.

Putting her pack into the tent, she pulled out a change of clothes and headed toward the waterfall.

As I continued to prepare dinner and watch the fire, I couldn’t help but imagine Katherine, naked in the twilight, the creek water flowing over her body, her nipples tight from the chill of the water.

I squirmed in my suddenly too-tight jeans.

She came back a short while later in a men’s tank undershirt, a pair of shorts, and an unzipped hoodie sweatshirt that seemed too warm for the weather.

I wondered what the fastest way to get her out of all that would be. “Come up close to the fire. It’s really going now.”

She sat down on the other side of the fire from me, watching as I stabbed two potatoes with a fork then wrapped them in aluminum foil.

“Aren’t you roasting?” I asked, a little discouraged that my get-close-to-the-fire routine hadn’t gotten her out of that ugly sweatshirt.

She shrugged. “Maybe a little.” Little rivulets of sweat ran down the sides of her face by her hairline, and the little bit of her upper chest that I could see started to glow pink.

It must have been the shirt underneath. I was dying to see it. “Take off your sweatshirt.”

“All I have on underneath is a tank top.”

Exactly!
I gave her a pointed look. “So? Be comfortable for crying out loud.”

Once Katherine dropped the shirt over the log beside her, she breathed a sigh of relief then looked up.

I’m sure what she saw was me tripping over my own tongue. Yeah, I’d seen her in a swimsuit. I knew the woman was, well,
stacked
, but Holy God. Her breasts pushed at the thin, gray fabric of the undershirt, which wrapped around her snugly. “Wow. I guess I asked for that,” I said. “Ay-yiy-yiy.”

She smiled one of those slightly shy, coy smiles I’d seen her give me when I said exactly the right thing.

I tossed the potatoes in the fire. “I’m going to race over to the waterfall and get cleaned up.” Hopefully, the water would be cold.

After digging a few items from the tent, I trotted on down the path, leaving her to tend the fire.

A wild shriek disturbed the evening silence.

Mine.

The water hit me like an arctic blast. Not only did I no longer have to worry about embarrassing myself or her with an inappropriate erection, I’d be lucky to find my balls before September.

“Holy mother of God. Why didn’t you tell me this water was so cold?” I called up to her as I quickly scrubbed my hair and person, not really caring if I was completely rinsed.

“You never asked,” Katherine called back, unable to suppress a loud laugh. Actually, I’m not certain she tried to suppress it.

I returned to the campsite a few minutes later in shorts and a clean tee shirt with ripped-out sleeves.

“Feel better?” she asked with nearly a straight face.

I cleared my throat. “I do now that the frostbite’s wearing off.”

From the tent, I pulled a soft-sided lunch cooler containing ice packs, a freezer-paper-wrapped package of steaks, and a bag of salad, plus a grocery bag containing an oven mitt, silverware, plates, and a sandwich baggie of miscellaneous condiments in small travel sizes as well as a light-weight grate to cook the steaks on.

“This is high-end camping,” she commented.

“First class all the way. Steak, baked potatoes, and salad.”

I placed the steaks on the grate and propped it over the fire, then handed her a plate with mixed lettuce. “Light ranch or light italian?” I held up two individual packets.

“Ranch, please,” she said. I handed her the packet along with a fork, and we each dug into our salads while the steaks cooked. “We don’t have to worry about bears smelling our food, do we?” she asked.

“I doubt it. Tonight, we’ll hang our food and trash away from the tent though, just in case.” I flipped the steaks over to cook the other side.

“I love a man with rugged culinary skills,” she said.

I looked up and grinned. “If you think this is good, wait ‘til you see what I’ve got for dessert.” I wasn’t really talking about the marshmallows still in the tent.

Katherine blushed.

A few minutes later, I pulled the steaks off the fire and dug the potatoes out of the coals. Taking her plate, I wiped it off with a cloth then placed a steak and a potato on it. Next, I handed her a package of butter, salt, and pepper, and a tiny container of sour cream.

“Do you need anything else?” I asked as I prepared my own plate.

She shook her head. “This is
amazing
.”

After the long hike, the food tasted wonderful, and neither of us spoke much as we ate.

After we’d finished, I ducked past her and dug into the tent, coming up with the bag of marshmallows.

“Voila. Dessert.”

“I would think that marshmallows would go against your sense of proper diet.”

I shrugged. “Yeah, they kinda do, but what the hell.”

Katherine clutched at her chest as if in shock.

I pulled the bag open. “You’re probably one of those people who toasts their marshmallows until they’re just so, aren’t you?”

Smiling, she had to admit it.

“Let me introduce you to the proper marshmallow technique, then.” I found a stick and whittled the end into a sharp point with my pocketknife. Piercing a marshmallow, I thrust it into the remaining flames until it caught fire, then sat down beside her and brought it back near me so I could watch it burn.

Finally, I blew it out. “Are you ready to cross to the dark side?” I wiggled my eyebrows.

Katherine nodded. “Teach me, Obi-wan.” She hesitated. “Or would that make you Darth Vader?”

I pulled the burnt mass from the end of the stick with my fingers. “Open wide.”

She let me feed her the sweet concoction. “Mmmm. Good.” Half of it ended up on her face, like I’d intended.

I leaned toward her. “You’ve got a little...” I pointed to my own upper lip.

She stuck out her tongue to get the goop off. Before she could achieve success, I moved in for the kill.

“You missed it,” I whispered. “Let me take care of that for you.”

His lips captured mine, and I’m pretty sure any stray marshmallow was long gone before he was done. Not that I was complaining.

Quinn released me momentarily, straddled the log we sat on, wrapped an arm around my waist, and then pulled me close until my hip nestled in the cradle of his thighs.

I wound my arms around his neck, completely abandoning myself to his kiss. “Oh God. Katherine,” he murmured before his lips snaked a trail down the side of my neck. I tipped my head and leaned into him, unable to help myself.

Digging my fingers into his hair, I held on tight as he kissed across my collarbone. A tiny voice in my head suggested it was possible I would regret this tomorrow.

“Shhh,” I whispered to it.

“What?”

“Not you,” I said.

He nipped my ear, and a bolt of white-hot passion zipped through every erogenous zone I knew and a few I’d forgotten about.

One last scream for sanity had me reluctantly pulling back. “What happened to keeping this just friends?”

“Like we’ve been doing a good job of even pretending we’re only friends?” Quinn nuzzled the sensitive spot below my ear, his breathing rough.

“I’ve been trying to convince myself we were,” I whispered, leaning my forehead against his.

“So have I. How do you feel that’s been working out?”

“Not as well as this.”

He chuckled, then dove in again, his lips making contact with mine, his tongue making quick work of the barrier presented by my teeth. He pulsed against my hip in a flattering show of ardor.

I still felt torn between wanting to see how far this would go and stopping things here and now before my heart got broken. A mosquito buzzing around my head played with my concentration, and one of its friends chomping into my arm broke it completely. I slapped my arm before it could drain me like a vampire.

“The bugs are starting to get bad,” he whispered. Don’t ask me why that sounded sexy, but it did. Maybe it was the way his throat rasped out the words in near-bass tones. Or maybe it was because he followed it with an entirely too-enticing suggestion. “Why don’t we get in the tent? We can watch the fire from behind the mosquito net.”