“It’s so beautiful here,” she said. “Just like you described it.”
“I’m sure everyone has their favorite places they go, when they need a break from everyone.” He shrugged, stretching his legs out in front of him. “I’ve never run into anyone else here, so maybe they know it’s mine.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes. Hope turned her face up to the light, feeling like a cat taking a lazy nap in a pool of sunshine. If only she could live her whole life in perfect moments like this.
“What did you want to talk about?” Josh asked, breaking the silence.
Hope fumbled for the words she had practiced over and over last night, lying in her bed. “I haven’t really told you much about growing up on my dad’s ranch.”
She had to pause for a moment and swallow past the tightness in her throat. Why did she feel like she wanted to cry?
“After my mom left, it was almost like I’d lost my dad, too. He spent more and more time off working with the cattle, or flying off on business trips. So I spent a lot of time by myself, in places like this. I think maybe it’s why I became a writer.”
“How’s that?”
Hope turned toward him, straddling the log “I got to travel to all kinds of new, beautiful places. And a few that weren’t so nice. But wherever I went, Rome or London or Cairo, writing about it was a way to share it. It made me feel like I wasn’t always by myself.”
“These places you’re talking about, I’ll probably never see them,” he said.
“I know how lucky I was to travel so much, and I loved it all. But it’s not enough anymore.”
“No?” He moved to face her, and she marveled at how much he belonged in this beautiful place, as wild as the wind, as bright as the sun, and as steady as the rocks in the water.
“No,” she replied. “Now—I think I might be ready for a place like this. With someone like you.” He brushed a strand of hair back from her face, and she leaned into his touch.
“I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “I hope we can give it a try.”
She had to kiss him. She tugged him gently toward her, then pressed her lips to his. For a moment, neither of them moved, and the kiss was more sweet than sexual. But then his mouth opened under hers, and everything changed.
His hands cradled her face as they kissed deeply, breaking off and then returning to each other over and over again. The first time they’d made love, on the night they’d met, it had been urgent, each of them chasing sensation and eager to express the connection they felt. Now, they had leisure to explore and linger. She kissed the corner of his mouth, his cheek, his neck, anywhere she could reach, so she could learn him by heart.
But that leisurely feeling evaporated when he pulled her back into an even more urgent kiss. She moaned and sucked on his tongue, but broke off with a gasp when his hands moved down to her breasts.
He pulled back to gaze at her face. “I still can’t believe how beautiful you are. How lucky I am that I can touch you.”
“Come on,” Hope said. He looked puzzled but followed her as she stood up. She pulled the blanket off the log and laid it out to cushion the ground.
“Really?” he said, looking shocked, but also pleased.
“Yes,” she said. “I need to be with you, now.” This wasn’t like her at all, to be so daring, but meeting Josh had changed things for her. And if things had changed, why shouldn’t she change as well? Why should she be nervous, if Josh was there with her?
Hope sank down onto the blanket and drew Josh after her. She moved quickly, leaning over him and unbuttoning his shirt so that she could kiss his chest and stomach. He threaded his fingers through her hair, and she’d never thought that anyone scratching her scalp could be so erotic. But each individual tickle of sensation seemed to combine and unite as a throbbing heat between her legs.
She trailed her hand down his chest and toyed with the sensitive skin above his waistband. His stomach muscles tensed under the light touch, then jerked in a gasp when she moved her hand to stroke his cock through his pants.
“Come here,” he said. “I want to touch you.”
She shook her head. “I’m touching you right now.” She opened his pants, encouraging him to lift his hips so she could work them down to his knees. Then she pulled his cock out of the slit in his boxers.
At first, she just ran her fingers over it, enjoying the soft skin over the hardness. Gradually, she increased the pressure and curved her fingers around until she encircled it with her hand, stroking up and down, up and down.
“Your hand feels amazing,” Josh panted, pushing up into her grasp.
She thought for a moment about what her new, bold self might do. “Then this should feel even better,” she whispered as she bent down to take the head into her mouth.
“Hope!” he cried. It was half protest, half excitement. She ignored the protest and curled her tongue around him, flicking under the head. His outstretched hands curled and tore at the grass on either side of the blanket. After a few moments, she began moving, slowly pushing down to meet her fingers, then pulling back up.
It felt powerful, especially after having seen him shifted, the way he’d carried her on his back as if she were light as a feather. He was a magnificent animal, but even more, he was a powerful and caring man.