Page 36 of Saving Sophia

But the safeword joke stepped in like an unseen force reminding me to take my time. We needed to talk about it first. Make sure I wasn’t pushing her in a direction I wanted to go because she was vulnerable and easy to lead. If I didn’t control the situation, one kiss would open a door, and if we didn’t talk first, the urge to run through that door might be irresistible. For both of us.

A movement off the road caught my eye, and I grinned. Coincidence was giving me an assist. I glanced over at her, but she was chewing on a fingernail, looking out her window. I eased the car into the turn and slowed down.

The decreased speed caught her attention. She looked around, curiosity lighting up her face. “Is this the way we came? I don’t remember this little neighborhood. It’s so cute, nestled right in the middle of the woods?—”

Her voice cut off when she saw what I had spotted. She scooted up on her seat a little, her hands braced on the dashboard. “Holy crickets, what are those?”

I put the car into park on the short, residential, dead-end street where four small houses sat tucked away on a cul-de-sac amidst the trees.

A good-sized herd of elk, about ten or twelve, mostly females and older calves, milled around in the open grassy area between the street and the first house’s yard. They moved slowly, some ignoring us completely, focused on the tender young grass shoots. Others lifted their wide heads and stared directly at us as they calmly chewed. Two began a slow approach toward the car.

“Oh my gosh, are those elk?” she squealed, her eyes shining with unadulterated joy.

“Yep.” I leaned back in my seat, enjoying her delight.

“And they’re … right there? On the road?”

“Yep.” I pointed to a nearby metal post. “Looks like they read the sign.”

Her hiccuppy little laugh bubbled out of her throat, and my heart squeezed tight at the sound. One of the bigger females, easily the height of the Rover, loomed a few feet closer.

“Can I roll down the window?” She looked to me, awaiting instructions. “What should I do?”

I nodded. “The car is in park, so you can unbuckle and get a good look.”

She snapped off the belt and scootched up to the edge of her seat, tucking one foot under and staring out the window.

I pressed the button, and the window slid down. The elk stretched her nose out to investigate the sound with a thick, curious snort. Sophia let out a squeak. “Oh … look at her eyes! What should I do? Can I take a picture?”

“Sure.” I checked the rearview mirror for any cars coming and noted the rest of the herd’s movements before returning my attention to the beauty in the seat next to me. She fiddled with her phone, clicking photos like mad as the elk watched with somber, patient eyes.

The big animal snorted again, and Sophia squealed in delight. “They’re so big,” she whispered.

The bold female looked just as enthralled with Sophia as she was of it. I kept an eye on her for signs of aggression, but we were inside the car and not threatening the calves, so the encounter stayed under control. After contemplating us a few more moments, the elk meandered back toward the herd, flicking her tail and snorting her goodbyes as she went.

“Well, what did you th?—”

I was cut off by the assault of Sophia’s arms flinging around my neck and her face burrowing into me in a fierce, happy little hug across the console. I caught her by instinct, loving how perfectly she fit against my chest.

“That was amazing! Thank you! How did you spot them? She came so close! I … holy Toledo, that was unbelievable!” She leaned back to find my face, arms still clamped around my neck. Her eyes sparkled, and her lips stretched into an utterly unselfconscious grin.

And then they pressed tight against mine.

She kissed me with an exhilarated abandon that lit me on fire, lips firm at first but then softening, opening to me like a flower. Her heart pounded against my chest, her lush body molding against mine. I cradled her, stroking her back and pulling her over the console to my lap. She gasped out a little groan into my mouth that blurred my thoughts and drove me to take her deeper into the kiss. I shifted her tighter against me, my dick responding to her heat.

Resistance flew out the window. I wanted to claim her right there in the truck. Her fingers traced the back of my neck, raising up the little hairs there and obliterating my lofty thoughts about patience and control. Conversations could come later, but this kiss was too perfect and raw and sweet not to drink it deep.

But then, as fast as it started, it was over.

Her lips were gone, pulling away, her eyes wide with shock and embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” she muttered, scrambling back to her seat. “I’m sorry.” As if she’d broken something, overstepped some boundary.

I ached with the loss of it, the loss of her sheer, bright joy, her unabashed surrender to me, her strawberry sweet lips, but the controlled part of me returned.

Don’t lose this moment.

I cleared my throat and kept my voice light, my smile easy. “So, I take it you liked the elk?”

She blinked back surprise, like she expected a reprimand. “I … yes … that was incredible.” A shadow of her former excitement drifted back onto her face. “I … you said we needed to … wait, and talk, and … I shouldn’t have?—”

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