Page 44 of Edge of Desire

I scooted closer.

He kissed my cheeks, then my nose, and then my lips.

“What a perfect morning,” he said.

“Couldn’t agree with you more.”

After a bit, we got up and went downstairs to make coffee and breakfast. I made omelets and toast. Preston raved about them, but they weren’t anything special. He was just being polite.

“You up for a little hike today?” he asked.

“Sure.” But then I realized I didn’t have any hiking boots, not to mention I was carrying all this extra weight. I doubted he’d want to take a huffing and puffing Extra-Large Avery along. “Oh no! I can’t.” My glum expression conveyed my feelings to him.

“Why, what is it?”

“No hiking boots and, uh, I’m not sure I could go very far.”

“Why’s that?”

He would ask me that. “It has to do with this.” I motioned up and down my body. “I guess you could say I’m out of shape.”

“Not a problem. We’ll take an easy trail and go slow. You have running shoes, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah, but ...”

“They’ll do for today. It’ll be fine. Tomorrow we’ll drive into town and get you set up with a pair of hiking boots. How does that sound?”

I smiled. “Only if it’s not too much trouble.”

We both got dressed and Preston prepared our gear. He had a large daypack that held several water reservoirs which he filled. Then he pulled together some trail mix and other items for lunch and we struck out about an hour later. It was a gorgeous day with a clear blue sky and the temperature was in the sixties. We both wore light jackets, but it wasn’t long before we had to shed them. I tied mine around my waist and he stuffed his into the pack.

As we hiked, I followed him and admired the view. Not of the mountains as one might think, but of Preston’s ass. He had a mighty fine ass indeed. He reached up behind his head to adjust the pack, and as he did so, his shirt slid up, exposing the waist of his shorts. That’s when I realized he was armed.

“Preston, do you always carry a gun?”

“Yeah, usually. Does that bother you?”

“No, not particularly. I just noticed it and wondered. Do you ever not carry one?”

“Yeah,” he said smiling as he turned around. “When I’m lying in bed with a lovely woman draped over the top of me.”

“I see,” I said, smiling in return. “Is that it?”

“No. I don’t carry when I bathe.”

He was being a smartass now.

“What about when you swim?”

“Always when I swim.”

“Really?” I didn’t know guns worked underwater.

“No, Avery, I was just kidding.”

I slapped him on the stomach. He grabbed me by my shirt and pulled me close. Since I hadn’t been expecting that, I stumbled and he caught me, letting me regain my balance. Once I had, he held me by my hips and planted a kiss on my lips.

“That’s all I’ve thought about since we’ve been hiking.”

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