Page 26 of Who Pissed Off Ivy Dell?

I lower the tailgate and set her onto it. She pulls the blanket up over her shoulders and wraps it tightly around her again.

“You know you’re not leaving that on, right?”

“I can’t take it off out here.”

“Why? You were naked in front of me before we left Ivydell.”

“Yeah. In front of you but protected by walls and doors. A roof. This is too exposed. Too vulnerable.”

“I’ve seen you naked outside before.” I playfully tug on the blanket. “At the circle.”

“And then we had to make a run for it because there was a rattlesnake.”

“You don’t run from rattlesnakes. You hold still. I know you know that.” I tug again on the blanket. “Besides, it was only an owl. And we’re much closer to the truck this time.”

“Someone else could pull in.”

“I’ve been out here hundreds of times and no one ever has.”

“Someone could just walk right up. A mountain lion could come along.”

“This blanket won’t protect you from a mountain lion, but if one happens along, I promise, I will. And nobody is walking around out here. It’s just us.”

“I can’t.”

“I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going? Don’t leave me alone!”

I lean into the truck and connect the audio on my phone, turn up the volume, and go back to her. “There. Now there’s music to scare away animals.”

“Or attract them.”

“The only thing being attracted out here is me to you.”

My hands cover hers where she holds the blanket shut. She relaxes her arms and lets me open it, but her body shifts nervously. She’s usually so bold. It’s one of my favorite things about her, but this? I like this, too. God, she’s beautiful.

I push the blanket back and off her shoulders. It falls behind her, and I step between her legs, thread my fingers into her hair on either side of her face and kiss her. I love to hold her face and kiss her like this. She is naturally passionate and playful, but when I initiate this deep kiss, she kisses me back the same way.

When she first stopped resisting or trying to change up this style of kiss, I let myself start thinking she might feel something more than either one of us wanted to acknowledge. I knew I felt it, and I’d missed kissing like this so damn much.

I’ve never kissed a woman deeper than I felt just to play a role, never let it be performative. Sometimes, I’ve avoided kissing atall because kisses can mislead, but when they’re honest, they can also confirm.

Crickets trill in the near distance. Coyotes howl farther off and likely below, the sound being lifted by the wind. It’s a clear night. So much is clear.

I end the kiss and hop up into the bed of the truck. “Slide back. I’ve got the blanket.” She lets me pull her to the center, where I spread out the blanket and lie next to her, propped on my elbow, gazing at her body under the stars.

She smiles up at me. “Are you not taking your clothes off?”

“Not right now.” I stroke her cheek and continue down her neck, spreading my palm flat when I reach her chest, holding it there for a moment to warm her cool skin, watching the rise and fall of her breath, the way her nipples look darker in the moonlight while the rest of her skin looks lighter. I trace around a nipple with my fingertip until she squirms on the blanket, bringing my thumb in then to pinch softly and roll it gently as her body stops moving but her breaths quicken.

Moving my hand down her ribcage, I map the contours of her bones and the hollows in between. She shivers slightly when I reach her belly where the protective cage ends and her soft skin isn’t stretched so taut, her unguarded center. Pausing again to watch the rise and fall, to feel the way my hand lifts without leaving her body, I marvel at the realness of her. At the unlikeliness of our paths ever crossing.

Leaving my hand on her stomach, I kiss her. Deeply, honestly, and she accepts it and returns it.

I brush her hair off her forehead so I can see every inch of her face. “How the hell did any of this happen?”

“A sad, confused girl from the beach woke up one day, determined to see the weird little pocket of the desert that inspired her name because she thought she’d find all her answers there. So, she ignored the well-intentioned adviceagainst it, hit the road, and came crashing into your life, destroying all your peace and solitude.”

---