Page 101 of Gather the Storm

Daisy

Wolf opened the zippered backpack and pulled out a pair of basketball shorts. He slipped them on over his wet boxers and we left my inner tube with Wolf’s before starting up a narrow path that led from the river through a thick stand of trees.

It felt like we were the only two people in the world, like we’d landed on some distant planet where there was nothing but the water and trees, birds chirping, blue sky overhead.

“What is this place?” I asked when we’d been walking for five minutes.

“You’ll see,” he said, still leading the way.

My own clothes were pretty wet, but it was warm, the air dry, and I could already feel them starting to dry.

Finally, Wolf slowed his steps. He reached back and took my hand and a few seconds later we stepped off the trail into a small meadow.

The long grass was gold under the sunlight, pink and purple wildflowers dotting the landscape like colored stars. Across themeadow the woods resumed, and the clearing felt like it had been dropped like magic in the middle of the forest.

“Wow,” I said, walking into the long grass. “How did you find this place?”

“Just stumbled on it,” Wolf said. “When we were younger, we’d break off from the group during Summer Shit, explore the woods, play hide-and-seek. Once I found this place, I kept coming back.”

“It’s so quiet,” I said.

He nodded. “That’s what I liked about it. It felt like I was the only person in the world.”

He walked past me. “Come on.”

I followed him deeper into the meadow until we were right at its center.

He opened the backpack and removed a blanket.

“Why sir, did you plan this little tryst?” I asked, blinking dramatically like a nineteenth century heroine.

He grinned. “Maybe.”

He spread the blanket out, then pulled out a couple beers from the backpack along with two apples.

I laughed. “What else do you have in there?”

He lifted his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

He opened the beers and handed me one. I took a drink, then propped myself on my forearms to look around.

“This place really is magical,” I said. “Thank you for bringing me.”

“I assure you, it was purely selfish,” he said, leaning back to join me.

“Is that your way of saying you're trying to get in my pants?” I asked.

“I’m trying to get in your everything.” His eyes seemed to turn bluer as he held my gaze. “Truth is, I can’t seem to get enough of you.”

He was just a few inches away, his tan body stretched out on the blanket, close enough to touch.

I swallowed the lump that had risen in my throat, a mixture of affection and desire and something else that scared the actual shit out of me.

He took the beer gently from my hand and set it in the long grass next to the blanket. Then he rolled onto his side and touched his palm to my cheek. “You’re so fucking beautiful, Daisy.”

He ran his thumb along my lower lip, shoved it in my mouth a little, scraped it on my bottom teeth. I captured it with my mouth, bit down, then sucked. I was surprised when a wave of sexual hunger roared through my body.

Who knew sucking on Wolf’s finger could make me wet?

---