Page 109 of Prey for You

He smiled the most delicious smile. “I said, I’m not saying no. Do you still have your black athletic gear?”

I beamed. “Yeah.”

“And your kit?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded.“Good girl,”he purred.

~ SAM ~

Different places. Different schedules. Differentplans.

I wasn’t taking any risks with this little field trip. But my heart pounded with anticipation and it was fucking hard to wait.

She thought I was arriving later than her, to give her time to hike deeper into the park so none of ouractivitieswould occur near the public parking or picnic areas, though I doubted many families were taking picnics in the mountains in January. Still… she underestimated me.

I’d arrivedhoursbefore she planned to. Parked on the opposite border than where she’d park and hiked all the way through—three hours or more—to be waiting for her when she got out of her car.

Not that she’d know it. I smiled to myself and hitched my bag higher on my shoulders, tightening the straps. I’d brought my gear, but I wouldn’t use the tech unless I lost her.

Watching her car pull up and her get out with those black clothes on, a baseball cap, and tossing the backpack over one shoulder as she looked in every direction, was a kick.

In the few hours we were together I always drank in the sight of her. This was my first chance in a long time to get a visual on her when she didn’t know I had it. And it kicked my instincts into gear.

Heart pounding in my ears, skin thrumming, breath shallow, I hid well behind where she’d enter the walking paths and waited to follow her, smiling.

My beautiful wife didn’t waste any time—she was looking for watchers, but the parking lot was empty except for one old Corolla sedan, and I’d been watching it for an hour before she got here. There was definitely no one in it.

My smile broadened as she trotted across the parking lot and into the trees. I followed much more slowly, knowing she’d be on high alert for these first few minutes. Much harder to surprise. I would let her sweat a little before I proved to her that I wasalwaysthree steps ahead of her and her restless little spirit.

I kept following her, letting her wander until her pace slowed and steadied, and she stopped looking over her shoulder every few seconds.

Then I let her keep walking. But now, when she stopped next to a tree to take a drink of water, I took a picture of her. And when she found that clearing that she liked—I could tell because of the way she smiled—I got clever and took a selfiethat showed half my face… and her walking away from me, bathed in the thin winter sun in the clearing between the trees.

I didn’t send her the picture right away. She was hiking a straight line to where I was parked. That had been the agreement—that I’d find her somewhere on that line. But I also knew, because I’d hiked it hours earlier, that she would pass through several clearings on the way, and I had one in particular where I wanted to time my catch.

Even though I was itching to have my hands on her, there was something wonderful about watching over her when she didn’t know I was there. And I had a fantastic view of her ass in those leggings.

My groin tightened and I had to take my eyes off her for a few seconds to calm down. I didn’t want to blue-ball myself when there were still miles to hike. But I was starting to question if I had the control to wait until she reached the clearing I’d chosen.

Luckily my beautiful wife was also an impatient child. She picked up the pace soon. I even heard her mutter to herself a couple times about not needing the workout.

This would be fun.

~ BRIDGET ~

When the burner phone pinged, my heart leaped into my chest.

My fingers trembled as I pulled it out of the pocket on the leggings and opened the notification.

And stopped dead.

He’d sent me a picture.

The first thing I saw was his smiling face, though only half of it. Then I realized why he’d put himself at the side of the frame. In the background, kind of blurry was… Me. My mouth dropped open. It had to have been taken half an hour earlier when I was walking through the big clearing and thinking about how it would be beautiful there in spring because I was pretty sure there was enough sun for wildflowers. I’d been imagining meeting him there for a hunt again and going to that spot and hiding, praying he’d find me and…

And he’d already been there.

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