Page 33 of Her Marine
Journee picked a yellow flower and walked over to him, she held it out to him, a smile on her face, and Killian took it from her. When she rose on her toes, he leaned down and kissed her—watching as she turned and continued once they’d pulled apart. He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself, wondering if she really wanted to give him that flower or if she wanted to kiss him.
They’d been hiking for about another hour and a half, and Killian knew that at some point soon, the trail would open up to either a landing of sorts or a small clearing. He figured that would be a good stopping point for them to hang out and have lunch.
By this time, Killian held about seven flowers in his hand. All of them were yellow, orange, or red. He concluded Journee liked them because she’d looked at and touched other ones but had only picked the ones she handed him. Each time kissing him before continuing on the path.
He watched as Journee reached out towards another plant, but he grabbed her wrist; sliding his hand up, he intertwined his fingers with hers. Killian wrapped their arms around her waist before pulling her back into his chest.
“Don’t touch that, baby,” he told her, looking at the plant. “It’s poisonous.”
“It has berries, though. Poison Ivy doesn’t usually have berries, does it?”
“No, but this is sumac.”
Journee nodded. “Thank you, babe.”
Killian released her, and Journee took his hand in her other one and pulled him to walk beside her instead of a few steps behind her as he had been.
“I know you were just walking back there to look at my ass,” she told him.
Killian chuckled in reply. Though it was a bonus, he’d been walking back there to ensure she didn’t touch anything that would harm her or ensure no unwanted wildlife frightened her.
After another fifteen minutes, they came around a bend in the path, and it opened up into a small clearing that housed a lake. Trees and colorful plants surrounded it. You could keep straight through on the trail or step off onto the bank around the lake.
“This is beautiful,” Journee spoke, approaching the lake.
Killian helped her step down, not wanting her to fall before following her. He hadn’t expected a lake where the trail opened up, but it was a nice surprise, and Journee seemed to enjoy it.
He took the backpack he’d been wearing off and sat it on the ground as Journee reached over and ran the tips of her finger along the water. Killian pulled the small blanket out of the bag because, according to Journee, “It wasn’t a real picnic if you didn’t have one.” Though he was sure this one wasn’t big enough, she’d wanted it, so they’d gotten it.
Killian also pulled the things they’d gotten for lunch from the backpack. Sitting them on the blanket as he sat on one side of it. He grabbed the two bottles of water they’d been drinking during the hike from the side pockets.
He watched Journee for a few minutes while she admired the lake. Killian wasn’t sure if it was natural, man-made, or both. He figured it was the latter, considering where it was.
When she finished looking over the lake, Journee walked over to him and sat on the other side of the blanket.
Over the next hour, the two ate lunch, took in the scenery, and talked about the upcoming holiday. He’d forgotten entirely that Halloween was the following week. It wasn’t typically a holiday he celebrated. However, Journee had planned a party for a company in town which was why she’d brought it up.
“They’re having the party on a Thursday?” Killian questioned since that was when Halloween fell. He understood that, but did they expect their employees to come to work the following day? From what Journee had just told him, it would be a rowdy event.
“They are,” she responded. “I almost suggested that they have it on Friday but stopped myself short when I realized them doing their event on Thursday meant I wouldn’t have one on Friday and may be able to work a half day.”
Killian nodded. On one of their dates, he’d learned that she didn’t like to schedule back-to-back events. Journee liked to schedule set up for the day before to make sure everything was where it was supposed to be and leave the morning after open in case the gathering ran late into the night and clean up wasn’t completed when there were parties like this. Showers, corporate lunches, and things like that were different.
At some point, after they’d cleaned all of their trash and placed it into the bag, Journee moved over to sit between his legs, resting her head against his shoulder. Killian wrapped his arms around her, making circles on her stomach with his thumb. They stayed like that for the next hour, talking before they decided to hike back down the trail.
Killian opened the passenger door for Journee, helping her out. They’d gone out to dinner about forty-five minutes from the cabin. It was a nice little Italian restaurant, and after they’d had dessert, Journee wanted to go dancing at a spot they’d passed on the way. So, they’d spent an hour and a half there, and the number of men Killian caught staring at Journee amused him.
Jealousy was not one of the traits he had, but possessiveness was. So, each time he’d caught some man staring at her, Killian would let them know they had no chance. He would kiss her, pull her tighter against his body, whisper salacious things in her ear that he knew would have her eyes taking on that look they often got when he painted a picture for her, a look that wanted everything he was saying to become a reality.
Killian wouldn’t be surprised if Journee had slight bruises from the number of times he’d nipped at her neck and kissed it while staring whatever man down.
Once they were inside the cabin, Killian locked the door behind them. It was after eleven-thirty, and he watched as Journee went to the bedroom while he pulled his phone out and sat on the couch. He’d gotten a few notifications while they’d been out dancing, but he figured whoever it was would have called him if it was important.
One was a text from his sister, a picture of a hoverboard, and the message read,It would make a great Christmas present.Killian rolled his eyes at it but filed it away for when he did his shopping. The next few were from his social media accounts, and he didn’t bother looking at them. The last notification was a text from his stepfather, asking him to give him a call, but that it wasn’t important, so there was no rush.
Killian made a mental note to do it in the morning. He knew they were probably sleeping by now and didn’t want to wake them. Getting off the couch, he went into the bedroom. He knew that Journee was in the shower because he could hear it running.
Killian unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt before unbuttoning the shirt. He allowed it to hang open as he pulled his belt through the loops and tossed it onto the bed before unbuttoning and unzipping his pants. He toed his shoes off, placing them by his suitcase as his phone dinged, alerting him to a text.
