Page 53 of When It's Us
“And now?”
I shake my head, unsure where I’m going with this, only that it feels really good to finally tell someone how I’ve been feeling. I could have talked to Wren, but she’s so busy with her own life with the twins and Hank, I never want to be a burden.
In this moment, with soft words spoken between us, I want to be brave and not anxious about every decision. And talking to Hutch feels good.
“I wish I could be like Wren,” I say, surprising myself. “Just take off and say ‘fuck it’ and drop everything, like she did when she went back home. I wish I was a ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ person, but I’m more of a ‘sit in the same seat day after day and white knuckle that shit until it’s over type of gal’.” I chuckle self-deprecatingly.
“I candefinitelysee that.” He throws me a wink, and the tightness that was building in my chest fades some.
I smile and shake my head at him, then go on. “I want to grab life by the balls. For once, I don’t want to worry about what the boys need or want.”
He’s quiet for a few minutes, and we sit together in silence, listening to the waves breaking on the shore. The fire is almost completely out.
“Got a pretty good start out here,” he reminds me, and I think back to the zipline. “You gotta find a way to keep it going. Give up some of that control you love so much.”
His voice and gaze are steady on mine, and I don’t miss the clear innuendo in his words; the heat in his eyes is unmistakable, even from the short distance between us.
“Yeah,” I say. “Anyway, thanks for listening. I think I’m gonna head in.”
He nods and watches me push to my feet. A sharp pull in my back makes me wince.
“You okay?” he asks, brows pulling together.
I let out a breath and chuckle dismissively. “Yeah. Guess I used muscles I haven’t in a while.”
He doesn’t look entirely convinced, but he nods. Then he hands me the package of marshmallows and the roasting stick. Our fingers brush, and our eyes lock. My heart thuds steadily in my chest, and his eyes drop to my lips.
He takes a step forward, his fingers brushing against my wrist before taking my water bottle.
I watch as he walks toward the water, presumably filling his and mine up to douse the hot coals.
As he walks away, his words stay with me.
Give up some of that control you love so much.
Hutch
Gingerisalreadyinher bunk when I come back from putting out the fire. A small part of me wishes it were raining so she’d be forced to sleep against me all night. I don’t know what the fuck that’s about, but our conversation earlier has me in my head.
I find myself craving to talk to her and learn about her. I’ve loved watching her come out of her shell a bit. She’s smart as hell, determined, and fiercely loyal. I hate that her parents, particularly her mother, have made her feel like she wasn’t enough exactly as she is.
I click out the light, then put my back to the bunk, and kick off my shoes before pulling my shirt off over my head.
That’s when I feel it. Soft, but confident fingers run along my shoulder from where she’s laying on the top bunk. Goosebumps break out over my skin, and my cock instantly wakes up.
“I love your hair down,” she says softly, and I feel her fingertips toy with the ends that hang just past my shoulders. My scalp tingles and it lights a fire in my gut. “It’s lighter too,” she adds in that same low tone.
I nod and turn toward her, the air between us charged with electricity. She blinks back at me from where she’s reclining on her side now. The thin cotton of her T-shirt hugs her tits, the V-neckshowing off a bit of cleavage, and her copper curls spill over her shoulders.
Then she says something that surprises me.
“Could you help me stretch out my back?”
I swallow hard but don’t allow myself to overthink it. I’ll help her stretch out anything she wants. “Sure.”
She climbs down off the bunk, and when I gesture for her to lay on her back, she does immediately. Eagerly. But like she said, she probably worked a lot of muscles she doesn’t normally use on the zipline course, and we’ve pretty much been sleeping like two big sardines in a little can. Not to mention the two-hour conversation we had sitting in the sand on the shoreline of the lake. She’s bound to have a little stiffness. Even my back is a little stiff.
Five minutes later, I’ve worked on her lower back and had her flip over to work her quads a bit. I’m surprised she didn’t fight me, especially since I’d been working in such close proximity to her ass.
