Page 15 of Dare to Fall
His hand drops to my hip, and for a moment, he almost has me. I sink back against him, my back to his chest, and tilt my head so he can nuzzle my neck. His soft beard tickles my skin, and my nipples pebble at the delightful sensation. I’d let him strip me naked and fuck me right here if only he kept rubbing his beard against me in all the best places.
“I need my phone,” I murmur, tempted to say screw it and tell him to screwme.
“Why?”
“So the girls don’t worry about me not making it back to the lodge.”
“You sound pretty confident that I’m going to ask you to spend the night.”
I reach my hand behind my back, cupping his hard length through his trekking pants. “Am I wrong?”
He bites down on my neck, ever so gently, and my knees go weak. Yeah, I definitely need to see what Tucker Black is capable of before I get on that plane to California in a couple of days. Would friends with benefits really be the worst thing we could be? It’d give me a reason to visit Cinnamon Creek once in a while.
“Let’s go find your phone,” he grumbles, stepping out from behind me and catching my hand in his.
“It’s your fault, you know,” I say as we head back down the same trail we took earlier.
“How is this my fault?”
“You made my soul leave my body with your magic hands. I forgot my fucking name there for a minute, just like you said I would. You really think I had a single thought about my phone?—”
I stop, jerking Tucker to a halt with me.
“What—”
“My phone!” I hiss, keeping my voice low and pointing toward a fox sitting just off the trail. Afuckingfox. Maybe I hit my head on a rock when I went under, and I’m currently in the hospital in a coma. Because there’s no way I’m seeing what I’m seeing. This isn’t real life. Foxes don’t steal fucking cell phones!
And yet, how else can I explain what’s happening?
We’re at a stand-off, this fox and me. My purple-cased phone is clamped in his surprisingly large mouth.
“Leave the phone, buddy, and no one gets hurt.” I speak to the wild animal as though it can understand me. As if this scenario makes any fucking sense. Never in my life have I worried about a fox stealing my phone. A raccoon? That I would buy. Those trash pandas, cute as they may be, are collectors.
But a wild fox?
“What doyouwant for it? Do you have a bunch of foxy friends with unlimited data plans?”
“Unlimited data?—”
“Just put the phone down and name your price,” I say, ignoring Tucker’s low chuckle. This isnotfunny. The little guy is slobbering all over my phone. And I bet those razor-sharp teeth have scratched the glass all to hell. I knew I should’ve sprung for that protective glass thingy, but of course I decided to be cheap. “Buddy, c’mon. We can work this out.”
“What are you doing?” Tucker asks.
“What does it look like I’m doing? Negotiating with a terrorist.”
The fox shoots off into the tall grass, headed for the tree line, apparently uninterested in making a trade since the cute little jerk takes my fucking phone with him into the woods. I see the flash of purple just before he vanishes completely into the trees.
Well, shit.
Chapter Eight
Tucker
After I make a call to the lodge letting Winnie know Gabby is safe and sound with me tonight, I collect the ingredients for smores and start a fire while Gabby showers. I have a fucking hard on imagining the water running down her naked body. What I wouldn’t give to lick the water droplets off those delicious nipples.
I decide I need a walk-in shower built for two in the cabin—ourcabin.
“Dinneranddessert?” Gabby announces, joining me outside. She’s wearing the sweatpants and hoodie I loaned her. They swallow her curvy frame whole, but my imagination easily fills in the blanks. I can’t help but wonder if she’s naked beneath them.
