He pulls me into a hug and rests his chin on my head, allowing me to burrow into his chest, soaking in his strength and warmth.
“Yeah, maybe a little.” His big hand smooths over my hair, and he cups my neck tenderly. With a finger under my chin, he lifts my face to his. Warm lips sip at mine as he delivers the most heartfelt kiss of my life.
“I’m so glad Alice bailed on this hike,” he murmurs against my lips. The admission makes me feel guilty, but at the same time, this stolen day with just the two of us is bittersweet. One hand slips under my shirt and down the waistband of my leggings, gripping my ass like we aren’t standing on top of a mountain out in the middle of the wilderness.
It’s been like this the whole hike. One minute, we’d be trekking up a switchback, the next, I’d find myself pressed against a boulder while he devoured my mouth.
“I’m so glad you weren’t focused on run times and sprinting up the mountain.” To get back at the way he’s teasing me, I grip the thick length pressing into my belly. His responding groan and hip thrust are my reward.
“We could’ve stayed at your place and taken advantage of the time, though,” I tease, even though I wouldn’t have missed this last adventure for anything. Not when he’s leaving all too soon.
He pulls us backward and sits on a boulder, pulling me between his spread legs. The mischievous look in his eyesets off all my warning bells, and a low hum of excitement thrums through me, threatening to override the heartache I’m trying to ignore. This man. He’s ridiculous in all the best ways. “Why would we do that when I can enjoy you and a hike here?”
“Here?” I squeak. “There’s no way in hell I’m getting naked right now.”
He smirks as he pulls me back into the warmth of his chest, and his hands find their way back into my leggings. “We’ll have to be fast. But I think I can give you at least one orgasm on top of this mountain right now without getting you naked.”
There’s no way. I glance back toward the trail, and though we’re the only people here right now, we’re in the wide open. Too exposed. Anyone could walk up. But still, the hollow ache in my chest is overtaken by the thrill of what he’s suggesting.
“I don’t know if you can do fast.”
A wicked grin alights his face. “Challenge accepted.”
“Honestly. How does one man have so many freaking old T-shirts?” I rifle through a stack of shirts spread out on his bed, and the stack of sweats next to it falls over and makes a huge mess.
After Jackson very successfully completed the challenge I’d issued him, we raced back to the trailhead, and after I’d ridden him in the back seat of his Jeep, we raced home and barely made it through the door before I launched myself at him once more.
If he’s leaving me, I’ve been determined to enjoy every moment I have left with him. But all the orgasms in theworld don’t do a damn thing to get his boxes packed and ready for storage, so after a sex marathon day, we’ve set up camp at his apartment to tackle the least fun job ever.
Grumbling about the insane amount of clothing he’s managed to collect over the years, I lean across the bed, straightening the stack of sweats I knocked over. A giant palm lands on my back, pushing me down on my hands as he steps in behind me, pressing his hard length against me. My body instantly responds, heat flooding my system. Again.
“Be still, Mags. This’ll just take a minute.”
He strips my leggings down and grips one cheek as he swipes a finger through my folds. “Such a needy girl, already ready for me.” It’s been like this all day. He gets close, and I’m ready for him.
There’s a rip of foil, and then the thick head of his cock presses into me. I gasp at the fullness, gripping the piles of clothes under me, pressing back to take him deep in one smooth thrust.
From the adjacent room, there’s a clatter of packing boxes crashing to the floor, and Alice’s voice booms through the apartment. “Shit. Hey, guys, sorry I’m late.”
Jackson rips himself away with a curse and whips my pants back up. Stunned, I stand and catch him slipping his sweats back up over his still-covered, rock-hard cock. “Fuck, I’m gonna need a minute.”
He disappears into the adjoining bathroom right as Alice barrels into the room. I make a show of fluffing the smashed pile of sweats, hoping and praying the room doesn’t smell like sex, and that she doesn’t notice the Maggie-sized imprint on the piled clothes.
“Wow, you guys haven’t made much progress. Slow going, huh?” she says, taking in the room.
The toilet flushes, and I spin away, ducking my face as I pretend to empty a drawer. “Well, he’s got, like, nine hundred T-shirts to go through. And the closet is absolutely packed. Who knew he had so many clothes? We should’ve started this process a week ago.” Hopefully, she’ll hear the complaint in my voice and not the desire she interrupted. The sounds of the faucet turning on and off are as loud as I’m sure my heartbeat is in the moment.
“Where should I start?”
The door opens, and Jackson comes back into the room. “You want to tackle the kitchen? The boxes are already made up, and everything in there is getting packed for storage.” If he’s bothered at all that his sister just interrupted us, I can’t tell, and it irritates the crap out of me that he’s so unaffected.
Guess I’m just another one of many things he’s leaving behind. No more than this endless pile of useless clothing. Forgettable. Replaceable. The realization shouldn’t hurt so much, but it does.
I snatch a box and dump an armful of clothes into it. Anything to avoid having either of them notice how upset I suddenly am.
“Sure thing,” Alice says and retreats, taking all the energy from the room with her. She’s too chipper. He sounds completely normal. I, apparently, am the only one completely out of sorts as I stuff another armload in the box.
“Hang on, Maggie, let me grab that…” He’s right behind me, leaning into my back, reaching over me to get to the box I’m working on. His lips brush my cheek, my jaw, my ear, as he whispers, “Close call.” He pulls a pair of gray sweats out and leaves me glancing back over my shoulder. I fully expect Alice to be glaring at us from the doorway, but from the sound of it, she’s working on packing up utensils. The chink of what I imagine is his silverware organizer landing in a box provides enough cover for me to chance a glance at him.
