“I’m assuming you weren’t planning to lie down naked on the ground and have me pound you into a snowbank.”
“I—uh—I guess I didn’t think of that.”
It’s surprising, considering Cassie usually thinks of everything, but I know she’s been distracted this week. Work has been crazy, and her sisters have been hounding her about plans for a bachelorette party. I smile to let her know I’m not upset as I slip an arm around her shoulders.
“I guess we could call that the Post Hole Digger,” I tell her. “I hold you up by the ankles while you’re facedown in the snow, and we cross number one off the list.”
She laughs and looks around the clearing. White-capped mountains shimmer in the distance, and a bird swoops overhead and screeches something at us. A beam of sunlight bathes Cassie’s hair in golden light, while patches of snow sprawl out in the shady spots like glittery pillows of ice.
Very cold, glittery pillows. We’re supposed to lie down on one of those?
I have a better idea.
I bend down and scoop Cassie into my arms. She yelps but twines her fingers behind my neck, nuzzling against my chest like she belongs there. “Where are we going?”
“I’m giving you a chance to perform an up-close-and-personal inspection of the Pinus contorta,” I tell her.
She giggles as I carry her over to the lodgepole pine she admired. There’s a patch of snow beside it that looks like the wind piled it up there. It’s smooth and pristine, maybe ten feet long and five feet wide with a pillow-like surface unmarred by footprints. I set her down in it and watch her sink past her ankles in tall boots.
I let go to adjust my glasses, but Cassie keeps her fingers twined together behind my neck. She pulls me down for a kiss and I go willingly, tunneling my hands under her winter parka. She takes a step back so her back’s against the tree trunk. Breaking the kiss, she smiles up at me.
“We’re in the snow,” she says, “so you should probably be in me.”
“That can be arranged.”
We fumble a little with our clothes. She drops one red glove in the snow as she yanks at my belt buckle. I burrow my hands under her sweater, touching her through a thermal undershirt. I’m hungry for bare flesh, but my fingertips are icy, so I don’t dare graze her naked belly.
Our boots crunch in the snow as we kiss and touch and expose the least amount of skin possible while accessing all the vital parts. Cassie draws back, her breath coming fast in visible little puffs that seem to hover in the frozen air.
“I want you.” The air around us is arctic, but there’s fire in Cassie’s eyes.
I want her, too. More than I did the first time, or the second, or the third. How is that possible?
“Let me.” I tug at the button on her jeans. I haven’t thought it through completely, how this will all work. I just know I need to be inside her. That I’m desperate to feel her again.
That urgency gives me pause. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Cassie Michaels. Not just her body, but her mind. Her personality. Her whole self.
That scares the ever-loving hell out of me.
But I can’t think of that right now with her hand sliding into my jeans. Her fingers wrap around my shaft, and I give a soft groan of pleasure when she strokes the full length of me.
I bury my face in her neck, breathing her in, devouring every spot of flesh not covered by wool or nylon or down.
“Simon?”
“Mmmhmm?”
“I didn’t want to mention this before, because it’s not like we know each other all that well?—”
Oh, God, oh, God, where is this going…
“—but the thing is, I’m on the pill. And, um—well, I went in for my annual exam only a month ago and got a clean bill of health. I know we’ve been using condoms, but if you’ve been checked recently and know about your status, maybe we could?—”
I draw back, trying to process her words as she trails off and waits for me to fill in the blanks. Or fill in something else.
My brain is fuzzy from all the touching we’ve been doing, and it takes a moment for her meaning to sink in. When it finally hits me, I feel my cock surge against her palm. I swallow hard and look into her eyes.
“I had my yearly physical three weeks ago,” I tell her slowly. “I always have them do an STI panel. I could pull up the results on my phone if you?—”
