"I think she likes you, Rymar!" she said as she stepped into the light.
"Fuck," I groaned, bending over to catch the breath that had just escaped me. "What happened? Moles?"
"Bucks," Zasen said, trailing behind Ayla. "We spotted a pair, but one was too far, so Ayla sent the girls after it. We took out the closer one, the dogs chased the other back to us, and Pepper likes to use her teeth. She lamed it."
"And I killed it!" Ayla bragged. "Shot it right in the heart while it was moving." She didn't slow until she reached me, then threw her arms around my neck. "I love my new dog, Rymar! Thank you!"
I tried to tell her she was welcome, but before I could do more than lean back, her mouth found mine. There was a giddiness to the kiss, but no timidness at all.
Her fingers teased the hair at the back of my head. Her chest pressed hard into mine. Her arms pulled me close against her, and her mouth? Oh, her mouth devoured mine in a way I hadn't expected. Ayla kissed me like she was seducing me.
I could feel her breasts crushed against my chest. Full, round, and right there. My hands found her hips and held on, but only because that would keep them from roaming. The way she stretched upwards made her body grind against mine, and my blood was on a direct mission to do her bidding.
She'd kissed me like this in the kitchen once. Even when we'd gone swimming, she hadn't kissed me this passionately, and I liked it too much. I wanted to pull her in, grab her ass, and carryher into one of those beds - but she wasn't ready. She might never be ready for that.
So instead, I kissed a little slower, sucking on her tongue as she explored my mouth and slowing her down as much as I could. The hard part was keeping my hips far enough back, because the way she was shifting against me was too damned close to writhing.
"Wow," I breathed, pulling back to cool her off a bit. "You like your dog that much, huh?"
"Yes!" Then she turned - still holding me - and grabbed Kanik.
"And you helped me learn to aim so I could make that shot!"
With one arm around my neck, she all but dragged me over a half-step so she could kiss him next. Her left arm caught his head, pulling him in, and that man did not try to resist. He caught the side of her face that wasn't next to mine, leaned in, and made it clear he had no problem with a little public display of affection.
He murmured in approval, she shifted, and somehow I ended up being crushed up against Kanik's side when her arms tightened a little more. Against hiship. My half-hard dick was actually pressing into the fullness of his ass, and I couldn't pull away because she was kissing him the way she'd just kissed me - and I didn't want to ruin it.
My body tensed. My mind spun. Seeing her like this was the hottest thing I could imagine. And with him? That half-hard dick was nearly all-the-way hard now. This woman had no shame, because we'd managed to remove all of that. It had taken months, but what was left? It was the most beautiful, seductive, and honest thing I could imagine.
She kissed Kanik like the world could stop for them. She held me like she wasn't willing to let go. I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't stop thinking about how close I was to him. Howinappropriatelyclose. Grabbing Kanik's hip kept a little space between us, but that felt much too personal. Too intimate. Too close to something I'd love to do, but he would not enjoy at all.
I was caught between a fantasy and the horror of reality. I couldn't stop this because she'd take it wrong. I couldn't encourage it because he would. I couldn't relax because I knew I was the problem here, and I couldn't figure out how to fix it without making everything worse. So I did what any sane man would in my situation.
Nothing.
"You're strangling Rymar," Kanik whispered against her lips.
"Oh!" Ayla immediately let us both go. "Sorry." Then she looked at me. "Sorry. I just had areallygood night!" Her smile didn't slip at all.
"And you need to feed your dogs," Zasen told her. "Get the blood off Pepper, too. We don't want her to realize she can eat our game before it's given to her."
"Okay!" That woman tossed one more smile at me and Kanik, then patted her leg to call her dogs and jogged toward the cabin door.
I knew my mouth was hanging open as I turned to watch her go. Where had she learned to kiss like that, and over a good hunt with her dog? I was pretty sure I was missing something, but the sight of her heading into the cabin didn't give me any clues at all.
I could feel Kanik turn as well, but I refused to look. I didn't want to meet his eyes right now. No, I was going to focus on why Ayla had just done that. I had some questions. A lot of them, but they weren't all bad. No, most were good, because I hadnotexpected that.
I also needed to be a few more steps away from my very straight friend.
"So, you found something?" Kanik asked, thankfully breaking the silence that had taken over when she headed inside.
"Deer," Zasen said. "There's a few clusters of them out toward the waterfall. Big ones too."
"Can we take enough to feed the Moles without depleting the herds?" Kanik asked next.
I was listening, but also making my way over to the far side of the fire. We needed more wood, or would soon enough. If I piled that up, it'd mean fewer trips later. Okay, mostly it meant I wouldn't have to pretend this whole mess hadn't just happened.
Fuck. I was going to have to explain to Ayla that she couldn't do that, and I didn't want to. We'dfinallygotten her to accept it was okay to be sexual at all, so putting limits on her felt wrong, but she wasn't the only person in this relationship.
