CHAPTERTHIRTEEN
Mark was deep in the woods, taking down a wooden platform they’d built for one of the obstacles on the Adrenaline Rush, when his cell phone rang in his back pocket. The sound seemed so out of place here among the trees, surrounded by nature. He slid it out of his pocket and checked the screen.
Jess was calling.
His heart picked up its pace as a sizzling jolt of awareness raced through his body at just the sight of her name. After their group went out for beers on Saturday night, she’d begged off early to rest up before work the next day so he hadn’t been alone with her—hadn’t even kissed her—in days, and he was missing her something fierce. He brought the phone to his ear. “Jess?”
“Hi,” she said. “Got plans tonight?”
“No.” And if he had, he’d have canceled them at the urgency in her voice.
“The Leonid meteor shower peaks tonight. I thought maybe we could take some blankets and find a nice spot to watch them.”
Memories of their one full night together as teenagers on a blanket beneath the stars swept over him. Fuck, yes, he wanted to do that again. “Yes.”
“Great. And Mark, I was thinking we should make a night of it, for old times’ sake.” Her voice had gone all low and throaty.
His dick grew heavy. “Yes.”
“You bring the condoms. I’ll bring the blankets.”
“Done.”
“Mark…where are you right now?” Her voice had dropped to a whisper, and the sound was so erotic his whole body tightened with the need to hold her, touch her, taste her.
“In the woods.”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“I am too,” she breathed. “Alone, not in the woods.”
“Where are you?” His voice sounded like gravel. He was rock hard and aching for her. Tonight felt like a million years away. The sweetest form of torture.
“I’m at the spa, in my office. I’m about to close up for the night. Everyone else has already gone home.” She paused, and when she spoke again, her voice had gone even lower. “Sometimes, after everyone’s left, I take a dip in one of the spring-fed hot tubs. They’re amazing, you know.”
“I’ll take your word for it.” He adjusted himself in his jeans, but the mental image of Jess alone at the spa, getting ready to go into the hot tub, only intensified the ache in his groin. “Do you wear a swimsuit?”
“No.”
Fuck.He clenched his fist, desperate to touch her.
“Mark…” She made a breathless sound that he felt all the way to his dick. “Are you as turned on as I am right now?”
“Yes.” He eased himself onto what remained of the wooden platform, wincing at the pressure in his jeans.
“Are you touching yourself?” she asked.
“No.” His fist clenched tighter. “Are you?”
“Yes.” She whimpered, and his vision went hazy.
“Fuck, Jess. Don’t hang up. Let me hear you come.”
“Only if you’ll come with me.”
He gritted his teeth. Phone sex? Not his style. Certainly not while he was sitting here in the middle of the woods, exposed to the world. “That’s a negative. But I’m with you. Keep going. Tell me what you’re doing.”
