“But the people who might have her or done something to her…” That was the sword hanging over her head. She was scared.
Alex’s arms wrapped around her, warmer than the night air, hotter than the embers still smouldering in the bonfire pit.
“Abby, you have a village here to keep you safe. You have me to keep you safe. I understand why you hid, but you don’t need to change who you are.”
“Rayah knows who I am, doesn’t she?”
Alex remained still, holding her. “I don’t know but I wouldn’t be surprised if she did. She used to read your blog. I think she was jealous of some of the places you got to.”
“She could still go there.”
He shook his head. “She wouldn’t put Jonny through it. He’d never stop her, but she knows he’d be a wreck worrying about her not coming home. And she’s a teacher, not an adventure woman.”
Abby gave a little nod. “I miss it. Climbing. I miss the highs. Literally.”
Alex laughed, the sound reverberating through the quiet air. “So start it again. Where’s all your equipment?”
“Locked up in storage.”
“Let’s go and get it.”
“I have nowhere to store it…”
“Use my garage.”
“I might not be able to still do it…”
“You won’t know until you try.”
She pulled away to arm’s length, her hands on his chest. “Do you have an answer for everything?”
“Always.”
Then he kissed her. It wasn’t a kiss filled with sympathy or sorrow; it was a kiss full of demand. Need. Asking questions, teasing up her towards the top of a peak where she knew the sites would be amazing, but risked that fall.
Sometimes the views are worth the pain.
They’d said it so many times. She’d repeated when she’d looked at her hands and seen broken, scraped, unpretty nails and callouses that were nothing like other women’s. She was thin and muscular, her curves nothing to write home about. There were always bruises on her legs and arms, and it was pointless wearing make-up when you would’ve sweated it off by lunch time, but it was worth it.
This could be worth it.
Alex Maynard could be worth risking a little of her heart for.
So she kissed him back.
The warmth in the air started to feel charged and lit. Alex’s hands were light against her skin, not giving her enough and she knew he was leaving this up to her. That morning, the previous night – they could be left as a one-time thing. A bit more than a one-night stand. Only Abby knew that wasn’t what she wanted. She turned up the intensity of the kiss, taking a hand to the back of his head and threading her fingers through his hair, showing him what she wanted.
Abby shivered as his hands made their way across her back, one sliding under her T-shirt, his fingertip running up her spine making promises. Hard muscle was pushed up against her and she groaned into his kiss as she felt something else hard pressing against her.
They were outside. It was dark and quiet, and no one was about. Just them and whatever wildlife lurked in the shadows of the moonlight.
Alex pulled his lips away from her mouth, moving them instead down her neck, to her collar bone, licking and nipping and kissing his way, only moving back to lift her T-shirt up and over her hair and then pushing her bra straps off her shoulders and pulling them down, exposing her breasts and nipples to the night air.
She found herself guided to walk backwards until her back was against a tree, her body vibrating with need and anticipation. With one hand she cupped his cock, the other pushed his shirt up, encouraging him to rid it.
When she saw his eyes, the blaze there was almost too much. Alex Maynard, the quietest of the Maynard family, wasn’t the shy, hesitant lover she might’ve thought.
He threw his shirt to the floor and then his hands went to her breasts, cupping them, pinching her nipples, making her gasp. His skin was hot under her hands and she felt his muscles tense when her hands slipped lower, grazing over his abs and down to where his belt sat, soon to be undone.
