I look down at her and she looks up at me with those dark eyes, her lips stretched around me, and I can’t stop it. I come with a roar that probably wakes up others at the retreat, my hand cradling the back of her head, my entire body jerking and trembling.
She sucks me bone dry, cleaning me up with her tongue in a way that has my sensitive cock twitching and me huffing and fighting not to get hard again.
She climbs back up my body and settles against my chest with the most smug expression I've ever seen on another human being. I'd be annoyed if I weren't so completely in love with her.
"I think you woke up the bears on the mountain," she says.
"Worth it. The bears can deal."
We spend the rest of the weekend in a bubble. We make love two more times on Saturday—once in the shower and once on the rug in front of the fireplace because the mood struck and the bed felt too far away.
Sunday morning we hike one of the trails behind the lodge, and Camille is a better hiker than I expected. She tells me she used to run track in high school and still has the legs for it. She's not wrong. I spend half the hike behind her pretending to admire the scenery.
We eat dinner at the lodge's communal table that night with a few of the other couples, and it's surreal to be around people who understand the whole anonymous-to-in-person pipeline.
There's a couple from Missoula who connected over a shared obsession with ghost-hunting, and a pair of ranchers who met on the platform since they were both too stubborn to try regular dating apps.
Normal people. Happy people. People who took a weird leap and landed somewhere wonderful.
Camille holds my hand under the table the whole time, and I keep catching her looking at me with that expression that I know too well:I can't believe you're real.
As we pack that afternoon, it feels like the beginning of something new. Every few minutes I glance over at her just to confirm she's still there and not a hallucination brought on by too much happiness.
She catches me every time and grins.
"You know we have to tell them," she says, folding some shorts.
She doesn't need to say who. There are only two people in the world whose reaction to this news could register on the Richter scale.
"We could ease into it," I suggest. "Casually."
She gives me a look. "Beth will figure it out in four seconds if we try to play it cool. She's like a romance-detecting missile when it comes to me these days."
"Fair point." I think for a second. "What if we just show up? Together? At Aiden's place? I’ll text him that I need to talk. Then—hey, surprise."
"That's extraordinarily wicked." She pauses. "I love it."
I pull out my phone and text Aiden.
Hey. I need to talk to you and Beth. It’s important. Can I swing by in about an hour?
His reply comes in less than a minute.
Everything ok??
Yeah. Just need to tell you something in person.
Bro, you're freaking me out. Beth is already spiraling. Just tell me.
In person. One hour.
You're the worst.
Camille and I finish packing and load our cars, and after another lingering kiss, agree to meet at Aiden's apartment.
When I pull up, I can see Aiden and Beth through the front window…Beth is pacing and Aiden is sitting on the couch looking as if he's trying to talk her off a ledge.
As soon as Camille pulls up, we both walk up to the door, I grab Camille's hand.
