“Yeah, I want to know where the line is…so I can make sure I don’t cross it.” He shrugged. “I mean, we’ve already established kissing is on the table and this”—he traced the outline of her breast—“but we never settled on where I had to stop.”
She bit her lower lip and held back a groan, unwilling to let him see how much he affected her. “Do we really have to talk about this now?”
“Better now than later.”
When he cupped her breast, she turned, slapping away his hand. “Ash!”
“Was that a yes or a no?”
“Not here!”
He laughed. The sun glinted in his eyes, flashing a beautiful shade of green. “Still not sure if that’s a yes or a no.”
She crossed her arms under her breasts. How far was she willing to let things go?
With Spencer's jealous streak, she’d already crossed the line with the kissing, but this wasn’t about Spencer—at least, not anymore. Theonly way to know if Spencer should remain in her life was to see if another future might be possible.
That wasn’t really true though. She didn’t need a backup man or someone found on the rebound. Skye needed to focus on her health, find happiness without a man, and maybe even reevaluate her life’s goals.
But damn if Ash wasn’t hot…
“Can we discuss this somewhere else?” she asked.
His arms crossed, mirroring hers, and his brows lifted. “I’m the one standing here with a hard-on and no sex stretching out ahead of me for days. I’m cool with that. But I want to know how much I can touchyou.”
His lip twitched when she didn’t answer. Then, his eyes narrowed, making him look positively sinful.
He stepped close and whispered in her ear, “I want to know if I can kiss your breasts, lick your pussy, and finger you until you come.” He took a step back and smiled down at her, looking entirely too pleased.
She wanted every bit of what he was offering—his lips on her nipples, maybe even his tongue down there. If he performed as well as he kissed, dear Lord, that spelled trouble.
Still, her body was what it was—broken and shattered. She could give him a blow job or even fuck him, and he would be happily satisfied. But for him to breach her defenses, draw pleasure from her body, that possibility had her stomach churning in knots.
He kissed her cheek. “Think about it while I go buy these pajamas you insist I wear.”
Several minutes later, he exited with a gently used backpack stuffed full of clothes.
Soon, they were back on the interstate, heavy metal streaming through the radio. He tried several times to delve into her past, but she would steer him away from her childhood every time.
He showed great interest in her job, and she talked about that with enthusiasm. He spoke very little about what he did for a living, clamming up with the same tight-lipped silence she showed with her childhood. It wasn’t a problem because they found plenty of other things to talk about, like what kinds of food to buy for the cabin.
They stopped at a local market and argued, once again, about splitting the bill.
Late that evening, long after dusk, they drove up the tree-lined dirt road to Bob’s small cabin. The aroma of pine needles infiltrated the air, fresh and clean, filled with the promise of new beginnings. The moon peeked out between the trees. Bare trunks and branches stretched out into the night as the quiet of evening settled over them.
Ash parked and then handed her a flashlight from the glove box.
Skye found the key to the cabin under the mat and unlocked the door. The chill from outside followed her into the small one-room cabin. He placed their bags on the bed, and then went back to grab the groceries. The place had a country kitchen, a circular pine dinner table with two chairs, and a sitting nook filled with a love seat. Rustic end tables bracketed the love seat. A door led to a bathroom with a tiny shower enclosure. The cabin was cozy, quaint, and very cold.
“There must be a heater,” Ash said after returning with the food. “I’ll see if there’s a switch.”
“Bob likes to keep things rustic. The fireplace is our sole heat source, but he said there should be plenty of firewood lying about.”
Compared to the photos Bob had shown her, the cabin was so much smaller in person—as was the bed she would be sharing with Ash.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Forest.
WTF, my summer Skye? UR crazy! Text me every 8 hrs, or I’m sending the cops! In the woods with a stranger? And you have a fiancé? Prenup! What? So confused. If I wasn’t stuck on a boat in the GD Pacific, I’d throttle you.
