11. Jensen
Jensen
I’m actually a little shocked that Ivy let me carry her to my truck wrapped in a blanket. No protest even when I fastened her seatbelt for her. She had to readjust to free her arms, but now she’s sitting in my passenger seat with a blanket wrapped around her like a towel, as if it’s something she always does.
Sometimes, I think I know what’s going on in her head, but all I know right now is that she doesn’t seem bothered at all. I’m not sure if it’s because she trusts me, or if she’s five steps ahead of me and I just haven’t figured it out yet.
“Where are we going?”
“Somewhere we’ve been before.”
“I’m not going in Hilltop like this.”
“Why not? Shane might give you a discount.”
“Seriously, Jensen. Where are we going?”
Okay, so she’s definitely not five steps ahead of me. She sounds a little worried. This could be fun.
“I already told you. To a place with a view.”
The turn is just up ahead. She’s going to figure it out any second. Her smile reveals when it hits her. I turn the wheel without saying a word and drive to the spot.
When I reach the overlook and back in, she looks a little worried again. “You plan on us getting out of this truck?”
“No view through the windshield.”
“If you turned the truck around, there would be.”
“But I’m not turning the truck around.” I open my door and get out, walk around the front of the truck as her eyes track me, and open her door.
She bites her bottom lip. Is it anticipation, or is she thinking of resisting? I reach across her body and unhook her seatbelt, slide an arm behind her back, and lift her out of her seat. The way her body softens so I can pick her up sends my dick into the exact opposite state.
I lower the tailgate and set her onto it. She pulls the blanket up over her shoulders and wraps it tightly around her again.
“You know you’re not leaving that on, right?”
“I can’t take it off out here.”
“Why? You were naked in front of me before we left Ivydell.”
“Yeah. In front of you but protected by walls and doors. A roof. This is too exposed. Too vulnerable.”
“I’ve seen you naked outside before.” I playfully tug on the blanket. “At the circle.”
“And then we had to make a run for it because there was a rattlesnake.”
“You don’t run from rattlesnakes. You hold still. I know you know that.” I tug again on the blanket. “Besides, it was only an owl. And we’re much closer to the truck this time.”
“Someone else could pull in.”
“I’ve been out here hundreds of times and no one ever has.”
“Someone could just walk right up. A mountain lion could come along.”
“This blanket won’t protect you from a mountain lion, but if one happens along, I promise, I will. And nobody is walking around out here. It’s just us.”
“I can’t.”
“I’ll be right back.”
“Where are you going? Don’t leave me alone!”
I lean into the truck and connect the audio on my phone, turn up the volume, and go back to her. “There. Now there’s music to scare away animals.”
“Or attract them.”
“The only thing being attracted out here is me to you.”
My hands cover hers where she holds the blanket shut. She relaxes her arms and lets me open it, but her body shifts nervously. She’s usually so bold. It’s one of my favorite things about her, but this? I like this, too. God, she’s beautiful.
I push the blanket back and off her shoulders. It falls behind her, and I step between her legs, thread my fingers into her hair on either side of her face and kiss her. I love to hold her face and kiss her like this. She is naturally passionate and playful, but when I initiate this deep kiss, she kisses me back the same way.
When she first stopped resisting or trying to change up this style of kiss, I let myself start thinking she might feel something more than either one of us wanted to acknowledge. I knew I felt it, and I’d missed kissing like this so damn much.
I’ve never kissed a woman deeper than I felt just to play a role, never let it be performative. Sometimes, I’ve avoided kissing at all because kisses can mislead, but when they’re honest, they can also confirm.
Crickets trill in the near distance. Coyotes howl farther off and likely below, the sound being lifted by the wind. It’s a clear night. So much is clear.
I end the kiss and hop up into the bed of the truck. “Slide back. I’ve got the blanket.” She lets me pull her to the center, where I spread out the blanket and lie next to her, propped on my elbow, gazing at her body under the stars.
She smiles up at me. “Are you not taking your clothes off?”
“Not right now.” I stroke her cheek and continue down her neck, spreading my palm flat when I reach her chest, holding it there for a moment to warm her cool skin, watching the rise and fall of her breath, the way her nipples look darker in the moonlight while the rest of her skin looks lighter. I trace around a nipple with my fingertip until she squirms on the blanket, bringing my thumb in then to pinch softly and roll it gently as her body stops moving but her breaths quicken.
Moving my hand down her ribcage, I map the contours of her bones and the hollows in between. She shivers slightly when I reach her belly where the protective cage ends and her soft skin isn’t stretched so taut, her unguarded center. Pausing again to watch the rise and fall, to feel the way my hand lifts without leaving her body, I marvel at the realness of her. At the unlikeliness of our paths ever crossing.
Leaving my hand on her stomach, I kiss her. Deeply, honestly, and she accepts it and returns it.
I brush her hair off her forehead so I can see every inch of her face. “How the hell did any of this happen?”
“A sad, confused girl from the beach woke up one day, determined to see the weird little pocket of the desert that inspired her name because she thought she’d find all her answers there. So, she ignored the well-intentioned advice against it, hit the road, and came crashing into your life, destroying all your peace and solitude.”
“You didn’t destroy anything. I don’t know if you found any of the answers you needed, but I am so damn glad you found me.”
“Me, too. Even if you were a jerk.”
“I lit your fireplace.”
“You had ulterior motives.”
“So did you.”
“You totally took advantage of me with your snowy kisses and bare chest.”
“You intentionally seduced me with your little half sweater and tight leggings.”
“But you kissed me first.”
“You kissed me back.”
“Kiss me now.”
My mouth closes on hers, and my hand drifts lower on her body. She parts her legs as soon as my fingers slide between them. Her pussy is soft and warm, so wet and tight, drawing my fingers inside. She relaxes under the stars, and my thumb circles her clit while her tongue dances with mine.
Mine.
When her pleasure peaks and her eyes flutter behind their lids while her spine arches and the tiny quakes of her muscles reverberate on my hand, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever experienced. It’s not an unfamiliar moment, but the full moon and all the scents and sounds of the desert night enhance it, make it unlike any other.
I needed to give her this, something uniquely ours, but just as much, I needed to take it for myself. She sighs and buries her face in my shoulder. I slide my fingers slowly in and out of her as she recovers, ready to get her off a second time as soon as she’s ready to go.
“I don’t think I can come again,” she whispers.
“We’re not leaving until you do.”
“Who said I wanted to leave? Unzip your pants.”
“Not yet. I brought you out here so I could enjoy your naked body.”
“I think you might enjoy the way I was planning to use it.”
“I’m sure I would, but I haven’t figured out where your tattoo should go yet.”
“Oh, yeah.”
I sit up. “Lay face-down across my lap.”
Surprisingly, she does it with no arguing or bargaining. I draw tiny circles to tickle behind her knee, and her legs bends like it’s spring-loaded, capturing my fingers. When she straightens it again, I draw a heart.
The corner of her smile is visible through the section of her hair that’s fallen across her face. It’s not fiery like when sunlight hits it, but it shines for the moon, too. My hand roams up the back of her thigh, squeezing just below the curve over her butt cheek to watch it swell.
I rub over her firm, rounded ass, and I can’t resist the urge to spank it a few times. She draws a quick breath at the first slap and holds it, and the sudden silence around us feels like the whole desert follows her lead.
The wind blows over her back, prompting her exhale. I caress the warmth under my hand, and wonder if I’ve turned her skin red as the crickets start to sing again. My palm glides to the small of her back. Her hips rock, encouraging me to massage her there. When I rub this spot at her lower back, I imagine my hand there, guiding her into a room full of people. Announcing to them all that she is with me. She’s mine.
I continue to massage as my hand moves up her back and to her shoulders.
“Roll over.”
She looks up at the stars, her eyes shimmering. My hand massages her tits, my thumb brushing over each nipple in turn. Looking over her blank canvas body, I wonder what she’ll get if she decides to go through with the tattoo.
The dip just inside her hipbones is one of my favorite spots to kiss. My mouth can’t reach it from here, but I kiss the pads of my fingers that were inside her minutes ago, and then press them to the spot to transfer the kiss to her skin. “Right here,” I say.
She smiles. “That seems like a tender spot for a tattoo.”
“I’ll kiss it every night.”
Her face falls. “You won’t see it every night.”
“Every chance I get, I’ll kiss it.”
“Maybe your kiss should be the tattoo. Did you know lip prints are like fingerprints? You could identify someone by them if you had a reference. Of course, if things didn’t work out between us, that would be awkward to explain to the next guy.”
“I can’t think of a better reason to have my lips tattooed on your body.”
“Gross. Don’t be that guy.”
“Every man is that guy. And no matter what you choose for your tattoo, I want to be the only one who ever gets to kiss it.”
She flashes what I know is meant to be a look of disapproval. All I see is stars shining in the prettiest eyes in the world.
“Spread your legs.” I cup her pussy in my hand. “This is mine, and I’m not done playing with it.”
The look intensifies, but her legs fall open.
Mine.
But the way I belong to her outweighs all the stars in the sky.
She fucking owns me.