28. Hannah
TWENTY-EIGHT
HANNAH
“I wish we never had to leave.” I suck in a lungful of fresh mountain air and tip my head toward the sun. It’s peeking between the trees as we hike the path toward what we’re told is a beautiful set of falls.
We had breakfast with the owner of the inn and a few other guests.
It was nice, really—dining with strangers.
It gave us the opportunity to try out interacting like an actual couple.
Though it kind of felt like we were pulling one over on the other guests, since we still haven’t defined what the hell we’re doing—other than having a baby together.
I can’t say it wasn’t magical. Daniel wrapped his arm around my chair and tugged me close.
He filled my plate with a little of everything set out for us, then fed me bites of each while we chatted with the other guests about where they were from and what they were hoping to do here.
From what I could tell, no one recognized him, and we were able to steer clear of questions about our occupations.
It might have been the most relaxing morning I’ve ever had.
“We can’t accomplish that monster of a bucket list if we’re stuck in one place.”
I giggle and crack my eyes open. “We don’t actually have to do everything on it. I know some of them are ridiculous.”
He cocks a devilish brow. “Yeah, I don’t think we’ll be running with the bulls anytime soon.”
“Fine. We can remove that one, but I still want to do a gondola ride in Venice. And karaoke.”
“Karaoke is not a bucket list item. Just go out with Aiden on a Friday night or hang out in our locker room before a game.” He shakes his head. “Actually, no. Don’t do that.”
“Oh, come on. I’ve always wondered what you boys do in the locker room. Swing your dicks around, I’m sure.”
He swivels his hips aggressively. “Obviously.”
“So who’s the biggest?” I ask, trying my best to bite back a smile.
Head dropped back, he guffaws, the sound so loud he startles the birds in a nearby tree, and they take flight. “Is this really even a question?”
It’s not. I’ve got it on good authority that the honor goes to Daniel.
From my personal experience with it, I 100 percent believe the rumors.
The guy is hung, but I’ve never hooked up with any of the guys on the hockey team and have zero intention of ever doing so.
I have, however, heard the guys talk about their dicks on more than one occasion.
I swear that’s all they do, and every freaking time, they talk about how hung my man is.
My man. My heart stutters right out of my chest. Whoa. What the hell was that?
When I don’t reply, Daniel grasps my wrist and tugs me into his chest. He tips my chin up with one finger and leans down. “Do I need to remind you of just how big I am, or can you still feel me between your thighs?”
My body pulses with a desire that never seems to wane when he’s around. I lick my lips, hungry. No, famished. It must be his age. I’ve never met a man who could keep up with me the way he can. “We could cross off another item on the bucket list.”
He brushes his lips against mine. “Which one?”
I bite down on his lip softly, then in one quick move, dart back and take off at a run. “Skinny dipping!” I yell as I head straight toward the falls ahead.
When the forest opens up and they come into full view, I pull up short.
Holy fuck. All around, there’s nothing but lush greens, a flowering mountain, and the heavy, thundering rush of water.
The way the sunlight glints off the water makes the whole clearing glow.
Like an oasis. Like a mirage. It’s too beautiful to be real.
Daniel barrels into me, sweeping me off my feet and heading straight to the edge of the water. “I’m going in first to make sure it’s safe.” He sets me on my feet, then gives me the sternest expression he can manage. “Seriously, if you listen to nothing else I say, let this be the one thing you do.”
I smile. “Aw, you want to protect the baby.”
With a grunt, he yanks me in for a kiss.
It’s not a brush of lips. No, he goes for it, his tongue massaging mine as he holds me in place, forcing me to accept what he’s trying to tell me.
Then, just in case I didn’t get the message, he pulls back and ducks so we’re nose to nose.
“I want to protect you and the baby. You are nonnegotiable in that equation. You get me, dream girl?”
“I’m beginning to,” I say, the words barely audible with the way emotion clogs my throat. He’s told me again and again that I’d eventually get it, and now, I think that maybe I’m beginning to. “Now strip.” My voice is a little stronger now.
With a slow, cocky smirk, he grasps the hem of his shirt, and with a ridiculous amount of teasing, he inches it up his torso, showing off his abs. He dances to nonexistent music, swinging his hips in a way that would have his dick rolling if he was naked.
I scan the area to make sure we’re truly alone before I egg him on. “Take off the pants, Hall. Remind me what we’re working with here.”
He unzips his pants, and when he whips out the goods, I have to bite down on my lip to keep a moan from slipping out.
The way his eyes flash tells me he caught the reaction. “All right, dream girl, stay on the shore,” he reiterates as he steps to the edge and dips his toes in. “Shit, it’s cold.”
“This is almost worse,” I whine. “I think I’d rather jump in. Get it over with quickly.”
“Not happening.” He growls at me. But in the next heartbeat, he does just that. When he lands with a big splash and then stands up easily, he swipes the water from his face. “Okay, hot girl. Now you can come get wet.”
“That’s what she said,” I mutter.
Daniel’s laughter is like a balm for my soul. Every moment of this day has been. I make a show of undressing for him, and like the good boy he is, he hoots and hollers until I’m running toward the edge and cannonballing into the water beside him.
When the ice-cold water hits my body like a million pinpricks, I surface and practically throw myself into his arms. “Holy shit, you said it was cold, not frigid.”
“How long do we have to stay in here for this to qualify as skinny dipping?” He palms my ass and lifts me.
Automatically, I wrap my legs around his hips. Like we’re two pieces of a puzzle, his dick slots perfectly between us. “Wait a second.” I wriggle against him. “How in the fuck are you hard right now?”
“Um, you’re naked.”
“The water is freezing.”
“Yeah, the rest of my body will probably go into hypothermia because all my blood rushed to my dick the second I saw your tits.”
With a laugh, I whack his chest. “Shut up. That’s not science.”
He rolls his hips. “Then how do you explain this?”
I open my mouth to quip back, but I’ve got nothing, so I snap it shut again.
“You could keep me warm,” he suggests, pressing kisses to my chin.
“Oh, could I?”
“Public sex was on your bucket list.”
“Pretty sure we covered that at the stadium,” I murmur even as I lick across his lips.
He slips a hand between us and lines his head up with my entrance. As he pushes himself in to the hilt, we moan in unison. “Fuck, you’re perfect.”
“No, we’re perfect,” I breathe as he fucks me, keeping his dick buried deep and his movements small. God, how is it possible he feels this good?
How can everything with him always feel so good?
“I watched this episode of Grey’s Anatomy where a couple went skinny dipping, and the guy got a worm in his penis.”
Daniel grabs his dick and sucks in a breath. “Take it back.”
I take a long, dramatic lick of my ice cream.
We’re in downtown Enchanted Falls, Vermont, and as the name suggests, everything about it is absolutely magical.
After our afternoon romp, we had a picnic—another one of my bucket list items—and took a nap.
I woke feeling rested but also bad about wasting so much of what little time we have together sleeping.
Daniel, of course, responded with something like “There’s no such thing as wasted time as long as you’re in my arms.”
He might be making it really hard not to fall for him.
We have dinner plans in an hour, but I mentioned craving something sweet and salty, and Daniel was ecstatic about being around when a craving hit, so he forced me to put on my shoes and dragged me to the fudge shop, insisting we could have dessert before dinner. He’s going to make a fabulous father.
“You should probably check the anaconda in your pants and make sure it’s the only thing there.”
With a shiver, he surreptitiously eyes his crotch.
Head tossed back, I laugh. “Men are so easy to rile up. Dicks, women, and sports. That’s about all you think about, isn’t it?”
“I can’t speak for all men, but for me, yes.”
“Great.”
“With one caveat,” he adds, holding up a finger.
“I’m all ears.”
“It’s not women, it’s woman .” He drapes an arm over my shoulders. “You.”
“Such a romantic,” I tease him, even though I’m swooning internally. It’s pathetic, really.
Daniel slides his hand down my body and links his fingers with mine. “So you were a Grey’s Anatomy fan?”
“Oh god, who wasn’t? I binge watched every episode of the first ten seasons after my divorce, and I’ve been hooked since.”
He side-eyes me, though he doesn’t turn his head.
I huff and take another lick of ice cream. “You want me to tell you about the marriage?”
All I get is a simple shrug. “Only if you want to, and only because I want to know you.”
I lean my head against his chest, making sure to hold my cone out so neither of us wears it.
“There’s not a lot to tell. It’s a simple story about a girl who’d been told all her life that if her mother just found the right man, she’d be happy.
My mother’s happiness was dependent on one man or another for years.
You’d think that would have made me run in the opposite direction of love”—I glance up at him—“And it did eventually, but back then, I went to college intent on finding a man and falling in love, certain that if I did that, then life would be perfect.”