Chapter 19
“This is so stupid. I can’t believe I let you talk me into this. What if she trips over a tree root and knocks herself out or, God forbid, she runs into a pack of wolves or a bear?” I wipe a sweaty palm over the rough fabric of my pants as I pace back and forth by the campfire.
“She’ll be fine, Leo. It’s cute that you’re so worried about her though,” Luka says.
Roman stands from his seat by the fire and claps me on the shoulder. “It’s refreshing, seeing you like this. Sometimes, I almost forget you have a heart underneath that cold exterior.”
I swat his hand away with a grunt and check the timer on my phone.
Luka and Guy sit idly, chatting about something, like they don’t have a fucking care in the world as I watch the seconds tick by, impossibly slower than normal.
When the timer finally beeps, I let out a sigh. “Are we setting a time limit for the game? How do we know when it’s over?”
“You’re a big boy, Leo, and you have your phone. Stop trying to make unnecessary rules. It takes away from the fun,” Guy says, propping a hand on my shoulder for balance as he stretches his quads.
Clearly, we’re not playing the same game of Sardines because I have no intention of running or exerting myself. Hell, I’m happy to lose just so we can be done with all this juvenile bullshit.
“Everyone ready?” Luka asks as we approach the forest opening.
Guy bounces in place. “Let’s fucking go!”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I mumble under my breath.
“Three. Two. One. Go!” Luka yells.
He and Guy take off in opposite directions. Roman and I take a slower approach, nodding before we go our separate ways.
The eerie quiet of the night is interrupted only by the crunch of the forest floor under my boots. Nights like this remind me of why these woods are revered as Guy’s story plays in the back of my mind.
My heart picks up speed as I weave through the trees, shining my light in search of Ivy’s blonde hair. Panic knots in my throat as more time passes, and I have to talk myself down, remembering the breathing techniques my therapist taught me when I was a kid.
“Ivy!” I hiss in a whisper. “Ivy, where are you?”
I don’t know why I even bother. If I know anything about this woman, it’s that she’s as stubborn as they come. Hell, I wouldn’t put it past her to spend the night out here alone just to prove that she won the game.
The thought has my blood boiling. I’m a tight ball of nerves and only growing more irritated with every passing minute.
I make it all the way to the creek before doubling back to check the opposite end. I’m careful, stepping over decaying logs and maneuvering around thick ferns as I shine my light all around me.
“Ivy! Where the fuck are you?” I hiss again as my foot crunches through a rotting tree log. I shake my leg free as my frustration rises.
I’m thankful to be wearing pants and boots. Which reminds me that Ivy’s out here in a fucking spandex unitard and sneakers, probably covered in scratches and bug bites by now.
I clench my jaw. I fucking told her to dress appropriately, but of course she didn’t listen. Hell, she’s probably wrapped up in poison ivy, thinking she’s got the best hiding spot in the world—or worse, hiding near a den of some kind …
I can’t let myself go there. I’m being ridiculous, my imagination taking too many creative liberties. If I’m going to find her, I need to calm down and think. Where would she hide?
I hear my brothers in the distance, ruffling around and laughing, which can only mean they haven’t found her either.
Fuck, I don’t know if that makes me feel better or worse.
“Goddamn it, Ivy!” I hiss again as my eye catches on a dense bush … too dense to be natural.
I shine my light and study it, and that’s when I see the broken branches jutting out at the top. Someone added some extra leaves to this bush.
I shield my light as I inch forward and pull the top branch out, revealing Ivy crouched next to a massive, hollowed-out sycamore tree.
“Caught you!”
“Shh!” She gestures for me to be quiet before grabbing the collar of my shirt and pulling me closer. “Get in before they see you!”
Relief floods me, and I push through the limbs, carefully placing the branch back where she had it before crouching down beside her.
Damn, this is a good hiding spot. If I didn’t know this forest so well, I don’t think I’d have ever found her, and I don’t know if that makes me more proud or pissed. I’m starting to realize the two usually go hand in hand when it comes to Ivy.
The moon shines bright, illuminating the sky through the pocket of trees surrounding us. Now that my eyes have adjusted, I barely need a flashlight at all.
She’s practically sitting in my lap, as we sit squeezed in the tight space inside the hollowed out opening of a sycamore tree, the citrus and vanilla scent of her shampoo doing more to calm my nerves than I care to admit. This fucking woman is so radiant and warm that she even smells like sunshine, and I’ve been living in the darkness for far too long.
She slides a hand over my thigh, massaging me in soothing strokes, and, fuck, it feels too good to stop her. It’s like she knows I need her touch, if only to calm my worried thoughts. She’s here, and most importantly, she’s safe.
I close my eyes, letting it sink in, and relief floods my chest in warm currents.
“I can’t believe you found me,” she says, breaking the silence.
“Yeah, well, it was only because I’d spent so much time out here when I was young. I knew there weren’t bushes this large in the middle of the forest, but I can’t say that the three stooges out there will be able to tell.”
Her hand moves up my thigh, fingers brushing just beneath my balls as she gives me her signature mischievous smirk. “Then, we need to be quiet, so we don’t give our awesome hiding spot away.”
Goose bumps erupt all over my skin, and my heart rate skyrockets as her wandering touch moves from the top of my thigh to my knee. “Ivy, what are you—” I stand, attempting to put some distance between us. I need to get my head on straight. I need to think clearly before I do something we’ll both regret.
But she’s not making this easy on me, and she stands, too, which only makes things worse. My cock grows harder at the feeling of her soft breasts nuzzled against my core as our bodies press together in the narrow space. My palms itch to pull her into me while my brain fires off warning sirens. I know I should stop this, but, goddamn it, I don’t think I can. I don’t know how much more torment my touch-starved body can take.
I hiss a breath through gritted teeth as her hand moves back to my thigh. This time, she grazes my balls, and I nearly see stars.
“What are you trying to—” I grab her hands, pressing them against the tree, desperate to catch my breath.
But there’s not enough space, and when she wiggles, she still somehow manages to rub my cock with her thigh.
Fuck me. My cock twitches as her soft body moves against mine, creating the faintest bit of friction.
“Ivy, this is not the time to play games?—”
Her hand breaks free of my distracted hold, tugging my shirt to pull me closer as she hooks a knee behind my back. She stands on her tiptoes while she grinds against me, as if that could make up for our eleven-inch height difference. Fuck, she feels incredible, and I can’t fight it any longer. I need this. I need this so badly that I think I might die if I don’t get relief soon.
Without thinking, I cup her ass as she rolls her body over mine, and, fuck, it feels amazing. She feels amazing. It’s all too much.
I squeeze my palm over her ass as she rubs her needy pussy over my painfully hard cock. I could come from just feeling her like this, our bodies rubbing together, breathless and starving for touch.
She loops an arm over my shoulder before wrapping her other leg around my waist, and then we’re kissing.
I should stop this. There isn’t anyone around to perform for. We shouldn’t be doing this … but I can’t help myself. I’m a starving man who’s gone so long without romantic touch that I’ve almost forgotten what it feels like, and Ivy’s the walking wet dream of a woman, sent to remind me of everything I’ve been missing.
I suck on her bottom lip before nipping at it with my teeth as I lose myself in her kiss. Our bodies move as one, and I pin her, using the tree as leverage. Jolts of pleasure shoot straight to my cock as the threat of my release intensifies.
It’s almost painful how incredible she feels. I swallow all her whimpers and moans as my hands roam over her petite frame, desperate to trace every inch of her skin. I shouldn’t be doing this, but I don’t think I could conjure the willpower to stop if I tried. I’ll have the rest of my life to thoroughly punish myself, but right now, I’m going to enjoy this rare moment where all my dreams come true.
She grips my shirt before sliding a hand beneath, trailing her palm over my abs like she’s trying to memorize my form with her touch. The darkness heightens my senses, intensifying every brush of skin as she dips her hand beneath my waistband, gripping my eager cock in her palm.
I nearly blow a load right there.
“Holy shit, Leo. You’re massive.” She slides her hand up and down my length, alternating her pace and pressure, and I breathe in a hiss.
It’s like she knows exactly what I need and how I need it. My balls clench, and my vision blurs as she works me so good that I can barely remember why we’re out here to begin with.
After a few more strokes, I feel myself getting painfully close, and I grab her hand so I can catch my breath.
“Whoa now, baby girl. Keep that up, and I’m going to come. And I’m not ready to come yet.”
I pin her again as my lips crash against hers, but she doesn’t stop her wiggling; if anything, she grinds her pussy harder over my cock, moving faster until I’m so distracted that she breaks a hand loose.
Heat pools at the base of my spine as our tongues twist and tangle, our lips moving in frantic need as we all but fuck each other through our clothes. Real sex has never come close to feeling this amazing, and that says a lot, considering the bottom of my shaft’s currently pressed against the metal zipper of my pants. But I don’t care. Somehow, the pain and almost of it all make it that much hotter, and I’ll take whatever scraps I can get right now.
Her hand slides up my shaft again, and I bite the inside of my cheek to calm myself down, trying to think of anything to bring me back from the edge. But it feels too good, and when I close my eyes, all I can see are those mischievous amber eyes staring back at me, and I know I’m a fucking goner.
“Hold on, baby, just give me a second to—” I move my hand to stop her, but my arms feel like limp noodles, like I’m moving in slow motion.
“How close are you?” she teases as she moves her hand over me, somehow managing to stroke every sensitive spot on my cock like she’s using fucking magic against me.
My hand moves over hers in a pathetic attempt to stop her. “Ivy, stop. I’m going to—” But as soon as the words leave my mouth, I feel my balls clench, and then I explode. “Fuck.” Liquid heat shoots through me in waves of pleasure, and I come right there in my pants like a goddamn teenager.
I take a few moments to catch my breath as my racing heart returns to a normal rhythm, and then the post-nut clarity hits me like a freight train.
I don’t know if I’m more embarrassed that I just came in my pants from a few minutes of heavy petting or annoyed that I told her to stop and she didn’t.
This fucking brat.
Ivy’s grin is almost too much to take as I stare back at her, looking so smug.
I’ve long forgotten about the game, that we’re supposed to be quiet and hiding. I don’t care about whether or not I should be doing what I’m doing with a woman thirteen years my junior. None of that matters anymore because all I see when I look at her is my fucking brat that needs to be punished.
And I’ve been dreaming of the day when I get to be the one to do it.
I adjust myself, feeling the warm jizz drip down my cock as I glare at her. “You’re feeling pretty proud of yourself right now, aren’t you?”
She nods, her lips twitching at the corner as she tries to contain her smile, but her eyes tell me everything I need to know. She fucking loves this, loves seeing me fall apart, loves knowing that she has so much power over me that she could make me come in my pants, even against my fucking will.
I reach for my belt and begin unbuckling it, the high-pitched sound of the metal clinking filling the silence, and her eyes widen ever so slightly, but she doesn’t move.
This is the moment she’s been waiting for, isn’t it? This is what she’s been pushing me to do, so who am I to deny her what she wants? It’s time for me to teach my little brat a lesson …
“Get on your knees.” I don’t wait for her to catch on before I’m pushing her head down, and she reluctantly follows.
I see the confusion pulling between her brows, and fuck if it’s not exactly what I needed, the cherry on top of this whole scenario.
“You act like a fucking brat because you want me to punish you, isn’t that right, baby girl?”
I run my thumb along her jaw before tracing her full bottom lip. The sight of her on her knees, those big eyes staring up at me with anticipation, almost sends me over the edge. Hell, I can already feel myself getting hard again.
“Answer me,” I bark, tightening a fist in her hair.
She nods several times before whispering, “Yes.”
“Fuck, you look so hot like this. God, I want to fuck that smart mouth until your eyes water and you’re gagging on my cock.” I lean down and whisper, “And trust me, I intend to … but first, you’re going to clean up this mess you made … every fucking drop.”
I grip her hair, bringing her face closer as I shove my pants down with my free hand, and when she looks up at me … she has the fucking nerve to smile.
Jesus Christ, this woman is going to destroy me, but I can’t make myself care about that right now, not when she’s playing her part so well. I never thought I’d consider doing this again with someone, but here I am, throwing caution to the wind because the thought of missing out on this once-in-a-lifetime woman terrifies me more than my fear of rejection.
She wraps her hands around the back of my thighs as her bright eyes flick up to meet mine, and she licks her lips. “Yes, Daddy. I’ll clean up the mess.”
My head falls back against the hollow tree with a heavy thud as Ivy sticks out her warm pink tongue, and she does just that.
Fuck me, I’m in over my head. I’ve always had a sweet spot for brats, but I don’t think I’ve ever met one this headstrong, this fucking good at it, and as she licks every drop of cum clean from my body, I realize I’ve met my match.
I swipe the excess saliva from her lips with my thumb as I stare down at her in appreciation. “Such a good little slut. You love having my cum on your tongue, don’t you, baby girl?”
She reaches to stroke my once-again-hard shaft, but I swat her away. As much as it pains me, this is still a punishment even if she did enjoy it more than I’d anticipated.
“Ah-ah, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You might have cleaned up your mess, but I’m not finished with your punishment …”
Her eyes fall, and I swear I see a flash of disappointment on her face.
Fucking hell, I don’t know what I’m going to do with this woman.
“Did you see that? I think they’re back here?” I hear Roman’s voice just before his flashlight shocks us both back to the present moment and we remember what we’re supposed to be doing.
I pull Ivy to her feet and barely manage to buckle my belt before all three of my brothers burst through the tree branch barricade, flashlights and booze in hand.
“We found you! I knew we’d find you if we worked together!” Guy yells, throwing an arm around Roman’s shoulders in triumph.
“You two are really good hiders.” Luka points with the mostly empty bottle of whiskey and stumbles before catching his balance on a tree.
I yank the bottle from his hand, then help myself to the little bit that’s left. “I see you three have been busy.”
“We had to entertain ourselves somehow. Do you know how boring it is, searching for over an hour?” Luka says, now propping himself on Roman for balance.
“We almost gave up. Thought you two might be out here, bumping uglies or something. Figured maybe you didn’t want to be found.” Guy hiccups and jumps like he’s just startled himself, which makes Roman and Luka both double over in laughter.
Nothing like my three drunk younger brothers to sober me back to the present.
“Well, you certainly did … find us, I mean.” I grab Luka’s arm and throw it over my shoulders as Ivy moves to help Guy, and we make our way back to the campsite.
My neck is still hot, and my mind’s racing a mile a minute, thinking of all the things I wanted to do to her had we not been interrupted.
“What’s all over your pants, Leo? Did you fall in a puddle or something back there? Why is it only wet around your dick?” Luka asks, which prompts Guy and Roman to offer their own explanations of what they think happened.
“Do you think he peed his pants?” Guy asks.
“No, it’s not spread out like a pee stream—trust me, I know what that looks like,” Luka offers, and I truly don’t want to know how he knows that.
“It’s weird though, isn’t it? There’s a distinct area of wetness?—”
“All right, that’s enough,” I snap, cutting them off before anyone has any better guesses.
We deliver them to their tents, and I make sure to supply them each with a bottle of water, a puke bucket, and a couple of painkillers.
Talk about things taking a left turn. It’s annoying as fuck to have to babysit my brothers, but I can’t say that I’m mad about their interruption. It’s giving me time to finally think with a clear head and figure out my next move.
I start toward my own tent, and it’s only then that I remember how inconvenient our sleeping arrangement is going to be.
Fuck me, this is going to be a long night.