Epilogue - One Year Later
Aaron
Ascream broke the quiet of the morning. Luckily, we were far enough away from civilization there was no one to hear it.
Sweat prickled my brow and my lower back ached, but I didn’t let up. I couldn’t until the job was done.
Skye screamed again. “Yes, fuck, I’m so close.”
I thrust into her again and again, holding off my own finish by sheer willpower until she broke under me.
“That’s it,” I muttered, voice rough with effort, eyes locked on her. “Come for me.” She did exactly that, writhing and moaning on the makeshift bed in the van.
I followed her over a few seconds later and collapsed onto her chest. We lay like that in the bed in her van, naked, sweating and pressed together.
I rolled off her after a moment and tucked her under my arm. She nestled into my chest, her blonde hair sticking to her forehead with sweat.
Outside the van, the sun had risen and the air was cool. Inside, we’d turned the place into a sauna, the air thick with our combined body heat.
“Morning sex is the best,” I said between breaths.
“Adventure morning sex is the best,” she corrected.
“Of course you’d add branding to it,” I muttered. “You’re going to start a travel blog about all the wild places I’ve bent you over?”
“Don’t tempt me,” she said lazily. “You’ll find your cock on a logo.”
I laughed and tickled her side.
I had a week off work and we were using it to travel to some places we’d both wanted to go, but never had. She could get material and pictures for her social media and we could spend some uninterrupted time together.
Kyle climbed into the bed from where he was laying on the dashboard watching birds.
He stepped on my bare leg leaving a little scratch before continuing on to lay between us.
Okay, so our time together wasn’t entirely uninterrupted.
There was always Kyle. Sleeping in a van in the middle of the woods is a little creepy.
But fucking your girlfriend with a cat watching your every move wasn’t much better.
We’d started putting him in the front of the van when we wanted to be together.
I know he’s a cat, but I swear he was judging us when we were going at it.
Menace.
“We should get up, Mr. Adventure Cat, long hike planned today, and I want to check a few things on the van while I’m here.” I slid to the end of the bed and pulled on a pair of shorts. Easier said than done when your bed was a mattress on the floor of a van.
Skye rolled her eyes. “I get this thing serviced all the time, you don’t have to check things.”
I leaned over and kissed her sweaty forehead. “Just let me worry about you, okay? I’ll go make coffee.”
“This is why I love you,” she called after me as I grabbed Kyle and climbed out into the morning air.
I got the little camp stove going to make coffee and just as it was ready Skye came from the van in shorts and a tank top with one of my flannels over top. My inner caveman loved it when she borrowed my clothes.
Although borrow implied I’d get them back, and I rarely did.
I handed her a mug, not a practical tin one like I was using, hers was ceramic and said Cat Mom on the side.
Despite her being the cat mom, Kyle jumped onto my lap and stuck his head in my cup. Skye snapped a picture on her phone, no doubt to post on the The Mewtaineer social media page.
Once we started dating, I’d told Skye she could put me on her page if she wanted. I knew she treated things in a way that wasn’t just vain and clickbait. Her fans had started to ask for more and more ‘cat dad mountain man’ updates and she was happy to oblige.
After we’d had coffee we grabbed our packs to head out on a hike. “Wait,” I barked before Skye could start off towards the trail. She turned to face me and I put a dollop of sunscreen on the end of her nose. “Rub that in.”
She did as I asked but stuck her tongue out in the process.
“I annoy you because I care.”
“Well I’ll never get a nice base tan with you around.”
I snorted. “You don’t tan, you just turn into one big freckle.”
“Ha-ha.” A smile spread across her face and she tossed me Kyle’s leash. “Last one to the top has to do the laundry.” She took off running as I fumbled to catch the leash.
I had no problem doing the laundry…but I’d be damned if I’d let her win without a fight. I grabbed the cat and took off running.
Kyle dug his claws into my forearm as I ate up the trail with my longer legs. She squealed as I caught up to her, but rather than pass her I grabbed her around the waist with my free arm and we both went down into a patch of grass beside the trail.
We laid side by side for a moment, catching our breath with her tucked under my arm.
Kyle pranced around, but I kept the leash in my hand. We’d learned our lesson on that. Skye nestled her head against my chest and I took a moment to just be. We didn’t get to be together as much as I wanted, but life with Skye and Kyle was an adventure. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
The mountains were still wild. The trails were still dangerous. The future was still uncertain. But I was happier than I’d ever been.
Turns out life was better with muddy boots kicked beside mine, a loud woman stealing my flannels and a menace of a cat trying to eat our trail snacks.