Chapter Ten – Thea
Chapter Ten
Thea
My nipples hardened, and my core throbbed with need. I could feel my pussy grow wet as my body warmed up, little by little, until I was burning hot. I was half asleep. I knew this was a wet dream. I had them sometimes. It felt so sweet and delicious that I didn’t want to wake up. Not before I got release.
I rubbed myself against the hardness that was resting between my legs. I didn’t know what it was, and my sleep-addled brain didn’t care. It was something hard, and it was exactly what I needed to bring myself to orgasm. The desire coursing through my body was so raw that it was all I could focus on. It didn’t matter where I was, it didn’t matter what the circumstances were. A quick release was what my body craved after the stress it had been exposed to. My mind needed it, too. A way to get rid of the painful tension that was gripping my entire being. A way to relax for a minute.
I ground my hips faster and faster, letting out little moans. My hands grabbed onto what was available – more hard things. What were they? I didn’t care. I was wearing my gloves, and that made me feel safe. Ideally, I would’ve removed my clothes and touched myself, run my hands over my heated skin, but somewhere at the back of my mind, there was something that told me it was better to remain clothed. My imagination could wander, though.
I imagined I was in a king size bed, naked underneath cool, soft sheets. The sheets started moving, brushing my skin delicately, making my nipples stand to attention. They weren’t moving on their own. Someone or something was pulling them off me, and then there were hands. Many hands, exploring every inch of my body. The hands were rough, with long, spindly fingers. I longed for their touch. As they moved over my round breasts, down my stomach, towards my pelvis, I arched my back and moaned. Then the impossibly long fingers dipped between my wet folds, and one of them circled my entrance until I was so frustrated that I could cry.
“Please,” I murmured, and I wasn’t sure whether I said it in the dream or out loud.
I held onto the sheets and let the hands explore me, biting my lip and whimpering, arching my back and flexing my toes. I wanted to be explored. I wanted to be exposed and worshipped. I was so close.
“Please... mmm...”
So close, yet so far. I felt a breeze on my face. It was pleasant at first, then it picked up, and the dream started to dissipate.
“No, not yet.” I furrowed my brows, trying to hold on to it.
A cold, wet drop fell on my cheek, and that ended the dream. My body stilled. I opened my eyes. I was in the forest, in the clearing I’d found after leaving the cabin, and I was resting with my back against the trunk of a massive tree. My body was nestled between its roots.
I looked down at my legs and saw that the roots were supporting me perfectly. It should’ve been uncomfortable to lie like this, but it wasn’t. When I looked up, I saw the tree’s canopy blowing in the wind. A few more drops landed on my face, and I realized it was raining lightly.
I sat up quickly, looking for my backpack. I couldn’t believe I’d fallen asleep. How long had I been out? I pulled up my sleeve to check my watch. It said 9 AM. I’d slept for a few hours, but I was far from having wasted the day. My backpack was close by, resting in another nest of roots. I got up and grabbed it, checking to see if all my things were there. Of course they were. Who would’ve robbed me in the woods? And the woman who’d threatened me the night before didn’t want my cans of soup. She wanted my life. If I didn’t do as she said.
I took out my water bottle and drank greedily, closing my eyes. Flashes of soft sheets and spindly hands flashed through my mind, and I squeezed my thighs together. I was still aroused, but there was nothing I could do about it. I opened my eyes and looked at the roots that had held me so comfortably. No way. I wasn’t going to do that. I was going to survive today without an orgasm. Besides, my husband-to-be was waiting for me, and that was his job – to give me orgasms. I’d met Soren Sinclair a few times, and for some reason, he hadn’t stricken me as the type of man who cared about a woman’s pleasure.
I let out a sigh. What did it matter? I was going to marry him anyway.
It started raining harder even as the sun shined brightly. A beautiful summer rain. I moved closer to the tree. I didn’t remember it being here when I sat down to rest. And I hadn’t sat on its roots, either. I clearly remembered having sat on a log that was...
Right there. The log was in the middle of the clearing, and somehow, I’d moved to the side and ended up leaning against this tree.
I studied its thick trunk and looked up at its canopy. Vines were hanging from its branches, and it struck me that the tree looked familiar. But it couldn’t be the same tree that had covered and protected me at the cabin. Maybe it was the same species.
I didn’t know a lot about trees, to be fair. To me, they were all the same. Seeing whose daughter I was, this shouldn’t have been the case. But I’d never been interested in the family’s business. Everhart Furniture was going to be passed on to my brother, and that was why it was so important for Matthew to get clean and stay out of the papers. I didn’t know what he’d done, but my father was worried enough that it would ruin his reputation that he’d asked me to marry Sinclair. For my father, it wasn’t just that Matthew’s future was at stake. It was the future of the company. Matthew was the only one who could take over, as I was less than interested, and the other family members – uncles and cousins – weren’t in my father’s good graces. He’d worked all his life to build Everhart Furniture, and he wanted it to stay in the family and keep growing until it became the best furniture company in the world, not just in the US.
Now it was all on my shoulders. No pressure.
I had to wait for the rain to pass. Noticing that I was protected under the canopy of the tree, I pressed myself closer to it, until my side rested against its rough bark. It was strange, but I didn’t feel frightened anymore. My phobia wasn’t as bad today. Maybe by getting myself exposed so suddenly and brutally, I was actually curing it. Besides, this tree was perfectly clean. I inspected it for ants and the like, and it had none. Not even the birds seemed to be interested in populating its branches. I’d never seen something like it before. Usually, trees were entire ecosystems for insects, birds, and other critters. This one was... different.
Now I was sorry I hadn’t paid attention in Biology. I was so terrified of nature that I couldn’t even stand to learn about it. I’d barely passed that class. But maybe I would’ve learned about this type of tree. It was frustrating to not know why it was so different from the others. I made a mental note to start studying trees when I returned to civilization. After I got married, I was going to grab my laptop, lock myself in a room, and read about trees. Surely, it was going to help distract me from the name change – Everhart to Sinclair.
I slid down the tree and sat on its roots again. My core throbbed, my pussy remembering how I’d rubbed myself against them. I blushed to the tips of my ears. This was ridiculous. Only entertaining the idea of grounding my hips on a tree to get some friction was outrageous. It was like... It was like having sex with an object. Well, technically, a tree was not an object, it was a living thing, and having sex with an object was perfectly acceptable, if I considered dildos and vibrators.
Why was I thinking about sex?! I had two more grueling days of hiking through the woods, a legit assassin had threatened me, and my focus was on the fact that I was aroused? That woman was going to come after me when she realized I hadn’t turned back. That was a big problem. Except if she was bluffing. I hoped she was, and she wasn’t going to actually kill me for not doing as she said.
I couldn’t do as she said, not even if I wanted to. And I did. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and head back to where I came from. But then who was going to save Matthew?
I rested the back of my head against the trunk of the tree.
“What would you do if you were me?” I asked.
Great. I was talking to a tree again. Everything was just fine, and I wasn’t going insane. I was also going to completely ignore that I still wanted to rub myself against its roots and get the release I was craving.