Chapter 11
KNOX
I 'm in deep shit with Beth. I didn't even realize it until this moment. I've always been the kind of guy who loves being in a relationship. Which has really taken a hit since Eruption happened. Am I putting all my hopes and dreams in this woman? Is it fair to her for me to do this?
I turn all that off as my mouth claims hers. She makes a noise in the back of her throat that causes my body to react. Reaching down, I grab her thighs, separating them and bringing them around my waist.
The waterfall rushes around us. The cool water feels good compared to the heat that's been increasing the closer we get to Nashville.
All I want to feel though is her. Her arms come around my neck, and she holds on, as desperate for my touch as I am for hers.
I walk us toward the rock face beside the falls.
Her shoulders meet the smooth stone and she gasps against my mouth at the chill.I pull back just enough to look at her, really look at her.
She's a fucking wet dream. How I imagined women would look when I was a teenager.
Water runs down her face, her lips parted, her eyes dark with passion and searching mine for something I can't quite put my finger on.
Whatever she's looking for, I want to be it. "You sure?" My voice, barely audible over the sound of the water, comes out rougher than I intend.
Her answer is to tighten her legs around me, pulling me closer, and that's all I need.
That little indication that she's ready for whatever this is.
Bracing her back against the rock, I lean down, taking her nipple between my lips, worrying the flesh as it puckers against my tongue.
She arches into me, her fingers threading through my wet hair and gripping tight, holding me there like she's afraid I might stop.
I don't ever want to stop. This is the only thing that's felt good since all of this shit started.
At this point, I don't ever want to give it up.
A deep groan leaves her chest, swallowed up by the sound of the water, and the tranquil air around us.
I move to the other side, giving that breast the same attention.
Her body responds to every press of my lips, every graze of my teeth.
Her hips shift because she has no idea what she’s doing to me.
Or maybe she does. Maybe that's exactly what she's doing.
I drag my mouth back up the curve of her neck, her jaw, until I find her lips again, and I kiss her slow and deep.
Her fingers grip my shoulders when I reach down to spread her thighs a little wider, making room for my body between them.
"You're fucking amazing," I murmur near her ear, hoping she can hear me.
"So are you."
"Is this okay? I know we've done this before, but I need you to tell me you want this."
She pulls back just far enough for me to look into her eyes. What I see there settles any of the nervousness that's seeped into my chest. "I want this, want you. There's been so little happiness since all this started, and when I'm with you, I'm happy."
I am too, but I can't tell her that. Not yet. It's crazy, but I'm terrified that if I say the words out loud, then it'll go away. "If anything I do isn't what you want, you've gotta let me know."
"I want it all."
Her hands go to my ass, and she holds on tightly as I reach down and grab the base of my cock.
With a groan, I feed it into her body, relaxing as she takes the entire length.
"Your body was made for mine, Beth." While I like treating the woman I’m with, with respect, I'm not the kind of man who says shit like this when I'm balls deep inside a woman.
But there's something about Beth that gets all my protective instincts going.
She tips her head back, and I let my lips find her neck, sucking at the skin there. "Strange to think that if it hadn't been for Eruption, we wouldn't be here together right now."
I'd like to argue with her about that, tell her that whatever is meant to be would be, but she's right.
If we were still in Bishop's Landing, I wouldn't be looking at her like this.
I was so settled in the life I was living that I wasn't looking at anyone to be a partner to me.
After everything that had gone on with Maple, I was content being alone. Now? I realize how dark that life was.
Would I be with anyone? Probably not. Which is why when I feel her pussy start constricting around the head of my cock, I close my eyes and let all my guards down.
I haven't done that in years, and the fact that I'm doing it right now, with her, says more about how my soul feels than anything else.
As I groan loudly, she screams breathless, and I barely pull my cock from her body in time.
Looking down in between us my gaze gets hot as I see my body spill onto hers.
"Knox..." she trails off, her breaths coming fast and shallow. "Are we crazy?"
I close my eyes, and lean my forehead against hers. "No crazier than the life we've been living since Eruption. If we can't have some joy then why go on living?"
Her nails run up and down my back, and I dig my fingers into her hair, holding her tightly. This embrace is everything I need, but nothing I've been able to admit to anyone, much less myself.
"Then what’s bothering you?" She whispers.
My throat constricts. "It's been lonely." I can't filter out the hoarseness as I say the words. "By myself, although I thought there was no other way for me to survive. You being here has just proven to me how lonely I was."
She tucks her head under my chin and hugs me. "I feel the same way."
"And I'm struggling," I continue. "Because I know it's only been a few days, and I told you we're just trying to get to Nashville."
She interrupts. "But now you’re worried about if I’m thinking about what a life with you might be like?"
"Exactly."
But instead of talking it out, we just stand there holding each other for a really long time.
When the sun starts to go down, we wash our hair with the little bit of shampoo we have, and our bodies with the body wash we found at one of the houses.
Together we huddle in the cave, and eat the warm mealI swore I’d make her, right beside the fire.
We sleep cuddled up, and when I wake up before the sun rises the next morning, I'm more nervous than I've been since all of this started.
This could either be the beginning for us, or the beginning of the end.
And right now, I know I want the beginning. But I'm terrified for the end.