Chapter Seventeen
The wind died down a little after dusk, leaving a mixture of embarrassment and relief sitting squarely in Mo’s chest. She had spent most of the day beside the fire, only moving inside the tent at the behest of an insistent Aspen.
The same Aspen who had made a lame excuse to stay out there in order to ensure it was properly extinguished.
There had been an uneasy awkwardness between the two all day, and Mo was unsure how to alleviate it.
Should she bring it up? Or should she let it slowly ripple away with time, allowing whatever was going to happen just happen? Mo didn’t know. So instead, she just watched as Aspen’s shadow paced back and forth, her lit headlamp the only light left.
“Are you still okay?” Aspen finally called out, breaking the silence. Her question was followed by another loud scrape that Mo assumed was her anxiously picking at the fire. “Like physically—well, overall-y I guess?”
“Yeah,” Mo yelled back, trying her best to sound light and happy. “I think the Tylenol is finally kicking in. Too bad it can’t also dull my embarrassment.”
Aspen didn’t respond immediately. Mo heard the telltale whoosh of the door to the tent being unzipped.
She watched Aspen smile slightly as she entered, reaching to tilt her headlamp up and out of Mo’s eyes before turning to kneel, zipping the door shut behind her.
“I doubt it could do anything for my regret either.”
“It was a fluke thing,” Mo tried to assure her, adding a joking flair. “Prolly just God trying to smite me again.”
Aspen choked out a laugh, her back still to Mo even though she had closed the door fully.
After a few moments she finally turned, her face relaxed and soft.
Not as tight and concentrated as it had been when she pulled Mo from the creek.
Aspen crawled closer, sitting cross-legged next to her.
“I think I’m starting to understand how you deal with all the heavy stuff that happens to you. ”
“That’s good. My rule of thumb is that it’s only funny if I’m in distress,” Mo explained, reaching out to touch Aspen’s knee. “But yeah, I’m okay.”
“I hope so.”
“Thank you, though.” Mo scrunched her face as she locked eyes with Aspen. “Jumping in and saving me. I really appreciate it. I appreciate you.”
“It’s not a big—” Aspen began backtracking, her eyes flicking to the side.
“No,” Mo interrupted firmly, squeezing Aspen’s knee for emphasis. “You saved my life and I—I appreciate that. More than you know.”
Mo caught her gaze again, and she watched revelation bloom over Aspen’s features as she caught on.
The weight of those words brought Aspen closer, seemingly pushing her knee into Mo’s hand.
Mo wondered if this was it, glancing down to Aspen’s lips, licking her own in anticipation.
But she remembered Aspen’s apprehension, so she used her uninjured left arm to push herself up to a sitting position, mirroring Aspen.
With a gentle tug, Mo removed the headlamp from Aspen’s head and set it down in the front corner, allowing it to illuminate the tent with an indirect glow.
“Is it okay if I’m honest about what I want?” Mo asked, searching Aspen’s eyes for permission to explain.
“I think I know what that is, and I…” Aspen leaned closer to Mo. “I want you to know that I do. I want to have sex with you, I really do.”
“But…” Mo filled in for her.
“But…” Aspen swallowed visibly, taking in a deep breath. “That’s all it will be. Just sex. After all this, you’re gonna go back to the Bay and I’m gonna go back to the bar. A meaningful trip and an experience that we will share, but nothing more.”
The tent went silent. Disappointment burned its way across Mo’s chest, making it difficult for her to breathe.
Was this what she wanted? It was hard for her to process with Aspen sitting in front of her looking so serious.
Mo found herself hoping that she would continue to explain herself and everything would just fall into place.
Suddenly, like Aspen could read her mind, she covered Mo’s hand and began to lightly draw anxious circles on her skin.
“Right?” Aspen added, her face twitching as she desperately searched Mo’s face for confirmation.
That look was all Mo needed. It immediately transformed the burning disappointment into a dull, disheartened ache. That familiar ache was confirmation in full that she would be unable to let Aspen down. Even if it meant pushing her own feelings to the side. This connection was enough for Mo.
This connection would have to be enough for Mo.
“Of course,” Mo assured her, sporting her best smile. “There isn’t any pressure for anything more. Besides, if I remember correctly, that was all we planned for back on the beach. A little fun, no strings attached.”
“Oh, good.” Aspen’s shoulders dropped in what Mo assumed was relief, and she watched her create an out for her. “But I mean, you still don’t have to, if you don’t want—”
Mo cut her sentence short with a light kiss, pulling back slightly to give Aspen the chance to decide where this would go.
“You still don’t have to either. I want you, Aspen. But I only want to do this if you want to, you know?”
Aspen launched herself forward, kissing Mo with ardor, almost pushing her flat on her back. Between heated kisses, Mo let out a moan that was a mixture of pleasure and pain as she had to use both hands to steady herself under Aspen’s excitement.
“Are you okay?” Aspen pulled back slightly to ask, her eyes turning toward Mo’s shoulder.
“Never better,” Mo confirmed, shifting her weight to her left as she kissed Aspen back with the same amount of enthusiasm.
“Good.” Aspen sighed happily into her kisses, relaxing her body as they continued their fevered mutual exploration. “Because I want you too.”
Mo was hooked. She craved more, desperate to feel all of Aspen underneath her.
She began kicking the sleeping bag off her legs, rotating her knees under herself.
With a quick movement, Mo broke their kiss and gently grasped Aspen’s shoulders, lightly turning her while simultaneously straddling her lap.
“Lie back,” Mo said, her voice low and tinged with growing arousal. Aspen did as she was told, her bottom lip pulled between her teeth. Mo looked deeply into her eyes, noticing how dark they had become. “Can I touch you?”
“I hope so,” Aspen replied flirtatiously, lifting herself back up off the ground to remove her zip-up and shirt in one fell swoop. She grabbed the top of the sleeping bag, pulling it underneath her before she lay back down.
“Oh, yeah, that’ll do.” Mo hummed, taking in the soft expanse of Aspen’s bare torso.
Mo’s eyes raked over her soft, ample belly and up to her gorgeous full breasts.
She watched as Aspen’s nipples grew hard under her stare, a mixture of how Aspen felt about this moment and the cold of the Northern California air.
“You must’ve also read the same professional hiker article I did, bringing only one bra—”
“Shut up,” Aspen interrupted her, grabbing a handful of Mo’s shirt and tugging upward in a clear directive. “Off.”
Mo gingerly removed her shirt, careful to not aggravate her damaged shoulder.
She wanted to make another joke, but Aspen was now crouched forward off the ground, her right hand warm against Mo’s lithe abdomen, above the button to her pants.
Mo let out a surprised groan at the touch, rolling her hips down into Aspen.
This seemed to be exactly what Aspen desired, and she moved her hand higher, lightly grazing over her belly button and in between her breasts.
Mo’s breathing became more ragged, but she stayed still, her eyes closing in enjoyment.
“You’re so beautiful,” Aspen murmured, her hand now gliding across one of Mo’s breasts.
Mo could only let out a whimper as Aspen closed her hand over her left breast, squeezing lightly before teasing a nipple between her thumb and forefinger.
“Fuck.” Mo moaned deeply, her hips rocking forward again. “When did I lose the control?”
“You had control?” Aspen teased, her hand now trailing across Mo’s chest again, squeezing her right breast with the same intensity.
Mo smiled wide at that, loving the feeling of Aspen teasing her breasts.
But she needed to feel Aspen in the same way.
That urge spurred her to grab Aspen’s hand with her own, intertwining their fingers before pushing it up and over Aspen’s head.
Mo made sure to grind her hips into Aspen as she did so, leaning forward to kiss her hard again.
She moved her left hand off Aspen’s, cradling her weight next to her head while she used her right hand to touch Aspen’s stomach where their bodies met.
“Oh, God,” Aspen rasped, kissing Mo harder.
Mo hummed happily into her mouth, continuing the energetic pace of their kisses as she trailed her hand up Aspen’s curves to her breast, squeezing just as she took Aspen’s lower lip lightly between her teeth.
Aspen’s hips rolled up into hers, and Mo continued her ministrations, wetness pooling between her legs as she did so.
Aspen’s hands seemed to finally remember they existed, and Mo felt her grip onto her back, lightly feathering up and down on either side of her spine.
That slight touch slowly turned to light scratching, and Mo couldn’t help but moan again, her arousal only growing with every glorious drag of her nails.
Finally, Mo slowed the pace before pulling away to look down at Aspen.
“God, you are so fucking sexy,” Mo uttered, her eyes roaming across Aspen.
“Thank—Oh,” Aspen gasped as Mo moved to nip at her neck and along her collarbone. “That feels so good.”
“Good.” Mo moaned, shimmying her good hand under Aspen’s arm so she could kiss down her chest and toward her nipple.
“Please,” Aspen asked, the tone of her voice clear she already desperate for more.