Chapter 10 #3
Gus looked a little sheepish. “No. I’d planned on it, but then I thought about how many people would be tromping around out here. Ruining this little piece of paradise. Eventually, I will. But I figured these drawings have been here for this long, waiting a few more years won’t hurt anything.”
Reese leaned against him and sighed. “I agree.”
“When I’m here, all my troubles seem to fall away,” he admitted softly.
“The people I’ve killed, the explosions, the burning buildings from RPGs, the traumatized kids and women, the kidnapped soldiers and civilians I’ve helped rescue…
they disappear. All I can think of is who the people might’ve been who were here before me.
What were they thinking? Were they drawing pictures to entertain their kids?
Were they leaving a diary of sorts? Were they bragging about their hunting skills?
Recording their history? I just don’t know. But it fascinates me.”
“It’s amazing,” Reese agreed.
He looked at her. “You aren’t disappointed I didn’t bring you to a beautiful vista?”
She chuckled. “No. I’m scared of heights.”
Gus looked surprised. “You are?”
“Yup.”
“But you climbed down that gutter like a pro,” he said.
Reese shrugged. “Did I have a choice?”
“Well, not really.”
“Exactly. You were inside the apartment, and I knew whoever was after us had just broken in. If I didn’t move, you would’ve gotten hurt. So I did what I had to do. That doesn’t mean I liked it. I didn’t.”
“You surprise me every day,” Gus said quietly. “In a good way.”
Before she could respond that she was just doing what she had to do in the moment, Gus leaned toward her and gently pushed her backward until she was lying on the pine needles.
“I’m thinking there was more going on in this cave than people drawing on the walls,” he said with a small smile, hovering over her.
“Yeah? Hmmm…like eating?”
“That too,” he said before lowering his head.
Reese was more than happy to meet him partway. She lifted her head, and then they were kissing. And somehow it felt different lying down.
Several minutes went by, and when Gus lifted his head to look down at her, they were both breathing hard. Reese’s hand was brushing up and down his biceps as he propped himself over her, and she liked the look in his eyes a hell of a lot.
“We aren’t making love for the first time in a cave,” he said firmly.
“I don’t know…the temperature isn’t bad, it’s private, and like you said…I bet there was lots of this kind of thing going on back in the day,” Reese teased. The truth was, she was more than ready to tear Gus’s clothes off, as well as her own, and let him have his way with her.
“The first time I have you, it’ll be in my bed, where I’ve imagined us together since that first nap you took there.”
Her belly clenched with desire as she stared up at him.
“I’m gonna taste every inch of your body, get my mouth between your legs and feast. After we make love, we’ll shower together…then I’ll go down on you again. Then I’ll hold you all night long and thank my lucky stars that you let me anywhere near your delectable body.”
Reese’s mouth was dry as dust. She wanted that. So very badly. “When do I get a chance to go down on you?” she managed to ask.
Gus’s eyes closed, and he took a deep breath before looking at her again. “You want that? To suck my cock?”
“Yes,” she said breathlessly.
“Then you’ll get it. Me.”
Reese looked past Gus up at the ceiling of the cave. She hadn’t noticed before, but there were even drawings up there. She met Gus’s gaze again…and almost melted at the mix of lust and tenderness she saw. “Someday, you’ll bring me back here and make love with me?” she asked.
“Anything you want, you’ll get,” he said solemnly. “I can’t think of a better way to honor those who came before than to take you here. Where hundreds and thousands of years ago, men and women did the same thing.”
Reese lifted her head and kissed him softly, trying to show him without words how much she liked and appreciated him.
“But…” he said, sitting up and pulling her with him. “If I don’t get you out from under me, all my good intentions will be shot to hell. I brought you something though…”
He turned to rifle through his pack, and Reese took the opportunity to admire him some more.
Some people might be turned off by his tattoos.
Or think his hairline wasn’t masculine enough.
Or not like the veins in his arms, or his hard muscles.
They might be insulted by his protectiveness.
But not Reese. She liked everything about this man.
And she was still pinching herself that he seemed to like her back.
He turned back to her with something in his hand. And when Reese looked down, she chuckled. He was holding a baggie with three chocolate chip cookies inside.
“Tell me those are Robert’s cookies,” she pleaded.
“They’re Robert’s cookies,” Gus said obediently.
“Gimme!” Reese teased.
With a smile, Gus opened the bag and held one out to her. She took a huge bite and closed her eyes in bliss. “I have no idea what he does to make these so good, but I’m convinced he puts some sort of illegal drug inside to keep us addicted.”
Gus laughed. “I wouldn’t doubt it.” He finished his and held out the last cookie to her.
“We could split it,” she suggested.
“And risk getting shanked by you?” Gus said, deadpan. “No way, it’s all yours.”
Reese wasn’t offended. He’d heard her talk about how much she loved Robert’s chocolate chip cookies more than once over the last week. She had a feeling she’d gone overboard in her enthusiastic praise, but she wasn’t an idiot. If Gus was offering it to her, she was going to take it.
“Remind me of this later so I can thank you properly,” she told him suggestively.
He licked his lips and said, “Oh, I will.”
After she’d finished the cookie and taken a long drink of water to wash it down, he leaned in and kissed her again. It wasn’t a short kiss. They were upright this time, but the lust between them sparked to life just as hot and fast as when she was on her back.
“You taste like chocolate,” he murmured after a while, his thumb brushing her cheekbone.
Reese might’ve been embarrassed by that, but at the moment, she was feeling too mellow.
And too turned on. If Gus had suggested they throw caution to the wind and go at it right then and there, she would’ve agreed wholeheartedly.
But she couldn’t deny that the thought of him taking her in his bed, where she’d dreamed about him doing just that for the last week, was more appealing.
Gus took a deep breath and moved away, lying on his back and putting his hands under his head. “I love it here,” he said after a moment.
“Thank you for sharing it with me,” Reese told him, lying next to him.
They remained like that for a while, side-by-side.
Neither speaking, just absorbing the history of the place.
After several minutes, still without a word, Gus reached for her hand.
They held hands as they stared up at the roof of the cave.
Reese couldn’t remember ever being happier.
Eventually, they had to leave. Gus packed up their trash and made sure they left not a trace of themselves behind before hugging her tightly, then leading the way back toward The Refuge.
Things had changed between them in that cave, and while Reese wasn’t dumb enough to think that sexual chemistry and lust meant they’d get married and live happily ever after, she couldn’t help but feel optimistic about their future.
She hadn’t brought up moving to the area, and he hadn’t either. But she hoped that was where they were headed. At the moment, living in his cabin was a temporary arrangement until Woody was completely healed and Gus’s friend said it would be safe to go back to Kansas City.
But, not for the first time, Reese was considering not leaving. She had no problem finding an apartment in Los Alamos, because she didn’t want to put Gus in an awkward position, but she hoped he’d want to continue to date her if that happened.
She’d be lonely if she moved out, but she also didn’t want to outstay her welcome. Gus was used to being alone, just as she was. But if, after they dated a while and she was working in town, he wanted her to move in with him at The Refuge, she wouldn’t refuse.
Blushing at the thoughts running through her head, Reese tried to think about something else.
About how Jasna was doing in school. What topic she might use to try to engage Angelo the next time she saw him.
How Woody’s arm was doing. Anything to dampen the increasingly needy feeling she had about the man currently holding her hand and leading her through the woods.
As if he could read her mind, Gus tightened his fingers and turned his head to smile at her.
Yes, it was safe to say Reese’s crush was quickly blossoming into more as she got to know the man behind the piercing green eyes and quiet demeanor.
Smiling, she decided to go with the flow. Whatever happened would happen, and thinking too hard about it wouldn’t change a damn thing. She’d enjoy being with him while she could and go from there.