by Zoe York
“You’ll need a thorough examination, and then some physical therapy.”
“That sounds…vigorous.”
“Very.”
She stretched her arms wide in the air and faked a yawn. “Right. So tired. Bedtime now.”
Tegan turned back and laughed. “So that’s a no to the bonfire?”
“I’m afraid so,” Priya said brightly. “Night.”
Ten minutes later, Grady had her pressed against the inside of the cabin door.
“This seems highly unprofessional, Dr. Mills. Do you greet all your patients this way?”
He sucked on her neck, then licked her pulse point right above her collarbone. “I’m trying a new form of physical exam. Highly specialized. Custom-suited to one particular patient.”
“Mmm. I have, ah, some pain a little lower.”
He cupped one breast through her t-shirt, thumbing over the nipple. “Right here?”
“Y-yes.”
“That will require further examination for sure.”
He lifted her in his arms and carried her to her bed, where he stripped her down and examined her from head to toe, bringing her to a quick, heady orgasm with his hands and mouth. Then he rolled her over and rubbed her legs and back with the lavender rub from the sleep bag.
It was lovely.
But Priya wasn’t tired in the least. “Doctor…”
“Mmm.” She could hear the laughter in his voice. “Yes, Ms. Mattu?”
“That orgasm really helped.”
“I bet it did.”
“Is that kind of treatment repeatable?” Like maybe in a back-to-back kind of way? Asking for a friend who is me, Priya thought. She kept those thoughts on the inside of her head, though.
“It most definitely is. But you’re quite tense here…” He rubbed deeper in the middle of her back. “Sit up.”
She obliged, because whatever he wanted to do with her was going to be awesome, she had no doubt. “You’re good at this particular role-play.”
“I’ve had a lot of pre- and post-deployment medicals.”
“How many?” She sighed as he smoothed his hands over her bare back again, this time curving his fingers over her shoulders and pressing down at the same time.
“Breathe in. I don’t know. Dozens.”
“I hope none of them were exactly like this.”
He chuckled under his breath. “No. Another breath, deeper this time.”
She blew a raspberry instead, and he pinched her side.
“Doctor’s orders, remember?”
“Right.” She tried to breathe in, but it was hard to relax enough to get a really good, deep inhale.
“Ah,” Grady murmured against the back of her neck. “I see the problem.” His lips feathered over her skin. “Take another breath for me.”
She opened her mouth to protest again, but fuck it, fine. She inhaled, and as she closed her eyes, he licked down her spine. “Ah!”
“Good,” he murmured. “Again.”
She leaned forward, giving him more of her back, and breathed in deeper than she had in…forever. Even during yoga. His hands settled on her hips, sending a skitter of goosebumps over her flesh.
“Do you know how good you feel?” He asked as he stroked her curves, licking and kissing her back. He moved away for a second, then stretched out beside her.
He’d taken off his shirt, and in his hand was a strip of three condoms. She touched her fingertip to the crinkly plastic before dragging her touch up his arm. “Exam over?”
His gaze was hot and needy. A shiver ran through her as he nodded. “Come here.”
She kneeled over him, kissing him as he got rid of his shorts and boxers, then he rolled them onto their sides and lifted her top thigh to drape over his hip.
His cock bobbed at the ready between them, but Grady didn’t rush. He stroked her inner thighs, then her outer lips, stoking the fire inside her again until she was restless and moving against him. “Grady,” she said, her voice catching on the two syllables. “Now.”
She had her hand around his erection, hot and throbbing against her fingers, and only let go when he slid a condom on.
Her took her like that, on their sides, his hands on her hips. The first thrust was exactly as she’d remembered and everything she’d craved. He felt big inside her, and got bigger with each thrust. She rolled her hips, welcoming more and more of his length until they were fully joined and their thighs bumped together.
Grady moved into her, his body dominating, rocking her with each pulse until she was flat on her back and he was between her legs, fucking faster now. She arched beneath him and he caught her hands.
Yes. Hold me down, take me hard. She whispered something like that, but her head was spinning and her voice sounded distant. Need swirled inside her, heady and powerful.
“Priya.” The way he said her name lit a dangerous spark, and that need caught fire. She writhed against his touch, urging him on. Faster, harder.
“So good, just like that…” Her lips parted as he hit the right mark inside her. “Yes, Grady! Yes! God!”
“Say my name again,” he growled, raking his teeth over her shoulder.
“Grady…”
“Get there, beautiful. Come for me.”
She did, in explosive ribbons of pleasure, and he followed her, pulsing his hips until he seized up, buried deep inside her.
Twisting her head, she found his mouth, and kissed him again. Yes. Grady.
Chapter 9
Early to bed, even with Grady’s extensive physical therapy, meant early to rise the next morning.
Priya rolled over in her bed and looked at Grady stretched out on his. One big arm was flung over his eyes, the other lay at rest across his muscled torso.
At some point, she’d pulled on a t-shirt, but she was bare from the waist down under her sheet and blanket. She slid a hand down her body, cupping her swollen, well-pleasured sex.
She needed a shower. And she was probably too sore to wake Grady up and drag him in there with her—not that the small cabin shower really had room for both of them.
It might be nice to try and fit. Later.
She looked at her phone and saw just how early it was. She could shower and make the early morning hike.
When she came back into the main room from the shower, Grady was still out cold, so she left him to sleep and went to find the early riser group.
Thirty-six hours ago, he’d shown up at the cabin and she’d been so sure she could just tell him nope, opportunity missed. But that hadn’t accounted for their chemistry. How pushing him away didn’t feel right, no matter what her head said.
In hindsight, what happened last summer had meant everything to her, and she hadn’t realized until he’d gone radio silent on her. She’d conflated one night of hot sex and another of crazy intimate phone sex to be the start of something seriously special.
That had been a mistake, and she wouldn’t repeat it.
Not because it wasn’t special—it had been, just like last night had been special, too. But special for her and special between two people weren’t the same thing. It wasn’t fair to heap fantasy onto Grady and expect him to live up to that perfect ideal when he didn’t know that was in her head.
She’d told him it couldn’t happen again. Then he’d called her anyway, and she’d secretly loved that. But it was the exception to the rule she’d set out.
Until she was ready to say out loud that she wanted more than just sex, she needed to keep a lid on her expectations.
She rolled those thoughts around in her head as she hiked with the group. It occurred to her that the same could be said for her job stress. Until she was ready to make a change, she needed to have reasonable expectations for the shit-show she’d encounter every day, and preventatively manage how that would impact her.
When she returned to the cabin, her steps light and her mind made up on multiple fronts, Grady was nowhere to be found.
But he’d pushed their beds together
and, when she got closer to it, there was a note propped against the neatly dressed-off pillows.
Headed to the main lodge for breakfast. Fixed the beds so you can’t sneak out without me again. I missed our hike.
Our hike. She needed to firmly move him back in the direction of fuck buddy, because sweet little things like that were firmly in the seriously special column, and that just wouldn’t do.
That didn’t stop her from grinning like an idiot and racing back out the door to go find him, though.
Grady was standing at the omelet bar when Priya came into the dining room. She didn’t see him at first, so he got to watch her move through the space. He loved her sharp energy just as much as her soft curves. The way she moved deliberately, with purpose. She beelined to their table, then turned around, looking for him.
He waved when she turned in his direction.
She came over and nudged her shoulder against his arm. “Sorry about sneaking out,” she said with a smile. “You looked like you needed your rest.”
“I slept well,” he admitted. “But I’ll sleep better tonight.”
She raised one eyebrow. “Maybe I’m a blanket hog.”
“Who needs a blanket when I’ve got you?”
She laughed and patted his ass before nodding toward a separate tofu bar. “I’ll grab some food and meet you back at the table.”
While they ate, they looked at the list of activities for the day. Priya wanted to do yoga every afternoon, but in the morning she was open to anything. “Do you want to show me how to use the ropes course?”
“Last year I remember the ropes being a strictly observational activity for you.”
She laughed out loud. “Literally nothing gets past you, does it? That was rope-climbing, though. I don’t have a death wish. If there’s a harness and stuff I can both hang on to and plant my feet on, I’m good.”
So he took her to the ropes course and they climbed up into the trees, one careful step at a time.
“It’s gorgeous up here,” she said when they’d settled on a high platform.
“Quiet, right?”
She turned her face into the breeze. “Yes. But also something else.”
“Bird’s eye view of the world?”
“That’s closer. Getting up off the ground.” She turned her face back to his and gave him a bright, beaming smile. “Lots of potential up here.”
So much potential, he thought as he gazed at her.
Afterward, he climbed a free-hanging rope just to show off, and then she dragged him back to the cabin to break in the newly pushed together mattresses.
“What other dirty camp fantasies did you have as a kid?” she asked, running her fingers over his bare chest as they lay together, well sated.
“I was a teenage boy surrounded by a lot of skin. I don’t know, probably all of them.”
“I went to camp twice,” she said. “Not quite like this. Science camp one year, sailing camp another. Closer to Boston.”
“That’s where you’re from?”
“Born and raised. My parents still live there.”
“You don’t have a strong Boston accent.”
She laughed. “I never really did. My parents have slight British accents, from school in India and then a few years they lived in England before they immigrated to the States. But maybe because they didn’t have the Boston accent at home, that prevented me from picking it up too strongly at school? And by the time I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be a journalist, and probably on television. So I mimicked that flat accent and convinced my parents I should have voice lessons.”
He tried to picture a young Priya, earnest and intent on storming New York and seizing control of CNN. “Another thing we have in common. I knew I wanted to be a Navy SEAL from a few months after my dad died.”
And now they were both at a crossroads in their careers. Did they want to continue? Or had they burned out their passion and needed a chance?
“What are you thinking now?” Priya asked as she twisted around and propped herself up on her elbows, looking at him.
“You can probably guess.”
“I don’t think I can. You have a knack for figuring me out. I’m not nearly that observant.”
He laughed. “One of the first things I liked about you was how observant you were. How you could see who had a story in them.”
She bobbed her head to the side. “Maybe. Okay, yeah. But when it comes to you…” She gave him a soft look, her dark eyelashes fluttering against her pink cheeks. “You confound me, Grady.”
“Big word for a simple guy.”
“You are far from simple.”
“You think? Tell me what you see. I see you watching me. What are you thinking?”
“How good you look in nothing but basketball shorts.”
He laughed. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“That’s how I intended it.” She pushed up onto all fours, her breasts hanging down from her body, and he knew she was about to distract him with sex again.
He caught her face between his hands. “Actually, you've been watching me since I got here. Trying to figure me out. You don't need to treat me like a puzzle, Priya. I'm an open book. What do you want to know?”
Her eyes sparked, but she wasn’t going there. “Nothing. I don't want... well. Actually, I do want you. I want you naked. I love your brand of stress relief. But I don’t expect anything else.”
“I want you to expect things from me.”
“Don’t go there, Grady.”
“Why not?”
She sat back on her heels. Beautifully, unselfconsciously naked. And a little pissed. “Because I accidentally expected things last year, and they didn’t happen.”
Ah. Damn. “That’s fair.” He pushed up, too, and leaned back against the wall. “I’m sorry about that.”
She shook her head. “It’s on me. I didn’t want anything serious. I told you that.”
“Maybe we can’t control what this is between us. Maybe we shouldn’t try this time. No false limits, just see where this goes.”
She made a face. She didn’t like that answer, clearly. “Do you ever get told no?”
“Are you telling me no?”
“Of course not. Our time together is limited, that would be against my own interests.”
He tugged her into his lap. “Okay. No, I don’t get told no a lot.”
“That’s lucky.” She said it drily, because it wasn’t luck. It was—
“It’s privilege, and I know it.” He cupped her cheek. “I try to live up to that. Do the right thing, not take advantage.” His dark gaze searched her face. “Have I pushed you too hard?”
She shook her head. “No.”
“We have some good memories. They might be the foundation of something.” He wanted to figure that out together.
“Or they might turn bittersweet if we aren’t careful.”
“What are you saying?”
She kissed his hand, keeping her eyes carefully on his face as she twisted her head. “I’m saying a few good memories don’t make a friendship. Don’t get mad. Yesterday when you were telling me about your job over lunch. When I said I was asking as a friend, we both felt something weird there, right?”
Because she was more than a friend to him. Not less, God damn it. “I want to be your friend,” he said gruffly. “I want to be a hell of a lot more.”
“And maybe you will be. But let’s not put the cart before the horse.”
Her legs were spread for him. Her wet pussy was rocking against his cock, which was hard despite the fact he was getting grumpy. Or maybe because of it. He bucked his hips against her. “Is that what we’re doing? Being too hasty?”
She bit her lip. “It’s possible I’m overthinking this.”
“You think?” He grabbed another condom and made an obscene show of rolling it on his heavy length. “Come here.”
She raised herself up and fit herself right against him. “This is just sex.”
Her hips rolled in a slow, teasing circle that drove him out of his mind. “I’m telling you, too.”
He pressed his face into her neck to keep from retorting. He wasn’t going to change her mind with words. He’d have find actions that mattered. She’d told him that when he arrived. Actions were louder than words.
Thrusting into her, he swallowed everything else he wanted to say.
He’d show her. And by the end of the week, all her doubt would be erased.
Chapter 10
Tuesday morning, Priya woke up in Grady’s arms, and it felt so nice she skipped the early hike.
They went to a morning activity where they made old-fashioned lemonade popsicles which were then quick-frozen thanks to modern technology. Then they took them in a cooler bag, along with a picnic lunch prepared by the kitchen, to their secret meadow high above the camp.
They didn’t talk about feelings, or the future. They shared endless stories from the past, though. They made each other laugh, and groan, and commiserate.
It was hard to think they weren’t forging a real friendship. Danger, a little voice whispered in the back of her head. She ignored it.
After yoga, they took a kayak out on the lake for a leisurely paddle. They were wet and tired and happy when they got back to the cabin.
“Shower together before dinner?” Grady asked, his gaze hot in a now familiar way.
Priya peeled out of her clothes and led the way, feeling his eyes on the bounce of her ass with each step.
The shower was exactly as squishy as she’d thought it would be. Their bodies fit between when plastered together, which meant they were both well-orgasmed by the time they got to dinner.
“Are you guys coming to the bonfire?” Tegan asked, again, and this time Grady nodded, his arm wrapped around Priya’s shoulders.
“Yeah. Sounds good. If you want to?”
She looked up at him. “I do.”
They stopped by the bar for cold bottles of beer before heading to the fire circle. When they got there, Grady nabbed an Adirondack chair and pulled Priya into his lap.