I push myself farther, vaguely noting the incline and the fine sheen of perspiration that beads on my skin as I go. Maybe Avalon Springs isn’t the haven I truly need. But I’ve come this far…
Tears burn behind my eyes because I’m alone. So utterly alone.
Clusters of pines hug the trail. Above the treetops, the sky is a majestic shade of purple. My thoughts quiet enough for me to realize that despite being well away from the retreat center now, night is coming on and I have no idea where I am or where I’m going. But the faint sound of water lures me forward.
Beyond the trees is a clearing, a well of water at its center. Despite the cooler temperature at this elevation, steam swirls off the vibrant turquoise pool. I scale a smooth, round rock and test the temperature of the water with my fingertips. Perfect, like a freshly drawn bath.
This must be the Avalon Springs. The retreat’s namesake promises healing properties from the mineral deposits that run off the nearby mountains. Rivulets of water trail off higher rocks and down into nature’s most perfect bath tub.
After taking a quick glance around, I act. I strip my clothes and dip my naked toes into the water. Then, with care, I submerge my body. I let my head slip underwater, and my hair swirls like a thousand strands of silk around my bare shoulders. I groan with relief and bubbles float through the clear water to the surface. I take turns swimming and sinking my whole body deep into the water. The heat and the water, being unburdened of my clothes and all those heavy thoughts… Nothing has ever felt so good.
My toes find the bottom, and I launch myself back to the surface when I need air. After a while I wade to a place where I can easily stand. My breasts hover just above the surface of the water. I pull myself onto a wide, flat rock that frames the pool and lie on it, unbothered that it’s both hard and cool against my skin. I’m warm and relaxed from my swim in the springs.
I close my eyes, enjoying the simple sounds of water and birds and the isolation that I’d hiked all this way to find. I skim my hands over my skin, and for the first time in what seems like forever, I notice a faint pulse between my thighs. God, I’m strung so tight lately. So in need of release. Encouraged that my body is still paying attention to some of my basic needs, I touch and tease myself to a higher point of arousal.
Getting close, I spread my thighs and dip a finger into my pussy while the other plays my clit like a record. Minutes pass as I deftly manipulate the places that ache for the attention of a man. And not just any man. One who won’t break me all over again. I don’t have one of those, so for now, my touch will have to do.
My breathing ticks up with my pace. I’ve brought myself to this point a thousand times. I know just what to do. More times than not, though, the act leaves me feeling empty. Physically satisfied, but never emotionally. I don’t care. After the five-hour drive from the city, I need a release. I curve my fingers deeper into my pussy and graze the tips rhythmically across the rough pad of skin inside. The soft head of a man’s engorged cock would feel better there, but whatever.
I lick my lips and imagine a man is pleasing me right now. Thick and brawny, passion in his eyes, he’s filling me with every inch of his silky cock. He’s telling me I’m beautiful, that I feel better than anyone he’s ever had. He’s grazing over that magic spot, over…and over…and…
With a sharp inhale, I bow off the rock, so close, so ready. My heels and shoulder blades press hard against the rock. I release a cry that’s half arousal and half frustration, because the orgasm is just beyond reach.
I open my eyes. Stars puncture the navy sky with tiny pinpricks of light. I glance back to the trail and push down a flash of worry that I might not be able to find my way back.
Then I see him through the trees. And I scream.
LUKE
I’m not sure what possessed me to stop and watch her. She’d been loud enough marching up the path. Another city girl passing through the retreat at the base of the mountain, no doubt. I’d come here tonight to enjoy the springs because Saturday is their turnover day and the new residents rarely venture up past sunset.
But the second this woman’s clothes hit the ground, I couldn’t move. I should have made my way back to my cabin up the mountainside, but instead I watched her swim and float like a goddess through the water. She had long brown hair that clung in a straight slick v down her back when she rose above the water, revealing possibly the most perfect set of breasts I’d ever seen on a woman.
And then, with only a little guilt, I watched her slide up on that rock and plunge her slender fingers into her pussy until her cries echoed off the rocks and rendered the forest and my breathing silent. Now I’m hard, in absolutely no condition to comfortably return home. And I can’t in good conscience leave her up here as night quickly falls around us.
When our eyes locked, she screamed and slipped back into the water to hide her nakedness. I adjust myself enough to disguise how her little display has affected me and walk closer.
“Who are you?” Her voice is shaky with panic. She stares at me wide-eyed, probably contemplating if I’m going to do her any harm.
At this hour, this far from the retreat, she is wise to worry. Nothing could protect her from someone of my size and skillset if I had malicious intentions.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” I offer gently, hoping to ease her fears. “You’re out here pretty late. Do you know your way back?”
She folds her arms over her chest, even though I can’t see anything under the water anyway.
“I have a map.”
I smirk and glance briefly at the pile of clothes she’d abandoned for the springs. “Yeah? Do you have a flashlight to read the map?”
Grooves mark the space between her dark winged brows. Her eyes are stunning in their shape and intensity, even if I couldn’t place the precise color in the fading light.
“I can take you back. Someone like you shouldn’t be out here alone.”
Her frown deepens. “Someone like me?”
“You’re at least a mile from the retreat. You have no supplies and no provisions. Someone without a healthy fear of the wild outdoors, at this hour or any other, shouldn’t be out here alone.”
“I don’t need rescuing, okay?”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Another asshole from the city with too much ego and not enough sense. “Let’s go. I’ll take you back.”
Slowly she moves to the edge toward her clothes, never taking her eyes off me. “Look away, please.”
I laugh. “I’ve seen a lot more than you’re about to show me.”
Her eyes widened and her nostrils flare. Without another word, I turn casually to give her privacy that seems pointless after what I just witnessed. A minute later, the sound of her sneakers scraping against the rock prompts me to turn. She is fully dressed, and I allow myself a moment to appreciate her body with clothes on. Her jeans hug her thighs nicely, and her breasts look fuller in the tight shirt.
I dislodge the thoughts around that assessment before my cock starts misbehaving again. I haven’t been with a woman in a long time, and even though I despise everything this one probably stands for, I can’t help that the beast in me wants to tear her clothes off and bury myself inside her until we both come. Repeatedly.
I mutter a curse under my breath before turning and heading swiftly down the path.
A few minutes pass and I don’t need to look back. I hear ragged breathing and branches cracking under her careful footing—signs she is struggling to keep up. She has no business in the woods. Why Lou and Vi keep luring these idiots to this beautiful place is beyond me. People like her will never belong here. They’ll never appreciate this place the way they should. A week in the mountains is a fashion statement for most of these people, and I just want them out of my woods and off my mountain so I can enjoy what I came here for. Solitude. Peace. A simple life. A quiet dip in the springs without some sexy little city girl cluttering up my thoughts with her sweet pussy…because I’m pretty sure it’s swee
t, and oh so tight.
I halt in my tracks and spin. The brunette nearly barrels into me. I catch her by the shoulders when she tips off balance. Somehow she feels smaller in my arms, just a little bit of flesh covering the delicate structure of her frame. Her wet hair dampens her shirt, drawing my attention to that lovely rack again. Goddamn, this woman is a distraction I didn’t ask for.
“You can get there from here,” I say gruffly.
Her eyes go wide again. “I can?”
The moonlight glints on her skin. If she’d worn makeup, the springs had washed it away, leaving her natural and bare. She’s definitely pretty. A pert nose and a little bow of a mouth. There’s nothing exotic or stark about her features, but she’s someone who looks perfectly gorgeous with no effort.
I release my hold on her and jab my thumb in the direction behind me. “It’s just a few yards down the path. You’ll see the lights, and they will lead you the rest of the way.”
“Thank you,” she says softly, almost too softly to hear if not for the near silence of the woods at night. Gone is the tone she’d given me earlier. How she’d gone from rapture to claiming that she didn’t need rescuing, I didn’t know. But maybe that had been fear talking.
I wince, because I don’t like the idea of being feared. I’d never hurt her, or anyone. Even if I didn’t want them in my woods. “You don’t have to thank me.”
“Yes, I do. You could have left me there, or…”
“Or?” I lift an eyebrow, challenging her to say it out loud.
True enough, I could have done all the things I couldn’t stop thinking about right now. I could have gotten myself between her silky thighs, plunged into her, stretched her pussy around me, and satisfied her in ways those pretty little fingers never would.
But she doesn’t say any of that. She doesn’t say a word. She only gazes up at me, and for a second I wonder if she can read my thoughts, if somehow this unexpected depravity radiates off me. Then her hands slide up the front of my chest, and I almost forget how to breathe.
“What’s your name?” Her voice is a whisper now, like she’s hiding from her own words.
When had a woman touched me last? I can’t fucking breathe.
“Good night.”
I push past her, forcing my legs to move me back up the trail. I have to get the hell away from her.
* * *
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Resisting Roots
Book One in The Lotus House Series
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EXCERPT FROM RESISTING ROOTS
A LOTUS HOUSE NOVEL: BOOK ONE
My entire body burned from the inside out. I tried to tell myself it was from the hot shower, but I knew better. Trent had worked me up back at his house without even touching me. Just knowing his naked body was under the spray and slicked up with my soap gave me goose bumps. When the water turned off, I grabbed the first book I found on my end table, opened it randomly, and pretended to read it as I sneaked glances at the bathroom. I’d missed the shower exit in my haste to grab a decoy… Darn it.
Trent stood at the sink, running his fingers through his tousled wet hair. Water droplets trailed down his damp torso as if they were in a race to get to the promised land. I’d had my mouth on the appendage hidden beneath the towel slung around his hips. I remembered his taste, the subtle hints of salt and man. My knees knocked together under the blanket. That sexual experience with Trent was the most unique I’d ever had. Every evening since that night, I’d dreamed about it, used my vibrator while reminiscing over and over again.
Trent turned toward the opposite vanity near the shower, dropped the towel, and reached for something. Oh, my word. Trent had the finest bum that had ever graced my vision. And surprisingly enough, it was just as tan as the rest of him. I bit down on my lip, thinking I’d rather be biting down on his firm ass cheek. Heat rose through my chest, up my neck, and I placed a hand to my flaming face. As he bent over, I stifled a moan. Instead, I closed my eyes and did some yoga breathing.
I heard the water at the sink turn on and the distinct sound of teeth being brushed. Continuing my mini meditation, I chanted internally.
You cannot have sex with him here.
You cannot have sex with him here.
You cannot have sex with him here.
“Gumdrop, I already told you we don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for. And if here is a problem for you, we’ll improvise.” He turned off the bathroom light and walked to the empty side of the bed.
Oh, sugar! I might have said the chant out loud. Heat blazed across my skin. I continued the measured breaths, attempting to calm down. “I know.”
I couldn’t help checking him out as he stretched his arms over his head. Trent wore nothing but a pair of tight red boxer briefs. His package looked huge behind the thin cotton.
He pushed back the coverlet and slid into the bed. Thank God it was a California King or his large form wouldn’t have fit. The man took up far more room than I did.
“I used your toothbrush.” He grinned devilishly.
Of course he did. I glanced sideways. “Did you tell me that to annoy me?”
He snuffled and rubbed his warm nose into my bicep. He slung an arm around my waist and did something I wouldn’t have expected from a man like Trent. He snuggled into my side. Literally wrapped his body around mine until he was comfortable. I, on the other hand, became hot, in every sense of the word. Temperature and desire were warring against one another for top bidding as he adjusted himself like a cat circling around until he’d found just the right spot. A little twitch here, a poke there, a heavy thigh covering my much smaller one there, and—voila!—he stopped moving. Finally. I thought I was going to have to smack him with my book to get him to settle down. Jeez, it reminded me of Mary and her fidgets.
“Comfy?” I whispered.
He hummed from where his head lay on the pillow and my arm. “Very.”
I huffed and tried to inhale a few relaxing breaths. It didn’t work. I was too wired. It had been three long years since I’d had a man in my bed, holding me, finding comfort in my body. I loved it and hated it at the same time because I knew it wouldn’t last.
“How’s your book?” he asked, a hint of laughter in his voice.
Without even glancing at the book I responded, “Good, good.”
“Do you normally read books upside down?”
Sure enough, when I scanned the details of the black letters on white paper in front of me, they were all upside down. Busted.
“I just started!” I nudged him.
Trent sat up, grabbed the book, and tossed it on the end table. “Enough. I’m beat. You must be after teaching and everything else today. Now kiss me, woman, so I can go to sleep.”
“What?” I shoved my face as far back as I could so he came into better focus.
He narrowed his eyes and grinned. “You heard me, Gumdrop. I want my goodnight kiss. Give it up.”
“Are you serious?” I held the blankets tight to my chest.
“As a heart attack. If you don’t give it, I’m going to take it.”
I scowled. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me, babe. Try. Me.”
&
nbsp; I didn’t want to try him. I wanted to kiss him goodnight. It seemed so…normal. I haven’t had normal in a long time.
“Fine!” I made it sound like it was such a chore.
He didn’t care about my shenanigans, and what was better, he met me halfway.
When our lips met, the fire that raged just under the surface blazed white-hot once more. The kiss was wet, deep, and blistering in its ability to take me from zero to sixty in a mere second. Trent kissed me with long flicks of his tongue, hard presses of his lips, as if he’d never stop. I never wanted him to. Before long, he was on top of me, lying between my spread thighs, his upper body braced on his elbows, one hand squeezing my breast, and the other holding my face still so he could devour me with slow, devastating kisses.
I rubbed my leg against the back of his good thigh, pressing his hardened shaft tighter to my body. That move earned me a growl and a lip nibble.
“Damn, Gumdrop, want to take you right here, right now, but I respect you too much to go against your wishes.”
Trent eased to my side, rolled behind me, and tugged my body to his, my back smashed flat to his front. He pinned one of my legs with his own, shoved a hand across my waist and up between my breasts. “Hold my hand, babe. Want to feel you close while I sleep.”
No sweeter words had ever been said to me. I was so screwed. In that moment, as Trent kept me close within the confines of his safe embrace, I fell a little in love with him, even knowing he could never truly be mine.
* * *
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Fate: A Trinity Novel: Book Five Page 26