"Is that a good thing?"
"That no one's gone to that kind of trouble for me?"
He cocked his head to the side. "You know what I mean."
"Shit, Elias," I said. "All of this...it's beyond good."
He nodded and handed me a glass of wine. "Okay, then."
Okay then. I was beginning to realize that Elias was the kind of guy who had a lot more going on under the surface than I thought. Still waters, I thought.
"So," I said, sipping from my wine glass. "Why'd you really bring me here?"
Elias shrugged. "I wanted to see you naked."
"You already saw me naked, if you recall," I said, my voice light. I definitely remembered it. I couldn't stop thinking about his hands on me. "What's so special about this place?"
Elias looked away. "I used to come here a lot," he said. "When I was a kid. It was kind of my place, when I had to get away. My escape. My house is a couple miles from here."
There was a lot left unspoken in what he said, a lot of blanks that I filled in based on what June had said about the Saints. I assumed Elias had a lot of running away that he had to do back then. I didn't know what to say, except that it seemed important that he had shared this place with me. So I just said, "It's pretty."
Elias didn't say anything, just stepped forward and kissed me, hard on the lips. His tongue found mine, and I melted into him, my body pressed against his as he kissed me hungrily. When he pulled away from me, the way he looked at me, lust in his eyes, made me shiver.
"Take off your clothes," he said.
"What?"
"I want to see you," he said.
"I thought you brought me out here to eat," I teased. I'd been with him last night, yet I suddenly felt nervous.
"I did," he said, winking.
I laughed. "Dirty."
He shook his head. "Not yet," he said. "But I'm about to be."
His words sent a surge of arousal running through me at the anticipation of being with him. "You first," I said.
"What?"
"Take your clothes off," I said. "You first."
He smirked. "Thought you'd never ask." I watched as he pulled his shirt over his head, then tossed it to the side in the grass. When he'd finished undressing, he stood there, stark naked, hands on his hips, grinning.
Proudly displaying his hard-on.
"Now you," he said. "Take it off. I want to see you buck fucking naked."
I laughed at his crudeness. It seemed out of place here after he'd done something so sweet. Grasping the edge of my shirt, I raised it over my head. I tossed my shirt in the ground, and reached behind my back to unhook my bra. All the while, I stood there, looking at Elias. It's not like I hadn't stripped down like this before.
But there was just something about the way that Elias looked at me that made me nervous and self-conscious and brazen and daring all at once. He made me want to throw caution to the wind. Hell, he was making me throw caution to the wind.
I wasn't sure whether that terrified or thrilled me.
But I just stood there, my chest bare, looking into his cool blue eyes, as the breeze lightly stroked my skin, the way a lover would. I didn't look away as I unbuttoned my jeans and stepped out of them, leaving every stitch of my clothing on the ground.
"Jesus," he said. His voice was hoarse, and he looked at me with an expression that was clouded with desire.
"What?"
"You're so fucking hot," he said.
"Classy." I was sarcastic, but the truth was, his brusque words turned me on. I liked the way he was rough around the edges.
"Turn around," he said. "I want to see all of you."
A breeze rustled the trees, and my nipples hardened in the coolness of the air. I felt like I was under some kind of spotlight. Even after I turned around, I could feel his eyes on me.
I didn't hear him move, but I felt his touch, his palm on my shoulder. I shivered involuntarily, a reflexive response. "And?" I asked. "Do you like what you see?"
He didn't say anything. But I felt his hands on my waist, and then one hand on my thigh, pushing my legs apart.
And then he was kneeling at my feet behind me, his head between my legs, his mouth on me. His tongue moved down me, and I nearly lost my balance as he ran his tongue down the length of my slit. "Shit," I said, the word little more than a whisper.
He brought his face away from my pussy, and I could feel his hot breath on me, teasing me, taunting me with every word. "I definitely like what I see from this angle," he said, probing me with his fingers. "And I definitely like how you taste."
My muscles clenched down around him, like they had a mind of their own. My body definitely seemed like it had a mind of its own when it came to Elias. Or maybe this was what it meant to have a rebound.
Either way I didn't care. Not when Elias was doing what it was doing. He had me so desperate, needy for him, that I would do whatever he wanted. I wasn't used to feeling like this, my body aching, yearning to be filled.
He brought me to the edge, my breath coming in gasps as he probed me relentlessly with his fingers. Then he stopped, and stood. The throbbing between my legs was all I could think about. I wanted him to keep doing what he was doing.
Facing him, I let my fingers roam over his chest, then down his abdomen, and over his ass. His mouth came down on me, hard, and he kissed me hungrily, his tongue finding mine, probing me. I gripped him, and ran my hand over the length of his cock.
When he let go of my mouth, he looked at me expectantly. "Well?" he asked. "What about you? Like what you feel?"
"Fishing for compliments again?" I teased. He sure didn't need me to tell him he was hung like a horse. Hell, with what was between his legs, he should be walking around like he owned the fucking world.
Elias reached between my legs and pulled his fingers back, slick with my wetness. "Nah," he said. "You obviously like what you feel."
I dropped to my knees, the grass cool underneath me, my eyes following down the length of him as I helped him out of his jeans. I felt his gaze on me as I ran my hand up over the side of the prosthetic. I kept my eye contact with him, somehow aware it mattered that he understand I wasn't repulsed by any of it, by any of him. I ran my palms over the outside of his thighs, feeling his powerful muscles flex under my touch, and then opened my mouth to take him in.
"Shit." Elias ran his hands through my hair, grasping at the roots as I covered him with my mouth. "Your mouth is so fucking hot."
He was the one who was fucking hot, I thought, looking up at him as I held him in my mouth. I liked this, taking him in my mouth, completely in control of his pleasure.
When he grasped my hair, pulling me off of his cock to stand up and face him, his expression was clouded with lust. “Any more of that, and I’d be coming,” he said. “And I don’t want that. Not yet.” He kissed me hard on the mouth, and then along my collarbone and the side of my neck. Then he spun me around to kiss the nape of my neck. I felt him inhale, and the hardness of his cock pressed up against my ass. I arched against him as he wrapped his arms around me, his hands kneading my breasts.
“Please,” I whispered. I was practically begging. I was wanton, needy for him.
Elias pushed me forward a few steps, toward this tree, and I giggled at the idea of being out here, naked, where anyone could find us. I’d never dared to do anything like this, not as River Andrews.
It felt ridiculous, silly, dangerous…and freeing.
“What?” Elias asked.
I shook my head. “Just thinking about us, out here naked.”
He slid his hands over my arms, guiding them to touch this low-hanging branch of the tree that sloped to touch the ground. It was picturesque, this place, and I imagined it was one of those places people came to picnic, back when the riverbed wasn’t dried up and cracked.
“That’s funny, is it?” he asked. “Us, out here, naked?” He plunged his fingers inside me, and I gasped.
“Not...now, it’s not.”
Pleasure rushed through me, and I heard the crinkle of foil. Over my shoulder, I saw him tearing open the packet with his teeth. I had never been so ready for anyone.
When he entered me, it was with no hesitation. In one swift thrust, he was inside me. I arched my back, pressing my ass against him, and his hands grasped my breasts, pulling me into him. I braced my hands against the branch, the rough bark cutting into my palms, but I didn’t care. All I could feel was him.
“You are so tight,” he said, and I felt a rush of wetness in response to his words. I’d never much been one for dirty talking, but something about how this man spoke got me hot and bothered earlier, and it was doing even more for me now.
“Yes,” I gasped. “Harder.”
I felt his mouth near my ear as he spoke, punctuating each ragged word with another thrust deep inside me. “Careful what you wish for, sweetheart,” he said. His fingers pinched my nipples, and a shock of pain ran through me.
“Oh my God.” I was so close.
“Wait,” he growled, close to my ear. “Wait until I tell you that you can come.”
I could hear myself moaning, from somewhere outside my body, but there was nothing else except him and I. I didn’t want anything else. His touch erased everything in that moment, made it impossible to think about anything except what he was doing to my body. All I could imagine was him - his hands on my breasts, his breath on my ear, his lips on my neck, and his cock, filling me up. It was ecstasy, pure and simple.
“Now,” he said, and the instant he spoke the word, I let go, crying out as he came into me. The white heat of my orgasm eclipsed everything else.
Afterward, I stood there, completely motionless as the throbbing between my legs subsided and the fog in my head cleared. I moved my hands and winced. My palms felt raw where I’d clutched at the rough bark of the tree.
Elias breathed heavy against my neck. “Goddamn,” he said.
I’ll say, I thought. Goddamn was about the only thing there was to say.
25
Elias
Afterward, I sat there, my arms wrapped around River, her back pressed up against my chest.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"For what?" I felt her chest rise and fall under my arms as she took slow breaths.
"All of this," she said. "No one's ever done anything like this for me before."
"No one's ever fucked you like this?" I teased her.
"Shut up," she said. "You know what I mean. No one's ever done something like this, what you did for me tonight, out here."
"You mean that none of those boys out in Hollywood haven't done anything like this for you?" I asked. "I find that hard to believe."
River laughed, but it sounded bitter. "You're joking, right? Boys are exactly what they are. And no, I meant what I said."
I couldn't help but be pleased with myself, doing something for her that was different from all the other guys who had to be chasing her. Especially that douchebag musician boyfriend of hers.
Viper. What a fucking name.
"Well, I also meant what I said earlier, before you distracted me," I said, nudging her up. "I am going to feed you."
River tucked her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them, watching me open the picnic basket. "So this is a proper date now?"
"It always was," I said. "Are you cold?"
"Chilly."
I reached for an extra blanket and tossed it to her, then joined her underneath it as I took out the food I'd brought.
"You went to a lot of trouble," she said.
I shrugged. "Just went to the store and shit," I said. "Not like I cooked it or anything."
"It was a compliment," she said. "You should learn how to accept one gracefully."
"Less talking, more eating," I said, and held up a cracker I'd smeared with some gourmet cheese or something I'd gotten at the store - the lady at the grocery said it was imported something or other.
River laughed and took a bite. "Classy," she said. She leaned in next to me, and as much as I'd never been much for the cuddling bullshit with other girls, with River I decided it was okay. In fact, it felt kind of nice, the same way it had been with her last night.
"What happened in town yesterday," River began.
"I really am sorry about snapping at you," I said.
"Oh, no, I'm not talking about that," she said. "June told me about your father."
"Oh. That." I tensed automatically at the mention of him.
"Yeah, that."
"He died," I said. "I'm not sorry in the least. He wasn't a good person."
River didn't say anything at first. She just nodded. "I don't know who mine is," she said. "My father, I mean."
"Screw family," I said. "The whole blood is thicker than water thing is such horseshit."
"You have brothers, though?" River asked, her voice soft.
"Four," I said.
"I just have a sister," River said. "I mean, obviously. My sister is the one screwing Viper. What are your brothers like?"
"We used to be close," I said. "Not as much anymore." That was the goddamned understatement of the year.
"How many of you are there?"
"Mason was the oldest, died when I was a kid."
River was silent, and I just continued, this deluge of words, non-stop. I didn't talk about my brothers much, or about my family at all. Even to the guys in my unit. They knew I was going home to West Bend, but not about much more than that. Telling someone about my family felt foreign.
"My mother married the asshole -" I cleared my throat. "My father, I mean, after that. Had Mason when she was a teenager. The rest of us were from him - Silas, Luke, and Killian. There's four of us."
"Are they in West Bend?"
"Silas is," I said. "Works at a bar- bounces, I guess."
"Are you close?"
"It's complicated."
"Seems like a straightforward enough question."
"You're fucking pushy, aren't you?" I asked. River didn't seem bothered by my language or my irritation. She just shrugged and smiled.
"Been called worse," she said.
"We used to be close," I said. I didn't have to talk to her about my fucking family, I reminded myself. I could just tell her to fuck off and mind her own business.
Except I didn't want to. Not really.
For whatever the hell reason, I found myself wanting to tell River things I didn't talk about with other people. And that's the part that was scaring the shit out of me.
"And then what happened?"
"I don't know," I said. "Life, I guess. People change."
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