We head through the archery range and underneath the empty ropes course.
“Have you ever thought of making a Halloween haunted house type thing in here?” Erin asks.
“In the ropes course?”
“Yeah,” she says. “Last night when I left the fire, it looked a little eerie when it was getting dark. Thought it would be a good place for something creepy.”
I look up and take in the swaying bridges and ropes. She’s not wrong. “That’s definitely something to think about. Maybe you can give me some more ideas for it.”
She laughs. “I don’t know about that.”
“Well, you had the first one, what kind of creepiness did you want to see?”
Erin tilts her head to the side as we walk. “I think mummies might be good, considering the way things could drift around.”
“Maybe you could be a mummy,” I say with a grin. “Then I could unwrap you.”
I watch as she blushes and then I reach for her hand. It feels perfect in mine as I pull her toward the back of our property. This isn’t the path that I usually take guests on. It’s a little wilder and rougher. But in my opinion, it’s far more beautiful. And it’s a more direct shot to where we’re going.
The woods are turning into the colors of fall, the entire place around us feels like it’s just on the edge of breathing in the new season. It doesn’t take us that long to reach our destination. It’s a bend in the river, a short hike downstream. Our rafting trips do go past this spot, but it’s easy to miss.
It’s a bend in the river where the water pools lazily before moving on. It’s deep enough to swim, and just beyond the tree line, there’s a little clearing with a perfect view of the sky. Since I first discovered it, it’s become one of my favorite places. And with the rafting trip over for the day, we won’t be disturbed.
“We came past here?” she asks as we step into the clearing.
“You did. But I make a point of not telling anyone about this little place. I like thinking of it as mine.”
“You told me,” she says, looking at me carefully.
I nod. “I did.”
Erin ducks her head with a smile.
It’s still early in the day, but I want to get the fire started while I can. I’ll set up the tents too. On second thought—“I’m going to build the fire and everything. But I need to ask…I brought two tents with me. Do you want separate ones?”
Erin stares at me for a moment. I can almost feel the thoughts spinning through her while she works through everything that’s happened between us and why we’re on this excursion in the first place. What it might mean if we only have one tent. Then she shakes her head. “No. One is fine.”
“Okay.”
We stand silently for a second, and there’s nothing that I want more right now than to haul her into my arms and lay her down on the grass. But if I do that, I won’t be able to stop. Tent first.
“The river here is slow and deep enough to swim, if you want.”
She looks behind her. “And the chances that someone is going to come paddling by?”
“Zero.”
Erin smirks and pulls the tank top she’s wearing over her head and drops it on the ground. No bra. And there goes any chance that I had of keeping my dick in check. I’m already hard, and the way she’s looking at my pants, she knows it too.
She turns around and strips her pants off, showing me an absolutely gorgeous view of her bare ass before sauntering to the river. “You’re going to be the death of me,” I mutter under my breath, and I hear her laugh. No shame, and I fucking love it.
I suffer through the boner of a lifetime while I build us a fire and I pitch the tent. I’m glad I made the choice to bring the bigger sleeping back and one for her, just in case. Hell, I’m excited just to sleep next to this woman. What has happened to me?
It’s barely been a day.
I can hear Asher’s words in my head. When love hits, it hits.
It’s not love. It’s not. It can’t be.
Right?
I don’t say anything when I finish, I just strip off my clothes and join Erin where she’s swimming in the water, and the minute that my lips find hers, we get lost. We spend the afternoon swimming and kissing and chatting about nothing. I have things to ask her, but this isn’t the time. That can wait for later. Now I’m just enjoying her presence. And not worrying about what it means or what’s happening to me.
When the sun is fading behind the mountains, we get out of the water, and I help dry her off with the towel that I brought before spreading it on the ground. She puts on some clothes but I’ll fix that soon enough.
I put on a pair of pants before breaking out the food for the fire. A couple cans of sound and some bread. Some fruit too. And it’s good. We’re tired enough from the swimming that we don’t talk much while we’re eating. But when we finish, I pull her to me, sitting her between my legs.
“So,” I say, “why did I have to stage a rescue for you, even if I’m beyond happy that I got to spend time with you wet and naked?”
Erin sighs. “They’re so on board, Hudson. They want to plan a wedding. My mom wants to take me wedding dress shopping next week. And I…don’t know what to do. She was just going on like a runaway train, and I think that she was about to pick the colors of the bridesmaids’ dresses. What are they going to do when we ‘break up’? They’re going to be heartbroken, because they think that I’m so happy.”
I shrug. “So maybe we’re one of those couples that stays engaged for a really long time? It is our wedding, so we get to call the shots, right? We just outlast your mom’s wedding fever and then once it calms down, we can break the news.”
She turns, curling into me. Her face presses into my chest and she’s holding onto me. “You really want to do that? You want to pretend to be engaged for months or longer? I can’t do that to you, Hudson. It’ll be a drag.”
“How exactly?” Erin looks up at me, and I smile. “I’m the one that got you into this with my idiot mouth, Erin. And I’m going to be with you for as long as it takes to get you out of it. Besides, it’s not like I have much of a life to ruin, if I’m being honest. If you weren’t here, it’s likely that I’d still be in this exact spot. But I’d be watching the stars alone.”
Above us, the first of those stars are just sparking into existence.
Erin is still looking up at me. I’m not sure if us pretending to be engaged includes anything physical, but I lower my head and kiss her. She gasps softly, mouth opening under mine. There’s no resistance or hesitation in her body, but I’m not going to assume anything, even with our single tent only feet away.
“Do you want more?”
“Yes.” She breathes the word before the question is even fully out of my mouth. So I kiss her again.
Harder.
11
Erin
Hudson’s lips are hard on mine. Demanding in a way that I completely love. I know what follows this, and after hours of teasing kisses and glimpsing his body through the water, I want him.