Love, Lust, and Other Mistakes (12 page)

She nods
her head just a little.

“Good. No more mom talk,” I say curtly.
“Rifle through my bag and find yourself something to sleep in. I packed too much for the weekend anyway.”

Sensing
her continued reticence, I dramatically sigh. “Fine,” I snap.  I grab the bag and sift through, looking for another tank top and shorts.  Finding what I’m looking for, I toss them in her direction.  The tank top smacks her in the face.

“Hey!” she sputters
indignantly.

“
Stop being so weird, Hunter!” I demand.  I put my hands on my hips, still sitting Indian-style. “Your clothes are soaking wet,” I unnecessarily point out, “and if you don’t put on something dry I’ll feel guilty all night.”

Hunter’s face crumples
, along with her resolve. “Fine,” she sighs. She immediately shrugs out of her soggy zip-up hoodie and reaches for the bottom hem of her v-neck.  The material clings to her skin, leaving nothing to the imagination, including how hard her nipples have become from the cold rain. I immediately avert my stare, pretending to be interested in the wall of the tent.  

After a moment, Hunter clears her throat.  “You can look, Elle,” she announces. “I’m decent now.”

“Oh, uh, good,” I say, stammering. I still can’t quite look straight on at her, however. All of the confidence I’d felt when I demanded she stay the night in my tent seems to have been stripped away along with her wet clothes.

“So,” she notes
. “How do you want to do this?”

I tear my eyes away from
the formerly mesmerizing tent wall. Hunter’s now in the tank top and shorts I’d thrown at her and her still-damp hair has been pulled back into a tight bun. “Do what?” I hate the way my voice practically cracks on the syllables like a prepubescent boy.

Her lips twist
into a wry smile. “Sleeping arrangements. There’s only one sleeping bag,” she points out.

“Oh, right. Um. I guess I could unzip it all the way and we could just sleep on it like a comforter,”
I offer.

She looks
momentarily thoughtful and then nods. “That works.”

We awkwardly shift
in the tight confines of the two-person tent, moving over piles of damp clothes and a bag of clean ones, in order to re-arrange the single sleeping bag to accommodate two bodies. I unzip the pink, puffy sleeping bag all the way and maneuver the blanket so it evenly covers the floor of the tent.

“Pink, huh?”
she murmurs playfully. “I didn’t think you were the type.”

I ignore the jab and focus
on the task at hand. “Be quiet. It’s from high school when I was really girlie.”

She purses
her lips. “And breaking all the boys’ hearts, I bet.”

I flash
her a quick grin. “And some of the girls’, too.”

Her eyes drop and she coughs uncomfortably. Damn me and my idiot mouth.

“So, uhm, I guess we should get to sleep,” I say after an awkward moment. “Will you be warm enough in that?” I ask, indicating her tank top and shorts.

She nods
. “I’ll be fine. You’ve done more than enough tonight. Thank you.”

I gi
ve her a lopsided smile. “It’s no problem.  Good night.”  I reach up to the overhead light and flip it off, immediately blanketing the tent with darkness. As I lay back down, I realize she’ll probably need a pillow.  I try to hand her the extra pillow I’d brought, but I unintentionally smack her in the face with it.

“What’s with you throwing thing
s at my face?” she demands, sounding sour.

“I’m
so
sorry,” I apologize, a short burst of giggles betraying me. “I wanted to give you this extra pillow.”  I hear Hunter’s hands groping in the dark, until she finally gains purchase on the pillow and snatches it from me.

“Good night,” I say
again.

“Good night,” co
mes the somewhat disgruntled reply.

I prop my arms beneath my head and stare
up into the blackness above me.  With the overhead light no longer on, I could hardly see my hand if it was right in front of my face.  I’d nearly forgotten just how dark it can get out here in the woods. Outside, the rain continues to fall, but it’s no longer a torrential downpour. It’s now just a gentle patter against the material of the watertight tent.  Next to me, I can feel Hunter restlessly turning on the ground, no doubt trying to get comfortable. The sleeping bag isn’t very thick, unfortunately, and the ground is hard.  

I close my eyes and try to ignore the pounding of my
heart, high up in my chest.  Hunter is laying next to me, wearing nothing but a tank top and shorts.  I shut my eyes even more tightly and try to control how my breathing has suddenly quickened in my chest.  

The wiggling continues next to me. I’m
about to snap in annoyance when I suddenly realize the wiggling isn’t wiggling at all.  Hunter is
shivering.

“Hey, Hunter?”

She remains silent, but her movements have stilled somewhat.

I tentatively reach out a hand
and brush my fingers against her bare arm.  She’s icy to the touch. “You’re cold.”

Hunter rolls over to face to me.
 My eyes have started to adjust to the darkness and I can tell that her face is uncomfortably close.  

“I thought that there wasn’t going to be anymore Mom talk?” she rasps.

“I’ll stop when you stop pretending you’re fine,” I retort.

“I
am
fine,” she stubbornly persists.  

I’m never going to be able to sleep if she keeps up this attitude.

“What are you doing?” she hisses at me when I start jerking the blanket.  “You’re going to smack me with an elbow.”

“I’m Trying. To. Get
. This Blanket. Around Us,” I grunt, tugging at the sleeping bag beneath us. It’s futile, however.  There’s not enough blanket for the both of us unless we lay on top of each other.  And I’m certainly not going to suggest
that. 
I abandon my task and return to my original position on my back.

I push out a long breath. The silence is too much. 

“I’m sorry to hear about you and Sarah,” I announce.  I wince as soon as the words come out of my mouth.

Hunter turns again to face me
. “
What
did you just say?”

I whimper at my
own stupidity. “Forget I said anything at all,” I rush out.  “Goodnight.”

There’s suddenly a hand on my shoulder, pressing me hard against the ground so I can’t roll over and scramble away.
“No. We are
not
doing this right now,” Hunter says through gritted teeth.

“Doing what?” I choke
out.

“You don’t get to just
casually
say something like that,” she spits out. “Not you. Not to me.”

I bring my
hands up to the cold hand that’s holding me in place. “I’m sorry,” I rasp out in a voice little more than a whisper. “Being around you...it’s...it’s hard, Hunter. And it makes me say and do stupid things.”

“Why is it hard?” she asks
in an equally quiet voice.

I groan at her question. “Don’t make me say it.”

“Say it,” she husks.

I release my
hold on her hand and instead reach for her face. I fumble slightly in the dark, but soon find the chiseled cheekbones that have tormented me for too long.  I stroke my thumbs along the hardened lines. “Do you know how long I’ve wanted to do this?” I ask in a strangled whisper. “Do you know how long I’ve...” I swallowed hard, choking on my emotions.

I open my mouth to try again, but
instead I’m greeted with soft lips pressed against my mouth. A surprised noise rattles in the back of my throat as she presses harder against my slightly parted lips.  My hands instinctively reach for her hips, and I pull and bring our bodies closer together.

Hunter ru
ns her fingers through my slightly damp and tangled hair.  She fists her fingers at the back of my neck and moans into my mouth. Her tongue slides into my mouth and strokes along the hardened muscle.  She explores along the front of straightened teeth before diving back in and tasting me.

I can’t help but whimper
at the feeling of Hunter’s fingers digging at my hipbones in a possessive way.  I twist the material of her borrowed tank top, clinging to her and taken aback by her unexpected forcefulness. My stomach muscles bunch and cord when strong, capable fingers slowly creep up my abdomen and come to rest on my bare breasts.  Hunter hums into my mouth as she gently squeezes the soft, pliable flesh.  

She rolls us over so we’re no longer l
ying side by side, but now she slightly hovers above me.  She moves her mouth to kiss and suck along my upturned chin and jaw line.  Her mouth travels to a sensitive earlobe where she licks along the outer shell and breathes heavily into my ear, causing me to involuntarily jerk against her.

“I want you so much, Ellio
,” she breathes into my ear. “I’ve missed you.”

I close my eyes and moan when her mouth continues its tour. She licks and nips down my
neck, pausing long enough to suck hard at my pulse point.  She sucks the sensitive skin into her mouth, as if determined to mark me as her own.

“Fuck!” I hiss loudly.
 My hips jerk again, but Hunter’s hands hold me down against the hard ground, denying me the movement I so desperately desire.

Further south,
she descends until she reaches hardened, pert nipples.  I arch my back as far as her unrelenting grip will allow. She ducks her head and promptly sucks a nipple into her mouth, pulling on it through the thin material of my tank top.  

I squirm helplessly.
 Even though I’m slightly taller, and I thought
stronger
, than Hunter, it’s clear that she’s currently in control.

She releases my right nipple with a noisy pop and focuses
her attention on the left.  She bathes the aching bud with her tongue, knowing how the rough, wet cotton must be scratching against my sensitive breasts.

“Hunter, please,” I gasp, continuing my
shallow pelvic thrusts.

She stops
long enough to quirk a perfect blonde eyebrow. “What is it?” she innocently purrs.

“I want to touch you,”
I pant. “
Please.
” I can’t believe I’m begging.  I’m a
Top
for God’s sake. I don’t
do
this.

Her wide lips twist
into a knowing smirk. “Not yet.”  She ducks her head again, sucking my left nipple back into her mouth. I groan and ball my fists at my sides. She flicks my nipples with her tongue, continuing to saturate my tank top with her warm saliva. I slam my clenched fists against the ground in a tiny tantrum, before bringing my hands to her back and scratching my short nails down her back.

Her head snaps up
, her grey-blue eyes certainly dilated. “I
said
not yet,” she growls.

I
bite down on my lower lip in frustration, and she quietly chuckles at my response. The few times we’d been together, albeit months ago, it had never been like this.  She had always been tentative, hesitant, perhaps because of her inexperience and my position as her former professor.  Now, however, it’s like she sees us as more evenly matched.

Without warning, she
slides her hand down the front of my shorts.  I unabashedly cry out when her tapered fingers glide through my arousal and pause long enough to rub against my clit.  But just as quickly as she had entered me, her hand is suddenly gone.

I
bite back a frustrated groan.  I don’t know if she’s purposely punishing me for what transpired between us months ago, but regardless of the intent, it’s driving me crazy.  I just want to flip this beautiful creature onto her back and dive between her thighs and taste her, heavy and rich, on my tongue.

Hunter positions
a femininely muscled thigh between my legs and gently rock into me.  I whimper as the air seems to leave my body. I need to touch her, despite earlier warnings. I slowly crawl my hands from their previous position at my sides until they rest on her full backside.  I gently squeezed her ass and thrust up into her.  A delicious, vulnerable, and surprised moan escapes her mouth.

 
She looks down sharply at me, grabs onto my wrists and brings my arms up above my head, once again pressing them against the cool ground. She rocks her thigh hard against my center again, pulling a breathy groan from me.

Not satisfied with this position, she maneuvers
her hold on me so she now has both of my wrists pinned in her left hand.  Her newly freed right hand snakes down between our bodies, pausing long enough to pull and pinch at a wet nipple.  She scratches her polished nails against my right nipple, through the still-damp material. I cry out and jerk my hips, seeking some kind of release.  I don’t care if I’m practically humping my against Hunter’s thigh.  I need this.