Summer Kisses (293 page)

I waffled for all of about three seconds, but he must have sensed my indecision. “I’ll keep my hands to myself.” He winked. “At least until you ask me not to.”

“Pretty sure that I will, are you?”

He shrugged. “I intend to be convincing.”

Shivering at his confidence, I climbed into the tent first, removing my boots and leaving them outside the doorway, then spread out both sleeping bags on the floor.

“I’m going to hang up the food. Hand me the flashlight from the top pocket of my pack, will you?” He reached in a hand. I unzipped his pack, locating two flashlights.

“The big one or the little one?” I asked.

“Keep the Mini Mag and hand me the big one.”

I handed out the light then used the little lamp to see enough to get everything situated.

Quinn joined me a few minutes later.

I had to admit that once we were settled, the tent felt larger than I would have guessed. Not that it wasn’t still... cozy. We lay down on our stomachs, propped up on our elbows on top of our sleeping bags, and watched the fire.

True to his word, Quinn didn’t make another move. Partly to my regret, partly to my relief. Instead, we talked.

I told him about my only other camping experience, a tragic episode in Brownies that had me calling my parents in the middle of the night during a rainstorm. He told me about his first trip in college.

Then we talked about holidays. His favorite Christmas had been the year he turned six, when his mom had let him stay with a cousin in Maine. Mine was my last year in high school.

“What was your best day ever?” he asked.

I thought for a moment. “The day I started working at Wurther. The owner quickly became my mentor, and he really believed in me in a way I’m not sure anyone besides my parents ever has before.” I shrugged. “The company’s going through some changes right now, but I really hope that we can be the sort of company we were before my mentor retired.” I toyed with a loose string on the sleeping bag before looking up at Quinn. “What about you?”

He hesitated then shook his head.

“What?” I asked.

“No. My best day is morbid at best, downright creepy at worst.”

I turned to my side and gave him my full attention. “What do you mean?”

“I was a junior in college. The day after my father passed away was the first day I really felt free. I started dropping weight right after that.”

I must have given him a strange look.

“See? I told you it was creepy.”

“Was your dad that bad?”

He nodded slowly, his concentration seemingly on the zipper of the mosquito netting. “Kind of. It wasn’t like he beat me or my mom. He was just... never satisfied. Never encouraging. Always brutal. It was tough to bear for myself, but I think it was even worse for my mom.”

“What about her?”

“She’s wonderful but... not very assertive. Now she’s with a great guy, Mac. He doesn’t try to overpower her. I’m really happy for them. She and my dad weren’t a good mix.” He stopped toying with the zipper and finally looked at me. “Sorry, I really blew the mood.”

“No. I think I understand you better.” I traced his cheekbone with the tips of my fingers.

Quinn leaned toward me slowly—very slowly—and I knew he would kiss me unless I stopped him. I also knew things would likely not stop with kissing, and I welcomed the inevitability of it, even as I thanked heaven it was dark.

Well, it was as soon as I extinguished the mini-flashlight.

“Why did you do that?” He kissed my neck then pulled back.

“It’s attracting bugs,” I said, wishing he’d continue.

“We’re behind a mosquito net.”

“It’s the only way you’re going to continue.”

He hesitated for only a second. “Fair enough.”

His hands rested at the middle of my back, and he kissed me forever, as if kissing were the main event. I rolled onto my back, enjoying the feel of his chest pressed against mine and his lips locating the sensitive spots on my neck as if they were marked by a homing device. He nipped a particularly susceptible point, and a little moan escaped my throat.

He chuckled arrogantly. “Like that?”

“Oh… yeah.”

I nibbled on his earlobe, and the sound he made in response jackknifed through my abdomen with merciless torment.

I slid my fingers under the hem of his tee shirt, intent on getting closer to him. They skimmed along the hot, smooth skin of his lower back, taking in the details of hard muscle.

His lips traced the edge of my neckline then the armhole of my shirt, stalling when they came in contact with the side of my breast.

“Quinn,” I whispered urgently.

“Hmmm?” He didn’t move from that spot. My breast begged for more focused attention, and Quinn was torturing me.

I dug my fingers into his back. “Touch me,” I said in hoarse tones I didn’t even recognize.

Fortunately, he knew exactly what I wanted. One hand slid from underneath me to cup my right breast as his lips captured the tip of my left through the thin cotton of my undershirt.

No one had ever whipped me into this sort of frenzy with what amounted to just kissing. Quinn’s lips were magic. Slowly—so slowly—he pulled the hem of my undershirt from my shorts and slid it up until he’d revealed me to his foraging lips.

I tugged at the bottom of his shirt until he stopped long enough to yank it over his head. My shirt fell victim next.

He moved more fully over me until my thighs cradled his hips, and his chest gently teased my breasts. Quinn returned to kissing my face, my neck, my collarbone, and my breasts as if he had all the time in the universe.

I, however, had no time. I wanted him—all of him—sooner rather than later.
Now
, would be good.

After a long while, he rolled us onto our sides until he had enough room to get his hand between our bodies. When he came into contact with my waistband, I stiffened.

“What?” he whispered.

My lips sought his. I wasn’t about to point out that my lower belly and hips were my most out-of-shape features and, therefore, what I was most self-conscious about.

He figured it out, however.

“When are you going to get it?” He pulled back a few inches. His hand went to my face, his thumb tracing my cheekbone. “I think you’re completely gorgeous.” He kissed me softly. “Neurotic as hell, but gorgeous.”

The humor in his voice calmed me, and an answering smile came to my lips. Slowly, his fingers trekked back to the button at the waistband of my shorts and slid it free. One tooth at a time, he pulled the zipper tab down. The zipper sounded loud, even over our labored breathing.

Quinn sat up, a gentle hand on my shoulder rolling me to my back. “Lift up,” he whispered. I did, and he slid my shorts and panties from my body. A little light from the fire seeped in, and I prayed it wasn’t enough for him to see clearly by, at the same time wishing I had a bit more so I could see him.

He bent, dropping a soft kiss in the region of my belly button. Involuntarily, I gasped as his tongue swirled around it. Sliding my hand through the short strands of his hair, I closed my eyes, savoring the moment, wishing it could last for eternity.

His hand went to my knee, easing my thighs apart and trailing up the inside until he found what he was looking for. I cried out when he used one finger to circle around, briefly stroking everything crying out for his touch.

His lips moved from my belly southward. I lost every ounce of inhibition I’d ever owned as his lips captured the most sensitive part of my body. My thighs fell open, and the sounds that came from my throat were more scream than moan.

Quinn’s satisfied chuckle did as much to spur me toward completion as his talented lips and tongue. I abandoned control as the first spasms slammed through me. He rode my climax out until I was nothing more than a quivering pile of sensation.

Gathering me into his arms, he held me close while aftershocks turned to trembling. Brushing a strand of hair off my face, he whispered, “Hi.”

I smiled. “Hi, yourself.”

“How’re you doing?”

Like he didn’t know. “Wow,” was the most intelligent response I could come up with. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I felt the hard length of him against my hip. I slid my thigh between his and pressed into him, delighted to hear his sharp intake of breath.

Quinn sat up and shucked his shorts, his earlier control seemingly gone. He dug around in the bottom of his backpack for only moments before laying a strip of condoms on the sleeping bag above my head and lying down beside me.

Without a word, he kissed me, using his tongue and lips to tell me yet again that he found me attractive. “I want to be inside you.” His bold whisper coiled through my abdomen almost painfully.

I tugged him on top of me. He took a moment to don the condom and then hovered above, looking at me for a moment. Tenderly, he stroked my hair back from my face and kissed my lips.

He touched me, determined I was more than ready for him, and then sank into the depths of my body and soul. I wrapped my legs around his hips, wanting to hold onto him with every fiber of my being. He thrust gently, slowly at first, then picked up speed until we both were mindless, shouting in ecstasy.

Another orgasm tore through my body, and I gripped his shoulders, begging him without words to come with me. He groaned and shuddered, the power of his climax wringing one more trembling jolt through me.

Afterward, he held me tight as sweat cooled on our skin and the crackling fire burned to embers.

Just when I started to feel comfortable and sleepy, Quinn announced, “I wish you’d let me turn the light back on.”

An intense desire to dive under covers or back into my clothes flooded me.

“Oh no,” I said. “That would be bad.”

“No, that would be very, very good.”

That’s when I decided I was probably in love with him.

Sometime later, I looked out the tent’s mosquito netting at the fire, which had burned down to the point where it barely glowed.

“Hmm. The fire’s gone. And darn it, I didn’t even get a single s’more.”

“Poor baby,” Katherine said before turning to poke around in her backpack. After a couple of seconds, she came up with a six-pack of Oreos. “Not good enough for a full binge but plenty to share.”

“Nice.” She handed me a cookie.

I popped the whole thing in my mouth and munched away. “I haven’t had Oreos in years and years and years. I forgot how much I loved them.”

She gasped dramatically. “How could you have done that?”

I looked at her in shock then around the area as if trying to find what had so offended her. “Done what?”

“
You
need lessons on how to eat an Oreo.”

I raised an eyebrow but let her continue.

“First, you twist off the top.” She demonstrated on the cookie in her hand. “You eat the un-iced half first, then the icing from the second half, and finally, the bottom cookie.”

I ate my second Oreo in the “proper” way.

“See? Isn’t that better?” she asked.

Unwilling to challenge the crazy person, I nodded seriously. “Yes, of course.”

“You think I’m a nut.”

“Only in a charming and harmless sort of way.”

She must have liked that answer because she leaned and kissed me. It may have been the first time
she’d
kissed
me
, and I liked it.
A lot.

Kissing quickly escalated into petting. I wanted to see her. Was
dying
to see her. I also suspected that begging to turn the light back on would kill the mood.

She felt so good under my hands. All silky, smooth skin and soft curves. She tasted like heaven and Oreos. I could lose myself in her mouth alone and did for a long time.

Katherine, evidently frustrated with my slow effort to learn her body via the Braille method, pushed on my shoulders until I lay flat. Swinging one leg over my hips, she straddled my lap. I handed her one of the condoms, loving the feel of her fingers against me as she rolled it down.

She didn’t hesitate before rising up on her knees and sinking down over me. Her heat enveloped me, warming places I hadn’t even realized were cold. I slid my hands up her thighs and held onto her hips, keeping us in rhythm.

The barest amount of light came in through the mosquito netting from the fire, and I memorized the sexy swing of her breasts as she rode me harder and harder. Just as I began to fear I wouldn’t be able to wait for her, she threw her head back and let out the sexiest scream I could imagine, her voice rough and breathy.

I followed her over the edge.

~~~

The next morning, I woke up to really bright sunlight and the knowledge that I’d been wrapped around Katherine’s delectable form the entire night.

And finally, I had her right where I wanted her. Completely naked and completely in the light.

She must have woken up right about then, realized exactly the same thing, and tried to slide the extra sleeping bag over herself. Not because she was cold, I was sure, but because she still wasn’t certain that the beauty I had discovered in the firelight would hold up in the bright light of day.

Clearly, I wasn’t doing my job here very well.

“Drop the blanket, Ms. Mendoza,” I said firmly in her ear.

“I’m cold.”

“No, you’re not. You’re scared.”

She knew I had her number because she completely froze.

“I’m embarking on a continuing plot to see you naked on a very regular basis, so you might as well get comfortable with the idea.”

Katherine turned into my embrace with a smile on her face before pressing a kiss to my breastbone.

“We’re going to have to get you used to the idea that I think every inch of you is beautiful. And the only way I think you’ll believe me is if I prove it.”

“Prove it?”

Her voice had an early-morning husky quality that caused a tightening in my groin.

“One moment, please.” I released her, sat up, and caught her peeking.

I gave her a pointed look. She gets to look and I don’t?

Uh uh.

After unzipping the tent, I hopped out, buck naked, and unsnapped the rain cover over the very top of the tent’s dome, leaving nothing but mosquito net between her and the sun, before scooting back in.