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I released a light laugh. “How about this? You drive, and I’ll meet you up there in about… thirty minutes? It’s mostly uphill, so I’m not going to be running very fast.”
“Okay, I’ll be there.” He leaned down, planted a quick kiss on my lips, and slid past me to go inside. Him doing shit like that would make me change my mind about it only being physical. Not because it didn’t feel good but because it felttoo good. It felt natural like we’d been doing it our whole lives.
I shook those thoughts from my head and put my AirPods in, pulled up my favorite audiobook, and started my run. I thought back to the first run I took when I got here, and I was terrified that some wild animal would come bounding through the woods and tackle me to the ground, sinking its teeth into my ass. But there was nothing but squirrels and birds and the occasional raccoon.
I was about halfway to the lake when I heard a horn honk behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Lucas in his SUV, waving at me like an idiot. I smiled at him and waved back, shaking my head at his antics. It took me another fifteen minutes to reach the lake, running at a leisurely pace. I didn’t want to push myself too hard running uphill because then I wouldn’t have anything left to run back home. When I got to the lake, Lucas was sitting on a blanket, water and fruit next to him.
“Hey. I saw you didn’t bring any water, so I grabbed you a bottle. I can’t cook like you, but I brought you breakfast.”
My heart really shouldn’t have sped up because of his thoughtfulness. The little shit he did was trying to weasel a way into me, waking up some foreign emotions, which was weird because I was with Devin for two years. I should have felt these feelings with him, right?
“Thanks.” I plopped down on the blanket next to him and opened the water. While I was catching my breath, I stared out at the lake. I had been coming here a few times a week for almost two weeks, and it was still as stunning as it was the first time I came. I downed half of the water in a go, thirstier than I thought I was. As April transitioned into May, the morning air was getting muggier and more humid. I felt it while trying to drag air into my lungs after a three-mile run. I was glad Lucas decided to drive. I would hitch a ride home with him.
I felt his eyes on my face but didn’t turn toward him. “You’re staring,” I said.
He snickered and replied, “I am. Can I ask you something?”
I did look at him then. He wasn’t able to hide his emotions in his eyes. He could school his face into an indifferent mask, the same mask he wore the first week we were in the cabin when we weren’t speaking to each other. But his eyes didn’t hide the truth of his emotions. His eyes showed curiosity. Like he really wanted to know the answer to the question he had for me. “Sure,” I answered and turned back to the lake.
“Why are you here? Cassie told me your boyfriend cheated, and I’m sorry about that. But why come here? Why not stay with Cassie?”
I looked at him again, tilting my head to the side. I wondered how much I felt comfortable telling him. I thought about it and was shocked that I wanted to tell him everything. I didn’t want to hide from him. “It’s a long story.”
He leaned over and kissed my cheek before he laid down on his back, putting his hands behind his head. “We’ve got time. If you want to tell me.”
It was easier to tell him while he was lying on his back like that. I could feel his eyes on me, but I would have to look back to make eye contact. I kept my eyes on the lake as I spoke. I told him about waking up the morning my world imploded, feeling like something was off. About wanting to stay home in bed all day because I had a feeling the day was going to be a tragedy. I told him about going to work and talking to Cass, how excited we were when we thought I was going to get the promotion I had been working hard for. I told him about David, how I knew he’d stolen my work from my inbox and made it seem like I was making him do it instead. I didn’t have proof, but I knew that was the case. I told him about getting fired, how I had to make the walk of shame back to my office and tell Cass the bad news. He laughed when I told him how Cass was ready to beat David’s ass before we left.
I told him how hard it was to pack up eight years of my desk, knowing that I would never work as an editor again. How Cass and I walked home, her being a rock for me, being the incredible best friend she was, all that I could ask for. Then I told him about walking in on Devin cheating. How terrible it was to see with my own eyes that he had another man in our bed. He sat up then and rubbed the back of his hand over my cheeks. I didn’t notice until then that I was crying. I wasn’t sure when I started. I finished up my tale, letting him know how I confronted Devin, went to crash with Cass, and her offering me the cabin.
“I have to keep my end of the bargain to her. I’m not a freeloader. She knows that. I’m not her friend because your parents are rich. I didn’t even know they were until she graduated and stopped being my intern. I have savings, so I can afford to pay to stay at your cabin.” I looked at him, pleading with my eyes for him to understand that I was not using his sister. I loved that girl more than I ever loved any other friend, even ones I grew up with.
“Hey, I know. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard her mention your name. She’s told me more times than I can recall that you’re her other older brother. She’s a good judge of character. So are my parents. They have to be to get where they are. If they know you and trust you, so do I.”
“Thanks. That means a lot.” I turned back to the lake, letting the lazy movement of the water calm me. I drew up one leg and rested my chin on it. “She told me I have to write two chapters a week, buy my own groceries, and… heal.” My chest got tight, thinking about how much I was healing and how lately, it was because of Lucas.
“Are you? Healing?”
“You know,” I mused, a slight smirk on my lips, “I am. I know David screwed me over. And two weeks ago, I would have done anything to get back at him, to make sure he got what was coming to him. Now? I don’t feel the same. I’m not happy about it. I’ll never be happy about it. But I can’t change it, and the only thing it was doing was causing me stress. So I’m letting it go. It’s not easy, but it is necessary. And I’m trying to think positively. I’ve always wanted to be an author, but my job was demanding and didn’t allow a lot of downtime. I can use this time to write.
“I don’t think about Devin as much as I thought I would. I was analyzing our relationship every day, thirty minutes a day for the first week I was here. I told myself I would only give myself thirty minutes a day to feel sorry for myself. But lately, I haven’t had to. Sure, I think about how shitty my life got in one day, but it’s a fleeting thought compared to me writing… and you.”
I decided to be honest. He’d been honest with me the entire time we had been getting to know each other. He held nothing back, and I envied him. I envied how he was so sure in what he said, no matter if it was well received or not. “Your company and getting to know you have been refreshing. It’s been taking my mind off wallowing in my misery. Mostly because I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of you.” I looked over and winked at him. “Yeah, I’m doing okay. I’m still hurting, but I’ve come to realize that Devin cheating on me wasn’t my fault. I had nothing to do with his choices. And I’m a lot better because I got my test results back, and I’m negative for everything. So that helped.”
I had gotten my results during the first week here. I was tested for everything, not wanting to take any chances on my health. Which was a good thing now because I knew I wasn’t putting Lucas at risk. We hadn’t done anything besides kiss, but in case we did do something more, I wouldn’t have to worry about if I was the reason he got anything.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I didn’t know you had gotten fired as well. I don’t like that you went through that on the same day. That had to be shitty. I think it’s fucked up that he did that to you. Both of them. We’ve only known each other for a little over two weeks, but getting to know you has been great. Even when you didn’t like me, I could tell you were genuine. And you know who you are. You’re comfortable being you, and you don’t apologize for it. I admire that. Anybody who would do something like that to someone like you doesn’t deserve to be spoken about. They don’t deserve to take up any space in your head. They don’t deserveyou.”
I gave him a soft smile, feeling him inching his way into my heart. I didn’t want to think about how he was working his way into my heart so quickly and at such a difficult time in my life. Emotions I wasn’t sure I had were pushing their way to the surface, threatening to capture me in infatuation with him. Maybe I was on the rebound. Maybe I was developing genuine feelings for him. I didn’t want to look too closely at that right now. So instead of thinking about any of that, I leaned forward and kissed him. It wasn’t much better because I felt his emotions in his kisses, and I was putting my own into them as well.
I straddled his waist, not separating our lips, then pulled him to me, crushing my body to him. Our chests were pressed together, but I wanted him closer than that. His tongue lazily stroked mine, in no rush. I couldn’t take it. I couldn’t sit here, feeling his dick under my ass through my thin running shorts and not touch him. We hadn’t touched each other skin to skin, and I was dying to get my hands on him. Reaching under his shirt, I flattened my hands on his back. Lucas broke our kiss and cursed under his breath. “You okay?” I went to pull my hands from under his shirt, but he stopped me.
“No, please touch me. I’ve been wanting to feel your hands on me.”
I gently and methodically ran my hands up and down his chest, stomach, and back, dragging my short nails across his body. He pressed his forehead to mine and panted, his dick twitching under me. I put my hands flat on his pecs and applied pressure, telling him to lie down with my touch. He did, and he ran his hands up my thighs, staring at me in wonder, causing me to shiver under his gaze. I leaned down for another kiss, feeling my skin erupt in flames. I was an inferno of lust. Tristan’s hands cupped my ass, moving me gently back and forth on top of him.
I trailed kisses along his jaw, down his neck, and up to the shell of his ear. His fingers digging into my hips were almost painful but felt so good, leaving sparks of heat behind. He rubbed his dick on mine, using the friction of our shorts to stroke us both. Abruptly, he rolled me onto my back, wrapped one leg around his waist, and pressed his dick into me.
“That feels good,” I rasped, arching and grinding into him. He didn’t answer, but he bit his bottom lip and rolled his hips again and again. The moan I let out would have been embarrassing if Lucas didn’t let one out equally as loud and desperate. He grabbed my other leg, wrapped it around him, and crushed his lips to mine. The friction from my shorts and the feel of his cock on me was overwhelming. The way he touched me, trying to feel every part of my body but not knowing where he wanted to have his hands more. The moans he let out that I swallowed during our kiss. It was too much. I felt my orgasm building. The way he was rolling his hips, rutting against me, felt indescribable. Feeling his dick rub against mine was intoxicating, and the way he grabbed my hip in one hand to keep me in place made me shiver.
