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“Did you come?”
She shook her head, still smiling. “No, Daddy. But I still enjoyed it.”
His mouth found its way to the little hollow at the base of her throat before nibbling its way across to just below her ear.
“Good girl.” She smiled even wider at his unexpected praise, the muscles in her face moving against his cheek.
He rolled off her, manoeuvring them both so he could hold her in his arms. She felt so right. She fit perfectly, like she was made for him.
“I love you, Catherine.” Had he told her that before? Judging by her gasp, he hadn’t. Did he even know himself, before the words fell out of his mouth?
“You do?”
The happiness and surprise in her voice made her smile.
“Yes, baby girl, I do.”
She didn’t say it back, but that didn’t matter. Her happy response was enough for him. For now, anyway. He tightened his arms around her as she snuggled back against him, her bottom pressed against his crotch, her back against his chest. She seemed to need comfort from him, security. Love. Maybe protection, too. She’d been an emotional wreck earlier. Seeing the man throw himself off the cliff in her dream had destroyed her. He hated to think what digging under the tree would do to her, when the sun was up. Especially when they spent hours searching and didn’t find anything. How would she cope then?
They must have drifted off to sleep together like that, because the next thing he knew, the sun had come up over the mountains and bathed the little hut in golden light. Catherine woke up at the same time he did.
“Come and help me dig,” she said, sitting up groggily. “You promised!”
She looked so cute like that, her hair all mussed from sleep, little creases from the sheets on her cheek. She rubbed her eyes with her knuckles and stretched, yawning. Determination was written all over her. She was going back out to that tree, with or without him. He wanted to go with her.
“Hang on. Wait. Put some clothes on first, yeah? You’ve done enough running around outside in your dressing gown.”
The glare she shot him could have curdled milk.There’s that attitude I’ve missed!The old Catherine, the one he remembered, had been sassy and wild, always ready to stand her ground and argue her point. Witty banter had passed back and forth between them for hours, trading jokey insults with each other. But that was missing from the Catherine sitting next to him now. The years of abuse she had endured had left her a timid shadow of her former self.
“I was going to,” she insisted, frowning, in a tone of voice that made it clear she thought he was an idiot. “And shoes,” she added. “My feet are sore; I must have stepped on something sharp in the dark.”
Jason nodded sagely. “Not surprising. You weren’t paying too much attention to the ground.”
“No shit, Sherlock,” she snapped. “Someone had just thrown themselves off a cliff in front of me; forgive me for thinking that was somewhat more important than what was on the ground.”
He couldn’t help but grin. He loved her passion, her fire.
“Fair call.” He shrugged. “Do you want breakfast before we go?” he asked, standing to pull on the same jeans and t-shirt he’d tugged on before she’d led him on the wild goose chase last night after something that wasn’t there.
“No, I don’t want breakfast!” she exclaimed in a voice that told him in no uncertain terms that he should already know this; he should be rushing, he should already know that she wanted to hurry. “I want to dig! Quickly!” She glanced outside, then at her watch. “It’s like five a.m.! Who eats breakfast at this hour of the day? It’s not even morning, not really; it’s far too early for breakfast.”
Catherine’s body was beautiful in the subdued glow of the early morning light and as she bent to pick up her knickers, he cleared his throat.
“No. No underwear,” he reminded her. “We agreed, remember?”
She looked at him, aghast. “But we’ll be digging! I can’t do that in a dress, especially with a bare ass underneath it.”
“There’s nobody up here but us, baby girl. Nobody is going to see. We could go and dig naked and no one would see.” He wanted to reassure her, but by the wicked glint that sparked in her eyes, he knew he’d inspired her to make mischief, instead.
“Let’s do that then,” she declared with a cheeky grin. “Let’s do it naked. I will if you will.”
“Are you serious?” Jason chuckled. He didn’t believe her, not for a second. There was no way she would be out there stark naked, in the frigid air of the early morning up in the mountains, in the nuddy. It just wouldn’t happen. If his hunch was correct, she’d be on her hands and knees, scrabbling around in the dirt, nagging him to dig faster, and she would get dirt everywhere. Under her nails. In her ears. Between her breasts. And downthere.He didn’t even want to picture it, not really. Dirt down there would be pretty uncomfortable, he reckoned. Even if he would really enjoy washing it all out afterwards.
Catherine nodded, abring-it-ongrin plastered to her face.
“You know it’s cold out there, right? We’re going to freeze! The big fella is going to shrivel up.” He pointed down at his cock, already shrinking in response to the chilly air inside the hut. And outside, he knew, would be so much colder. At least until the sun was up properly.
“Are you chicken?” Catherine giggled, then stuck her hands under her armpits and flapped them up and down, making noises that sounded so much like a chook proudly squawking and clucking over her egg that he almost looked over his shoulder, searching for it.
