Us. Together. His long body stretched beneath mine.

He growls behind me, fingers pulling at flesh. His body tightly wound like a spring ready to jump.

He’s on the edge, right there, and I want him to fall. I want to give him pleasure and take my own.

I arch my back and chase my relief, closing my eyes, gasping when his hand connects with my ass again.

“Brooke,” he groans. “Tell me. God, fucking tell me.”

I know what he wants me to say, but I don’t just say it. I don’t give him an empty echo of a response. I admit my own truth.

“You make me feel crazy too.”

When I come, I gasp in shock as my spine and muscles burn.

Mason’s release shoots onto my ass, hot spurts sticking to my skin as he moans my name into the night. He wipes me clean with his shirt, I realize, when he pulls me back and holds me against his bare chest, nuzzling my neck and kissing my jaw, his heart racing and his mouth ravenous.

Turning in his arms, I cup his face, staring into his eyes, pushing my hand through his hair. “I like camping with you,” I whisper.

He smiles against my mouth. “Yeah? Thought you might.”

We strip off each other’s clothes. Mason kills the light from the lantern and we slide inside the sleeping bag. He puts his arm around my waist, whispering how he’ll protect me from bears and huge snakes I don’t want to dry hump.

I laugh against his neck and close my eyes. I might even snuggle closer.

Sleep takes a hold of me before I can tell.

MASON

Getting Brooke to agree to a hike today came easier than I was anticipating.

It probably had something to do with the timing in which I asked, while she was grinding her tight, wet pussy against my hand and wiggling beneath me in the tent, clawing at my back and crying out in pleasure. She moaned my name before whispering a breathy ‘yes’ against my mouth, then slapped a hand to my chest and shoved me off, claiming her orgasm had nothing to do with her answer.

Apparently, she’s a changed woman, loves everything about nature and is eager to explore it with or without me.

On top of everything else that drives me completely crazy about Brooke, she’s a beautiful liar. Fully committed and iron-willed.

Her determination really is a thing to appreciate.

It’s midday, and we’re halfway through our hike. I watch the cute little sway of Brooke’s hips as she tentatively walks the narrow trail in front of me.

Her steps are light against the dirt, quiet and cautious, as if she’s trying not to draw any attention to herself from the wildlife. When branches from trees or large shrubs encroach our track, she turns her body sideways, pulls her arms in close, and sucks in a breath until she’s made it safely past.

So fucking sweet. I can’t stop watching her. I don’t know what I’m enjoying more, being out here with her in the sun and gorgeous weather, or every honest reaction she’s giving me.

After nearly stumbling over a rock sticking out of the dirt, she digs it up, cursing the entire time, and tosses it into the woods with a strangled yell. When a bee flies too close to her face, she gasps and then flips the thing off, threatening to find its hive and burn it to the ground.

I’m waiting for her to break and beg me to take us back. To tell me she’s had enough and that she hates this and me for dragging her out here.

She stops abruptly on the path and I ready myself for her dismissal.

This is it. She’s gone three hours with no complaints or sour tone. But instead of turning on me and threatening my life if I don’t get us out of here, she gathers her hair off her neck and applies another thin coating of bug spray to her exposed limbs.

This is her eighth application.

“I’m starting to get hungry. Do we have any food?” she asks, bending over and spraying the front of her legs.

I groan when the bottom of her arse peeks out from those tiny fucking jean shorts she’s wearing. Again.

This is the eighth time I’ve gotten hard on this trail.

“See something you like?”

Her voice is tempting, sweet and wily. She’s caught me every time we’ve done this.

I scratch my jaw as I resume looking at her, never peeling my eyes away, smiling when she molds her hand to the back of her jeans. “I more than like it, gorgeous,” I say, giving her a quick glance. “If I didn’t give a shit about other men seeing you out here I’d pull those shorts down and bury my face in that.”

“In my ass?” she giggles, spinning around and tucking the small tube of bug spray into her pocket. She wipes her hands down the front of her shorts. “That’s a win/win for me. You can eat that and I’ll eat all the actual food.”

Laughing, I reach out and grab her face, kissing her soft mouth. “You hungry?”

“Starving.”

I step back and pull my bag around to the front of me, tipping my chin at a large boulder.

It’s flat and smooth, wide enough to hold several people.

“Want to sit up there and eat? Seems like a nice spot.”

Brooke looks at the path between us and the rock I’m asking her to get to, her brows pinching together and her mouth pulling into a frown.

Her anxiety slips on like a veil.

I follow her gaze. It’s not a far distance, but the overgrown grass is thick with weeds and wildflowers, some of it reaching up as high as her knees. We’ve stayed on clear paths up until this point, nothing unkempt like this.

I know how much I’m asking of Brooke. Bull-headed determination or not. She might just tell me to go fuck off for even suggesting this. I don’t really care where we eat. I’ll sit on the dirt right here, but I’m curious to see how far she’ll go to prove her persistence today.

Another first, little devil? Will you give me this?

I step closer and squeeze her hand. “It’ll be a nice view up there. We might be able to see the lake.”

She slowly turns her head. Her eyes, more green than brown today, narrow in on mine. “Yeah? You know what else has a nice view of the lake? Our campsite. Maybe even the car. Why don’t we go check?”

“I can carry you,” I offer, attempting not to smile at her quick-witted apprehension. “I wouldn’t mind it.”

“You are not carrying me,” she scoffs, yanking out of my grip. “I’m capable of getting there myself. And you know what?”

“What?”

She leans in, standing on her toes to get closer, her hands curling around her hips, her face so near to mine I can see the freckles she’s hiding underneath her makeup. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do, Mason, because contrary to what you think, I fucking love it out here.”

Brooke lets out a tiny squeak, spins around, and sprints through the tall grass like something is chasing her.

My mouth stretches into a grin.

Fuck, baby. Look at you. Always surprising me.

She makes it to the boulder and, with frantic hands, tries to claw her way on top of it, but her footing slips on the smooth rock. “No! Goddamn it, no!”

Laughing, I follow behind and reach the boulder just as she slips again. Even with a running start, she’s too short to get up here alone. I toss my bag on top of the rock to free up my hands.

“Here, my little nature lover,” I say against her hair, grabbing her waist and hoisting her up onto the rock.