“I never knew a woman could be so sexy without even trying.”
They kissed. They kissed again.
“We’d better gather up the food,” she mumbled against his lips.
He grumbled an “All right,” and began to help her.
When everything was replaced in the basket and it was set next to the door, she returned to the tarp with the thermos of coffee and the bottle of cognac.
“I don’t know if this is still hot, but we’ll see.” She un-capped the thermos and the smell of fresh hot coffee wafted out. “It is!”
She poured each of them a cup of the steaming coffee and added a capful of cognac while Reeves spread the now dry blanket over the tarps. They took off their boots and socks and stretched their bare feet out close to the stove, whose chimney was drawing well despite its ramshackle appearance.
Jordan sipped her coffee slowly, the cognac burning in her stomach. “I think I’m getting drunk,” she said softly as she leaned against Reeves. She was settled between his thighs, her back to his chest.
“Good. I plan to take advantage of you.”
She slapped him on the knee and he yelped. “What?” she asked in alarm. Then she noticed the raw, red skin on his knees. “Oh, Reeves. I hope you don’t get frostbite.”
“No, they’re just chapped.”
“Here, I’ve got something for them.” She crawled across the blanket toward her backpack and came back with the plastic bottle of lotion she had used on her cheeks.
“Does it burn?” he asked suspiciously.
“Like fire.”
“No thank you,” he said, and moved his legs away from her.
She laughed as she reached out a hand to capture one of his legs. “You big chicken. I was only teasing. It’ll make them feel better.”
With soothing strokes she applied the lotion to the reddened skin. She smothered a giggle, then another. “What’s so funny?” he asked huffily.
“I’ve never put lotion on hairy legs before.” He tried to look offended, but couldn’t, and they both laughed. The lotion was put aside when she was finished and they resumed their former position. They stared into the flames.
“This is when I really miss a cigarette,” Reeves said after a spell of companionable silence. “It’s not just the tobacco I miss. It’s the relaxing activity.” He sighed theatrically. “I guess I’ll have to find another relaxing activity for my hands.”
Before the sentence was completed, he matched action to words. His hand slipped under her arm and curved around her until his hand covered her breast. He flexed his fingers, not quite squeezing her.
She snuggled closer to him. “Speaking of your hands, this is the one you cut, isn’t it?” She removed his hand from her breast and saw the telltale red marks across three of his fingers. Each one was kissed in turn.
“Jordan, do me a favor,” he murmured into her hair.
“Is it illegal or illicit?”
“We’ll get to those favors later. This is a simple request.”
“What?”
“Would you take this off?” He took her left hand and touched the large diamond ring on the third finger.
Words weren’t necessary. She knew how he must resent that symbol of her relationship with Helmut. The ring was slipped off her finger and zippered into a small compartment of her backpack.
Silently she came back into his arms. He eased her around to face him. Gently he cupped her head in his large, capable hands and drew her upward until her lips met his. The kiss conveyed a tenderness that conversely broke down all barriers she might have constructed in her mind. Whatever the future held for them, tonight belonged to her and Reeves. One night out of a lifetime wasn’t asking too much. Whatever the cost, she wasn’t going to deny this to herself.
The consequences could be met later, the piper paid later, but not now. Not now, when his mouth invaded the hollows of hers. Not when his hands touched her so exquisitely that her mind reeled under the impact.
“Jordan,” he groaned softly, and pushed her away slightly. “I want to see all of you.” His fingers deliberately and deftly worked the buttons of her blouse until it hung free. With self-imposed, agonizing care, he eased it over her shoulders.
His eyes dropped to her chest. The sheer lacy bra was a voyeur’s dream. It hid nothing, enhanced everything. The glossy flesh-toned fabric made her skin beneath glisten. The rosy nipples pressed against that tight, shimmering veil invitingly, daring the observer to touch and kiss.
Self-denial became Reeves’s obsession. His thumb hooked under the satin straps and gradually pulled them from her shoulders and upper arms, staring all the while at the two perfectly shaped breasts that were revealed to him by tiny degrees.