A fine chest like that, rubbed against a woman’s sensitive breasts, would get him enough oohs and aahs to give him some much-needed confidence. Of that she wascertain.
Was she willing to go that extra step for him? She’d agreed to kissing, no more. Bare-chested rubbing was definitely an extra, thrown in out of the goodness of herheart.
However, he was being nice enough to act as her personal trainer today, giving her an outdoor workout, so maybe she could afford to begenerous.
She snuck another glance at his chest and wondered if it was hairy. She loved hairy chests. Yes, she thought as warmth gathered in her lower body, she was feelinggenerous.
In fact, maybe she was looking at this all wrong. Instead of letting Luke set the pace, she, with her experience and confidence, should take charge. For goodness’ sake, she was the teacher, wasn’t she? Would she let the janitor stand at the front of the class and give the lecture? No wonder she’d felt frustrated. It was time to start doing what she did best.Teach.
As Luke resumed his murderous pace, she decided to think about something else. She couldn’t afford to waste any energy on warming her erogenous zones. Right now she needed to keep her legs walking and her lungs inflating. Sexual impulses were the equivalent of a leaky fueltank.
After another half an hour, she cracked and dug into her pack for the mountain mix she’d run out and bought, glad now she’d purchased the kind that included M&M’s. She was certain the raisins and nuts and pumpkin seeds were going to do wonders for her energy and stamina, but, frankly, she needed thechocolate.
“How far do you think we’ve come?” she asked Luke. He stopped and turned, taking out his own water bottle and drinkingdeeply.
“I guess around three or four miles. Why?” He dug into the bag of trail mix sheoffered.
“I want to make sure I’ve earned another handful of this stuff.” She glanced into the bag. M&M’s winked at her like precious jewels in a pirate’s treasure chest. “Who am I kidding? This is a case of desperateneed.”
Luke chuckled. “Come on. It’s only another couple of miles to a nice picnicspot.”
A couple of miles. She could do that. She’d play a game with herself. For every fifteen minutes of hiking, she’d allow herself one chocolatetreat.
Three candies later, Luke led her off the main trail and down a narrow path until they hit a grassy clearing overlooking the river. From their perch they could see a wide gravel shoal where the river formed a natural bay, and some logs and a larger meadow. An older couple was packing up a picnic. “That’s where the main trail leads,” Luke said, “but I like this spot better. It’s moreprivate.”
She glanced at him sharply, trying to gauge his meaning. Forgetting her own earlier thoughts about bare-chest rubbing, she narrowed her eyes in his direction. Did he have something private planned for her? If so, she’d be showing him right quick that only Friday was Total Moron day. Every other day of the week she expected him to act like a normalperson.
However, as they unpacked the picnic she’d made and sat out under the sunshine, he didn’t act remotely like a lover. Quite the opposite. He was so casual she relaxedcompletely.
She sighed with relief as she eased down onto the sun-warmedgrass.
“Tired?” he asked, stretchingout.
“It’s been a while since I hiked,” she admitted. Her feet felt hot and stifled in the heavy boots. Oh, what the hell. Swiftly she undid her hiking boots, yanked them off and then slipped off the scratchy woolsocks.
Mmm. A light breeze blew gently against her hot toes and she wiggled them, enjoying the almost sexual feeling of warm sun, soft grass and free-flowing air on her toes. She glanced up to see Luke staring at her feet, fierce concentration on his face. Something about his expression sent a shaft of heat stabbing herbelly.
He shifted his gaze to her face and they stared at each other for a single, earth-stoppingmoment.
She swallowed and broke the spell by reaching for her backpack and digging out the lunch. “I hope you like ham and cheese. I wasn’tsure.”
“Sounds great,” he said, sounding much less flustered thanshe.
Careful not to let any of her skin touch any of his, she passed him a double-deckersandwich.
He unwrapped it and took a bite. “It’s good.Thanks.”
She bit into her own single sandwich and settled back against a graniteboulder.
By the time they got through her homemade, oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies to the plums, she’d relaxed completely. The odd moment of sexual awareness between her and Luke might never have happened. He was acting like a casual hiking companion—an acquaintance, nothingmore.
No sooner did she realize that than she wondered why he wasn’t taking the opportunity to further their lessons now that he had her in a secluded outdoor setting complete with dappled sunlight, a light spring breeze, soft, cushiony, fragrant green grass and privacy. This place was a postcard for intimate romantictrysts.
Perhaps he was too shy, or felt it was inappropriate outside of their agreedFridays.
Much as she appreciated his discretion, she was a big believer in teaching moments—those opportunities that occur naturally when a lesson sticks because the student is in the right frame of mind tolearn.
This felt very much like one of those moments. Besides, she’d been thinking about his chest for several miles now. She shot him a glance from under her lashes. He was packing his plum pits in the plastic wrap from his sandwich, which looked like getting-ready-to-hike-some-more movements to her. She was nowhere near ready for morehiking.
