Chapter 4

4

MAC

T his Ashton woman was definitely coming on to me.

At first, I told myself it was wishful thinking. A woman wouldn't just show up here to have sex with a guy. Okay, so maybe some of the women back at the disaster site were here exactly for that reason, but not Ashton. Ashton was the type of woman a guy slayed dragons to win over.

"Okay, I'm full," Ashton announced about halfway through her sandwich.

I froze, mid-chew, to stare at her. Then I finished chewing, swallowed quickly, and said, "See? That's why you don't eat dessert first."

She shook her head. "That's exactly why you do eat dessert first. I'd much rather leave an unfinished sandwich than be unable to fully enjoy a gooey chocolate chip cookie."

"Or…and hear me out…you eat lunch and save the cookie for midafternoon, when you're craving a snack."

I pulled the plastic-wrapped cookie from my box and held it up like I was showing off a prize. I knew fully well, though, that I'd offer her the cookie when the time came. Yes, because I was a gentleman but also because I wanted to see her make that almost orgasmic face again while eating it.

"No way," she said, looking around. "In this heat, the thing would melt before I could enjoy it."

She did make a good point. I eyed the creek, trying to devise a way to use some of that cool water to keep the cookie chilled. Meanwhile, Ashton seemed to eye the creek for a completely different reason.

"I'm going in," she said. "Finish up and join me."

I opened my mouth to respond, but my face froze in that position. Ashton was pulling her T-shirt over her head. She tossed it to the ground, revealing the black strip of a bra strap.

She stopped near the water and within seconds, the shorts were coming down. She even did an adorable little wiggle as she tugged them past her hips.

Suddenly, filling up my stomach was the least of my concerns. Not when another part of my anatomy was filling up my shorts.

I'd been battling an erection all morning. Every time I looked at her, in fact. But now it went to the next level.

Once the shorts were off, Ashton worked at kicking off her tennis shoes. But my eyes weren't on her feet. I couldn't stop looking at that round ass, stretching the fabric of a pair of black cotton panties that seemed to match her bra—from where I sat, anyway.

Holy shit, this woman was hot.

Once her shoes and socks were off, she reached for the clasp on the back of her bra without even looking back at me. She removed it, tossing it to the pile next to her shoes, then took off her underwear.

I barely got a look at her before she was in the water. But the image of that naked backside would stay imprinted on my mind forever. If, that was, I didn't soon replace it with a view of her naked front side. Maybe if I played my cards right, I'd get to look at it every day for the rest of my life.

That thought hit me like the first jolt of caffeine in the morning. It woke up my brain. Was I actually thinking about a long-term relationship with this woman? Yes, it appeared I was.

Instead of working through how I felt about that, I decided there were better things to do with my time right now. One of those things was to remove my clothes and get in that water before this woman changed her mind about skinny dipping with a man she'd just met.

She kept her back to me as I undressed. I didn't know whether that was intentional or not. Maybe she thought I needed privacy. I didn't. I actually would have liked her watching me undress, especially if it turned her on.

But as I approached the water, buck naked, I finally did capture her attention. When she turned, her gaze landed on my erection. Her eyes widened, suddenly as big as saucers, and I knew what she was thinking. It wasn't the first time I'd gotten that reaction from someone seeing me naked for the first time.

I was bigger than average. Not just long, but thick. I didn't think that was all that unusual for a guy my size, but what the hell did I know? I didn't go around looking at men's penises.

"Mind if I come in?" I asked, stopping at the bank.

My arms hung awkwardly by my sides. I'd considered fisting my cock, but I was determined to avoid doing anything that might scare off this classy, independent, amazing woman. I needed to know if she was still okay with this, especially since we'd just met.

But if all she wanted to do was cool off, I was fine with that too. I'd rather do other things, but we could always work up to that later.

The smile that spread over her face in response told me good things were going to happen this afternoon. Very good things.

I took one last glance over my shoulder, even though I knew nobody would be back there. Old habits died hard. Then I plunged in.