Chapter 4

Hearing Jesse, knowing he was near, helped keep the beasts, and Bigfoot, at bay. If he was real, we were in his territory, and that thought amplified every sound in the night. But with Jesse beside me, my overactive imagination was quelled by the cadence of him. In his tent, I might have actually been able to fall asleep, despite being close to the ground in the middle of the woods with nothing but fabric as a shield, except…I couldn’t stop shivering.

Even in my hoodie and with the sleeping bag cinched around me, I was chilled to the bone. I tended to get cold easily, but I had no idea it would be this cool at night. We weren’t that far from home, but apparently high enough in elevation that it made a big difference. And outside. Why would anyone choose to sleep outside? Especially not when they had a big, soft bed with fluffy blankets to burrow into. I missed my bed.

“Reed, your teeth are chattering so loud it’s making my jaw hurt,” Jesse said.

“I’m sorry. Can’t help it. I’m freezing and can’t seem to get warm.” Another shiver jerked my body.

“Alright, we can fix this. Turn your sleeping bag around so it opens on this side. I’m going to do the same.”

Through lots of wriggling and twisting, we both flipped over until we were facing each other. The lantern light shone over us, and Jesse’s rich brown eyes appeared right before mine. He gave me a sheepish smile, and it was sweet. Very sweet.

“So, yeah. Let’s unzip, and we’ll just have to get nice and close, share body heat.”

“You want to spoon with me?” I asked with surprised amusement.

Jesse smirked slightly. “What I want is to get you warmed up so we can both get some sleep. Spooning is a side effect we’ll have to risk.”

Sounded like a fun risk to me. I didn’t often share a bed with someone. Fucked, sure, but not the cuddling, breathing the same air kind of thing. Besides freezing my ass off and wanting anything I could get to help me heat up, being in Jesse’s arms seemed like a really good idea.

“Big spoon or little spoon?” I asked him.

Jesse cleared his throat. “Seeing as how we need to get you comfortable, I think that makes me the big spoon.”

He bent down and unzipped his sleeping bag, holding it open. I did the same and scooted closer to him, facing away from him. With both of our bags covering us, he wrapped his arm around me, my back in front of his chest, but not quite touching.

“Is this okay?” he asked, his breath fluttering against my ear.

I snuggled even closer, enjoying the heat that radiated from him. My body finally un-tensed after shivering for so long. I sighed in relief. “Yeah, that’s nice. Thank you. You okay?”

“Um, yeah. Just don’t wiggle around too much. And also, I apologize in advance if you feel…anything.”

“Like what?” My mind went all over the place; snakes, bugs, Bigfoot steps. What kind of anything was he talking about?

“Please don’t make me answer that.” Jesse pleaded with desperation. It took me a minute to rein my paranoia back in and realize what he meant. With the position we were in, my ass was a couple inches away from his crotch, and damn, his telling me not to wiggle only made me want to do it more. I suppressed the urge to chuckle, but couldn’t fight the smile that pulled at my lips.

“Right. This is a no-judgment tent. Besides, it’s your space, and you’ve been generous enough to help keep me comfortable. Which I am, by the way. I think I can handle the side effects. Thank you, Jesse. Rest well.”

His entire body seemed to relax behind me, and he let out a soft sigh. “Rest well, Reed.”

Jesse felt so warm that I seemed to draw nearer throughout the night, enjoying the cocoon we made together. The noise of the forest and the wind and everything that shouldn’t be there when I was trying to sleep drifted away. Gone was the fact that we were sleeping on the ground, or outside, or in a tent. Gone was the lack of privacy, with other people sleeping behind fabric walls close by. It was just the two of us, alone, in the coziest suite there was.

My body had a mind of its own, though I admit I was aware enough and did nothing to fight it. I inched closer and closer to him, curious to see if his body had reacted to our situation as much as mine had. Because, yeah, I was sporting some serious morning wood. It would be nearly impossible not to with his breaths against my head and his arms wrapped around me.

Another wiggle and I sucked in a breath, feeling his hard cock nudge my ass. His thermals did nothing at all to constrict his erection. I moved back, trying to maneuver him to nestle between my cheeks when his arm tightened around me.

“Would you stop that?” His voice was gruff with sleep and so very sexy.

“Stop what?” I asked innocently and rubbed my ass against him again.

“Fuck, Reed. What are you doing?”

“Nothing at all.” Squirm, rub, wiggle. My own cock was throbbing now as I continued to tease him.

“It’s not funny, Reed. If you keep doing that, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

“No-judgment tent. Remember? You helped me out, which I appreciate. Maybe I can do the same for you.”

I reached between us and gripped his cock through his long underwear, enjoying the hiss that slipped from him.

”We can”t do this.”

I stilled my movement, realizing I didn”t know anything about the guy, besides catching him checking me out and waking up with his boner at my back. Those were important details. But there were probably some questions that needed asking.

”Are you in a relationship?”

Jesse sighed heavily. I might not have been great at them, but I wouldn”t be the one who broke up a couple. Not intentionally, at least.

”No. No, I”m not.”

One side of my lip tugged up. “Good. Neither am I, by the way.” I turned up my best salesman charm, and added, “So, I see no reason not to do this.”

Behind me, I cupped his balls and gave them a squeeze, before wrapping my hands around his cloth-covered dick.

“Fuck me!” Jesse bit out, even as he pumped into my hand. Okay, he wasn’t pushing me away or stopping this. He let out a groan when I was the one that paused, pulling my hand away. “Don’t toy with me, Reed.”

His desperation made my grin stretch wider, but I was far from done with him, merely needed to rearrange. I tugged at the waistband of my sweatpants and slid them down to my thighs. I was bare beneath them and wriggled back in place until Jesse’s cloth-covered cock was resting perfectly between my cheeks. I grabbed his hand and placed it on my hip as I began to work myself against him. Was it forward? Yeah, probably. But I didn’t have a problem with being forward sexually. It was the what to do with the guy after that I struggled with. Hell, I’d already spooned with the man all night; the least I could do was get him off. Or both of us, if I was lucky.

Jesse moaned and tightened his grip on my hip before sliding his hand forward and brushing his fingertips against my shaft. Looked like I might be lucky, too. His fingers wrapped around me, stroking and twisting, causing me to buck into him. His hips moved in sync with mine as we writhed together. The sexiest of spoons. He ground against my ass, the fabric a wicked delight against my skin as he jacked me to the wild rhythm.

“Fuck! Reed! I’m almost there.” Jesse’s voice was frantic with need. He let go of my cock and put enough distance between us to pull his dick out from his thermal bottoms. Nothing separated us as he took me in hand once more and thrust between my cheeks.

His thumb brushed over my head, putting the slightest pressure on my tip. It undid me. I came hard, spurts covered his hand and my belly. Jesse grunted loudly as he shot warm cum onto my back. Both of us were left panting and breathing hard, neither of us moving from our position.

“Good morning,” I said, breathless.

Jesse let out a loud laugh. “What the hell just happened?” He released his hold on me and flopped onto his back.

My front and back were sticky, but I didn’t have any of my stuff here and I didn’t want to ask to use something of his to clean up. Instead, I pulled my sweatpants back up and put my hoodie back in place, hoping to find somewhere to wash up later.

I turned to face him, noting the look of contentment on his face, and propped myself up on my elbow. The need to continue touching him swept through me. I managed to hold back from rubbing his chest or tracing his body through the skin-tight thermal shirt. His bottoms were still down, flaccid cock just sitting there for me to admire. Did I have any right to run my fingers over him? We’d gotten each other off, sure. But hadn’t even kissed. It wasn’t intimate, just a much-needed release.

He shifted his gaze to meet mine before shaking his head. “Reed fucking Dawson.”

The way he said it with equal amounts of exasperation and wonder had me feeling like it wasn”t the first time he”d said my name like that, and I kind of hoped it wouldn”t be the last.

“At your service,” I replied.

Jesse gave an awkward laugh. My eyes roamed over him, catching again on his dick resting on a bed of dark curls. Under my gaze, it began to thicken again. Jesse pulled his thermals back up, tucking himself away. Pity. I salivated at the thought of watching him harden, ready for more.

He cleared his throat. “My eyes are up here.”

When I returned my attention to his face, I noticed that there was a tint of pink in his golden cheeks. He looked beautiful like that.

Jesse ran a hand through his hair and let out a deep breath. “This…this can’t happen.”

I itched to reach out and caress him. Would he even want that? He’d been so hot and cold since we got here. Well, maybe more indifferent and annoyed, and then very hot.

“And why is that? We’re both available. No harm, no foul.”

Jesse sat up. “Because. You’re you, and I’m me, and this can’t go any further.”

Wanting to be on an even level with him, I pushed myself to a sitting position. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re Reed Dawson, Prince of Printech. And I’m just the baker’s wife.”

I felt my brows pinch and my lips purse as I tried to figure out what that meant. “Wait. What? Who’s this baker and what makes you their wife?”

“No, it’s…shit. I don’t know. My head’s all over the place. I was thinking of the musical, Into the Woods. You’re royalty, and I’m having some bizarre Moment in the Woods moment.”

“What makes you think I’m royalty? I’m just in sales.”

“Shit, Reed. You’re not just in sales. You are the whole damn department. I can’t go anywhere at work without seeing your face all over everything.”

That was true. At first, it was weird as hell being on the company promotional stuff, but I found satisfaction in the fuck-you-ness of it. I bet it made my uncle’s skin crawl, having to see me everywhere, painted fingers and all. Never what he wanted me to be, yet unable to escape my presence. But I didn’t like the way Jesse said it, as if it was an affront to him.

“What’s wrong with that?”

Jesse scrubbed his hands over his face and let out a sigh. “Nothing. There’s nothing wrong with that. They couldn’t have picked a better person for it. It’s just…you’re here, and this is all fucked. I just wanted to escape and not have to look at your gorgeous face for a few days.”

Jesse stood abruptly, as much as he was able to inside the tent, grabbed a pair of pants, and stuck his feet into shoes. I sat there, slack-jawed, while he intentionally avoided eye contact through the whole slow, torturous escape. When he unzipped the tent and left without saying another word, I sat there, stunned.

“What the hell?”

Sitting here wasn’t going to help me get the answer to that. Grabbing my sneakers and lacing them up, I stood and righted my clothing. The skin beneath was still covered in dried cum from both of us. How had we gone from the hottest of ass-job mornings to him unable to get away from me fast enough?