He put the basket in the kitchen.

  "I need to grab some towels and my toiletries."

  He followed her into the bedroom. "I love the way it smells in here. Is it perfume?"

  “I trade jams for scented soaps and lotions. Myra, she runs a stall with honey and sweet smelling things, she makes a special blend for me with wild rose and a hint of lavender."

  He breathed deep. "I like it."

  "The showers just around the bend here are bigger than mine. Hotter too and they're relatively empty. All the people returning from the orchards use the stalls near the temporary housing."

  "I need to run to our caravan to grab a change of clothes. Come with me?"

  She nodded and he took the bag she'd filled with her things.

  "You were raised well,” she said when he opened the door for her as well.

  "My mother taught me to always open a woman's door and share her burden if I could."

  They walked back toward their caravan and she followed him inside, not hiding her curiosity as she walked through.

  He grabbed clean clothes and his kit. He and Hatch hadn’t slept over at her place when they’d been with her before but he very much hoped they would that night. They had the following day off and he planned to see if she wanted to head out and maybe hike or see the outlying area with them. Maybe have a picnic. Whatever.

  “I’m just going to leave a note for Hatch.”

  After he’d jotted down that he was going to shower and be at Summer’s place, he left the note on Hatch’s pillow and joined her in their small living area.

  “This is beautiful.”

  She was looking at the photograph hanging there.

  “My mother is a photographer. She took that one and gave it to me a few years ago for my birthday.”

  “She’s got a great eye.”

  He moved behind her, sliding an arm around her waist, pulling her back against his body.

  “Thank you. You want to go?”

  She quirked a smile, turning her head to see him better and then he kissed her.

  His hands slid up to cup her breasts and she moaned softly.

  “Shower. And then you and I are going to finish this up at your caravan.”

  “Okay.”

  They walked, hand in hand, to the showers near her place. It was, as she’d indicated it might be, empty.

  “People will start showing up soon enough. But for now it’s just us.” She hung up her clean clothes and slung the towels over the side of the enclosure wall. Then she dropped the dress she had on, along with her underpants, bending to toss them into her bag.

  “Damn.” Charlie grinned, his gaze never leaving her as he stripped, moving to join her as he hung his toiletries bag.

  She hadn’t been alone with him this way. Yes with Hatch and the beginnings of this at the social. But naked and clearly on the verge of fucking, not yet.

  “I like to watch. But not so much being watched.” He licked up her neck. “This first time between you and me I want to be alone.”

  “I was just thinking that.”

  They washed off quickly. Not that there was really another way anymore. There were no long showers in caravan camps, even permanent ones like Paradise Village.

  “Wait. I didn’t…well we had other things to do the other night. I want to look at you.” Summer circled him.

  Colorful swirls of ink covered him from his knuckles up his arms. A lot of it was old school, pre-sickness designs. Face cards and roses. Across his back from shoulder to shoulder it read FRANCO, his last name in script. Wrapped around his name and below it were two incredibly detailed wings. One or two feathers had been inked below it, one on his ass, the other on his thigh, as if they’d fallen from the wings.

  One on thigh he had a skull and crossbones, on the other a mermaid, the type used on the bow of a sailing ship. Up his sides though, on the right, she ran fingertips over the raised edges of a date branded there.

  “Did this hurt?”

  He moved his arm, peeking at her as he did. “Yes. Part of the appeal at the time, I suppose.”

  “Meaningful day?”

  “The day I lost my dad.”

  She pressed a kiss there and he closed his eyes a moment. “It’s all beautiful.”

  He pulled her close, kissing her. “Thank you.”

  Her hair wrapped in a towel, she led the way back to her place.

  Two steps inside he dropped everything and picked her up instead. She laughed, wrapping her legs around his waist, her hair tumbling free from the towel as it fell.

  He backed her to the nearby doorway, pressing to hold her there so he could pull the front of her dress down to expose her breasts.

  He bent to lick over one and the other, making a rough sound when she yanked his hair.

  “Bed,” she gasped out. “I can’t get at any of your good parts this way.”

  He stumbled into her bedroom, falling to the bed with her. He’d wanted to go slow, wanted to seduce her, but this wasn’t that at all.

  Instead she rolled up to her knees and tossed her dress one way and her panties the next as he scrambled to get his shirt and pants off.

  He shoved her back to the mattress and landed atop her, his mouth finding hers as she hooked one of her calves around his, bringing his cock to slide against her cunt, which was already hot and wet.

  “Yes.” She arched to get more of him and he hissed at how good it felt.

  “Wait, wait. I want to eat your pussy first. I’ve been thinking about it all day.”

  “I want you to fuck me.”

  He went to his elbows. “Oh, I will. First with my tongue and then with my cock. I promise.”

  He swirled his tongue around one of her nipples and then the other. Over and over again. She writhed against him, her nails digging into his sides as he hardened what felt like impossibly so, the tip leaking, making the friction against her belly delicious.

  He licked down her belly, through the salt of his precome, and settled between thighs held wide by his shoulders. When he pushed her hips back, holding her in place, honey rained all over his lips as she gasped.

  Okay then. Someone liked being handled. He could get behind that, because he liked handling her.

  He lifted his head to find her watching. “Don’t take your gaze from me. See who’s going to make you come.”

  One corner of her mouth tipped up, but she didn’t stop watching.

  He took a lick and then another before brushing his lips over her clit, just a breath of sensation. She arched into him, demanding what she wanted.

  He was so hard he ached, his cock brushing against bedding that smelled of her. She surrounded him. Her skin, her scent, her taste.

  Despite being so hot for her, he took his time. Learning her. What she liked and where. How hard, how fast.

  She liked it when he sucked her clit as he licked the underside. Tried to squirm away when he dragged the edge of his teeth against it but sighed when he used the tip of his tongue to circle the hood, using the friction of skin on skin instead of direct contact on her clit.

  Her gaze was still on him but it began to blur as she drew closer to climax. Her taste deepened as the muscles in her inner thighs trembled a little.

  As he’d promised, he fucked into her with his tongue while he brushed the pad of his thumb back and forth over her asshole. Slowly, with a little more pressure each time.

  Her cunt was juicy, which eased his way when he pressed his thumb just inside her ass, stroking against nerve endings unused to stimulation. He smiled against her pussy as she whimpered.

  He pushed her then, using the thumb in her ass and his mouth latching onto her clit.

  Her back bowed as she came hard, her fingers digging into his shoulders as she did.

  She was still lazy with endorphins when he pulled back. “Roll over. I want that pretty ass in the air.”

  She reached out to slide her thumb through the slick at his slit. “It’s my turn.”

&nb
sp; “Baby, I’ve had my cock in your throat and it was fantastic. But I want it deep in your cunt right now.”

  He moved her just how he wanted, spreading her thighs, arranging her and she nearly lost her mind. She’d been wet before, but the way he…used her just then, something about it really worked.

  “Want to look at all this pretty ink while I fuck you.”

  “Uh huh,” she managed to mumble.

  And he was in her. Gloriously hard and deep. He stilled for long moments as he petted over her back and sides.

  “Goddamn, yes.”

  She pushed back and pulled forward and hissed.

  The sensation sliced through him. “Yes, fuck yourself back onto my cock then.”

  Bracing her hands better, she curled her back, moving on him like he’d told her to. Taking what she pleased.

  His cock was thick and swung a little to the right, brushing against her inner walls just right.

  He reached around her body to pinch and tug her nipples. “Love how your cunt hugs me tighter when I do that.”

  She was beyond words at that point so she mumbled in assent.

  He brushed his fingertips over her belly and then lower, spreading her labia apart to expose her clit. Each time she pressed back, her skin tightened and he slowly circled her clit with his middle finger.

  The build up was slow but intense so that within a few minutes her thighs trembled and her bottom lip ached from where she’d bitten it so many times.

  “Can feel how close you are, baby. Come all over my cock.”

  He squeezed her clit then with slippery fingers. Gently, but relentlessly, over and over until orgasm slammed into her and he took over the thrusting, fucking into her body with a slap-slap-slap of skin on skin as he did it.

  “Yes, so close. That’s it.”

  He groaned, coming in a hot rush as he continued hard, deep digs into her body until he finally bent and kissed her spine.

  “I feel much better now.” He settled on her bed and she flopped next to him. “I’m making you dinner for that.”

  She laughed. “Yeah?”

  “I suppose I should have waited for an invitation. But I’d like to spend some time with you.”

  She moved to lean on her hand and look at him. “I usually meet my sister for dinner in the Commons. If you’d like to come along, that’d be fine.”

  “I’d like that. Hatch has spoken highly of her.”

  There was a rap on the front door and he grinned. “Speaking of Hatch.” He brushed a thumb over her cheek. “You want me to let him in?”

  She rolled from bed, grabbing a robe on the way to the door. “Stay. I’ll go let him in.”

  When she opened he was there, his hair still wet, curled at the bottom. He looked up from the bouquet of flowers he had, smiling when he noted it was her. “Hey.”

  She couldn’t have stopped her answering smile even if she’d wanted to. He thrust the flowers her way and she took them, standing aside so he could come in.

  He paused after he closed her door, bending to breathe her in at her neck. “You smell good. Like fucking. And Charlie.”

  “Fucking Charlie?”

  He grinned. “That too.”

  “I’m going to put these in some water. Charlie’s in the bedroom.”

  “I’ve seen him today but I haven’t seen you in three days for more than a brief hello at your stall in the mornings before we went out to the orchards.”

  “Okay then.” She went into her kitchen and found a pretty vase to put the flowers in, along with some water before centering them on her little table.

  He moved to her once she’d stepped back from the table. He spun her in his arms and kissed her hard and fast. Her head spun too, but from his taste and the way he felt.

  He pulled the robe open, his hands all over her as she arched into his hold.

  “Want you so much,” he murmured as he kissed his way down her neck. “Never stopped.”

  She didn’t want it to mean anything to her.

  But it did.

  He picked her up and put her on the table, stepping between her thighs. He shoved her robe back, leaving her totally naked.

  “So fucking beautiful. Skin flushed. How many times did he make you come?”

  He flicked her left nipple and she flinched, but realized it didn’t hurt. She swallowed and let herself feel that edge as pain hovered but never descended.

  “Twice.”

  He brushed down her ribs with the backs of his fingers, sliding to her hips and then to her cunt. His pupils seemed to swallow all the color in his eyes as she sucked in a breath and he blew one out between his teeth.

  “You’re wet with him.”

  Summer nodded, beyond words as he gave her a light slap against her labia. “Mmm, someone likes it a little rough.”

  After he pushed her back, she reclined on her elbows as he spread her even wider. She knew what was next but when he slapped her pussy three more times she gasped and then shivered.

  So.

  Much.

  Sensation.

  He knelt and looked at her. “You’re so lovely. Pink and slick. Your clit is puffed up, ready to be touched.” He did just that, a ghost of a touch.

  He hadn’t touched her like this before. Oh sure, they’d gone at it hard and fast, but this was something else. Something different. The darkness of it pulled at her, made her lethargic as she simply took him in.

  He surged to his feet and licked up her belly. “You make me so greedy. I want all of you. Every last bit. Not just sex, Summer. I want all of you. Period.”

  She didn’t speak, fascinated by the look on his face. She moaned when he flicked her nipple again, this time a little harder. He watched her carefully, smiling when her nipple hardened.

  Dipping his head, he licked over it, laving the sting and then giving her the edge of his teeth.

  “Going to fuck you.”

  “Yes.”

  She felt the curve of his lips against her skin as he smiled.

  He straightened up, unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, pulling his cock free and then he reached out, grabbing her upper arms and pulled her to sit. She swallowed hard and stuttered a breath.

  “Too much?”

  She shook her head.

  “Give it to me.”

  He pulled her ass to the edge of the table and in one movement he was in her, thrusting, fucking her hard and fast.

  “I don’t know that this will ever burn out. Don’t know if this need for you that crawls over my skin will ever be sated.”

  “I’m right here. Take what you need.” Her words were slightly slurred as she held on.

  “You’re slick with Charlie’s come. Anyone else and I’d be bothered. But this? It’s fucking hot.”

  It was and she didn’t care why. Didn’t care how she was supposed to feel. Only that she felt beautiful and sexy. It wasn’t that she was transported back to what they were before. Though that connection had never died. He was someone to her in a way no one else but Dulce had ever been.

  He fucked into her body hard and deep. Concentration etched lines next to his eyes, his mouth a slash nearly snarling. His fingers held her upper arms, putting her exactly where he wanted.

  “His hands have been all over you.”

  “His mouth. His cock.” Wanting to incite him. Getting caught in the pull of this moment.

  “Did he bury his face in your pussy? Lick and suck you until you came all over his face? Put your heels up on the table, hold your ankles.”

  She obeyed, but she wasn’t the one to answer his question. Charlie stood in the doorway to her bedroom, his hand on his cock in a loose hold as he jerked himself. Watching.

  “I did.”

  “And you fucked her.”

  “To be technical, she fucked me. Slid that sweet, hot pussy back on my cock over and over.”

  “Yeah. God yeah.” Hatch kept on and with her heels up, he got in even deeper, leaving her totally open, physically dependent on his h
old to keep her up with her hands where they were.

  He leaned in and sank his teeth into her shoulder. Not hard enough to break the skin but enough to make her gasp and rocket to the edge of climax, hovering there. He groaned through his teeth as he came.

  He picked her up and carried her to her small bathroom, setting her on her feet as he got to his knees with a wet washcloth and cleaned her up, needing that gentleness after the way he’d come in and taken her.

  She set him on fire in ways he couldn’t have begun to imagine when he was younger. And the way she responded pushed him. Ha, pushed him. She shoved him. In the heat of that moment between them on her table they’d clicked perfectly.

  But he wanted to be sure in the afterglow, she was still all right.

  He stood, taking her face in his hands, looking at her for long, quiet moments. “We all right?”

  She cocked her head, her eyes lit with mischief and it made him smile. “How do you mean? You didn’t make me come. Afraid I’ll start rumors?” she teased.

  “I was rough. And you know I’ll make you come many more times before tomorrow, so stop.”

  Tenderness skated over her features and he fell another thousand feet back into love with her. “You were rough, yes. But I liked it.” She blushed.

  “Yeah?”

  She nodded her head. “It felt…” She shivered as she tried to find the words. “I liked it,” she repeated.

  He nodded, brushing his mouth over hers. “Hi.”

  “Hi yourself.”

  Charlie approached, snugging himself against Summer’s backside, leaning over her shoulder to kiss Hatch. “Everything okay?”

  “Went down to the processing center. The manager down there likes me. He said they’re going to be looking for a site manager up here in a few months.” Hatch shrugged. When he’d heard it though, a thrill had run through him. They’d most likely be able to stay in Paradise Village going from one harvest to the next. But a management position meant a housing chit so they could have a place to live in Paradise Village.

  The idea of roots had appealed for a while now. But with Charlie at his side, Hatch had been fine to drift until they had a real reason to stop. And that reason stood in front of him right then, looking up at him with those big blue eyes.