LUCAS
"I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die! I’M GONNA DIE!"
Luna twists and turns in her harness, scrambling for purchase on the rock. I keep the slack tight, belaying her from below. She screams and kicks and holds on for dear life.
She's twelve feet off the ground.
"You're fine," I laugh. "Seriously, Luna. You're hooked in, there's a crash pad, and I can catch you if all else fails."
From here, I have the perfect view of Luna's delicious body. The climbing harness tugs at her denim shorts so that they ride up and her butt spills out. Everything digs into her soft flesh, making my fingers jealous. Her fiery red hair glows in the morning sun.
A part of me wants to let her fall just so I have an excuse to catch her.
It's been years since my last visit to Pine Whistle. My brother is always hassling me to come out, but it’s hard to find the time. And when I do visit, he spends half our time together trying to convince me to become a fireman.
Maybe he should have told me that the local librarian is a total fox.
Look, I'm no stranger to beautiful women. I've traveled the world, climbed the highest peaks, and met a million free spirits along the way. I’ve seen beauty in all its forms.
No sight or sound or silhouette of a mountain against the sunrise has ever seduced me like finding Luna propped up on her toes in the history section of her library.
All I've been able to think about since is the way her primrose skirt rode up her thighs, the curve of her ass peeking out of the fabric, and the way she peered at me just over the rim of her nerdy glasses.
One look, and I was hooked.
"Reach, girl," I call out to her. "Plant your foot and lunge!"
I give her some slack as she takes a few manic breaths, lets go the line, and tries to leap for the next hold on the boulder.
Her fear disobeys her. She tucks instead of grabbing. I drop the belay line and catch her before the crash pad can. That's a move that goes against every climbing standard I live by, but desire makes us do crazy things, doesn't it? Besides, she wasn’t nearly as high up as she thought.
Luna gasps in my arms like she’s still falling, kicking her feet and squealing until she finally realizes that I'm laughing and she's safe.
"Not funny! I just fell like fifty feet!"
"Try twelve, Luna. I don't think I could've caught you if you fell fifty feet."
She looks up to where she was on the boulder. "Are you sure you don't have superhuman strength? It sure felt like fifty feet… I guess it doesn't look so high from down here..."
"Man, you weren't lying about your fear of heights."
"I have trouble climbing the ladder in the stacks." She blushes. "The fifth shelf is so high!"
"Like fifty feet high?"
She smiles shyly. "Not funny..."
Neither of us seems to think it strange that I'm still holding her in my arms. My fingers dig a little deeper into her thigh. Luna's mouth hangs slightly open, teeth just grazing her lower lip.
“So, what do you think?” I ask.
“I think you’re crazy for loving this.”
“Ready to go again?”
“Nope.” She shakes her head and nestles deeper into my arms. “You said try it once . I tried it. My heart can only take so much.”
Her heart isn’t the only one that’s strained.
A strap on her sporty top has slid down her shoulder, and I find myself desperate to get her out of the harness and keep on stripping her down until there’s nothing left.
I could take her right here on the crash pad.
Fuck, maybe I should have shoved her against the bookshelf yesterday in the library…
If I don't put her down immediately, that boulder won't be the only rock-hard thing around here.
I gently sit her down on the crash pad, clear my throat, and avert my gaze. "Anyway, that was a good first try. You took a leap. Getting over that initial fear is half the battle."
Maybe I should take my own advice...
All the tension in my body makes me want to move. If I'm not going to spend all this energy on her, then I have to expel it somewhere.
I crack my neck and stretch my arms, plotting my route up the boulder. "Ready to see how it's done?"
"Do you need me to do the belay thing? I don't think I'm ready for that..."
I take off my shirt, chalk up my hands, and smile at Luna over my shoulder. "Watch this."
Three steps and a leap. My fingers find their holds. Already, I'm leaving the ground behind.
Momentum takes me. I find a familiar rhythm that leaves no room for hesitation or active thought. Every decision is made at some instinctive level. The boulder is a path I easily travel.
The entire time, Luna occupies my mind. Every handhold becomes a curve of her voluptuous body. I grip and grab greedily. I claw at the boulder as viciously as I want to sear her pale flesh.
My breath heightens.
My forearms and legs burn.
But I keep going. Keep climbing as if I'm in those final desperate moments of holding this extreme pace until I bring her over the edge and hear her scream my name.
When I reach the top, Luna is clapping and cheering.
"That was insane! You're amazing!"
I plop down and hang my legs over the edge. Luna looks tiny from up here, but still so fucking gorgeous that it hurts. Admittedly, I can see down her shirt, and I let my gaze plunge into her milky cleavage.
I think I'll stay up here for a minute. If I come down now, Luna will see exactly how hard the thought of her makes me.
True to her word, Luna stays grounded for the rest of the day. She sits in the shade and watches me scale the low boulders, cheering me on even though these climbs are as easy for me as walking down the street.
Eventually, she kicks back and pops open the book she brought, some thick romance novel she’s just started. It’s nice, actually, having her down there while I climb. A companionable silence finds us, and I start to feel that same calm that I do when I’m out here alone.
Well, except when I catch myself staring at her for too long. Her legs glisten with a thin film of sweat, and my filthy mind can’t help but wonder how she would taste if I ran my tongue from her toes to her pussy.
Maybe I’m a dog, but I can’t help how I feel.
And I feel like I want to tear her apart.
We ride back into town in my VW Bus, windows down, wind blowing, and music blasting. Luna is shy, that’s obvious, but she’s starting to come out of her shell. I think hearing me belt classic rock makes her less worried about making a fool of herself: I have an awful voice.
She climbs into the back to explore the van bursting with climbing gear, camping equipment, and everything I need to live out of this thing when I’m not at my place in Kernville. In the rear-view mirror, I steal peeks at her beautiful butt as she snoops through my stuff.
I don’t mind, I’ve got nothing to hide from this girl.
This morning, I picked her up from the library, but I guess now she trusts me enough to let me drop her off at her apartment. It’s a nice little complex tucked away just next to downtown, shaded by trees.
We’re parked out front, and it feels like Luna isn’t ready to leave.
“That was… an interesting day,” she sighs and smiles at me from the passenger seat. “I couldn’t face my fear of heights for just anyone, Lucas. I hope you know how special that makes you.”
I’m leaning slightly over the center console, desperate for a hug or a fucking handshake—I’ll take anything she’ll give me.
“And a deal’s a deal,” I say, holding out my hand. “You climbed… even though it was only ten feet.”
“Twelve!”
“Sorry. Twelve. ” I nod and take her hand in mine. “So, what time should I come by tomorrow for my cataloging lesson?”
The softness of her palm sends fire through my arm and into my heart. It takes every ounce of willpower not to drag her into my lap and bury my lips in hers.
Luna laughs, brushing back a bit of her hair. “The earlier the better.”
“Yeah? Why’s that? That gives you the rest of the day to fix the mistakes I’ll inevitably make?”
Luna swallows hard, stuttering slightly. “N-no.” She shakes her head, chest heaving, and pulls me across the console. “Because I want to see you again as soon as possible…”
I pull her the rest of the way, taking her supple lips in a desperate kiss.
I should slow down, be thoughtful and gentle. But, fuck, this is all I’ve been thinking about since I saw her in the library.
We both exhale, refusing to part as I practically climb over into her seat. My hand finds her thigh, gripping it so tightly that I’m sure I sear her skin red. Luna whimpers and makes a little squealing sound, lips parting to allow the tips of our tongues to meet briefly.
She tastes like lemons and smells like new books.
My van’s horn blares under the weight of my elbow as I try to reposition. Luna yelps and jumps back in her seat, immediately bursting into laughter and fanning herself. “Holy… all right. That was… um…”
Her nipples are poking through her shirt.
Luna follows my eyes before I can look away; her cheeks suddenly look as flush as my cock feels.
“Yeah.” She takes a deep breath. “Obviously, we’ve both been thinking about doing that all day…”
“Thank God it’s not just me.”
I cautiously take her hand again, bringing it slowly to my lips.
“Luna… you’re kind of driving me crazy.”
She stares at me, jaw dropping a bit as I kiss her knuckles.
“Really?”
“Mhm,” I hum, running my lips up her wrist. “Is that weird?”
“Yes,” she huffs. “But also lovely.”
She glances out the window, back to me, and finally drops her head back against the seat and groans. “Do you know how badly I want to invite you inside?”
“How badly?”
Again, she glances at her stiff nipples.
“Ah,” I say. “Yeah, I’ve got a similar situation going on. We could… take care of that.”
“Are you crazy? We barely know each other. And… and…”
She just can’t seem to find the words as I kiss her hand.
“And you need to stop doing that.” She finally snatches her hand back. “ Tomorrow. Come to the library in the morning, that’s our second date. If we make it to three dates, we can talk about… our situations .”
“Deal.”
Just as she opens the door and moves to hop out, I grab her arm, holding her firmly in place. Luna gasps and looks back at me, lip quivering.
“But I can’t wait that long,” I say sternly. “How would you feel about having our second date sooner. Like, tonight?”
“Seriously?”
“Dinner at my brother’s house.”
“Oh, God. You already want me to meet the family?”
“It’s not like that. You’d be doing me a favor. With you around, maybe he’ll stop pestering me about getting a real job,” I laugh. “And, honestly, I don’t want today to end so soon. I want to spend the rest of it with you.”
“Wouldn’t it still be our first date?”
“No, because you can drive to my brother’s later. We both need to shower and probably take a long nap before dinner.” I shake my head and hold up a finger. “You see? There’s a good few-hour gap between our first and second date.”
Luna bites her lower lip like she doesn’t want to give that to me. “You’re really pushing it.”
“I’m a rock climber, Luna. Pushing it is sort of my thing.”
“Fine. But the food better be good.” She pops the door open. The old bus complains as she hops out as if it’s sad to see her go. “I’ll see you in a few hours for our second date, then.”
I lean over the console, reaching for her like Romeo reaching for Juliet. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come in?”
“Text me the address, Lucas.”
Luna shuts the door and hurries off before she can change her mind.
I sigh and try to convince my cock to stop raging in my pants.