LUCAS
This has been the best week of my life. My trip to New Zealand a few years ago was the best week of my life, but it's so far back in second place that I can hardly remember it.
Nothing existed before I met Luna.
My days revolve around her. Not climbing. Not summiting the nearest peak. Every part of my will and ambition orbits the shy librarian.
Much to her roommate’s frustration, we haven't spent a night apart since I took her between the stacks. At the apartment, Luna hushes me in her bedroom like we’re still making love in the library.
She always breaks her own rule, and we catch stray looks of contempt from her roommate when we're in the living room.
When she's at work, we take every opportunity given to us. She texts me when there are no visitors; I rush over if I'm not already there. We've had sex in almost every section. I'm even getting better at cataloging.
Climbing has taken a backseat. I postponed a major trip I'd planned with a friend this week. When he asked what the deal was, because my climbing partners know that I never back out of the trip, I told him that I've met the girl I'm going to marry.
He was convinced somebody had stolen my phone and sent the text.
None of this is like me. I'm even looking at houses in Pine Whistle.
Brock might think I'm a bum, but I've got money tucked away. I’ve had sponsorships, giant checks from competitions, and even done some freelance writing for outdoor magazines. Money isn’t an issue.
Living below my means doesn't make me homeless; I’ve just never had anything other than climbing worth spending money on.
Now, I can see a future that I never wanted before.
It all makes so much sense in my head: I can plant roots here in Colorado, Luna doesn't have to move anywhere and she can keep her job at the library, we can get a house together, and I can keep climbing all through the Rockies. A perfect dream. One with room to grow.
But does it make sense in her head, too?
Luna throws her arms around me from behind, pulling me from my daydream. I've been watching a squirrel feast on his nut on a high branch. The little creature leaps away and climbs.
It's the weekend, and I've taken Luna camping. For someone who grew up in Denver, with all this wilderness a stone’s throw away, she doesn't have much experience with the great outdoors. Though I don't have much experience reading, so I guess we balance each other out.
The sun is setting on our little campsite.
I found the place in one of the local maps in the library, and it was just a two-mile hike from where we parked the van off the back road.
A stream trickles down into a basin from the top of a thirty-foot cliff.
To our backs, a wall of trees gave us shade through the hot day.
We set our tent up under their canopy, and I've been doing runs up the wall all day while Luna reads or naps or cheers me on.
All day, we resisted the urge to fill the woods with our moans. Maybe resisted is the wrong word. There's a wall up. Something is preventing us—or maybe it's preventing me, and Luna is too timid to push the issue.
All week, the idea of our life together has been growing inside of me.
It's desperate to come out, boiling over and hissing on every breath.
Except I don't know how to have this conversation.
I've suspended myself from heights so great that it would've taken minutes to fall to my death, but I'm terrified of telling this girl how I feel.
Right now, this week is perfect. I don’t want to mess that up.
"You gonna climb again before the sun goes down? I wouldn't mind watching you." Luna says, still hugging me from behind even though I'm slick with sweat.
"Actually, I think it's your turn."
Luna lets go of me and scrambles back toward the tent. "Nope! I can't do it."
She crosses her arms, stealing a glance at the crag and the ropes I've run through anchors to the very top. The look in her eyes—one I've seen in new climbers so often before—tells me that she wants to try again, but she's afraid to take the leap.
Luna, baby, I know just how you feel.
"One more try." I grab the belay line and tug. "Totally safe. If you fall, I've got you."
Luna's lips move like her courage is trying to speak its first words. She tamps it down and throws her arms up. "I'm scared."
"It's rock climbing," I laugh. "Fear is part of the fun."
"Not for me. I like being in control of my environment, Lucas."
I nod, curling the rope around my hand. "Like in the library? Everything in its proper place."
"Exactly. That's my world: safe and tidy. Up there..." Her eyes follow the line up the rock. "There's just so many variables out of my control. The rock. The wind. The rope... you."
She meets my gaze and I speak with more conviction than I've ever known, "I'm one variable you can always trust, Luna."
"I feel like that's true. I want to believe it is. If I had to choose anyone to help me face my fear of heights, it's you. I just don't know if I'm ready to surrender that much control and let go..."
This conversation is about so much more than climbing some stupid rock. At least, it is for me.
"I'm scared too, Luna. Terrified." I let the belay line go and gather a small length of rope from my pack. "I don't think I've ever been more scared in my life."
She smiles and shakes her head. "You climb for a living. You're not scared like I am."
"Scared of you." I step up to her so that she has to crane her neck to hold my gaze. My grip tightens on the rope. "Scared of us. This... obsession that's taken hold of me. It feels like my first climb. Only this... you... feels so much higher."
I can see green forests in her eyes, swaying as the wind blows. Those supple lips curl inward, and a strand of her hair whips across her face like a flame.
"Yeah," she whispers. "I'm scared of that, too. You're an adventurer. You've seen the world. What happens when you get bored of me?"
"That'll never happen," I growl.
Luna shudders.
Her eyes dart to the rope in my hands.
"People have left me, Lucas. My parents… I didn’t grow up with people I trust,” she says. "I want to be brave for you. I want to face my fears with you. But... I need you to show me how. I need you to take control."
Maybe she thinks I'll walk her over, get her in the harness, hook her up, and force her to climb the rock. Maybe that's what she wants. Maybe she just needs that push. But I'd never force someone to climb when they don't want to.
That's not what I had in mind when I picked up this rope.
"Take off your clothes."
Goosebumps rise all over her flesh. A stammering breath bounces on her lips. "W-what?"
"You heard me, Luna." I nibble her ear between each word. "Take. Off. Your. Clothes. And do it slowly."
"What are you doing?"
I smile and kiss her neck. "Taking control. Trust me."
Just as she reaches for my face, I pull back and deprive her of the kiss she's desperate for. I keep an arm’s length between us, gesturing for her T-shirt to come off.
Luna laughs nervously.
I don't even smile.
"Now," I grunt.
Finally, she obeys. Luna’s full pale body meets the breeze as she loses her white shirt, her denim shorts, and her sandals. She flexes her toes in the hard-packed dirt.
My eyes feast on everything that her humble bra and panties fail to conceal.
"And the bra," I say, slowly circling her. "Keep those panties on. The red looks so fucking good on you."
Luna hesitates, but I know what this is doing to her. She can't stop squirming. Her thick thighs rub together like lovers in bed. Her nipples are hard pink knots on the peaks of her snowy breasts. And every time our eyes meet, I feel like she's silently begging me to take her in my arms.
"This is crazy. I've never done anything like this, Lucas."
"Neither have I." I unhook her bra for her. "And I've never taken a girl home to meet my brother. Or spent an entire week with someone I just met."
As the thick straps fall down her shoulders, I lick the sweat along her spine, savoring the salty taste of her skin.
Luna's foot kicks up, trying to work between my legs, but I slap it down and twirl my fingers in her hair. She squeals as I yank her head back and growl into her neck.
"If at any moment you want to stop, say Mount Everest. "
"What?"
"That's our safe word."
"We can have safe words?" Luna moans as I massage her tits from behind. "I think we should have established one the moment we met..."
"Say you understand."
She nods against the grip I have on her hair. "I understand."
"Then get on your knees."
She doesn't hesitate, and I let her down slowly before I finally release all that lovely fire on her head.
"Arms out," I say. "Wrists together."
Luna obeys me dutifully. Her fingertips are inches from the aching bulge in my shorts, but I don't let her touch it. Not yet.
She watches me intently as I work the rope around her wrists. The red color nearly matches the fabric of her panties and the flush of her chest.
"Is that too tight?"
Luna shakes her head.
"Good," I hum. "Don't move."
I take a few steps back and start to undress. Every inch of me I reveal sends a little quiver through her body. Her nipples jut out a little further, and her fingers wiggle. I take my time, finally dragging my boxers down just enough to expose the root of my cock.
When I stop short, Luna whimpers.
"What's that?" I smile down at her. "You want to see it?"
"I want to do a lot more than that..."
"Don't worry, you will."
I close the distance, bringing the bulge right up to her face. She peers up at me, letting the fabric of my boxers brush against her nose.
"Open your mouth, Luna. Go on. You want to see it? You want to suck my cock? Take it out."
I gently slap her bound hands as she reaches for my waist.
"No." With one hand on her head, I press her lips against my cock, letting her feel how soaked my boxers are. "Open your mouth and take it out."
"Lucas..."
"Now!"