Page 24 of Take Me Slowly, Part 1 (Aurora Hollow duet #1)

RILEY

I grinned as squeals and shouts echoed off the ravine walls. The raft hit a rapid and spun. The tourists on board cried out again. I righted the raft and faced us down the next section.

Most of my attention was on the river, but every so often I glanced over to Leah. Every time, she was smiling at least as big as me. Clinging to the raft, but enjoying every moment.

Connor, steering the raft in front of us, shouted out something to Charlie, who was controlling the raft with him.

She worked for us for almost as long as we'd been doing this.

The brunette was at least as out of her mind as we were.

She'd come to Aurora Hollow from England for a holiday and never left.

She was also a constant reminder of what we had to lose if we ever shut the business. It wasn't just us, we had staff to consider.

Right now, none of that mattered. The only things that did were enjoying the rush, and keeping the raft right-way up.

"Hold on tight, folks," I called out. "Here's where it gets hairy."

I caught a glance from Leah and grinned. Her face and hair shone from water dripping down her, but she didn't seem to notice or care how wet she was on the outside. I'd bet an entire year of earnings, her pussy was just as wet.

She smiled back, then she was squealing along with everyone else as we hit a wild section of river. The raft was thrown hard left, then hard right, dipping and swishing, threatening to tip but righting itself at the last moment.

A laugh burst out of me, pure enjoyment, pure rush.

This was what life was for. These moments.

These risks. If I could have held onto this sensation forever, I would.

The only thing better was mid-orgasm. Those seconds when the world disappeared and the only thing left was the rush of blood through my veins.

"This is insane!" Leah shouted, but she was laughing at the same time.

"That's why I like it so much!" I shouted back.

She tipped her head back and laughed, exposing the column of her throat above her lifejacket.

I wanted to lick the river water from her neck. To taste the salty sweat on her skin. To taste all of her. To watch and listen to her come.

The raft hit another rapid and spun again, before sliding down, finally into calmer water.

Right here, a burst of irritation spiked in my chest. Disappointment that the rapids were behind us. All we had to do now was steer down the river for another kilometre or so before we were finished. I would have liked nothing more than to drag the raft back up and do it all over again. And again.

We would, but not until tomorrow. Right now, that seemed like an eternity away.

"That was fun." Leah stretched her long legs out in front of her, her hands resting to either side of her, on the edge of the raft. The sun caught her dark hair, bringing out hints of auburn and mahogany as it quickly dried.

"I knew you'd think so." The paddle trailed in the water beside us, keeping us on course in the centre of the river.

"Is that so?" She raised her eyebrows at me.

"Absolutely," I agreed.

I'd yet to take anyone out here and then have them say they didn't love every minute of it before booking to come back again.

Everyone here, except for her, was a returning customer.

A handful came for the summer activities and then returned in winter to get their adrenaline rush on the snow.

Those were the customers who kept us in business.

"Has anyone told you you're cocky, Riley Crane?" she asked.

That drew a snort-laugh from Seth Winterstein, who sat on the opposite side of the raft. Another of our staff who'd been with us for a long time. A blow in from Ontario, he'd come to take tours with us and also never left.

Leah laughed. "I'm guessing that's a yes."

"Seth, you're fired," I told him jokingly.

Seth laughed and turned to make conversation with the woman who sat beside him.

"He never takes me seriously," I grunted.

"Poor baby." Leah leaned over to pat my knee.

I took one hand off the paddle to cover hers, her skin soft and smooth under my calloused fingers.

Fingers I would happily have slid inside her and made her come. Even in front of all these people. I'd never thought about having an audience before, but the idea made my cock twitch.

"Maybe you should come and work for me instead of him," I said without thinking.

Her smile faded and she pulled her hand back, flattening it out beside her.

"I just meant…" I started.

"I know what you meant," she said. "I wish I could."

She turned away to face ahead, toward the river as it became more and more glassy. From here, a section drained into the lake, while the rest disappeared down the mountain, into the ocean.

Every so often, I thought about Coral Clarke, and where she must have ended up. When we first started working out here on the rapids, I kept looking for her. As if somehow we'd find her after all this time, when no one else had.

Yeah, I know it was dumb, but what happened to her could have happened to any of us. It still could. I could fall off this raft right now and disappear. Except I wouldn't, because Connor would jump in after me. Plus, I was wearing a lifejacket like everyone else.

I pushed those morbid thoughts away and steered the raft over to the side of the river, where we let everyone off and pulled the craft up and out.

While everyone mingled and talked about how much fun they had, we dragged the rafts up onto the back of a truck, ready to be driven back to the top of the river.

"You need a hand?" Leah asked. She'd undone her lifejacket and left it hanging open over her blue tank top.

I wanted to make a joke about her hand on my cock, but I caught the look on her face. The set of her jaw and the stubborn determination in her dark eyes. Her body wouldn't stand the rigours of this job, but she wanted to prove she could at least do this. I could tell her no, but she'd help anyway.

Fuck, the woman was stubborn.

"Sure. Grab on to the rope. On the count of three, we tug it up." I grabbed on myself and nodded to her. "One. Two. Three." As one, me, her and Seth pulled the raft up on top of the others, before Seth started to tie all of them down.

"Nice work," I told her.

"Thanks." Seth grinned.

I would have flipped him off if we didn't have tourists present.

I could be unprofessional in private, not in public.

It'd be my luck if someone took a photo and put it up online.

Reputations took years to build, but they could be destroyed in seconds.

I wasn't going to do that to myself or to Connor.

That would be a one-way ticket off the mountain for me.

I settled for smirking at him instead, before turning back to Leah. "We need to gather up the lifejackets and set up the picnic."

Charlie already started to pull foldout chairs out of the back of the truck and set them up around the clearing.

"I'll gather the lifejackets," Leah said. She shrugged out of hers and walked around, taking them from people's hands before tossing the pile into the back of the truck.

"It feels like she was always here." Connor pulled out a cooler and carried it over to start handing out sandwiches and cups.

"Yeah, it does." I grabbed a couple of thermoses and took them around to give everyone coffee or tea. It wasn't as good as they'd get from the Snowdrop Café, but no one seemed to mind.

"Coffee?" I asked Leah as she held up her cup.

"Please," she said.

I poured the steaming liquid into her cup and then leaned to whisper in her ear. "I like it when you beg."

"If you think that was begging…" she whispered back.

"It was good for a start." I lightly grazed my lips over her soft, smooth cheek before stepping over to fill up everyone else's cup.

Once everyone had everything they needed, I was allowed to plop myself down on a camp stool, enjoy a cheese sandwich and watch the river meander past.

For the most part, we were the only ones who came here.

A hidden piece of paradise in the forest, at the end of a dirt road.

A time to stop and breathe after rushing down the rapids.

The opportunity for everyone to chat and get to know each other, sharing their experiences of the moment they thought the raft would tip and throw them into the water.

It happened often enough, but not today.

"It's beautiful here." Leah carefully lowered herself into the chair beside me.

"Almost as beautiful as you," I said. I enjoyed the way the colour crept up her face.

She looked into her coffee, but didn't speak for a minute or two. Finally she said, "I see why you like doing this. So many places up there—" She nodded back upriver.

"No one would ever see them unless they were on the water. Or in the water. It's like…we get to see secret places no one knows about."

"I like seeing secret places." My gaze dropped to her lap.

She reached out with her foot and nudged my knee. "I'm being serious here."

"So am I." I grinned. "What's not serious about that?"

"I don't know, it's just…" She shrugged. "There are other people here."

I stared at her for a moment, then slowly looked around as if I was surprised. "There are?"

She snorted and poked my knee with her toe again. "Yes, there are."

I leaned over and whispered. "If there wasn't, I'd be on my knees, eating you out right now. Maybe I should anyway."

"I don't think that's what they signed up for." She took a swallow of her coffee.

"Sometimes we like to add bonus experiences," I said. "But you're right. I don't want them to see. If they did, I might have to toss them all into the river." I didn't want to share her beautiful pussy with all of these people.

"You wouldn't do that." She frowned at me over the top of her cup.

"No," I agreed. "It would be bad for business."

She lowered her cup. "Then there's the little matter of being arrested and thrown in prison for the rest of your life."

"That would also be bad for business." I tossed the last corner of the sandwich into my mouth and chewed.

"Oh, I don't know. Seth seems competent." She was struggling to keep a straight face. "I'm sure he could replace you."

"Not a fucking chance," I said.

"What are you two talking about?" Connor offered us a box of cupcakes.

I snagged a chocolate one and nodded my thanks. "Leah was just saying how indispensable I am." I bit into the cupcake.

Connor grunted. "Sure she was."

I almost choked on my mouthful of cake, trying to swallow too fast. "Don't you start." I coughed a couple of times.

Connor, being the asshole he was, chuckled and moved on, handing out cupcakes to everyone who wanted one.

"You both suck," I muttered, but there was no heat in it.

"You wish," Leah said tartly.

I swung my gaze over to her. "You will . Come on, it's time to get everyone out of here." I rose and brushed crumbs off my shorts, leaving her to follow.