Page 12 of The Fire Apprentice (Sylvania #5)

E lle stayed on Jane’s lap a little longer, digging her toes into Rowan and fiddling with the fabric bracelet at Jane’s wrist. She did that sometimes, although she couldn’t possibly remember the blanket the strip of fabric had torn from. Soon her attention waned and she slid down and padded back to Sunshine, and they began more practice. Elle had such focus for the task with the fire, doing it over and over as the puffs of flame grew larger.

Unable to sit any longer, Jane left Rowan lying in the sun and drifted around the edges of the courtyard. Sunshine’s den had chest-high rock walls around the entire perimeter except at the entrance they’d used. Elle couldn’t fall off the edge unless she went back through the entryway. Jane leaned on the wall, enjoying the warm sun. To the southeast, Axe’s rocky peak rose up at the edge of a green hillside, clearly below them at this height. From up here she could see over the slope of the hillside, over more forest and far away to a blue horizon where an uneven shape poked up. Was that the castle in Woodglen? She squinted but couldn’t make it any clearer.

She drifted along the wall. To the east more tree-covered slopes spread out and to the north she gazed down on the top of the mountain they had climbed on the main trail. The magenta rhododendron flowers dotted the greenery and nothing moved or cried out. Maybe birds avoided Sunshine’s peak, whether or not she ate them. Although Axe had been able to communicate with those towhees, but maybe the forest creatures found him less threatening than Sunshine.

Past the mountain to the north was another and another, trailing away in a never-ending ridge of rolling, forested peaks, with gray rock showing on the farthest ones. The entrance to the courtyard was on the west side and the wall rose higher there, blocking out the view.

Jane let the afternoon slip by, not wanting to think about the decisions before her. Finally the sun got low in the sky. Elle gathered a handful of fire mushrooms from a patch on the wall, and Rowan sat up, watching her. Jane joined him.

“What’s happening?” she whispered.

“Just watch.”

Elle piled the mushrooms in front of Sunshine. She caught some of Sunshine’s flame and picked up one of the mushrooms, and it sizzled in her palm. It exploded in a ball of fire that turned to smoke and drifted away. Elle frowned, staring at the charred bits in her hand.

Rowan held back a smile.

Sunshine gently nudged the child aside with her massive snout and when Elle crawled away, the dragon shot out a delicate curl of flame to roast the mushrooms.

Rowan handed Jane a travel biscuit. “I told her we’d eat our biscuits tonight,” he said. “I didn’t like to use up her supply of mushrooms.” They had removed the climbing belts and he packed them into his bag before peeling off his own biscuit.

How long would they be here? She couldn’t imagine taking Elle away from Sunshine or leaving Elle here. But that meant she would have to stay, which seemed outlandish—living up here and eating fire mushrooms every day? No doubt if she asked Rowan, she’d learn the mushrooms had all the nutrients a growing child needed. But even if she could stay, what about Rowan? He’d offered to find Elle, not to spend his summer living on a remote peak with her.

He sat close enough his body heat warmed Jane’s arm.

“What happens now?” she asked.

“They’ll sleep. They practice in the afternoon when it’s warm.”

“But what about tomorrow?”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s sleep on it and talk in the morning.”

He was right. She couldn’t do anything but wait a day—if they weren’t going to stay, they couldn’t climb down from here before dark. She nibbled off a bite of her biscuit. Rowan had devoured his and was already wiping the sticky bits off his fingers with a kerchief. He stood and after a moment of silence as he communicated with Sunshine, he took out one of the hammocks and hung one end on a protrusion of rock. He stretched out the material and tied the other end to a twisting branch of a tree hanging over the courtyard.

Were they going to share a hammock again?

Jane focused on Elle, who was licking her fingers. Skies her child needed a bath, but if Sunshine said she didn’t, Jane wasn’t about to get into an argument with the dragon about it. Maybe all that dragon fire kept Elle’s fingers clean. And they couldn’t waste the little water they had up here on bathing.

The sun was down behind the rocks and treetops in the west. Elle leaned on Sunshine’s flank with a wing draped over her and her eyelids fell closed.

Sunshine exhaled. Her eyes darted to Jane and back to Rowan. He stood straighter and listened. His brow furrowed. “She says... she says we can have hot baths?”

Was Sunshine teasing? Had she known what Jane was thinking? Jane slid off the rock and walked over. “Elle said something about bathing.”

Rowan tilted his head and glanced toward the back of the den, where the rocks rose up over Sunshine’s cave.

“What is she saying?”

“There’s a deep pool of rainwater on the back side of the cave. She uses the water to warm her cave through the night during the winter. She’s offering to heat it for us to bathe.”

Soaking her weary muscles in a hot bath? Scrubbing off the grime of the past few days? “Yes, please,” Jane said, smiling at Sunshine.

Sunshine nudged Elle to sit upright and folded her wing as she rose to her feet. She glanced pointedly at Jane—she didn’t have eyebrows but the ridge above her eyes rose—and Jane scurried forward to sit with Elle. With her wings lifting for balance, Sunshine lumbered across the courtyard.

“I’m ready to sleep, Mama.” Elle fell against her side.

Her child had never said those words before. Usually getting her to bed took cajoling and patience. If only all the children could have dragon nannies. “It’s almost time,” Jane said, snugging her arm around Elle. “Sunshine’s heating the bath water for me and Rowan.”

“You don’t have to.” Elle yawned. “Sunshine won’t make you bathe.”

“Unlike you, I like being clean.” But Elle was slumping over and didn’t reply.

Sunshine lowered her head into her cave and huffed out flames. They curled against the rocks at the back. She paused, inhaled with a woosh, and let out a torrent of fire.

Jane cringed back, gawking at the display. Beside her, Elle didn’t budge. Heat seared across the patio in uneven blasts. Sunshine kept gushing fire as a minute ticked past. She huffed out a final gust and her flame disappeared. She put her nose near the rock for a few heartbeats and stepped back.

Sunshine shambled back across the courtyard to lie against one wall. Elle was half-asleep against Jane’s side. Jane kissed her child’s head and stood, lifting her. Sunshine had her back leg out in an odd position. Jane watched her face for approval as she placed Elle there. The scales were warm and Sunshine’s wing came down, wrapping around Elle and holding her safely. Elle murmured, limp with sleep, and Sunshine’s wing covered her.

Jane waited a moment more, watching the place where her child had disappeared. Elle seemed content here. And Elle being here felt right somehow, like Elle and Sunshine fit together. At home, Elle played with the children at times, but other times she went off on her own like her mind was somewhere else, drifting in her imagination. Here with the dragon she seemed entirely present.

Sunshine’s eyelids drooped closed.

Rowan touched Jane’s elbow. “Come,” he whispered.

Jane exhaled and turned away. She followed him across the courtyard to the cave. Heat radiated out. A bath would be marvelous, especially with the twilight air turning chill. And Rowan—

Jane paused. Bathing meant getting naked. And Rowan would be there.

They’d be naked together in some kind of bath. If he did want her, surely something would happen. If this morning’s situation hadn’t been his usual one, if he found her attractive, he had to let it show. And if not... The night was dark with no moon and only the fading sunset. She could pretend to ignore him and the darkness would hide her blushing. Because she was sure to start blushing at the first glimpse of his long, lean body with—

“Here,” he said. He’d been pacing along the outside of the cave, examining the stone. As she moved toward him, he pointed to a cleft in the rock to the right of the cave’s entrance. Hidden behind a boulder, a narrow opening led behind the cave and upward.

“There’s another stair on the other side,” Rowan said. His face was shadowed. “I’ll head over there if you don’t need anything from me.”

Her hopes sank but she wasn’t about to tell him she needed him to satisfy all her prurient fantasies. “I’m all set.”

“Okay.” He moved away and into the rocks opposite her.

Jane stepped into the gap and climbed. She’d assumed they were going to bathe together. And she’d been looking forward to it.

Well, she had a hot bath to enjoy even if she was enjoying it alone. Since he wasn’t interested, this way was better. This way she wouldn’t be tempted to sneak glances at his broad shoulders, his naked chest, maybe a little lower...

Drat. She was a lecher. Rowan was probably glad to bathe in peace without her ogling him.

The steps in the rocks led outward to a wall with a view of the deep purple sky. Bright smudges of orange and yellow sunset stained the horizon to her right. She followed the steps around and farther up. Her feet were bare and as she reached the wide, flat stone at the top, it warmed her toes. Tall rocks surrounded her with the ones on the cave side radiating heat. A steaming pool of shimmering purple water reflected the sky overhead. Rowan must have another pool on the other side of the high dome of rock over the cave.

Rainwater running off the top of the dome over Sunshine’s cave must fill the pools. At the outer edge of the pool, the rock was only a hand’s width over the water’s surface, offering a view to the west and south. Rowan had given her the side with the sunset view.

She no longer had her spare underclothes, since she’d left her bag at the bottom of the peak, but maybe she could use the hot rocks to help with laundry. She would rinse all her soiled clothes and lay them to dry while she bathed. She peeled off her shirt, trousers, and underthings and wished she had her socks, but she was naked and she didn’t want to go back down to the chilly courtyard to get them.

Hot air off the rocks hit her front side as the cool wind over the mountains nipped at her shoulders and bottom. The first stars were out and she was up so high, as if she were up in the dark sky. Utterly naked. She studied her arms, holding them out and spreading her fingers against the sky. Her bracelet slipped down from her wrist, the one tiny bit of clothing she wore.

Being in a place like this was exactly the kind of thing that happened when you spent time with a fairy, wasn’t it? She never could have imagined doing anything like this. Maryanne would not approve of her reveling in her nudity with a fairy right across the rocks. Nudity was one step closer to tumbling. But the fairy in question couldn’t see her and he wasn’t interested anyway. It felt freeing to have the wind caressing her in places it had never touched. And besides, Jane thought with a grin, Maryanne approved of baths in general. Jane could assure her that dragons had all the facilities needed for keeping children clean.

Look at her, lying like a fairy.

Jane bundled her clothing near the water’s edge where she’d be able to reach it and stepped into the pool.

Skies it was hot. Her leg sank in and landed on a step, knee deep. She got her other leg in and paused to let her body adjust to the fierce heat. Brief snatches of cold stirred her hair but the intense heat of the pool rose up and chased it away. In the falling darkness and with the tendrils of steam off the water, the far edge of the pool was becoming hard to see.

She slid her foot along the step to its edge and down. This time the water rose to the top of her thighs. She reached back for her pile of clothing and pulled it into the water with her. Sitting on the first step sank her in to her chest. Skies it felt pleasant. Her sore feet and tired legs and stiff back were all softening. She relaxed and scrubbed at her clothes one by one, laying them on the warm rock dome to dry. When she finished with her laundry she slipped her body all the way into the pool.

The water was delightful. It closed over her shoulders as she bobbed farther in. If she stood, the water came to below her shoulders but when she floated it closed up to her chin.

The water wasn’t cooling at all. It must keep taking heat from the mass of rock all around it. And how easily Sunshine had heated it in only minutes. Dragon fire was remarkable.

The sky was dark with more stars shining. Steam filled the air—Jane could barely make out the edge of the pool, an arm’s length away. It was long and narrow, and she moved along the edge, watching the final orange glow disappear from the horizon. When she peered back toward the entrance, her white linen shirt spread on the rock was a bright blur in the dark. Steam beaded on her upper lip and forehead. Her bangs were plastered to her skin.

She let down her hair and worked the braid out until her locks floated around her. She scrubbed at her face with the water and dunked her head, staying under to let the water seep in toward her scalp. Her lower half had been soaking long enough that when she scrubbed at her skin, the layers of grime sloughed off easily. Jane kept at it until every bit of her skin was rubbed clean.

Was Rowan done bathing? Jane didn’t want to hold him up with going to sleep. He must be tired, especially after keeping guard two nights ago and sleeping in the hammock last night.

But the water was splendid. And Rowan could go to sleep without her. He wouldn’t mind if she stayed in the bath longer. She waded back to the steps to check the sleeve of her shirt—still damp. Her trousers might not dry tonight, but she could sleep in her underclothes and shirt. Or just her underclothes. She could lie on Rowan in only her underclothes...

Desire shivered through her center in spite of the steaming bath. She tried to focus on the water but her mind had other ideas—imagining his arms binding around her, his shirt open to press her breasts against his broad chest (where had her underclothes gone?), spreading her legs to straddle his hips, undoing the buttons on his trousers to feel that bump of his pressing against her... right... between... her legs.

Jane was so flushed with heat she reached for the edge of the pool as a wave of dizziness passed. Rowan was close, simply across the rocks from her in the neighboring pool. He’d hear her thinking lascivious thoughts about him! She had to get herself under control before they were face to face, whether they slept in one hammock or two. It wouldn’t be fair to lie beside him—or on top of him—with waves of desire rolling off her.

Of course tumbling would probably hurt if he pushed inside her. It always had before. But maybe it wouldn’t this time. Maybe this time it would be different.

But hadn’t she thought that every time before?

Regardless, she couldn’t have him inside her until she was drinking bitter tea again. Maryanne had probably “forgotten” to pack any tea for her intentionally, for this exact reason—to stop her from tumbling Rowan.

But Maryanne equated tumbling with intercourse. Jane could think of many other ways to enjoy it.

She pulled her body to the edge of the pool and leaned her arms on the top of the rocks. The air outside the pool and over the edge of the cliff was cool, even unpleasantly nippy with the sun down. She couldn’t leave the water while it felt so sublime—leaving would waste Sunshine’s effort to heat it.

And Rowan might be enjoying the hot water as much as she was. He might be drifting in his pool, thinking lascivious thoughts about her . Except he wouldn’t, would he? His behavior was so appropriate all the time, so reserved and controlled. He held himself back. He seemed likely to deny himself even a pleasurable daydream. And yet, he might feel attracted to her, given the reaction of his body that morning. He had to know she wouldn’t mind if he fantasized about her , not after the way she’d thrown herself at him. Was it something about her he didn’t like? Did he not want to get involved with a person who already had a child? Or was it too awkward to be with her after what had happened between Larch and her all those winters ago? Larch couldn’t still be interfering with her life, ruining things for her, could he?

Jane willed away her frustration and anger at Larch. She pulled her cold arms back into the hot water and pushed off along the edge of the pool. The vast spaces to the west of the mountain were shadowy now that the sky was night dark with only pinpricks of stars. The stars were brighter here than in the village, as bright as they’d been when she was young, growing up in Gold Gulch with no village lights. Here above the trees the sky seemed closer. She held a hand out at arm’s length again. She could barely see her fingers, pale white in the starlight.

At the far end of the pool, facing south, the light on the distant forest changed to a pale gold. Jane stared, confused for a moment before she glanced left. A giant golden moon was rising in the east. She crept toward the moon, entranced. Humans always said fairies’ skin glowed like moonlight. Larch had hidden this from her until he had her under the spell, but she remembered him having a sort of silvery sheen about him. But Rowan was different—golden like this moon peeking over the treetops. Warm and kind.

Someone cleared his throat behind her.

Jane whipped about. Someone was there, at the far end. It had to be Rowan, of course. But why would he have come to her side of the bath? Had he gotten tired of waiting for her to finish bathing? It was unlike him.

“Rowan? Are you all right?”

“Uh...”

Jane peered through the steam at him. He sat on the step at the entrance, slightly off to her right. His chest was above the water, reflecting the stars and moon. And there, a bit to the left, was her white shirt lying on the rock. And the steps she’d come down, even farther to the left.

The pool was one long curve. And she’d drifted around the end to Rowan’s side.

Jane might’ve blushed but in the steaming pool she couldn’t tell. Rowan hadn’t moved. His eyes were wide. Somehow in the faint light and steam she could see his chest expanding and contracting, or maybe she imagined the motion and was feeling her own labored breathing. Rowan was so solid. And skies he looked handsome with his hair wet and spiky and his chest bare. All around him was darkness and silence.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize our pools connected. I was watching the moon.”

His lips parted slightly and he watched her... with longing? This was what she thought every time she liked a man, and every time she was wrong and embarrassed herself.

“I could go back.”

He stared at her in silence. What was he thinking? Maybe he didn’t want her to go? He hadn’t responded with a solid, That would be a good idea.

She’d promised Maryanne she wouldn’t do this. Well, technically, she had promised not to fall in love with Rowan. She had not promised she wouldn’t tumble him in a hot bath at the top of a mountain in the moonlight. She drifted a little closer.

Rowan swallowed.

“Do you want me to leave?” He wouldn’t answer with a lie.

He didn’t respond.

She stepped closer until she had to tilt her chin up to see him. “Do you want me to stay?” she whispered.

Still no reply. What if he didn’t want her?

“Please tell me, Rowan.” Her voice sounded desperate even to her. “You said you wanted me to trust you. You didn’t want to keep secrets. But it feels like you’re keeping a secret. I’m probably wrong. I’m always wrong about this. But it makes me feel crazy that I feel sure there’s attraction between us but you keep rejecting me. Don’t mislead me. Am I wrong?”

“You’re not wrong.”

Relief swept through her. She wasn’t imagining it. “Do you want me to go? It’s fine if you do. I understand you might not want to do any—”

“I want you to stay.”

And suddenly Jane didn’t know how to proceed.

As if sensing her helplessness, Rowan slid down a step closer and the water crept up his chest. “You’re right. Hiding my feelings is misleading. I’m sorry I did that.”

“Why did you hide them? You can tell me if you don’t want me. I know I’m not—”

“You’re perfect.”

“I’m not.”

“You are to me.”

She wasn’t but she wouldn’t bother to argue. “What is it then?”

He dropped his head toward the water. “I’m afraid to touch you. I don’t want to upset you.”

Jane crept closer. “What if it upsets me that you keep away?”

He smiled and shook his head. “I don’t deserve you after what I did.”

“What if I deserve you?” She wasn’t backing down.

His smile faded. “I have nothing to offer you.”

“I can think of something.” Skies she sounded confident, and her fingers reached for him and brushed against his knee under the water, settling lightly on him.

“I don’t deserve you,” he said again, this time with a hitch in his voice.

“Couldn’t you tumble me anyway?” She bit her lip and gazed into his face, hopeful.

The barest smile curved his lips.

She traced a circle on his knee with her fingertip and teased him with a coy smile. “You wouldn’t have to enjoy it or anything.” His smile widened.

“I would enjoy every breath of it.”

His words trembled over her. She slid her hand onto him, both hands now, holding his knees on either side. “I can’t risk getting pregnant,” she said quietly.

“I understand.”

“And sometimes...” She didn’t know how to explain that she wanted him so badly while knowing having him inside her might be painful. If she started something with him, she’d eventually have access to bitter tea and her excuse to avoid that kind of sex would be gone. And if it hurt... She was tired of having sex that hurt. But if she didn’t offer him that kind of sex, he might no longer want her. She didn’t want to start things by misleading him about what she could give him.

He lifted his arm with a gentle splash and his warm finger tilted her chin up until their eyes met. “I wouldn’t do anything without asking you first, tea or not.”

“I might disappoint you.”

“I have no expectations,” he said.

“But—”

“You won’t disappoint me if you take care of yourself.”

Somehow in that moment she believed him. And maybe they wouldn’t even be together in a few days. She might never need to tell him about her issues if this was a one-night tryst inspired by the romantic mountaintop views. Although his words, the way he looked at her... Deep down she knew this wasn’t only a fling for him. But she couldn’t get out the words to tell him about her condition.

His arm dropped back to the water as she gripped his thighs and pushed herself up to perch on his knees, bringing them face to face. Her hair swirled around her and clung to her shoulders. His arms were braced at his sides. Jane curled her fingers around his legs and squeezed. Even in the hot water, Rowan’s body felt hotter.

His perfect lips beckoned her, closed now but they would open for her. Tilting forward on her arms, she leaned toward him and kissed him softly. Her body floated away from his, breaking her kiss. He had closed his eyes. She pulled herself down onto his lap and kissed him again and a fire ignited inside her. It happened easily—one touch and two kisses and she ached for more.

He kissed her sweetly, letting her tongue in without ravishing his own tongue all over her mouth the way other men had. The water lapped against her chest in a gentle slap and she kissed him harder, glad when he didn’t pull away.

His thighs were hard under her fingers and between her own legs, but in the center where she wanted him to be was only water. The absence built until she was moving sideways without even meaning to, over and off him, slipping her leg between his. In wanton longing she landed on his right leg, pressed him into her body, and sighed into his mouth with relief. She abandoned their kisses to focus on where she straddled his thigh, pulling it up against her and grinding on him with delicious sensations. She was so close it would take nothing for her to finish and she had no self-control. With a buck of her hips, dragging against him back and forth, she whimpered and shuddered, quivering through the waves of release until she went still.

She panted as she let go of his leg, floating up. She opened her eyes to find Rowan watching her. His expression betrayed nothing. His hands remained at his sides.

“Sorry,” she whispered, licking her lips. “I got carried away and I’ve been wanting you for so long.” She bit her lower lip.

One of his eyebrows lifted.

She floated back to his lap and closer to his body. He shifted and his hands found her thighs, holding her on. “Do, um...” She licked her lips again. “Do you want to keep going?”

He nodded slowly.

This time, with him holding her on his lap, she reached for him and settled her hands on his collarbones. She pulled her body forward to kiss him again. He kissed her back, matching her pace, and his firm hold on her legs started her body tingling again. He remained controlled this whole time while she had lost herself in a hot minute with his leg between hers and was all ready to go at it again. His composure felt like a challenge to her. A challenge to see if she could break it.

She parted from their kiss but leaned her body closer, pressing her breasts against his chest as she kissed his neck.

“Do you ever think about me?” she whispered in his ear. “When you’re alone?”

She took his earlobe in her mouth. It tugged against her teeth as he nodded. He breathed harshly through his lips. She sucked on his neck and wiggled her bottom closer until her shins brushed the rock step he sat on.

“What do you think about?”

He drew in a ragged breath.

She slid her hands down his chest and around his body and pulled herself against him and there he was, his erection seated against hers. She rolled her hips, rubbing on him with her own body from her base to her chest as his hands moved to her bottom and pulled her back in for another round. He moved in time with her, pressing into her. She had to slow down or she was going to climax again before he’d had any relief. She slowed, clinging to him.

His arms closed around her, hugging her against his broad chest. He dipped his head.

“Is this what you imagine?” he whispered.

Jane gasped as his soft voice rolled down her.

His arms held her fast. “You seem to like having your way with my body,” he murmured, and she tried to grind against him but she was too high up, pinned against his chest and unable to satisfy her longing. Even her arms were pinned beneath his. She stopped her struggle because she didn’t want him to let her go.

He held her in place with one arm as he pulled her sodden hair back from her neck and kissed her damp skin. His lips moved back to her ear. “I imagine you having your way with me.” His arms loosened and his hands smoothed over her back. She was free but she clung to him. His palms traced her sides to her waist. He kissed her ear. “I imagine you tying me to your bed and teasing me until I lose control and beg you.”

“I wouldn’t!” she whined, but he was kissing her neck again, lifting her up and sliding down beneath her until she straddled his torso and he’d lifted her half out of the water. Cool air shivered down her back and arms and tightened her breasts until his warm mouth closed around the tip of one.

She hung on to the rock behind his head, writhing under his hold as he sucked at her breasts, one after the other, hot in his mouth and cold out of it. But she couldn’t find enough of him to rub between her legs to bring her to completion.

“Rowan,” she begged, pushing him down but her movement only lifted her higher until he was leaning her back, back onto the surface of the water. She caught the edge of the pool and held on, watching him kiss down her belly as he stood.

His face tilted up and his dark eyes found her. “This?” he asked.

She hooked her leg over his shoulder. “Yes. Please.”

Cold gripped her thighs as they came out of the water, his thumbs stroking their backs as he parted them for her, and as the air shivered between her legs, his warm lips covered her, kissing and sucking with the friction she’d been dying for. He held her steady and sucked on her. He didn’t let go as she squirmed in pleasure. His tongue pressed against her between his lips. Water sloshed over her belly and she twisted in his hands until he sucked again, harder this time.

Her body warmed hotter from her chest out as her heartrate accelerated. Her knees bent over him, kicking as his tongue explored until she moaned and his mouth pulled at her aching center with a deep sucking kiss that never let up. She stifled a cry as she shook, splashing and kicking until she was done.

Her shaky legs slid off his shoulders. She sank down into the water with her fingers on the wall the only thing that held her head above the surface. Rowan was beside her. He reached up and smoothed her wet bangs off her forehead.

Jane peeked up at him. “Do you really want me to tie you up?”

His eyes crinkled. “I might like imagining that more than I’d actually like it happening.”

Jane sagged. “That’s a relief because I’m terrible with knots. The children always have to go to Maryanne with their shoelaces.”

“I’d be embarrassed if you needed Maryanne to untie me from your bed,” he said seriously.

But he was teasing.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“Me?”

“Was that too much, or...?”

“That was amazing! But what about you?”

“I’m enjoying this.”

“But you should have more attention. I keep losing track of you and pleasing myself. I’m being selfish.”

He smiled then. “I don’t mind.”

“I want to push you over the top too.”

Still he hesitated. He was maddening. She stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around him, and her legs and her whole body, like some kind of octopus until she was hanging on him in the water. He was still hard, pressed into her lower belly. She grinned up at him. “Stop denying yourself, Rowan. You’ll make me doubt my appeal.”

“We can’t have that.” He didn’t lose control. But his hands were caressing her shoulder blades.

She squinted. “Do you always want someone else in charge?”

“Not always.” He traced a circle on her back.

She let go of him and made her own circle on his belly under the water, through a trail of hair that would be dark, matching the locks on his head. She zigzagged a finger down it.

“I like teasing you,” she whispered.

He leaned down. “I think you’ve teased me enough,” he whispered back.

He caught her hands, and she inhaled sharply at the change in him as he held her fast and loomed over her. He stalked forward, taking her with him until her back met the wall. He pinned her hands up against it, protecting them from the hard stone with his own, his thumbs rubbing the insides of her wrists as he bent to her neck, sucking on her and biting, and if she’d been able to speak, she’d have begged him only to do it harder. Her body was limp, able only to submit to his ministrations. He turned her to face the wall, pinning her with his body and sucking on her neck from behind. Her heartbeat raced and she couldn’t stop her hips from tilting, rubbing her backside on him.

He flattened her hands on the top of the stone, one then the other, then one of his own holding hers down. Her body was caught between the rocks and his chest, but his arm slid across her stomach, taking the rough scrape of the stone off her skin. “Okay?” he asked.

She panted in and out before she could reply. “Yes.”

He dipped his head to kiss below her ear. “Tell me if you ever want me to stop.” He pressed his erection against the cleft of her bottom, not poking but nestling into her. His hips swiveled up and back, sliding his length along her and against his own foreskin. It felt... new. It was kind of strange but it didn’t hurt her at all. And from the sound of Rowan’s pants, it must feel good to him. She entwined her fingers with his and closed his fist over hers, holding his hand tightly in front of her face.

He slid down and pushed against her bottom again, up and back. She pressed into him to give him more friction and he responded by pinning her hips to the wall with his motion. His rhythm grew faster until he was bucking behind her and his shaft had worked its way in between her butt cheeks so it rubbed right against her, and she started to want him again. She clenched his fist to stop herself from interrupting his rhythm.

He untangled his hand from hers and hoisted her into his arms, one hand across her chest, the other latched between her legs and oh, she had been right, his hands, those fingers there, were marvelous. But his motions didn’t tend to her needs this time. He pulled her body down as he thrust upward, and then the fingers between her legs pushed her back up as he rubbed the other way, ignoring her squirming and trembling for more. He only bucked against her harder, taking her body up and down across him in his pulsing need until he gasped and shuddered.

He went still after his climax. He kept holding her against his chest with her legs dangling. Was it selfish to sate herself against him one more time?

He’d said he didn’t mind her being selfish.

She reached down between her legs, nudged his hand away, and caught what remained of his erection in her hand. She positioned it between her thighs. He was stiff enough that she could press his length against her folds. Using his body was better than using only her hand.

He caught on and held her belly to keep her in place against him. Her legs splayed out as she held his penis and rode him with a forward and back rhythm, twitching like she was the eager pony, then pausing for a long slow glide. His skin felt incredible against her. She rolled her hips, rubbing him everywhere she could, before resuming her cadence atop him.

“Oh!” she softly cried.

Her body shook and she held on as her orgasm crescendoed and faded. She rolled over him one last time before letting him go. Her legs drifted closed and her toes grazed the floor of the pool.

Rowan’s arms snaked farther around her until he held all of her tight against him. He rested his forehead in the crook of her neck. When Jane opened her eyes, the moon was before them, its gold fading to silver as it climbed over the forest.