At her urging, the two of them went past his tent and to the showers. She thought they would stop at a set of pop-up booths, but Wade zoomed them past until they had just passed the tree line and found a small wooden shack. It was about as big as a backyard shed. In fact. She was almost tempted to set up a cot and sleep in it.

  “What’s this?” she asked, wriggling her way off of his shoulders.

  “Privileges of rank,” Wade said with a wink. Then he grabbed her hand and towed her in through the front door.

  The inside was dim, with only light coming in through ventilation holes near the roof, until Wade clicked on an electric lantern left inside.

  She saw that they were in a very small, cramped changing room with pegs on the walls and a small bench with cubbies underneath.

  Wade bolted the door shut, and she timed it so he turned just in time to have her shirt thrown at his face.

  They laughed, and Wade slinked over to her. His shirt came off, though his eyes were fixed on her. Two gentle hands cupped her cheeks, and he started to kiss her very slowly. Without warning, he deepened the kiss, and then moved her head to the side so he could start moving his mouth down her neck.

  He traced the thin skin over her pulse down the side of her neck. She took in an involuntary breath and ran her hands across his shoulders and down his arms. His skin was smooth, only interrupted by the occasional ridge of scar tissue. Touching him like this, she could feel burning muscles dance under her grip.

  Wade’s teeth glided down the outside of her neck, and her stomach tightened so much that she had trouble drawing in the next breath.

  She ripped his head up, took his lips, and stood on her tiptoes. He read her intentions perfectly and lifted her up, both of his hands on her butt. That was all the invitation she needed to wrap her legs around him, which was surprisingly difficult, and made her muscles burn pleasantly as she thought about what a stretch certain activities would be for her later in the night.

  When he tried to pin her back against the wall, she bit the big trapezius muscles between neck and shoulder.

  “No,” she said, pausing to put a quick kiss where she had left an imprint of her teeth, “pants off. I want to get in the shower.”

  In a study of contrast, Wade gave her a beaming smile and tilted his head down politely, “As the Lady commands,” he said even as one hand squeezed her ass and the other gave her a spank.

  She yelped and shoved at him.

  They undressed in a giggling chaos of stolen kisses, and nearly crashed as they worked around each other to disrobe in the too-small place. They also, somehow, got into a literal game of grab ass that only ended when Wade fled from her into the shower with both hands covering his butt.

  She chased in after him and ran face-first into a spray of chill water as he turned the shower head on her.

  “Wha! Fuck you!” she sputtered.

  “Not tonight,” he said with a grin, moving the water and closing the door so they were left in a stall filled with darkness. “I’m too weak and vulnerable.”

  It was dark out, and small ventilation holes at the top of the shower did little to let light in. Without the lamp from the changing section, it was all dark outlines and the impression of movement.

  They went back and forth. At one point, he leaned close enough that she could only just see his smile and the whites of his eyes while he said she had never looked lovelier than in the dark.

  She told him he had a smell for radio and to scrub harder.

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  The shower was fed by rain buckets, with a limited supply, so they had to hurry. But it was still wonderful. They talked and laughed. They even sang a song together.

  That was when they went back-to-back so they could both scrub the sweat and smell off the sensitive spots without looking weird. Unfortunately, the sounds were even worse in the dark, and they ended up doubled over laughing.

  Light returned as they giggled back into the changing area, Shilloh reaching high to grab some towels set into a little cubby.

  Wade let her go first and lingered behind her, halfway through the threshold to the shower.

  When she turned around, she let the towel dangle off to the side, all of her visible, and a challenging lifted eyebrow at him.

  Rather than fire back a joke, he just slowly looked her up and down before locking eyes with her.

  “You,” he said, taking one deliberate, slow step at a time, “are gorgeous.”

  The look in his gunmetal gaze was intense and utterly stopped any inclination she had to laugh.

  Despite the chill shower, she still felt warm, happy, and safe. But there was an edge now.

  Shilloh also felt hungry, and empty, and needing.

  ~~~

  He looked good. He was strong and had big hands. For some reason, nothing stuck out to her so much in that moment as his hands. She liked the sharp V at his waist, the breadth of his shoulder, and she loved her teeth marks still on his shoulder. But even though the muscles moving in his arms and tensing in his stomach were nice (very nice), the thing occupying her mind was an urge to see if she could get him to put those big hands of his around her neck.

  That intrusive thought may have been self-preservation, though. If she didn’t think about his hands, she would end up thinking about the other thing clamoring for her attention. It had been pressing against her as they kissed, and hit on her hip as they showered.

  For some reason, though they were dead ass naked, and despite the fact she had grabbed a handful of it through pants (and she meant a hand FULL of it. Jesus Christ), something about the idea of actually staring at his junk made her feel fluttery in her stomach.

  “Thank you,” she said, stepping over to him and tracing her hands across his collar bones and down his body, letting the thump of ridged muscles and sweeping strength cascade down each joint of her fingers. “You don’t look half bad yourself.”

  Wade grinned and moved to wrap his hands behind her head again. She closed her eyes and leaned in, ready for what came next.

  Or so she thought.

  His lips pressed against her forehead, and he pulled her into a gentle but firm hug.

  “You sure you want to do this? If it’s going too fast for you, I’m happy to just kiss or hang out.”

  At those words, the edge of tension in her left. The deep, throbbing pressure was still there. But even with her skin cold and wet, she found herself feeling cozy. Not a vicious hunter about to take her prey. More like she was coming home to someone special on an anniversary.

  And, who knew, maybe tonight was their zero-th anniversary.

  She hugged him back. “I’m sure. How about you?”

  “Yeah,” he said, resting his cheek on top of her head. “This is good, and you are… you’re out of this world.”

  They stood like that for a brief stretch. Then something pulsed against her stomach, and she looked up at him.

  “Call me psychic, but I’m getting a signal. I think it’s time to go.”

  Wade laughed and kissed her. “Yes, but one last thing. Promise me you’ll let me know if you want anything, okay?

  “Sure.”

  “Good,” his hands travel back down to her legs, and he effortlessly lifted her until her eyes were above his, “because I may not be fucking you tonight, but I absolutely intend to ruin men for you so I never have to shower alone again.”

  “Is that so?”

  It was.

  Wade did not respond with words. He carried her across the room, his mouth walking up the center of her neck until he was able to nip under her jaw and send a roiling cascade of pinpricks across her skin.

  Slowly, he lowered her down to the bench. Eyes locked, he paused, hovering her in the air with her entire body weight suspended by nothing but his arms.

  The sensation of being small and light, and held up by a pair of arms that didn’t shiver to move her, sent her into overdrive.

  Even as she surged forward, he met her mouth and then held her back. Those strong arms put her down firmly on the bench, took a handful of her hair, and tugged gently as he moved his mouth away. The tiny surge of pain was like gasoline. A cold splash that was set on fire by the ambient temperature of her burning skin.

  AND THE REST IS ON PATREON. Plus, this chapter's content without the minor edits I made to tone it down just a bit.

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