could stay here forever.
"Go stand on the rock," she says. "Take off your shoes, roll up your pants."
"Bossy," I say, kicking off my boots.
She laughs softly. "I don't think I'm bossy, I'm just direct."
"That means you'll be a good photographer," I say. “You know exactly where I'm supposed to go."
"You've never even seen my pictures," she says, hand on her hip. But unlike the way Peaches looked when she made the same motion, Lydia looks more innocent than she ever has before, and also more vulnerable. With her hand on her hip, I see the curves of her body in a way I haven't before. Her hips are full and her waist is small and her breasts, damn, they look good in that tight dress, her nipples poking through ever so slightly. And I grunt, not wanting my cock to get hard right now when she's about to take a picture of it, of me.
"Just look off into the distance," she says, holding up the camera, “and pretend I'm not here."
I laugh, unable to help it. She snaps pictures one after another and I try to compose myself, but it's hard.
"Okay. You've got to tell me," she says after she's taken a dozen or more photographs, "what had you laughing?"
"I don't know," I say. "Being here with you, it's just... Fuck, I like it. It made me smile."
"Well, thankfully you look good when you smile, Jackal. I honestly don't think I've ever seen you smile once before."
"Am I really so surly?" I ask her, getting off the rock, my feet wet, the cuffs of my jeans wet too.
"Kind of," she says. "Why is that? Why are you so reserved?"
I shrug. "I don't have a lot to say."
She smiles, licking her lips and handing me the camera. "I don't believe that, not for a minute."
"No?" I say.
She shakes her head no. "I think you have a lot to say, you're just scared to."
"What would I say right now, if I wasn't scared?"
“Actually, in this moment, I think you'd just bend down and kiss me. I think that's what you really want. And look," she says, "No words required."
I swallow, holding her camera, looking at her, knowing she's right, but I can't kiss her. She's Ranger's sister-in-law; Ruby's sister. She's the sweetheart of the Heartlands. She's way too good for me.
But she won't let me get away, not that easy. Before I can step back, she's on her tiptoes and her arms wrap around my neck and she kisses me.
The kiss has me lost, has me wondering what I did right to have a woman like her pressing her lips against mine.
I close my eyes and I kiss her, wanting to hold onto this moment. Our mouths open, her tongue against mine, and she tastes like strawberries and ice cream. She feels soft and sweet.
And I kiss her the way I've been dreaming of doing for the last damn year. I kiss her, forgetting about taking her picture, about getting her home. I kiss her in this moment, not wanting it to end.
Lydia
I pull back from the kiss, my heart racing and my body on fire. I want Jackal so badly, all of him, head to toe. I want him to wrap his arms around me. I want him to kiss me harder than he just did, so hard that I forget to breathe. I want him to do all sorts of things to me. I want him to undo me and put me back together. I want to give myself to him, all of myself. I want to do things I've never done before, never dreamed of doing before. Only doing them with him, to him, for him, against him, him inside of me.
I moan, with my eyes closed, my heart pounding, my pussy wet. I step back, scared and also hopeful. I want him to ravish me, to pin me to this grassy ground. I want him to rip off my dress and take me.
But Jackal is not that kind of man. I can see that when he looks at me. He won't do things to me that he can't take back. There's a battle inside of him that I don't understand, stories he hasn't told me, probably hasn't told anyone.
With the camera in his hand, he groans, pained. "Fuck. I shouldn't have done that," he says.
"You didn't want to?"
He laughs. "Didn't want to? Damn, Lydia. I wanted to. I want that and more, but I can't. I can't."
I don't