she shouldn’t have been so keen to get rid of Ben after all.
“Yo! Silver!” A piercing whistle echoed down the creek toward her. “Wrong way!”
Silver headed back upstream toward where Ben was standing on the slope looking out over the land. She’d never been so pleased to see anyone before in her life.
“There’s no need to shout,” Silver commented as she rode up. “I was just admiring the view.”
“Sure you were. I could see you panicking from all the way up here.” He came down from the stone platform and turned to his left. “You can bring Ladybug over here and dry her off if she needs it, okay?”
Silver gave her mare a good rubdown, and then went to find Ben who had established their camp close to the water’s edge. He viewed her cautiously as she sat down beside him on one of the large, flat rocks, but didn’t speak.
She scowled at him. “I was fine! If you’d just waited a second, I would’ve found you all by myself.”
He held up his hands. “Whatever you say. Are you ready to fish for your supper?”
“As in catch my own food?” Silver blinked and looked around. “I don’t see any fishing rods.”
“That’s because we’re going to catch them by hand.” He pointed at her boots. “Take them and your socks off, and roll up your jeans to your knees.”
“Can’t you do it? I just got out of the water.” Silver waved a languid hand at him. “I’m exhausted.”
“Sure I can, but I’ll only catch enough for myself.” He shrugged.
“And leave me to starve?” Silver asked plaintively.
“There’s plenty of food. If you don’t want fish, boil some water, and make yourself something.” He stood. “I’ll be back in a while.”
Silver let him go, filled the pan with water, and set it over the fire before sorting through the packs of food. The thought of eating the same thing again wasn’t inspiring. With a resigned sigh, she took off her boots and socks and walked down to the edge of the creek where Ben had gone.
She found him lying flat out on his stomach on one of the spare horse blankets wearing only his boxers. He really did have a nice ass. . . .
“I thought you were catching fish, not sunbathing,” Silver remarked.
His head shot up and he frowned at her over his shoulder. “Shh.”
She tried to remember the last time someone had told her to shut up and couldn’t. Then, with a martyred sigh, she crouched down next to him and listened to what he had to say. . . .
* * *
Two fish of her own now, and she was proving just as good at getting them as Ben until she leaned out too far, and almost face-planted the rocks surrounding the small pools.
“Careful.” Ben grabbed hold of her elbow and hauled her back, grinning as she spat out a mouthful of water. “Who knew you were so competitive?”
“Why do you think I’ve been so successful?” Silver asked. “By sitting on my ass looking pretty?”
He glanced down at her. “You are good at that, though.”
“What? Ass sitting?”
“Nope. Looking pretty.” He smoothed the wet hair away from her face, his brown eyes narrowed. “Damn pretty.”
She raised her head to be kissed just as he lowered his, and their mouths met in the middle. She grabbed hold of his bare shoulders and held on for dear life as the kiss consumed her. He drew her tight against him until she was straddling his lap and continued to kiss her, one hand now on her ass, rocking her into the hardness contained in his now-soaked boxers.
“Ben”—she eased her mouth away—“can we talk about something important?”
“Right now?” he breathed. “Like, can’t it wait five minutes?”
She pressed the flat of her palms against his muscled chest. “You know I told you that I hadn’t had a proper boyfriend?”
“Yeah.” He looked confused.
“I wasn’t joking.” She looked at him expectantly.
“Okay.”
“Like as in never, which means I’ve never had sex.”
His mouth opened and closed at least twice as he stared at her.
“Which is something that I’d like to change—like with you—if that’s okay,” Silver added just to make sure things were absolutely clear.
“That’s... one hell of a thing to say, Silver.” Ben frowned. “We’ve only known each other for four days, and I’m not the kind of guy who—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “I know you aren’t, which is why I’m suggesting it. You were the one who gave me the idea when you said that