Rushed (Adventures in Love 1)

“’Cause we’re on the lake,” he says. Then he orders, “Get up and hand me your sleeping bag.” Frowning, I do as he asked. As I jump around to keep warm, he unzips my bag, then his, and after a few curse words, he zips our bags together. “Now climb in.” I do, and a moment later, he gets in with me. “Now, come here.”

I hesitate for only a moment before curling myself into his side, the position much more intimate without our sleeping bags between us. As I lay my head on his chest, he tugs my leg up over his hip, causing a mass of sensations to flood my system. My belly clenches, my pulse starts to race, and heat rushes between my legs. Lord have mercy, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop myself from hyperventilating.

“Relax, sunshine.” His warm breath feathers against the top of my head, and I wonder if it’s possible to have an orgasm from just touching and if your hair is supposed to be an erogenous zone, because it feels like it is. Maybe I have nothing to worry about when it comes to us taking things to a new level, because I never felt like I do now with Galvin.

“I am relaxed,” I lie through my teeth.

“Right, you feel really relaxed.” He laughs, then says, “Hand me your book.”

“Why?”

“Just hand it to me,” he repeats, so I reach behind me to find it and hand it over. With my head against his chest once more, I watch him open to the page I left off on and then listen to him begin to read. Hypnotized by his deep voice and the feel of his fingers smoothing back and forth across my spine, I melt against him.

“No one’s read to me since my mom did, when I was little,” I tell him quietly, and he stops, making me regret opening my mouth. I expect him to say something to that, but instead, he just kisses the top of my head, then goes back to reading.

I close my eyes to fight back the sting of tears that simple gesture brings on, then move my hand to rest over his heart, which is beating steadily—unlike my own, which is going wild.

“Harder, Oli!” Lauren’s cry breaks into the moment; then my eyes widen in surprise as she moans, “Just like that.”

“Fuck me,” Tanner grumbles.

“We can all hear you!” Parker shouts, and I cover my face, embarrassed for them.

“Christ,” Tanner groans, and I burrow into his side as laughter I can’t control crawls up the back of my throat. “I can’t fucking wait until this trip is over,” he says against my ear.

I snort my agreement while Lauren moans louder.

Huffing and puffing as we walk up a steep incline, I try to remind myself with every step I take that we’re getting closer to this day being over. I knew today would be the hardest of the trip. Tanner, Maverick, and Blake kept warning us it would not be easy, but I assumed that since we’ve been hiking every day, it would be the usual torture.

I was wrong.

We started off the day hiking, followed by kayaking, then lunch, and now more hiking, only now we’ve been moving mostly uphill over rocky terrain for about four hours. My legs and arms feel like they’re on fire, and my feet are killing me. If it weren’t for the hot shower and bed awaiting me at the end of this, I would have given up a few miles back. But honestly, even with all the pain I’m in, I’m sad this trip is almost over. It’s been fun experiencing new things, eating under the stars in front of a campfire, and sharing time with people who’ve become my friends. The good thing is I know that this doesn’t have to be my last adventure. I now trust myself to take risks and experience life outside my comfort zone.

“I don’t want to sound like a six-year-old stuck in the back seat of a car, but are we almost there yet?” Avery whines, breaking into my thoughts, and I smile at my feet.

“Not much longer,” Tanner says, reaching out to catch me when I stumble over a root sticking out of the ground along the path.

“Thanks,” I mumble, not risking lifting my eyes off my feet to look at him.

“We have about a mile before we reach the road where Maverick will pick us up.”

“Thank you, baby Jesus,” Parker says with a sigh. “My legs are about to give out on me.”

“Well, I think today’s been great,” Lauren chirps. “Don’t you think today’s been great, Oli?”

I barely hold back a giggle. Maybe not surprisingly, Lauren has been in a great mood all day. She hasn’t complained once, and she and Oliver have gotten along better than they have this entire trip. Honestly, I wish they’d slept together earlier in the week.