Gifted Connections 3

I smiled up at him and pulled his lips down to mine. Kissing him deeply. We were breathless when we finally pulled apart.

I wiggled a little under him. Hyper aware of the fact of that his seed was still on my thighs.

Sorry he muttered I’m too heavy.

No, it’s not that. I love feeling you above me, but I kind of need to wash up. I hid my red cheeks into his chest.

He gave me a satisfied grin before he unzipped the sleeping bag and picked me up. He cradled me to his chest and carried me into the pool. I held onto his shoulders as he walked me in.

He stopped when we were completely submerged and pushed my hair off my face. His eyes scrutinizing me.

“What?” I asked self-consciously.

His mouth opened and closed a few times before he finally said. “I don’t know what I’ll ever do if I lost you. I don’t want to become the shell Cora is,” he said gruffly.

I cradled his face. “You won’t. You won’t lose me, and if you did you’re a strong man.”

He huffed. “I’m stronger because of you.”

I felt my heart lurch. “You’re strong because you have no choice but to be strong.” I demurred.

He buried his head into the crook of my neck. “If you only knew. When you came back tonight, you looked like you were on deaths door. You scared the shit out of me.”

“But I’m fine now,” I insisted before I gave him an impish smile. “Especially now that you collected on your bet.”

He let out a startled laugh. “I think I was the winner of that bet in more ways than one.”

“If you say so.” I grinned at him before kissing him.

“Oh, I say so,” he murmured.

I paused as I thought I heard voices. “Did you hear that?”

He carefully carried me back out of the water. They’re here. He frowned. Go get dressed and get the others up. I’ll take out the fire.

I nodded and ran over to my back to remove my clothing. Jaxson, Noah, Jace, Drake, Troy, I called silently.

Hmm? Jaxson was the first to respond.

They’re here. We have to pack up and go! I insisted.

That was enough for everyone to pop up. Just grab everything we need. Don’t worry about the rest. Jace commanded immediately.

I finished pulling on my boots in record time.

I wrapped the fish and put all of them in our packs last night, Drake informed us. We can leave the wool blankets. It’s not like we need them anymore.

They’ll be waiting for us when we come back. Noah said confidently.

I began rolling my sleeping bag, knowing it wasn’t going to be as perfect as it was when we got here. Then I heard voices.

“I know they were in a cave,” I immediately recognized Adams’ voice as it drifted into our cave.

“There are foot prints all over outside,” another male voice reasoned.

We all looked at each other and silently cursed ourselves. None of us had thought about that.

“But there’s no pool or fire here,” another annoyed male voice said.