I hated that I had actually planned appropriately for the trip but then I stood there practically shivering because I had forgotten my warm sweatshirt. Up until that very moment, I hadn’t even realized I was cold, but once Garrett pointed it out to me, I couldn’t stop shivering as my mind fixated on the feeling of cold air as it brushed over my body.
It was odd to me that Garrett, who was standing in his boxers, wasn’t cold at all. He was barely dressed and had been soaked in the river, yet he seemed to be perfectly fine standing out in the cool night air.
“We could share a tent,” Garrett offered with a broad smile.
“We aren’t sharing a tent,” I rebuffed him.
My father would literally throw a fit if he found out I was sleeping in the same tent as Garrett. Not because he didn’t like the guy, but simply because I believed my father still didn’t fully understand that I slept with men. He still thought of me as his little girl and I knew that finding out I had slept in the same tent with Garrett would not have gone over well. Although, we were very far away from the ranch and it wasn’t likely anyone would ever know about it; unless Garrett or I told them.
“Okay, but I get really warm at night. Like a little heater. I’ll probably be sweating over here in my tent because my body heat is so high. You just come on over if you get cold,” Garrett teased me as he walked away from me and then came back even closer.
“I’ll be all right,” I said as I stood still.
“Come sleep with me,” Garrett offered as his hands started to rub up and down my arms to keep me warm. “It doesn’t have to be anything more than a warm bed to sleep in.”
I was grateful he had made the offer. His hands were already warming up my body just by rubbing on my skin, but I was also getting extremely turned on standing there next to him and having him touching me. I knew myself well enough to know that if I went into Garrett’s tent it was going to be really hard for me not to have sex with him.
It wouldn’t be the biggest tragedy in the world if Garrett and I did the horizontal mamba, but it wasn’t a great idea either. I was about to officially refuse him when I noticed the gaze from his eyes switch to my lips and he started to move closer to me.
His hands wrapped around my waist and pulled me close to him as they started moving up and down my back in an effort to keep me warm. It was working and I hated it. He was making it harder and harder to avoid saying yes to his offer.
“See, I’m warming you up.”
“I should sleep in my own tent,” I responded.
Without hesitation, his lips moved to mine and he delivered a delicious sweet and gentle kiss. My arms were pressed up against my body as he held me to him and I couldn’t help but move my mouth with his as we explored each other. He didn’t open his mouth and I didn’t open mine either, instead we just gently enjoyed each other’s touch as the cool night breeze surrounded us.
I wanted to push him away, but I couldn’t bring myself to deny my own pleasure. Having Garrett’s arms wrapped around me and his body keeping me warm made me feel good. Garrett made me feel wanted and I wasn’t ready to give that up just yet. Just a couple more minutes of kissing and cuddling and then I promised myself that I would go back to my tent.
“Is that a yes?” Garrett asked as he pulled his lips away from mine.
“I should say no.”
“But, you want to say yes,” he smiled at me.
“Get going to your tent, I’ll go to mine. I won’t be coming over there. Just go to sleep, you goofball,” I said as I finally pressed myself away from his warm embrace.
Chapter Nine
Garrett
I didn’t expect Sarah to come climbing into my tent at all when I was joking with her about staying warm. She didn’t strike me as the kind of woman who would go back on her word either, or the kind who would do anything behind her father’s back.
So, when I awoke to the sound of my tent zipper, it took all the will power I had to hold back the smile that came across my face and the excitement I felt inside. In fact, I continued to pretend as if I were sleeping just to give Sarah the leeway to sneak into my tent without feeling like she needed to explain herself. I honestly didn’t want her to be cold all night long and I was fine with her sharing my tent; it was the gentlemanly thing to do. Although it was going to be pretty damn hard to avoid going after her if she was right there for the taking.
It wasn’t freezing out that night, but it was certainly cold. I estimated it was in the lower fifties and although I was a very warm-blooded sleeper, I did feel the cold seeping in through my sleeping bag. It didn’t bother me and I likely would have slept all through the night if Sarah hadn’t climbed into my tent to keep warm.
I heard her throw her sleeping bag and pillow into the tent and then she climbed in and zipped it back up. I didn’t move as I tried my best to pretend to be asleep. Luckily I was facing away from the tent opening and I didn’t have to do much but lay still.
“I’m just in here for the warmth. That’s it, nothing else,” Sarah said to appease herself as she finished zipping the tent back up.
Because I was pretending to sleep, I didn’t answer her, which made it easier for her to take her time and get her sleeping bag situated. It would have been warmer if we combined our two sleeping bags into one and used each other’s body heat to keep warm, but I wasn’t going to push my luck. I had her in my tent and that was much more than I thought I was going to get from her.
Sarah took a few minutes to get situated and then I felt her snuggle up against my back and pressed her body close to me. We were both in our sleeping bags, so there wasn’t anything inappropriate that her father wouldn’t be all right with; except that we were in a tent together. I also happened to only have my boxer shorts on, which I could only assume wouldn’t have made Sid very happy either. But I was going to behave myself. Even if it took every last bit of will power I could muster, I wasn’t going to let myself go after Sarah on that night. Maybe on another night I’d justify that it was all right, but I felt like Sid trusted me to keep Sarah safe on that evening and I couldn’t go against his trust.
As soon as she stopped moving, I quickly fell back to sleep. Since arriving on the ranch, I had become accustomed to getting a good night sleep and my body was constantly tired at the end of the day. Sarah was comfortably warm and in my tent and I hoped she would sleep better with me near. After months on the ranch, I thought I would have gotten used to the amount of work by then, but my body was always tired and on that night, it was also extremely sore from all the horseback riding that we had done.
I don’t remember even turning around or moving at all throughout the night, but when raindrops started to hit the tent I opened my eyes and realized I was cuddled up behind Sarah with my arms around her. She felt good in my arms and I hesitated to move them. They were probably even helping to keep her warm.