When the lady worked, he thought ruefully, the lady worked. She had the fierce concentration of sunlight through a magnifying glass. It had taken the two of them most of the morning to find the plant she’d been searching for. She still hadn’t stopped with her tubes and bags and solutions yet. She hadn’t even paused to eat her sandwich, which lay wrapped and abandoned upon the picnic blanket.
He turned his focus away from that tight backside, wondering if she could sense him ogling. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that she was ducking his attention, but he couldn’t be sure. She did have a tendency to lose track of time when she worked. He’d witnessed that before. She forgot about food, weather, puddles, mud, everything, for hours at a time. He understood the coping mechanism, they had that much in common. He just didn’t like the idea that he might be one of the problems she was hiding from.
He tilted his head back against the moss coating the tree-trunk, looking up beyond the wind laughing in the leaves. Everything had changed since yesterday. For the life of him, he couldn’t pinpoint when the shift had happened. It might have something to do with a deep and dreamless sleep, and the fact that he’d woken refreshed for the first time in months. Whatever the reason, he sure as hell wasn’t ready for a relationship, hadn’t expected it to happen. He couldn’t blame Jenny for being conflicted about what was developing between them, when it had taken them both by surprise.
He leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees, to pluck at a loose thread on the picnic blanket. The timing was all wrong, he thought, as his gaze drifted back to her again, the slim waist, the tight ponytail. Watching her work was difficult on so many levels. He envied her concentration, her dedication to the pursuit of knowledge, her confidence and enthusiasm. It made his gut hollow to witness how it once felt to have purpose and meaning, instead of spending all his time goofing about, drinking beer, and carving knick-knacks in someone else’s shed.
Jenny rose to her full height and wandered to the patch of weeds that were John’s much-sought-after plant species. With some kind of tape, she lifted pollen from the flowers and tucked the samples into a plastic bag. Sitting here like a bump on a log, watching Jenny add a little bit to the world’s scientific knowledge, he felt as worthless as dirt.
“Phew!” she said, approaching where he sat on the blanket. “It’s so muggy today.”
“Yup.” He watched a drop of perspiration slip down her throat and disappear under the neckline of her tee-shirt.
“Is that for me?” She nodded to the sandwich as she tossed a baggie full of pollen samples atop her rucksack. “I’m starved.”
“All yours,” he said, zipping open a refrigerated pack to pull out a bottle. “The water is still cold, too.”
She dropped to a sitting position, crossing her legs under her, as she unwrapped the sandwich tucked into it with enthusiasm. He adjusted his sitting position as he watched her. Jenny ate with her lips. They puckered around the opening to the water bottle every time she sucked a sip. She used her teeth to scrape crumbs from the pillowy pink flesh. She even tore off bits of the sandwich and lifted them to her mouth individually, tugging the smaller morsels with a purse of lips. Even when she chewed, her mouth was impossible to ignore.
Damn, he was in deep.
He waited until she was on the last crust when he slipped close to her and kissed her delectably full mouth. Spicy brown mustard, the smokiness of ham, burst on his taste buds. She sputtered and leaned back, laughing.
That sound was the strongest aphrodisiac.
“Hungry, are we?” She covered her mouth as she finished chewing.
“For you.” He leaned in again and licked a breadcrumb off her chin. “Ravenous.”
Her whisky eyes danced under the dappled light. “Sandwich first,” she said, as she popped another bite in her mouth.
“Eat quick.” He grinned. It felt wolfish. He really was a greedy bastard, when it came to making love to this woman. “It’s been too long since I’ve touched you.”
He ran a hand up her side, waiting for consent in her eyes before he cupped her breast through the cotton of her shirt. He found the nub of her nipple with his thumb and ran a circle around it until he felt the nub rise up beneath her bra. He watched her face as she swallowed down the last of the sandwich with a gasp and groped for the bottle of water. A hazy mist of pleasure clouded her eyes, like a drop of water in a crystal glass of scotch.
“Off,” he whispered when she finished eating, tugging her tee-shirt, pleased to see both nipples poking against the fabric.
“Not necessary,” she said, wiping a drop of water from her chin as she set her bottle aside. “Just the shorts.”
He shook his head. “I want you naked.”
“There are public decently laws, Logan.” She glanced around the clearing. “We can keep disrobing to a minimum.”
“Absolutely not.”
Her smile wavered as she contemplated possibilities. “Anyone could pass by.”
“The only creatures around right now are the birds. We’re three miles from the park entrance and haven’t seen a hiker in hours.” He lifted the hem
