“I remember,” I said.
Lucky SOB.
She ran a hand over my body, feeling at the muscles and skin.
“Your skin is healing very well,” she said. “It’s a shame we don’t have more of that Healer’s Touch ointment.”
“The flower grows near here,” I said, my heart in my throat as she continued to silently touch and prod me.
“We’ll have to get some tomorrow,” she said. “We don’t want you to have more scars than you need to.”
Her eyes drifted up to my face. She turned my head to one side and then the other, checking my skin.
“Your face hasn’t healed much yet,” she said. “Maybe one day I’ll get to see what you really look like.”
“Maybe you’ll run for the hills,” I said.
“Maybe,” she said with a chuckle.
Her eyes shifted from my face to my eyes. It wasn’t just a shift in focus, it was a shift in mindset. From the observation of a professional nurse to looking at me as a real person.
Her hand was still on my face. She stroked my cheek.
I felt myself go weak at the knees.
I’d never known a woman to have that effect on me with just a look.
My heart beat faster, harder. I sensed we’d been peering at each other for too long and she pulled her eyes away from mine.
She cleared her throat.
“How long until we reach the Fallen Temple?” she said.
“About two days,” I said.
“Two days? That long?”
“It’s not close by. It’s an ancient Titan landmark.”
“Will the Changelings search it?”
“Probably. But there are hundreds of other sites we could be heading to. And we won’t be gathering out in the open, but underground.”
“That makes sense,” she said. “Well, I suppose we should be getting to sleep.”
She rolled over, showing her back to me. Then she edged backward into me, pressing her soft smooth skin against me.
I grew even harder.
She must have felt it digging into her back but she didn’t complain.
How easy it would be to slip inside her…
To kiss and touch her…
But I wouldn’t dishonor her.
I imagined I was her fiancé all those miles away and how I would feel if I saw us in this position now.
The jealousy was sharp and stung.
Hazel shivered.
She was probably still cold. I swung my arm over her and wrapped my legs against hers. Her neck rested on the ground at an odd angle. It would hurt by morning. I gently raised her head and slipped my arm beneath it. She could use my bicep as a pillow.
My other hand clutched her close, pressing against her flat stomach.
“What about your head?” she said. “Don’t you need a pillow?”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, my voice hoarse and full of yearning.
I might not want to dishonor her but my cock sure did.
Her body was as warm and soft as I thought. Not entering her right then and there was just about the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do.
I had a face full of her hair and she smelled so good.
At least I could hold her.
At least I could do that much.
When morning rolled around, sunlight made our leaf blanket glow green and faint yellow, casting fractal shapes across Hazel’s skin.
My arm tucked under her head was numb but I refused to move it. She was comfortable and sleeping like a baby.
My cock had been rock hard all night and had managed to slide itself between her legs. I hadn’t entered her but my cock was yearning to do so.
I rolled my hips back so my cock thumped against my abdomen. I leaned against Hazel again, comfortable in our warm cocoon.
My senses were filled with her. Her scent and delicious aroma. My other hand had found a large breast and cupped it delicately. I would have removed it but Hazel had her hand on mine as if she’d guided me toward it in the middle of the night.
I didn’t want to stir. I wanted to stay there for the rest of the day. But then she began to squirm, coming awake. She glanced down at my hand on her breast and gently slapped it.
“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“Sure, you didn’t,” she said with a groggy smile on her lips.
She stretched and elongated those delicious curves of her body.
“How did you sleep?” she said.
“Really well,” I said.
I extended my arms. They cracked and popped. I worked blood back into my painfully numb arm. I rolled the ankle I’d twisted the night before. It made a grinding noise as it rolled back into place. Healed. The way I knew it would be.
Hazel shoved the leaf blanket back and blinked against the sunlight. She suddenly felt very shy and pulled the blanket around herself.
“I’ll get our clothes,” I said.
Her eyes followed me as I got up. My underwear had fallen off the branch during the night. I pulled them on anyway, even if they were a little damp. The iciness might help alleviate my cock’s constant rigidity.
I handed Hazel her clothes. Although everything was still a little damp, it was better than it had been the night before.
Hazel unwrapped the last of our bread and handed me a slice. We both wolfed down our breakfast.
Hazel folded up the leaf blanket and placed a roll on each of her shoulders.
“You can leave those here,” I said. “I can make more later.”
She shrugged.
“This way will save you a job later,” she said with a smile.
Something had changed between us. She seemed happier, chirpier.
I wanted to take her hand. After all, I had taken a lot more during the night…
But I didn’t.
She had a fiancé and would marry him when she returned home. As much as I might not like it, I made a promise to myself that I would help her return home.
To her friends, to her family…
To her fiancé.
Just the word “fiancé” threatened to make the bread repeat on me.
We trudged through the forest. I kept an eye on the open sections of sky visible through the empty patches
