Her answer was a small nod before she brought my mouth back to hers.

Chapter 13: Caught in the rain

Ashton

I was a goner. I knew it the moment we pulled into the clearing and I saw what he had done. Unintentionally or not, he was slowly chipping away at my resolve to treat our relationship casually. It was if he saw through my carefree facade where I contemplated one-night stands and treated affairs like I was ordering dessert. Somehow he had figured out I wasn't that kind of person. He was offering to take it slow, and obviously planned on wooing me if the scene before me was any indication. It was like a fairytale. What girl didn't dream about a candle-filled evening with a man who made your pulse race and your heart skip a beat? The problem was I shouldn't want any of it. More accurately, I shouldn't be allowed to want it. I tried to leave, but somehow, standing in Nathan's arms with him begging me to stay with him for a few weeks crumbled my resolve.

"Let's eat," Nathan finally said, breaking the kiss.

"Okay," I answered, letting him lead me to the heavy quilt that was stretched on the ground in front of us. I sat down and watched as he unpacked the large picnic basket, doing my best to hide my surprise when each new item he pulled from the basket seemed to be a favorite of mine. There were chocolate-covered strawberries from Haley's Delectable Eats bakery, several varieties of cheeses and crackers, artichoke dip and pita slices and a bottle of my favorite wine.

"You did your homework," I said, trying for blasé. I didn't want to admit what his attention to detail meant to me.

"I may have had help," he chuckled, popping the cork off the wine and pouring me a glass.

"I suspected as much," I said, sweeping my eyes around. "Tressa?"

"That would be the one. She jumped at the chance to help me out."

"I bet she did," I said, smirking at him.

He laughed. "She's a character, for sure. I don't think she has a shy bone in her body. I got the whole lowdown on her ex and the new guy she's going out with this weekend," he said wryly, shoving a cracker in his mouth.

I laughed. "Yeah, Tressa's not shy by a long shot. And her ex is a total douche," I added.

"He sounds like it, and his mom doesn't sound like much of a winner either. I'm not sure what I would have done at his age if my mom tried to cockblock me," he said just as I was taking a sip of wine. His words made the wine go down the wrong tube and I choked, nearly covering him in a combination of wine and spit.

Nathan pounded me on the back as I coughed like an eighty-year-old smoker. "Not cool to say something like that when I'm trying to drink," I chastised in between coughs. "You gotta give a person warning."

"Sorry," he said, laughing again. "Anyway, your friend is better off now. At least I think so."

"That's what I told her. We've all gone out together a couple of times and he was always very overbearing where she was concerned. It irked me that he kept such a tight rein on her. No girl deserves to be treated that way."

"You sound like you have personal experience in that area?" he asked casually, though I sensed something more in his tone.

"Me? Hell no," I said, reaching for a chocolate strawberry. "I may have not dated much, but I'd never let a guy treat me like that. If anyone tried to control me like Jackson did with Tressa, I would have sent him packing instantly," I added, looking up at him. I was surprised to see his eyes had narrowed and he was studying me critically. I instantly regretted my openness. He didn't need to hear about my love life or lack thereof. It was as if I had erected a flashing sign above my head with the word "inexperienced" in big red letters for the world to see.

The silence between us stretched on as he moved his eyes from mine and studied the water behind me. I had the uncomfortable feeling he was contemplating what he was doing with someone with my adolescent experience. Maybe we had reached the point where he was missing the sophisticated and experienced ladies he was used to dating. I felt I should say something. Offer up some kind of reassurance that I wasn't a complete prude or anything, but I kept my lips sealed, waiting for him to break the silence.

After what seemed like an eternity, he finally shifted his eyes back to me. "So, you've never been in a relationship you couldn't wait to get out of?" he asked with intensity.

"No," I answered, puzzled. I knew the fact that I was twenty-two and had no prior experience to brag about could be construed as unusual, but it shouldn't put me on trial. "It's not like I'm a leper or something," I finally said sarcastically, done with the way he was looking at me.

"Of course not," he answered. "It's just unusual that you don't have one crummy relationship to complain about."

"What the hell does that mean? Maybe I was too busy to have a real relationship. Maybe my sights were focused on finishing college early so I didn't invest much time in dating," I answered truthfully. Not to mention that for the longest time my only goal was to make up for the year I was forced to repeat in high school. Watching my fellow classmates graduate without me had been a tough pill to swallow, so I made it my goal to get my college degree as fast as I could. Free time became a novelty once I entered college and submersed myself in as many classes as my counselor was willing to allow me to take. Even summers merged together with the rest of the school year as I pushed on without taking any breaks. I went year-round with the goal of graduating a year early. My hard work paid off too. Three years after graduating from high school I had my bachelor's degree in hand, but by then it didn't matter.

"I see," Nathan said, interrupting my thoughts.

"Why is it such a bad thing that I've never had my heart broken?" I asked, sick of the way he was acting.

"It's not," he answered, reaching for my hand. "It just surprised me," he added, smiling at me.

"What about you? Who broke your heart?" I probed.

"What makes you think my heart's been broken?"

"Well, the way you're acting for one. Besides that, you've mentioned going down the heartbreak route a couple times," I said, studying his features that had gone hard in the flickering candlelight. "If it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to talk about it," I said quietly.

"Her name was Jessica Swanson, and she came into my life like a freaking hurricane. She was no-nonsense and bossy as hell. In the beginning, I was flattered that she picked me the night I met her at a school play. She put me together, you know? Made me grow up and taught me to take my future seriously. I guess you could say she groomed me. After we'd been dating for several months, I found out her family was swimming in the bucks. It was a world I didn't belong in, but I didn't care. I fooled myself into thinking I loved her. The first time I met her family was hell. Her father drilled me for hours about my future plans. That's when I realized why Jessica had been pushing me so hard. In her family, it was all about who you knew, how to make it to the top and who you were willing to step on to get there," he said in a pained voice. He remained silent for a moment, and I was beginning to think he was done when he started talking again. "It took me almost a year to realize just how far Jessica was willing to go to insure my future. I mean crazy shit you couldn't even imagine. I caught her in bed with a congressman twice her age. A fucking congressman. Can you imagine that shit? She had some crazy-ass high hopes that I would have a career in politics or something, and this is how she would help get me there. That's how she justified it as fucked up as that sounds."

"That is seriously fucked up," I said, understanding his hang-ups on love.

His eyes were expressionless in the flickering light of the candles, making it hard for me to tell what he was thinking. After a few long silence-filled minutes, he surprised me by changing the subject completely.

"What college did you go to?" he asked, sounding normal again.

"The University of Central Florida. What about you?" I asked, glad the weirdness between us was dissipating.

"FSU," he answered. "Of course, several years before you were in college," he added.

"Right. I was like in middle school when you were in college," I said, laughing as he grimaced.

"That just sounds wrong. Maybe we'll leave that fact out from now on," he said as the rest of the tension evaporated.

"I thought all guys wanted to hook up with a younger girl," I quipped, nibbling on another chocolate strawberry.

"True. We just don't like to talk about the ages, at least our ages. As for the girl, we'd put it on a billboard if it made us look better," he said, looking at me appraisingly. "Are you trying to drive me mad?" he added, watching me lick the corner of my mouth where a small piece of chocolate threatened to escape.

"By eating a strawberry?" I inquired as a thrill of excitement raced through me at the way he was eyeing me.

"Eating is one thing. I mean the way your mouth seems to cherish every bite. That's driving me insane. I've never been jealous of a fruit before."

"I can't help it. They're so good, mmm," I moaned, opening my mouth wide to take in the entire piece of fruit. He sat watching me for a moment as I laughed. Finally, he leaned over and pulled me against him, capturing my lips with his. I gasped with approval when his tongue swept into my mouth. My desire flared up instantly, making me grasp at his shirt like a drowning victim. I submersed myself in the kiss as if it was my only source for life. His passion seemed to match mine as he tangled his hands in my hair, pulling me as close as we could get. The remnants of our dinner were forgotten as he lowered himself on the quilt with me sprawled on top of him without breaking the kiss. Every inch of me wanted him now. I strained against him, unsure how to tell him what I wanted as my need for something more became unbearable.

"You were right, it did taste so good," he finally said, breathing heavily as he broke the kiss and sat back up, cradling me in his arms. I bit back my disappointment that he'd broken the kiss. Maybe he didn't enjoy it as much as I did. Of course, when he shifted me in his arms and my bottom sank more intimately in his lap, I could feel every hard inch of him pressed against me, letting me know just how much the kiss had affected him.

"Would you like another taste?" I asked brazenly, popping a smaller strawberry in my mouth. I was going for seductive, but the strawberry turned out to be juicier than I expected. Red juice squirted out off my mouth in the least seductive way imaginable, squirting him square in the face. "Oops," I said, reaching out to wipe the juice off his face, fighting the urge to giggle.

"Delicious," he said, licking a droplet off his lips, gaining my full attention again. Maybe I was biased since I'd already witnessed firsthand how they felt, but his lips were possibly the most erotic lips I'd ever seen. They were full and plush and every bit as soft as they looked, but had the potential to turn hard when you most wanted them too. Leaning toward him, I placed my lips on his and used the tip of my tongue to remove the last of the strawberry juice. I wanted to explore his mouth with my tongue. He groaned and in with one fluid movement maneuvered me so I was straddling him. His hands found my hips and pulled me snugly against the hardness in his pants. I felt powerful from the way his body reacted to my touch. He gave me free reign over him as I thrust my tongue into his mouth. The ache between my legs hit an all-time high. He swallowed my moan of pleasure, using his hands to guide my hips where he wanted me. My breaths came out in shallow pants as his hand crept under my layers of clothing and reached bare skin. Slowly, he caressed his way up my back, feeling the heat of my passion. I moaned again as he moved from around my back to the swells of my breasts, waiting with bated breath as he lightly played with the lace of my bra before withdrawing.

"It's time for part two of our date," he said, pulling back.

"You asshole. I thought this was part two," I said, rubbing up against him to emphasize my point.

His eyes closed briefly. "I'm beginning to think you'll be the death of me."

"It's your own fault," I breathed into his ear.

"I'm trying to show you a proper date, and all I can think about is burying myself in you."

"Proper is boring," I commented, shifting again.

"Damn, woman," he groaned, pulling my hips hard against him one last time before abruptly lifting me off his lap. Hopping to his feet, he pulled me up with him. "Phase two of the date," he stated, dragging me toward the canoe on the shore.

"Where's the fire?" I complained, trying to clear the fog out of my head his kisses had caused.

"Burning out of control inside me. If I didn't get you away from the blanket, it was go time," he stated.

"I thought that's what we were here for," I piped in, looking back at the blanket longingly.

"I'm aware of that," he said, shooting me a wry look as he pushed the canoe to the water's edge. "Hop in," he told me, holding the canoe in place.

"I'd rather go back to the blanket," I pouted, looking over my shoulder at the blanket one last time.

"Get in," he mocked growled, making me laugh.

Stepping into the canoe, I braced my legs, trying to gain my balance from the swaying beneath me. When it finally stopped rocking from my weight, I sat on one of the narrow metal benches.

"Here," Nathan said, handing the two oars to me before climbing into the canoe. The canoe rocked dangerously from his weight before settling back down. Sitting on the bench opposite from me, Nathan reached out for one of the oars. He used it for leverage, pushing against the bank of the lake until the aluminum canoe moved off the sand that was holding us in place. Once we were adrift, he reached for the other oar. He made short work of rowing us away from the shore.

I leaned my head back, wishing the thick heavy clouds weren't obstructing the moon and stars. I had to admit though, the clouds gave off a different allure that was beautiful in its own way. It was as if we were floating off into some mysterious void, shrouded in darkness and haze. When I had added this moment to my list, I always imagined something breathtaking, but the weather today made this something more. I could have stared at the big puffy clouds all night if not for the fact that the breeze blowing off the water was chilling me to the bone. A violent shiver trembled through me as one of the gusts sliced through my clothing.

"Come over here," Nathan said, indicating the floor of the canoe between his legs where he'd stacked a couple of lifejackets for me to perch on.