"What type is that?" I asked.
"A girl." She stuck her tongue out at me. It was a childish gesture, but one that immediately made me smile.
"Maybe I've got a crowbar in the basket," I said. "Ever think of that?"
"True," she said. "You want me to carry something here?"
"Nope. Everything else is set."
We hiked down the dirt trail, and she clutched my hand a few times when she skidded on pebbles. I wasn't sure if this was something she'd like or not. Someone like her probably didn't do shit like this, I thought.
"Hiking down here," she said. "It's still all right with your leg?"
I had her hand in mine, from when she skidded a minute ago, and I hadn't let go. "Yeah," I said. "I'm not an invalid."
"Didn't think you were," she said. "Just asking if you had one special for working out and stuff."
"Oh," I said. Christ, I was edgy when it came to her. Or maybe in general, I wasn't sure. "Yeah. I've got a running one. It's in the trunk of the car, actually." I paused for a beat. "With my crowbar, you know."
She laughed. "Well, I guess if anyone were going to take me out in the woods for a date, I guess I'm glad it's you."
Christ, as soon as she uttered the words take me, I was hard. I set down the basket, and stopped and pulled her against me, her back pressed into me. I slid my hands down her arms, pinning them at her sides, and I felt her shift against my hardness. Goose bumps dotted her arms, and the fact that she responded to me like that drove me nuts. She made a sound, this cross between a whimper and a moan, and it made me fucking crazy.
My face was near her neck, and I inhaled her scent, drank her in. She turned her head to the side, and when I grazed her neck with my lips, I felt her knees buckle.
At least I could be sure she was just as turned on by me as I was by her.
But I stopped.
"Why'd you stop?" she asked, her voice breathy.
"Come on." My hand at the small of her back, I guided her forward. "There's this place up here around the bend. I want to show it to you."
"Or we could stay right here for a little bit." She pressed her ass against my hardness and moaned a little. It was all I could do to not rip her clothes off right there. But I had other plans for her.
"Shut your mouth and keep walking," I said.
River laughed. "I see," she said. "So we're playing kidnapper, then?"
"Depends," I said. "You into that kind of thing?" I nodded toward the clearing, just around this bend in the path. It was this spot away from the trail, down by a small bubbling creek, the aspen trees providing a canopy over the clearing. Even blanketed by the crisscrossing branches and the leaves, you could still see the evening sky and stars poking through.
River's back was toward me as she looked around. "You did all this for me?"
"I didn't figure you'd want to go somewhere public," I said. Plus, I wanted to show you I'm not a total asshole.
I stood a few feet away from her, behind her. She still hadn't turned around. It was probably too much-she probably thought I was some creepy fan, coming on too strong. Guys probably did this kind of bullshit all the time.
Not me, though. I'd never done something like this before. This was a first for me.
I'd come down earlier this afternoon and spread out the blanket, left some battery operated lanterns around the clearing for light. I'd even found these battery operated string lights earlier, and draped them from the trees. The lights bathed everything in this soft glow, and I took my headlamp off and set it on the ground, then started unpacking the basket.
I poured wine into glasses, but stood there, glasses in hand. She still hadn't said anything. Shit, she hadn't even turned around. I took a sip of the wine.
"No one's ever done anything like this for me," she said.
Shit. I knew it was too much. She was going to think I was some kind of obsessive stalker fan or some shit.
Then she turned around, her hand over her mouth. "I don't know what to say, Elias."
RIVER
I couldn't believe he'd done all of this for me. The lights strung up in the trees, the wine... he'd even set up an IPod and speakers... I heard Van Morrison's Into the Mystic playing softly in the background. "No one's ever gone to this kind of trouble for me before," I said.
"Is that a good thing?"
"That no one's gone to that kind of trouble for me?"
He cocked his head to the side. "You know what I mean."
"Shit, Elias," I said. "All of this...it's beyond good."
He nodded and handed me a glass of wine. "Okay, then."
Okay then. I was beginning to realize that Elias was the kind of guy who had a lot more going on under the surface than I thought. Still waters, I thought.
"So," I said, sipping from my wine glass. "Why'd you really bring me here?"
Elias shrugged. "I wanted to see you naked."