Personal Adventures Read Free Page A

the moon and stars, but that was it. She could have pulled up next to his truck, but she parked in her usual spot, in front of the shed—a rectangular structure made from trees cut from the reservation. She remembered Carey buying the lumber from Danny’s brother and hiring her cousins to build it. He was always interested in supporting the local businesses, even when she’d pointed out that it wasn’t the cheapest. He’d replied with a line of logic that had left her scratching her head but respecting him nonetheless.
    Out of habit she walked to the front of the shed and put her hand over a section of wood where he’d drawn two stick figures in a boat on the wood and then tried to carve it. They’d been unloading his personal gear after a weekend spent kayaking the rapids and he’d lost interest in the project. The image hadn’t worn away yet, but with time it would disappear until only she remembered it. He’d called them two peas in a pod then. Even now the memory stirred up warm, fuzzy feelings.
    She couldn’t count the number of times she’d loaded gear into her Jeep before they sped off to explore some out-of-the-way bit of the mountain or an intriguing bend in the river. Those were the times with him that had become special to her.
    He was her coconspirator in all her personal adventures. It was still weird having him with her sometimes. She’d never realized how lonely her life was until he was in it, dragging her along to discover a really great rock face for a climb or a tricky mountain biking trail. Half the time now she pretended as if she’d never been to the special places they found. Rediscovering them with Carey, watching the way his face lit up and how he shared her love for the great outdoors was magical.
    Elise gulped down a deep breath to steady her nerves and pushed away from the shed. Her stomach fluttered and her palms were moist. The cool evening air caressed her legs and whispered up her skirt, kissing bare flesh. Her nipples were tight, hard peaks. She had tried to find her one real bra with actual lace, but it had been a lost cause. If it wasn’t for her lack of breasts she could have borrowed one of her roommates’ bras like she’d “borrowed” the dress she wore. Her breasts weren’t much more than walnuts, but it was the idea of getting ready that had mattered at the time. She didn’t typically need to wear a bra and she never wore a dress, but she’d do both for Carey.
    Ahead, light spilled from every window in the cabin. The tall pines stood sentinel around it. It was a beautiful home he’d had built not long after taking the job at Adventures. She’d been jealous of it in the beginning, but she spent a lot of time there, so she got to enjoy it almost as much as he did.
    The house was a variation of the single-room cabins settlers used to build, very no-nonsense. A dividing wall separated his bedroom from the rest of the house, and the bathroom had an entrance into both spaces. The front and back porches made up three fourths of the square footage of the actual house, and more often than not was where they hung out. Again, he’d used local people to build it. In true bachelor style, it was furnished with comfort in mind, but that was how she liked things as well, so she had no complaint about the cabin or Carey. Except that she wanted what he had.
    As she stepped around the truck, her stomach threatened mutiny. Who was she kidding? She didn’t have any business being here.
    Movement in the far right window rooted her to the spot. Had he seen her? If he hadn’t, maybe she could back out of the drive and leave. Peering at the window, she waited for any sign that she might have been seen.
    Carey stepped into view, perfectly framed by the window, buck-ass naked. And what a nice ass it was. The round globes were as tan as his chest. Elise imagined him sunbathing naked on the rocks behind his house. Her mouth dried. Wide shoulders tapered to a stomach she knew was firm and