She didn’t want to think about what had changed. Or why she didn’t want to think about it.
Gabe stepped closer and reached for her. She escaped his grasp with a grin. “Your turn.”
One brow rose in question.
She pointed. “Your shirt. I’m all about the equal playing field.”
He laughed and stripped off his T-shirt in one move. No teasing like she’d done. Just firm muscles suddenly revealed, the dusting of hair on his chest darker than usual with the moisture. The narrow trail that led downward toward the button of his jeans, and lower, irresistible. Allison closed the distance between them and pressed one palm to his chest.
And realized her fingers were still covered in mud, so now his chest was as well. “Shit.”
She was pulling away when he caught her wrist and stilled her in place. “Don’t go away.”
“But I—”
He tugged her shirt from her other hand, wadded it together with his, and threw them toward the river’s edge.
“Now, where were we?” Gabe caught her hands in his, putting them back on his chest. The warmth of his skin made her fingertips tingle.
The slick of the mud made her smile. “Finger painting.”
Gabe touched his hand to her face. She couldn’t figure out what he was doing until he placed his thumb against the base of her throat and stroked a line down her skin.
Leaving a trail of mud behind.
Her happiness rose as she copied him. Taking a small messy lump from one place and using it to decorate him. She stroked his ribs, traced around his nipples. Made a tribal tattoo of her very own design on his biceps.
He returned the favour. His touch light on her skin. Over her breasts, the length of her collarbone. Sometimes fingertips, sometimes he’d flip and use the back of his knuckles.
All the time, teasing. Caressing. Making her skin come to life and heat impossibly considering they were standing hip deep in the river, and the water wasn’t that warm.
She reached for the button on his jeans, popping it open and loosening the top of the zipper.
“Allison, wait.” He escaped before she could do anything else.
If it wasn’t childish, she would have pouted. “But I don’t want to.”
Gabe laughed. Full out and full of life and energy. The sun shone on him and made his body, and the mud she’d traced on him, glow.
He shook his head. “I’m not stopping us. Just getting distracted. And as much fun as the mud is, it’s not a part of the next portion of the day.”
They both worked at stripping off their final layers, clothes abandoned along the river’s edge. Allison had to sit in the mud to peel her jeans off, cowboy boots filled with water and abandoned with the rest.
She was down to her underwear and hesitating when a large palm slapped her butt, and she let out a scream.
“Get yourself naked, woman.” Gabe trailed his hand over her hip and caught the edge of her panties in his fingertips. “Or do you need help?”
Allison snorted inelegantly. “Now you ask. Where were you two minutes ago when my boots were stuck?”
“Watching your ass wiggle.”
“Gabe!”
“It’s a fine ass. It needed watching.”
He tugged lightly and the material slipped down her thigh, her heated core aching for more of what she’d gotten earlier. More of Gabe doing wonderful things to her. With her.
He’d already lost all his clothes, and his cock stood high and hard to his belly, moving as he did. She was tempted to reach for him. To stroke and tease, but her hands were still covered in muck. “Don’t suppose you want me to finger paint anywhere else, now do you?”
Gabe knelt as he finished pulling her panties down. “No, thanks. Not my kinda kink.”
“Hmmm, mud sex.” Allison squirmed as she reached behind her to get rid of her bra.
His gaze darted over her body, admiration on his face as she dropped her bra and stepped out of her panties.
“Damn, woman, you’re gorgeous.” His lips made contact with her belly button. Well, just to the side where there was a clear patch of skin.
“That’s going to be a tough task—sticking to the clear spots.”
“Then we’d better get cleaned up.” He whooped as he stood. Two strong arms wrapped around her, swinging her in the air before he strode back into the water.
Her bare butt hit the surface of the river and she gasped. “Oh God. It’s colder than before.”
Gabe snorted. “Stop complaining. You’re not the only one getting slammed in sensitive places.”
Allison tucked her head in tight and squealed as he deliberately fell, twisting to land on his back, soaking them both. They separated, floating apart, and she rubbed her hands together to remove the leftover mud.
She bobbed to the surface and was caught from behind in his embrace.
“That’s my job you’re doing.”
Allison lay against him. “Don’t let me stop you.”
The water was cold, but his hands still managed to heat her like crazy. He started at the top and worked his way down. Palms smoothing over her skin, brushing the mud loose, the clear running river carrying away the debris.
What didn’t leave was the tingling sensation that came well before his touch. He looped to the right, and her left side ached in longing. He stroked along her ribs, and she grew breathless in anticipation for him to move on to her breasts.
It was one long session of foreplay countered by the cold of the water and the heat of his body supporting hers. And by the time all traces of the mud were gone, she was both a quivering mass of expectancy and totally boneless from relaxation.
She rolled, slipping her hands around his neck. Her naked breasts pressed to his chest, nipples poking him lightly. “Skinny dipping. You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
Gabe held her, his palm planted firmly in the center of her back to keep their bodies in tight contact. “Where else can you have good clean fun for this price?”
Allison cupped his cheek, wiping away the final bit of mud that clung to his skin. “Frugal and fun. Double win.”
She leaned down to press a kiss to his lips. Addictive. She was positive that she’d had enough and then she’d spot his mouth and need another taste all over.
Their torsos were touching, but his hips moved away from her as he supported them, kicking slowly across the smooth water of the swimming hole. She was too interested in nibbling on his lower lip to worry much about where they were going, at least until he changed their position and lifted her into his arms, stepping forward and out of the water.
She managed to break off the kiss. “Time to go?”
“Hell no. Only I’d have to have bionic body parts for the next part of the adventure to work.”
Allison wrapped her arms around his neck, looking where he was taking her. “Drat, why didn’t I see the grassy section earlier?”
“Because we needed a little mud bath. Don’t worry, this works out fine in my books.” Gabe twisted her to the side and lowered her. The warm surface of something dry and solid hit her backside, and she glanced down.
“Oh, nice tree. You have all the angles figured out, don’t you?”
Gabe settled her completely on the fallen tree trunk, the section where she sat smooth and time worn. It was as close to a bench as anything she’d seen, only far more rustic. And far sturdier, since it extended three times the distance of a regular bench.
“I think I have all the angles. Just let me see to be sure.”
He slid his hands up her thighs, pausing with his thumbs resting at the junction where leg met body, fingers extending around toward her butt. One more kiss. Still one more, as all the while he stroked her softly. The light breeze made her shiver, but with the sun full on them she dried quickly.