Free Marriage: Impossible (Voretti Family Book 1) by Ava Blackstone Page A

buttons on his fly. He shucked off his boxers along with his jeans.
    “Sure you don’t want to keep those on? I wouldn’t want you to feel self-conscious if someone did happen to make it up the trail.” Even the teasing lilt of her voice turned him on.
    “I’ll risk it.” He slipped into the water next to her.
    Perfect . Warm, but not so hot that he was going to be uncomfortable after a little exertion. And there was going to be exertion.
    “Hi.” She wound her arms around his neck, pressing her body to his and leaving him no doubt about what she wanted. What he wanted, too, with a ferocity that scared him. Because this couldn’t keep happening. When they got back to San Diego, he was going to have to cut off the sexual part of their relationship completely.
    He must have pulled back, because her arms tightened around him. “Stop overthinking this. We’re alone and we’re naked and we’re in nature’s perfect Jacuzzi tub. Go with it.”
    “You scare me sometimes. Maybe I am overthinking this, but you’re not thinking enough.”
    “I’ve spent plenty of time thinking about this.” She slanted him a naughty grin. “Believe me.”
    “Did you think about it before you said ‘I do’ in that cheesy wedding chapel?”
    Her smile faded, but that didn’t take the heat from her gaze. “I know we have a lot to talk about in terms of our…marriage. But right now… When I’m with you like this, I can’t think about anything else.”
    In the span of a second, he was harder than he’d been in his entire life.
    He kissed her once, then again, but the soft press of her lips against his only made him more desperate.
    “Only you,” she whispered.
    His world narrowed to the tiny hot springs pool. To Keri’s arms around his neck. Her breasts against his chest.
    He anchored her to the rock wall, bringing her hips against his. He was hard and aching, and he had to have her, even if this was the last time.
    Especially if this was the last time.
    *
    Keri adjusted the AC vent for the twenty-seventh time since she and Sean had returned from the hot springs. After the best sex of her life, not to mention a four-mile hike, she should’ve fallen asleep the second her butt hit the seat cushion. But she couldn’t get comfortable. She was either too cold or too hot. At first, the sun had been too bright, but now that it was nearing the horizon, she wanted more light. But the real problem was Sean.
    On the way down the mountain she’d been too busy watching her footing to notice he’d gone silent. Then he’d been fully occupied, supervising the mechanic changing the flat. But now that they were alone again inside the small truck cab, it was obvious that he was ignoring her.
    With every mile that passed, he grew more withdrawn. It was like Reno had been a fantasy world, and now they were speeding back toward reality. Well, if this was reality, she wasn’t ready for the fantasy to end.
    A tall sign visible from the highway announced they were passing a motel. Fate in the guise of red neon.
    “Maybe we should stop,” she said. “It’s dark, and you must be tired.”
    Sean’s gaze didn’t stray a fraction of an inch from the road in front of him. “I’m okay.”
    “Are you hungry?”
    “Naw.”
    “There’s a diner at this next exit. And if we wait too long, we might be out of luck. We’re officially approaching the middle of nowhere.”
    “I’ve got some energy bars in the back.”
    Of course he did . “Well, I’m craving a burger.”
    “I’ll stop at the next drive-through.”
    “And I’m exhausted. That hike and…you know.”
    His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “Go ahead and sleep. That seat reclines.”
    He was trying to shut her out. To forget how good they were together.
    A desperate boldness took hold of her. She wouldn’t let him.
    “Actually, that’s not going to work for me.” Now or never, Keri . She reached over the gearshift.
    Sean went suddenly, impossibly still. “What are