By the time they finally got to the cabin, Amy was red-hot. They’d endured long stretches of tense silence on that trip up, both of them looking forward to what was to come. Both knew it would be explosive, continuous, and unforgettable. Amy was squirming in the seat, unable to control her growing lust but trying like hell not to show it.

What’s the difference? Amy silently challenged herself. Just stick your hand down there and start touching yourself, he’ll probably love it! Maybe lean over and give him a bit of a high-speed handy, maybe even a Speedway Special, suck him off as he’s pushing that Toyota up into the hills.

No, Amy told herself, wait, let him take control. That’s what he loves, what we both love. And this whole thing is his mission, something he obviously felt he had to do, something he wanted to do.

So let him do it, let him do it all and for as long as he wants!

The car slowed as it pushed up the mountain, and when that familiar cabin came into view, Amy enjoyed a thrush of heat, anticipating what she knew was going to happen. She wasn’t sure exactly how it would go down, but she knew it was going to be amazing.

And for that very reason, something inside Amy compelled her to delay it. They pulled up to the cabin and Amy was inspired by mischief, the same giggly schoolgirl who wanted to propose to Camden, a proposal that actually worked. Amy’s body was flooded with hormones and adrenaline and a giddy sense that anything was possible and everything was probable.

So just after he turned off the engine, she pushed the door open and started running. She didn’t know where, but she didn’t know why. She was running so he would chase her. She was running so he could catch her.

Amy’s heart was pumping, her legs churning beneath her, fast and efficient.

Amy looked around, the cabin barely visible among the trees up the hill. I could easily get lost out here if I just run into the woods. They could get lost or hurt trying to find me!

But the thumps of nearby footsteps alerted Amy and her head snapped to see Camden prowling around, moving down the hill toward her. Amy’s legs made her decision for her, and she scurried behind a big pine trunk. She pressed her back against the tree, arms pinned to her sides, as his footsteps crept slowly closer. Amy didn’t dare turn to look, but she knew he was approaching. Whether he was going to go on and bypass her entirely as she hoped, was another question.

Amy’s instincts were ratcheting tighter, nerves sensing things they never knew but couldn’t describe. She crept away from the dogwood tree without looking back, head low and feet soft to scurry through the pines and hemlocks, sideways along the side of the mountainside, the only clear direction away from Camden, where ever he was.

Once she cleared a bit of distance, Amy’s body told her to run faster, increase that distance to a safe enough buffer. Get lost in the woods, she told herself. Camden won’t let me disappear.

Amy was running for the fantasy, for the reality, away from her past and toward her future at long last. It didn’t matter where she was running or why she realized. What mattered was that she was running, master of her own destiny.

But the flash of something brown and coiled caught Amy’s eye. The rattle only confirmed what her body already knew. And it was too late to stop running or she’d be sure to fall forward, straight into the big rattlesnake.

Amy cut to the side and jumped, heart pounding in her chest. In the corner of her eye, she saw the flash of the snake as it leaped at her. But by some miracle of timing she didn’t feel the hard punch of the snake’s strike. She hit the ground hard and rolled, instantly reaching down to feel her legs, no pulsing injury sending panic up her body.

But the snake was once again wrapped in its coils, only a few feet from her, its reptilian eyes fixed on her, purple tongue flicking to taste the air, and to judge where to place its next strike, this one to be the deadly delivery of its terrible toxins.

Amy’s body was paralyzed, frozen, her soul hypnotized by that slithering dragon as it prepared, rattle getting louder … louder …

But the creature backed off, eyes fixed on her as its body shifted it in a slow and careful retreat. Once it was far enough away, Amy scurried back, finally turning to scramble to her feet and make her way further along the mountainside, away from the cabin but no closer to the main road; deeper into the woods and an uncertain future.

Then she ran straight into Camden’s happy clutches, his smile cradling just a hit of gloat. “Enjoy your little stroll?” Without waiting for an answer, her picked her up. Blood rushed to her head as he hoisted her up and slung her over his shoulder to carry her back up the hill to the cabin.

Once Camden had Amy back up to the cabin he unlocked the door and carried her in, slamming the door behind him and dropping her onto the mattress. Amy couldn’t stop giggling, and she knew she was close to ruining the moment, but that moment was more powerful then her imagination, than their combined perspectives. They lived in the service of that moment and every moment to follow.

The pounding on the door sent shockwaves through her body, another cluster of hard knocks nearly shaking the wall.