After Ethan left me on that first fateful day, I stood on the porch of the little cabin, weeping softly. I wasn’t sure why. I felt the tears slipping down my cheeks, reaching my lips, which stretched into a smile. My body was spent, exhausted, after such an intensive lovemaking session.

I sighed and sank into the porch swing, gazing out at the lake. I couldn’t imagine ever being hungry, thirsty, or sleepy ever again in my life. It was like I no longer needed a single thing, physically and emotionally, as long as I had him once more.

Ethan and I hadn’t exchanged phone numbers, but two days later, in the early morning, I wasn’t surprised to hear his truck creaking along the gravel outside. He and Gracie were both in the front seat, looking like a perfect pair. After wrapping a robe around my shoulders, I scampered out to meet them.

Giving Gracie a big smile, I said, “Hey, you two! Where are you off to?”

“Gracie’s got school today,” Ethan told me, tapping her backpack between them. “But she wanted to say hi before she headed in.”

I waved my fingers at her, now completely conscious of my every word, of making a good impression.

“Good luck out there, Gracie,” I said. “I know you’ll do great.”

In response, Gracie stuck out her tongue, her eyes gleaming.

“And I was wondering,” Ethan began, leaning his head over the window, “if you wanted to go fishing again this morning, after I drop her off?”

As he drew closer to me, I inhaled the smell of him and it made my heart hammer with lust. My pussy tensed at the memory of his touch, and I nodded, knowing he knew what I needed.

“Good,” he said. “I’ll pick you up in an hour.”

While he was gone, I raced around the house, beginning to panic about strange things. If he wasn’t back in an hour, did that mean that he’d gotten into an accident? Should I call someone? If he didn’t come, was that because I’d made a bad impression this morning—with the robe?

Despite my fears, I eventually heard the truck creaking back into the driveway.

Racing toward the door, wearing a yellow dress now, instead of that robe, I watched as Ethan halted the engine and stepped out of the truck. Above him, the sky grew dark and thick with clouds, and the wind raced through my hair. All he did was stand in the middle of the driveway, tall and imposing, his shoulders wide and dominant. That’s all he had to do to make me race toward him and leap into his arms.

Our kiss was alive, vibrant, making my body quiver with desire. His hands held me at my hips, lifting me into him. I swear, with him, it never felt like my feet were completely on the ground.

After a long, lingering kiss, he carried me to his truck. I watched as he slipped into the driver’s seat and drove down the driveway, probably fully aware that I couldn’t stop staring at him. Gone was the woman I’d been for years; the sturdy, angry attorney who’d fought tooth and nail for success. I was now so malleable. I would have done anything.

We drove back toward the dock, my hand resting on his thigh. We chatted amicably, although I knew I wouldn’t be able to remember the conversation minutes later. He told me about the way of life in the mountains, that things were slower and easier. He told me that, despite having saved up quite a bit during his days doing his “other job,” he worked off the land and didn’t have to spend much to survive.

“We have a garden that produces enough vegetables for the year,” he said, “along with chickens, which give us plenty of eggs. I do odd jobs for a guy at the base of the mountain who suits us up with the occasional pork and beef. And beyond that, of course, I fish.”

“Strange to be able to live so far off the grid like you do,” I sighed. “Without the humdrum of normal life. Of feeling just like another consumer, you know? You must actually appreciate what you have, because you make it yourself.”

Ethan gave me a meaningful look. I wondered if, somewhere beyond it, he felt I was foolish. I shivered, my nostrils flared, until he nodded his head.

“Something like that, maybe,” he affirmed. “I don’t think about it often enough. Sometimes I crave normal life. Being able to go to a pizza place down the road, or grabbing a beer at a local bar. These aren’t things I can do in hiding. But frankly, they aren’t things I would really do as often with a daughter, either.”

“Things change,” I murmured, sounding breathless.

“They certainly do.”

Once on the boat, we didn’t waste a single moment. He wrapped his firm arms around me and held me against him, and when we kissed, it felt like the entire world stopped around us. His tongue glided across mine, making me shiver.

In a flurry, we ripped each other’s clothes off and held each other tight, our hands running up and down our naked torsos. I felt his fingers wrap around my nipples, squeezing them lightly as he bit at my lower lip. I cried out, needing and wanting so much more.

This time, we fucked against the boat driver’s seat, with me on top—riding him quickly, my breasts bouncing and my hair flipping wildly behind me.

When it was over, and we were gasping, gazing into one another’s eyes, clouds formed overhead, becoming dark and ominous. The first raindrop dripped on my nose, then another fell on my breast. We were soaked within seconds, and tittering with laughter.

“Shit,” Ethan cackled, wrapping his arms tighter around me.

“Do you think we should go back?” I asked, too comfortable to feel any kind of alarm. “The clouds to the west look even darker. What if there’s lightning?”

Ethan didn’t move. Instead, he hugged me tighter to him. The boat began to rock even more beneath us, as the wind whipped over the lake and waves started to form.

Our eyes connected. In Ethan’s, I felt I could see every thought in his brooding mind. I wanted to ask him to articulate them. I wanted to hear his stories of his old life. Of the men he’d hunted. Of the people he’d put behind bars.

Just then, a flash of lightning erupted over the lake, and Ethan bolted up, laughing. His cock had taken more girth in the minutes since his orgasm, showing he was ready again. My legs were spread wide, open. Wanting him. Yearning for him. But as the thunder boomed overhead, he yanked the boat’s steering wheel toward the shore.

We motored back, feeling that the storm was chasing us away. I giggled madly, wrapping my arms around his thick chest and tracing the lines of his bear tattoo with my fingertips, wondering if this was my actual life or just a fictional version of it.

Once we reached land, I watched as Ethan quickly tied the boat to the dock. It creaked against it, the wind making soft, white crests in the waves. I grabbed my clothes and his, and we raced toward his truck, still naked and without shoes.

With a great gasp, the skies opened up and began to pour with a torrential rain. We slotted ourselves into the truck, Ethan slamming the door behind us. The truck shook. The rain continued to blast down. Emotion filled us both.

We couldn’t avoid it another moment more. As the lightning streaked across the sky, we threw ourselves at one another, making love and steaming up the windows of the truck. Sweat mixed with the rain on our backs and stomachs as his hands clenched my hips.

As we came together, a smack of thunder seemed to shake the ground around us. Both of us gasping, we leaned into each other, placing our naked feet up on the dashboard. Our toes touched, feeling almost as intimate as any fucking. I felt his lips upon my forehead, kissing me.

“Damn, I can’t believe it. It’s almost time for me to pick Gracie up from school,” he said. It could have been three minutes or three hours later—time was strange when we were together.

My voice nearly caught in my throat. “Why don’t you two come over for dinner again?”

“We shouldn’t put you out like that…” he said, his voice lowering. I couldn’t sense if that was because he wanted to say “no,” but was trying to be polite.

I pushed it, not wanting to lose sight of him another moment. “Please. I promise, I’ll cook something better than the other night. Something planned.”

He shifted, still cradling me close to him. I could tell he was mulling it over. I brought my hand along the muscle of his chest, placing my thumb at his nipple. I wanted to coax him, but I knew he was far too cocky, too arrogant, too masculine to ever go along with anything that he didn’t want to do.

“I don’t think I want to let you go yet,” he said finally, giving me another kiss on the forehead. My heart burned with desire, with excitement.

When the rain cleared up a bit, he drove us back to my cabin, where I dressed in dry clothes and he donned his pair of jeans, which had been more or less spared in the storm. We didn’t speak, perhaps feeling the weight of the moment. When we darted back toward his truck, our hair drying in the clean air, I slipped my hand into his and held onto it tight.

We drove down the winding mountain path, which was beginning to feel familiar, almost like home. Once at the grocery store, I forced myself to move quickly, opting for some lasagna noodles, ricotta cheese, spinach, salad, and a nice bottle of wine. Ethan walked alongside me, making the occasional joke, and giving me a pure, loving gaze. I shivered each time we made eye contact, and flashed a smile. We couldn’t help it—we began to make out.

I closed my eyes, feeling him suck at my lower lip. My stomach clenched with emotion. Moments later, when one of the cashiers walked passed, clucking her tongue, our kiss broke and we shared a meaningful gaze and giggle, feeling like teenagers.

We drove up to the school gates, and Gracie’s head popped out of the crowd of kids as they raced out . She was blonder than any of them, and the emerging sunshine after the storm beamed off of her.

The moment she saw me in the truck with her father, she leaped into the air, smacking her hands together. “Yes! Serena! You’re coming home for dinner?”

A flicker of darkness crossed Ethan’s eyes. “No, baby. We’re going over to Serena’s,” he said.

This felt strange to me. But instead of thinking about it, I just leaned down and wrapped my arms around Gracie, grateful for this strange life that had opened up for me, up in the mountains. I couldn’t overthink it or read into it. These might be the only days I had.

“I’m going to make lasagna!” I told her. “Do you like lasagna?”

“Daddy doesn’t make that,” Gracie said, giving her dad a small smirk, “but I think I had it at school once!”

“You’re going to love it, squirt,” Ethan said, bringing his hand across his daughter’s head. He ruffled her hair, making her giggle. “Let’s get going. I’m starving. Serena and I forgot to eat lunch.”

“Oh yeah! How was fishing?” Gracie asked, leaping into the truck, graceful as any ballerina. “Did you catch anything?”

Ethan and I exchanged a meaningful look. I wondered, with my heart hammering in my chest, if Ethan would ever find the words to tell Gracie what he and I were to one another, if anything.

“We didn’t catch anything, actually,” Ethan said. He slid into the front seat alongside Gracie, lifting his hand to the keys. “What do you think about that?”

“I think that’s pretty pathetic,” Gracie said, clucking her tongue with as much judgment as a much older woman. “I need to come with you guys, to show you how it’s done.”

Ethan drove us back to my cabin and helped me carry in the groceries when we arrived. Gracie slid her hand into mine as we walked inside, gabbing about her day at school and telling me her favorite subjects (besides art, of course). She was such a bright bolt of energy, I fell into her charms easily.

This day was very much like the days following. Ethan would drive Gracie down to school, before chugging the truck back up toward my cabin. We’d begin our making out at my cabin, unable to resist one another. Sometimes, we’d head down to the boat, even fishing for a few minutes, before our passion got the better of us.

“I’ve never let my body get away from me like this,” he told me, shaking his head and rubbing his nose against mine. “Can you imagine a bounty hunter not being able to control himself? For so many years, I woke up in the morning, ate steel-cut oats, and did 100 pushups.

“After that, I was after one gang member or criminal or the next, without room for—erm—worldly pleasures, if you know what I mean. But now, I get one sniff of how you smell, and I’m enamored.”

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of that week were all the same, with Ethan and I picking Gracie up before returning to my cabin for dinner, which we began to cook together, as a kind of unit. We fell into easy patterns, with Gracie telling us silly stories from school, with Ethan touching me—my shoulder, my waist, my thigh—whenever he could, just to show that he still cared about me, even if he couldn’t be vocal about it with his daughter in our presence.

Each night, when they left, my heart grew dull. Saturday was approaching far too quickly. I’d begun to have dreams about work, reminding me that my old life was calling me back. I’d grown accustomed to the clean, crisp air, which smelled of pine trees. I’d grown to love the mountains, cresting in the distance. Part of me wanted to abandon everything I’d ever known. But most of me knew that was just a hopeless dream.

On Thursday evening, as Gracie jumped into the truck to leave, Ethan leaned toward me, knowing this was our quick second of privacy. He kissed me, causing my eyes to close, my body to fold into his. I reached for his elbow, wanting to cling to him. But he took a step back, breaking the kiss all too soon.

I wanted to cry out to him. To tell him everything that I knew, in my soul. But I held back, waiting.

“Same time tomorrow?” I finally whispered, feeling the tension between us.

“Same time,” he said, his voice deep and dominant.

The moment the truck crept back up the mountain and out of sight, I fell onto the back porch, placing my face in my hands. Friday was to be my final day with Ethan. I resolved to enjoy it, to mark it in my mind as special.

But at the same time I knew—since Ethan’s situation was specific, since he had to remain in the wild—he could never chase after me. I would have to leave him behind.