Margot
I almost trip over my own feet as I try and hurry after Boone and Amelia.
My heart’s beating so fast already, I fear it might explode in my chest any second.
“Boone,” I pant, but he’s ahead of me and talking to Amelia.
What on earth has he found, and where is he leading us?
In my mind, I have an image of a hidden fortress occupied by several men, each of them fitting the description of the bad man.
It’s silly, I know, but what can I say? I’ve got a vivid imagination.
Once my imagination runs away with me, there’s no stopping it.
Of course I know Boone wouldn’t lead us into something dangerous. Therefore, common sense dictates there won’t be a fortress or any bad men.
I sigh.
“Wait, Boone,” I call again, and this time, he turns around.
“No, giddyup! Giddyup!” Amelia yells, and I see she’s holding a branch as riding crop.
Boone grins over his shoulder at me.
“Guess we know who’s calling the shots around here,” he jokes.
He might say that now, but when he’s carried her for about a hundred miles, he’ll change his mind.
Actually, knowing Boone…two hundred is probably closer to his breaking point.
“Don’t worry. I’m just ‘tending, Mommy,” Amelia pouts.
“It’s pretending, darling,” I correct her and take this break to catch my breath.
She shrugs. “Are we there yet?”
Boone shakes his head.
“Not yet, fearless princess,” Boone winks at me. “You ready to keep going? Explore new paths and conquer newfound kingdoms?”
Amelia giggles.
Wherever Boone’s leading us, it can’t be anywhere dangerous.
Unless, of course…
I don’t finish the thought.
“Are we there yet?” Amelia asks.
Boone laughs.
We keep walking.
“Are we there yet?”
“Amelia—” I start but stop because Boone has stopped. “What?”
He points straight ahead.
“Put me down,” Amelia squeals and starts kicking her legs.
“Manners, please, young lady,” I remind her.
“Put me down, please,” she says, and Boone carefully lowers her to the ground. The minute her feet hit the ground, she’s off.
I watch her run over, Crockett right next to her.
It’s the first time I notice the raccoon. He must have hitched a ride with Amelia atop Boone.
The man really is incredible. Is there anything he can’t do?
“Ladies first,” Boone’s voice rouses me out of my daydreaming.
I smile and walk toward the berry patch.
“I can’t believe you rushed out the door of your cabin to make us come to a berry patch.” I pretend to grumble, but I don’t think I’m really succeeding.
Amelia is sitting in a thick, dense berry patch and madly shoving different color berries into her mouth.
“You have to admit it’s a beautiful sight.”
Boone gets a playful punch for his efforts as I walk past him and squat down to sample some blueberries.
They are the fattest blueberries I’ve ever seen. I put one in my mouth and sigh.
“No good?”
I shake my head. “They are divine. Here, you try one.”
I pick a massive blueberry and hold it out to him. Gingerly, he takes it from between my fingers.
A tiny shiver runs down my spine as I feel his skin against mine. I want to poke my tongue out and lick his fingers before taking them into my mouth and sucking on them.
Our eyes meet, and I can see he’s thinking the same thing.
Slowly, he extends his finger and wipes some of the juice that has dribbled down from the corner of my lip before bringing his finger back to his own mouth and licking it clean. I tingle all over in anticipation.
Life is rather restricted, though, when you have a little person in tow. It’s so tempting to throw myself on top of him right now and kiss him. I want to lock lips and let my tongue explore his mouth, tasting the remaining berry flavor.
We were lucky to get those precious minutes in the pantry this morning. I mean, holy shit. We came so close to being discovered, it wasn’t funny.
“Here. Have one of these,” Boone offers.
I look at Boone holding a raspberry in front of my lips. My tongue wraps around his fingers and takes the delicacy from him.
His fingers linger longer than necessary. I practically drown in his eyes and immediately feel the wetness between my legs.
My body’s burning, and I drop my eyes to his crotch, using my eyes to caress his cock. If only I could hold it, squeeze it, and then feel it inside my pussy.
The way he’s looking at me, I feel as if he’s caressing my tits, sucking on my nipples, and then making me come by sucking on my clit.
So much power in those eyes. By now, my body is practically screaming to be touched by him. A yearning spreads through me like a wildfire.
Already, he’s holding another berry in his hand.
“I’m worried about the bad man Amelia’s mentioned,” Boone says as I eat another one of the berries.
I shake my head.
Part of me doesn’t want to talk about any bad man. For starters, I don’t even think there is a bad man.
“I don’t know, Boone.” I start and look at him. “I mean, Amelia might have made it all up.”
“Does she make up stories like this usually?”
I gnaw on my bottom lip. The berries suddenly don’t taste as sweet anymore.
“No,” I concede and play with some leaves on the ground. “But then again, we’ve never been overnight in a place like this.” I wave my hand in a sweeping motion.
“If there is a man—” Boone starts, but I interrupt him.
“What if she was playing outside with Crockett and saw a tree and then thought the tree was the bad man? I mean, some of the bigger trees around here can look frightening.”
Now that I’ve spoken my theory aloud, it sounds silly.
Boone frowns.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t sound like something she’d do. I mean…” he stops and seems to be struggling to come out with the right words.
“Maybe I just don’t want to accept that anything bad could be up here. I mean, look at all this magnificence and beauty. Why would anyone want to come up here and do what exactly anyway?”
We stare at each other for what seems like forever.
“I don’t know,” Boone starts and picks random berries. “But I don’t like it.”
For a while, we sit and eat and watch Amelia.
Amelia and the raccoon are immersed in berries. It almost looks as if they’ve agreed to participate in an eating contest to see who can eat the most amount of berries.
I hope it doesn’t make her sick later.
“Margot.” Boone’s voice is almost a whisper.
My heart beats a little faster.
“You know…” he starts and stops again. This is a Boone I’ve not seen before. “Earlier…what happened…I mean…” he stops.
I frown.
I know what he wants to talk about. My eyes find Amelia again. She’s edging closer to us.
“I…what I mean…”
This time, I put my finger in front of his lips.
“Not now,” I whisper. “Now is not the time.”
I motion my head in the direction of Amelia and Crockett.
“Ah. Right. Little ears.” He grins in understanding and nods. Then he gets all serious again. “I think we need to be careful in more ways than just that, though. I don’t know what’s going on out here…but things are starting to feel fishy, don’t you think?”
“Careful how?” I ask.
“To be safe, I’m going to stay up all night and make sure nothing happens to you or Amelia.”
My eyes scan the horizon. The world looks so peaceful up here. There’s nothing but mountains, valleys, lakes, and more mountains.
It seems unlikely that someone bad was hiding up here. The more I think about it, the more I lean toward thinking Amelia was making up a story about a bad man for some unknown reason.
“No harm in being extra careful, Margot. Better safe than sorry, don’t you agree?”
The words send a chill down my spine.
I nod and stare at Amelia. I’m reminded how close I came the other day to losing my precious girl. If anything happened to her, I don’t think I’ll survive.
“You’re right,” I mumble and look at Boone. “It pays to be extra careful. Better safe than sorry,” I repeat and take a deep breath.