“Oh my gawd, that smell!” Ana gags, out of breath. My ankle’s not too bad, but I’m glad that we’re stopping. Ana shakes her head, waving her hand in front of her nose. “I’ve never smelled something that bad . . . and I work in a hospital!”

I chuckle. “Good thing you’re a city girl then. It’s happened to me a few times out here. Never pleasant.”

A shudder rushes through her, so I move closer. “You’re shivering. From the cold or the smell?”

The stars twinkle above us like diamonds glittering on blue-black velvet, and Ana takes a half-step back, turning so that I’m hugging her from behind as she looks around. “Both maybe. Maybe something else though.” She looks around, scanning the darkening tree line, and I catch a hint of a smile as she notices the sparking lightning bugs who have come out for the evening. “This reminds me of our special place. I wouldn’t even remember how to get there from here though.”

I nuzzle at her neck and kiss her just below her ear. “I know where it is. Too far of a walk right now, but this can be our special place for tonight.”

Ana moans softly, pressing back against me as I bring my hand around and cup her breast, the perfect handful for my touch. Her breath catches, and she looks back, her eyes two more diamonds in the moonlight. “Uh, should we go in the cabin?”

I look over my shoulder at the cabin then back to Ana. “I don’t think I can make it. Might have to stay right here.” I grin as her face goes from an expression of ‘oh, no’, thinking my ankle hurts too much to let me walk the handful of yards to the cabin, to one of sexy sassiness as she gets my meaning.

Ana nods, reaching up to cup my neck as I lower my lips, tasting the curve of her neck as I pull her tighter, my hands roaming her body.

We sink down to the grassy earth, our hands exploring each other as we shrug off our jackets. I pull Ana on top of me, stroking her thighs and ass. “Ana . . . my Sweet Ana.”

“I think part of me has always been your Sweet Ana,” she whispers, nipping at my neck. The confession feels big, an acknowledgement of what we once were to each other. “But I’m more now.”

I slip my hand inside her jeans, humming happily as I cup her pussy. “I’ve noticed.” I slip a finger along the edge of her panties, dipping in to tease at her slit. “You’ve grown, inside and out,” I say, placing my other hand on her heart.

“So have you. Everything about you is bigger.” She gasps as I tease her pussy. “Or maybe I’m just imagining things.”

“It’s in the food up here,” I joke, rolling her over to kiss down her neck. It’s pretty chilly, so I suck on her nipples through her shirt, saying, “I don’t want you to freeze, so we’ll have to do this half-dressed, okay?” She moans, which I take as agreement considering her back is arching as I tug on her stiff nubs, so I push her pants lower, leaving her trapped with them around her knees. “God, you’re fucking beautiful.”

“Aubrey?” Ana says, twisting her hips. I get up, and she turns over, getting to her knees to present herself to me. “Please?”

I can’t resist the sight of Ana, her eyes gleaming in the starlight and her ass swaying hypnotically back and forth in front of me. Reaching forward, I grab her ass, spreading her cheeks wide to let me see her wet pussy, relishing the heady punch of her arousal that hits my nostrils. “I need a taste.”

“Oh, fuck, Aubrey, yes,” Ana cries out as I bury my face in her ass, my tongue lapping at her pussy from behind as I feast on her. She’s so delicious, and I squeeze the handfuls of her ass again and again, kneading her flesh and knowing I’m likely leaving fingerprint marks on her skin. “Oh, fuck . . .”

I jab my stiff tongue deep in Ana’s pussy, tongue-fucking her forcefully before pulling out to stroke her clit, covering my mouth and lips in the sweet wine. I give her all I have, trying to show her that I’m not the boy who left her . . . that I’m more, that I’ve grown like she has.

Ana trembles, her fingers digging at the soft grass until she cries out, her back arching as she comes, calling out my name softly. “Aubrey . . . oh, God, you make me feel so good.” It’s a breathy confession that pulls at my heart.

Give me a chance, and I always will, I want to promise her, but instead I pull back, shoving my jeans down my thighs and freeing my cock. I’m ready, and I can feel my pulse through my skin, precum already oozing from my tip.

I tease my head along her folds, coating myself in her slickness and taking a moment to lock down my control. “Are you ready?” I ask. “Ana, I feel like . . .” My voice is soft, a whisper in the open air, but the strain is evident.

“No,” Ana says, looking back at me. “Aubrey, I understand what you’re doing. You want to be tender and sweet, show me that I’m special, that this space is special. Want to know what’ll make this special?”

“What?” I ask, curious.

“You . . . just be you. Don’t hold back. I want you to pound the fuck out of me like the big beast that you are. Blow my fucking mind like only you can.”

It’s a dare, and part of me knows she’s trying to avoid the emotions that are thick in the air, using the darkness inside of me as the smoke screen instead of her usual light banter. It almost angers me, the way she keeps minimizing what we were, what we are. But it intrigues me too, the thought that I don’t have to hold back with her, that she wants me wild, rough, untamed.

The animal, the beast, as she calls it, roars in response, and I grab her hips, pulling her back against my stiff cock. “Is that what you want?” I snarl, biting her neck. “To get fucked on your knees on the ground like an animal?” My filthy words excite her, judging by how she’s pushing back, searching for my cock. “Then take it all.”

I thrust all the way in with one stroke, deep into Ana’s tight pussy until my hips smack against hers. She cries out, screaming my name in pleasure and pain as I pull back and pound into her, bottoming out with every long, deep stroke, my balls swinging up to slap against her clit.

Ana tries to push back, but I’m too strong, and I take over, pulling her pussy onto my cock as I thrust, controlling the tempo, the depth, and not giving her any space to limit anything. I growl in her ear, “This is what you want? To be taken, fucked, overpowered?”

“God, yes,” Ana moans, her body flattening out. I let her stretch out, straddling her thighs and hammering her tight pussy as I pin her to the ground, pressed into my jacket and the ground as my cock swells. “Fuck, Aubrey, I—”

She never completes her statement as I roar, my climax jolting me like a bolt of lightning as I fill her pussy with everything I have, gasping as she clenches around me, another orgasm sweeping through her. A strangled cry that sounds like my name reaches my ears, but I’m still riding high, her name inarticulate on my lips behind a locked throat.

We collapse, and I immediately roll to the side so I don’t crush her, cradling Ana’s tiny figure in my arms. She stays there, the two of us looking up at the stars together until my cock softens and slips out of her. She twists to lie on my chest. “Well, I asked for it.” There’s a smile in her voice, but I need to be sure.

“Are you okay?” I ask, stroking her hair softly. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

“You didn’t,” Ana says, laying a hand over my heart and feeling the racing thunder in my chest. “It was amazing.”

It’s quiet for several minutes, both of us lost in our thoughts . . . of the spectacular fucking we just had, of the stars blanketing us above, of the past.

“You know, it’s been so long, I can only remember some parts of our days together. I feel like bits and pieces are so vivid, but others are hazy, lost to time,” I whisper, holding her close and praying she doesn’t shut down on me. “The good parts, mostly. We had a lot of good times.”

“I can remember all of it,” Ana whispers back, but while there’s a little sadness in her voice, there’s a mix of other things too. Things that make me feel encouraged.

“Can you?”

“Yes,” she says before chuckling. “Like when we first . . .”