My belly full of fruit and meat, I sat back on the grass and folded my hands behind my head. Between the softness of the ground and the glittering of the water a little to my left, I could even pretend for a while that I wasn’t surrounded by hundreds of miles of the most inhospitable landscape on the planet.

“You good there?” asked Justin. “You sure look comfy.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Just need one of those drinks served in a pineapple with a little umbrella hanging off the side to make it perfect.”

Finally getting off my feet was doing wonders for my aching muscles. The tension melted away, and I soon felt like I might be able to make it back to Longbridge after all.

“More good news,” said Justin. “Longbridge is where it is because it’s so close to a bunch of these springs.”

He sat down on the grass next to me and looked toward the water.

“So, that means that we’re not too far off. Probably another seven or so hours of walking.”

Excitement fluttered in my heart.

“So, that means that if we make good time, we might be able to sleep in a big hotel bed tonight?”

My hands shot to my mouth when I realized what I’d said. A smirk formed on Justin’s mouth; he seemed to be taking a sick pleasure in my embarrassment.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” he said. “We’ve still got the walk, and before we get to the town, we’ve got to make it over a big river that cuts through a canyon. There should be a bridge somewhere, but if not, we might have a challenge ahead of us.”

I wasn’t worried. At that moment, I felt like I could take on anything. Especially with Justin at my side.

“I think I could go for a little more grub,” I said, sitting up.

“Don’t let me stop you,” said Justin. “There’s more than enough. And that fruit should be good to take with.”

I snatched up some strange-looking fruit, a little purple thing about the size of a baseball, the skin covered in black specks. I took a big bite, the fresh, crisp flavor rushing over my palate. It tasted like a delicious combination of a plum and an orange.

“So,” said Justin, ripping off a piece of meat. “You excited to get back to your normal life once this is all over with?”

It was an odd question. Not because of the question itself, but because my old life seemed like years ago, despite me having only been in Australia for a couple of days.

“Not even a little,” I said, the words blurting out of my mouth so quickly they took me by surprise. “I screwed this deal up, so I basically came here for nothing. So, I’ve got a good chewing-out to look forward to.”

“You like traveling for your work?” asked Justin.

“You know, I used to,” I said. “When I started this job, there wasn’t anything more exciting to me than being able to travel around the world, meet interesting people—all that jazz. Jet-setting seemed like the most glamorous thing in the world.”

“But now?” he asked.

“Now…I don’t know. I’m starting to realize that a life of constant travel means that you’re not putting down roots anyplace. I’m starting to feel aimless—like I’m just drifting around the world with no connection to anywhere. I mean, I’ve got my apartment, but it might as well be a hotel room for all the time I spend there.”

“What got you wanting to travel to begin with?”

“I know the exact moment,” I said. “It was back when I was growing up in the small town outside of Dallas where I was born and raised. My parents are farmers, and we all lived the kind of quiet, small-town life that you’d expect. Then, one day, this incredible woman came to town. I remember her like it was yesterday. She was tall, dressed in tight black pants and a pinstripe blouse, and black heels. She had on these mega-stylish sunglasses, and her sleeves were rolled up like she was ready to get to business.”

I propped myself up on one elbow to face Justin.

“No one knew who she was, or why she was there. So, of course, she was the talk of the town instantly. She flitted here and there, snapping pictures and scribbling things down in this little notepad she kept in her back pocket. Oh, and if you’re wondering how I knew all of this, it’s because I followed her around all day like a stalker.”

Justin flashed me a good-natured grin.

“Anyway, she eventually spotted me following her around. I asked who she was, and she told me she was a writer for some magazine in New York. She was writing an article on small-town Texas and had picked our humble little hamlet for her story. I was desperate to get to know this woman, so I asked her if she wanted to come back to my place for dinner.”

“I bet your parents loved that,” he said.

“Well, my mom’s a bubbly chatterbox, so she was more than fine. My dad, on the other hand, doesn’t trust anyone from a town with a population of more than ten thousand. But we made her a home-cooked meal, and she picked our brains for material. But I was more interested in learning about her. So, she regaled us with tales of her around-the-world trips, her job taking her everywhere from Paris to Tokyo to Bangkok. Sitting there, watching this beautiful, glamorous woman tell me all about her amazing life, I knew that I had to do what I could to have it for myself.”

I smiled at the memory of the first glimpse of my future.

“I wasn’t much of a writer, so I explored other options. Texas is Texas, and Texas has oil, so I looked around the companies in the area for a job that might offer me what I was looking for. Horizon snatched me up out of college for this gig, and that was that.”

“That was that?” he repeated, raising an eyebrow. “You’re making it sound like that was the end of everything—when you’d think it was the beginning.”

“It kind of was,” I said. “I learned very, very quickly just what a life on the road is like. It’s non-stop flying and hotels and take-out food and driving and talking with people whose language you don’t understand. I thought it would be all glamour, but it’s all…work. So different than what I remember from that writer.”

“You were probably too young to know what her life was really like,” he said. “She probably felt the same way about her traveling.”

“You’re probably right. When you’re just a kid, you’re not thinking about that stuff. I saw a beautiful woman in expensive clothes, heard she lived in New York, and that was that.”

Justin popped a piece of fruit in his mouth and looked away for a moment.

“What did you say the town where you grew up was called?”

“I didn’t. Grenville.”

“No kidding?” he said, raising his eyebrows. “I’m from Hennings.”

“No shit?” I shot out. “That’s only about thirty miles away, right?”

“Right. We were practically neighbors. But Grenville is a damn dot on the map, right? No wonder you were so eager to get the hell out of there.”

“You have no idea,” he said. “When you’re an eighteen-year-old kid growing up in a small town, getting as far away from there as possible is priority number one.”

“I guess we have that in common, then,” I said. “Both of us looking to get as far away from home as we could…”

“…Only to get a little older and wonder what it was we were so eager to leave behind.”

The words hung in the air, having struck something deep in both of us. We both turned and locked eyes, staring deep at one another for several long moments. It occurred to me then how connected I felt to Justin. This had all started as a one-night thing at a hotel bar, but even without my thinking about it, it’d turned into something else—something real.

Justin must’ve felt the same way because just as I felt I might very well be lost in his eyes, he moved in and kissed me hard.

It was like the sweetest drug. His lips on mine sent a burst of emotions running through me, sending feelings to the surface that I didn’t know were there. And unlike the kiss out first night together, there was something behind this, something strong.

I fell into the kiss instantly. It was slow and deep, his tongue moving into my mouth and filling my senses with his taste. I closed my eyes in delight, savoring how delicious he was. My body had still been sore from the morning walk, but as soon as Justin took me into his arms, I melted like butter. I didn’t know it until then, but being in his arms was exactly what I’d been craving. And now that I was finally there, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

We kissed more, enjoying the feel of our skin touching. He moved his lips down along my neck and over the ridge of my collarbone.

“I feel like a hot mess,” I said, suddenly struck by a bout of self-consciousness.

“Bullshit,” he said. “You look beautiful.”

I blushed, feeling like a teenager all over again.

“You’re just saying that,” I told him. “No woman alive could pull off looking good after the last twenty-four hours.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“You calling me a liar?”

“I’m calling you sweet.”

“Can’t remember the last time a woman called me that,” he said with that sexy little smirk of his.

“That’s because you’re usually a jerk,” I said, matching his smile.

Then we went right back to it. His strong hands moved over my body as we kissed, making me feel small and protected in the best way possible. I wanted to lose myself in his kiss, to lose myself in his touch, to lose myself in his everything. I let my body relax as we made out. We were already down to our underwear—me in my bra and panties, he in a painted-on pair of coal-black boxer-briefs that showed off his lovely, thick, tanned legs.

Everything about his body was jaw-dropping, from his sculpted abs to his broad shoulders, to his solid, barrel chest. He was toned and tanned yet big and brawny—it was a body ready for any manner of physical exertion.

And that’s just what I was hoping.

My hand moved down to Justin’s crotch, as though it was out of my control. I took hold of his erection through the thin fabric of his boxer-briefs, a sigh slipping past my lips as I took in the sensation of its solid, stiff length.

“Mmm,” he moaned, apparently as much of a fan of my hand on his member as I was.

I needed more. Grabbing his underwear by the waistband, I yanked them down his bulging quads, his erection springing out to greet me as I did. Tossing his underwear aside, I turned my full attention to his cock, stroking it slowly as Justin stripped me out of the rest of my clothing.

Soon we were both naked, our bodies intertwined, the tips of the blades of grass poking gently into my exposed flesh. I continued to stroke Justin as he moved his mouth over my breasts. He licked and sucked my nipples one by one, and I closed my eyes with delight as I felt them harden in his mouth as he lashed them with the wet, warm point of his tongue.

“Yes.” I moaned, overcome with delight. “Just like that.”

He glanced up at me, a crafty look in his eyes. Then, he went down, down, kissing along the top of my stomach, down to my belly, then over the notches of my hip bones. The feeling of his lips on my body was beyond divine; I could sense how turned on he was by me, how much he was struggling to stay in control.

It was clear, however, that he wouldn’t be able to restrain himself for long.

Justin’s mouth continued down, moving over the subtle slopes of my waist, finally coming to a stop right at the apex of my thighs. I knew what he had in mind, and I closed my eyes once again as I prepared for what was next.

Crackles of electricity ran through my body as he placed his mouth on my most intimate of places. He licked me slowly, lovingly, caressing me with his tongue so skillfully that I thought I might come nearly instantly. I ran the free fingers through his hair, mussing it gently as he lapped me. My breasts heaved with full gasps, and I couldn’t help but squeeze one of them firmly, taking the supple flesh into my grip as I worked through the blissful tension that was setting my body aflame with desire.

Justin pleasured me more and more, and it was clear from both his intensity and the throbbing size of his erection that he wasn’t going to restrain himself much longer. And that was just what I wanted. I wanted him to lose control, to become one of the beasts that roamed these wastes and ravish me like an animal in desperate need of a rut.

I didn’t have to wait much longer for what I craved. In a swift motion, Justin slipped his arms under the bottom of my legs and swooped on top of me. He gazed down at me hard, his eyes narrowed as he dragged the back of his hand over his mouth, wiping away my arousal.

“Tell me what you want,” he said, his tone firm and commanding.

“I want you,” I said as if it weren’t totally obvious.

“Tell me, then,” he said, his voice resonating in my ears. “Let me hear you say it.”

“I…want you inside of me,” I moaned. “I want you to fill me up. I want to feel you.”

The hungry expression that formed on his face made it clear that he and I were on the same page. He reached down and took hold of his heavy-hanging member, placing the head right on my opening. Then, with a slow driving of his hips, he entered me.

I winced even as I cried out with pleasure; all of his inches were quite a bit to take in all at once. But when he settled inside of me, all I could think about was the intoxicating warmth pulsing through my body. The pleasure was almost too much. I had to force my body to relax, to let my muscles go slack. Justin above me, I was ready to let him do with me what he wanted.

He moved in me slowly at first, penetrating me with slow, smooth movements of his hips. My legs were spread wide under him, wordlessly beckoning him to stay inside, to be right where I wanted him to be. Justin placed his hands on both sides of my head, the ropy muscles of his arms taut and solid as he supported his weight.

He drove into me again and again. I bit my lower lip hard, trying my best to temper the ecstasy coursing through me. Justin alternated his movements, changing from slow, full plunges to shallow thrusts, the feeling of the tip of him entering me over and over sublime and incomparable. My eyes were shut hard, but now and then I forced them open to look down, to take in the sight of his member splitting me in two with piston-like thrusts.

“Tell me how that feels,” he growled into my ear before setting upon it with hard kisses, the sound of his lips against my skin sounding like the ocean.

“It feels…it feels so goddamn good. Like you were made for me.”

This answer seemed to please him. Justin’s pace quickened, and now he was back to his full-length stabs, entering me as deeply as he could. His manhood was so long and thick that each time he entered me, I was shocked that I was able to handle all of him.

It wasn’t long before the pleasure coalesced into the beginnings of an orgasm. I felt helpless before the pleasure, my hands locked onto his solid, round ass, both for support and to guide him into me just how I wanted it.

“You gonna come for me?” he asked, his voice laden with sensuality.

“Yeah,” I moaned back. “Almost…oh…oh!”

Right at that moment, it happened. My orgasm exploded—the pleasure that had been building rushing through my body like some irresistible force of nature. I shrieked and squirmed under him, thrashing my hips back and forth in some wild sexual frenzy. Justin kept his pace steady as I came, and with another series of thrusts he let out a deep grunt.

I opened my eyes just enough to watch him wince with intense concentration as he came inside of me. The massive explosion of my orgasm was then accompanied by the eruption of his own. I loved the feeling of him emptying himself in me. He shuddered with pleasure as he finished, draining every last drop right where I wanted it.

Justin held fast on top of me for another few moments, his sculpted chest expanding and contracting as he regained his breath. Finally, he collapsed onto my sweat-slicked body and rolled off onto the grass.

We lay like this for a time, breathing in deeply and letting our bodies recover from what we’d just put them through. Justin moved over to me and slipped his hand behind my head, pulling me close. A cool breeze drifted over us, the sensation of the fresh air against my warm body wonderful.

Here, in the middle of the desert, Justin and I had truly made this place an oasis.