A half-hour drifted by with the ease and silence of one of the wispy clouds in the brilliant blue sky above.

“I think we might be pushing it,” I said. “Don’t we have a full day of walking ahead of us?”

This is what I said. But what I felt was that I probably could’ve spent the rest of the day, hell, the rest of the week, there in that tiny little Eden with Justin. I think part of me was hoping he’d make the suggestion.

“You’re right,” he said. “We really ought to get moving.”

He sat up, resting back on his hands. Justin stared straight ahead for a time.

“What’s on your mind?” I asked.

“Just thinking about what a waste it’d be if we didn’t take advantage of this lake again before leaving,” he said.

A dip did sound heavenly.

“I don’t think I can disagree with you about that,” I said.

Justin nodded and stood up. His tanned, toned body was still sweat-slicked, the sheen making the contours and angles of his muscles even more striking. He stretched, his muscles bulging and straining. I watched him with admiration, thinking how he’d look right at home on a pedestal in a museum—his body was truly beyond compare.

“Come on,” he said as he stepped toward the water. “Get all that sweat cleaned off.”

He dipped his toes into the water, holding them still for a moment.

“How is it?” I asked.

“Perfect,” he said. “Come on in.”

With a few more slow steps, he half-submerged himself in the water. The lake was clear and bright, the top of Justin’s body reflecting perfectly against the surface. He dragged his fingertips through the water, ripples spreading out around him.

I couldn’t wait any longer. I hopped up from my seat and walked gingerly across the grass, arriving at the edge of the lake. Just like Justin had done, I dipped the tips of my toes into the pool. Sure enough, the water was perfect—about the temperature of a nice warm, but not too warm, bath.

“How is it so mild after the cool evening?” I asked, dipping in the rest of my foot.

“Probably some kind of thermal spring,” he said. “Oases don’t just pop up out of nowhere. There has to be a source of water, and the source of water is often pushed to the surface by something else.”

“I can’t believe how perfect the water is,” I said, stepping in up to my waist. “I’m half-expecting to pinch myself and wake up stranded and parched in the middle of the outback.”

“Not an uncommon feeling,” he said. “These oases are so unlike the desert around them that every second here feels like some kind of dream.”

“A very, very nice dream,” I said, giving Justin a wink.

He matched my wink with a sly smirk. Then, leaning back, he let his body float on the surface as he gently waved his arms. I watched him move, his member hanging heavy and limp against his thigh. The feeling of him inside of me was still fresh, and though we’d just gotten done with our lovemaking, I knew that I wouldn’t object to going for a second round.

I took in a deep lungful of air and dropped beneath the surface of the lake. Once totally submerged in the water, I looked around. The water was so clear that I could see all the way to the edge. The bottom of the lake was smooth reddish stones, aquatic plants sprouting out here and there. There were even a few shoals of colorful fish.

As I looked around, however, I noticed that I couldn’t see Justin anywhere. His legs were gone and, as silly as it sounds, a tinge of panic ran through me. I popped back up out of the water, my wet hair heavy on my shoulders.

Before I had a chance to call out for Justin, I felt the sensation of a pair of arms wrapping around me from behind. The panic was replaced by relief. I closed my eyes, a small smile spreading across my face.

“Did I scare you?” he asked, his voice low and lovely.

“Maybe a little,” I said. “Not sure what I’d do if you’d decided to up and leave.”

“I think you’d be fine,” he said, kissing me gently along my wet neck. “Food, water, mild temperature—I think a girl could make a nice life for herself in a place like this. It’s a perfect little Eden.”

“Mmm,” I said, enjoying the sensation of his cool lips against my skin. “But what’s an Eden without an Adam?”

“Good point,” he said, moving his hands slowly down my slick body. “Very, very good point.”

His member was pressed against my buttocks, and I felt it harden with each pulse of his heartbeat. His hands moved down my hips, then up along my stomach, stopping at my breasts. He kneaded them for a moment, rubbing my nipples with his fingertips in just the way I loved. Then his hands traveled back down, down, down.

Just as he reached the surface of the water, however, he stopped.

“Something wrong?” I asked. “You were very much on the right track.”

“I spotted something when I got out of the pool a few minutes ago,” he said.

“Oh?” I asked. “And what’s that?”

“Come this way.”

He placed his hand on my hip and guided me toward the edge of the pool, toward the shade of one of the tall trees whose branches hung over the water.

“Watch this,” he said.

Justin reached toward the tree trunk and took into his fingers a strip of bark that hung from the body. He pulled it gently, removing the strip and revealing the lime-green skin of the tree beneath it. When he was done, he had the long strip free in his hands.

“That’s…interesting,” I said, not sure where he was going with this.

“Pliable, but surprisingly strong,” he said, holding the bark in his hands and giving it a pull, showing me how tough it was. “Exactly what you’d want in a…restraint.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?” I asked.

“Come here,” he said.

This was…something I’d never really done before. Sure, I liked it rough every now and then, but this sort of thing typically wasn’t on my sexual menu—just the idea of submitting, of forgoing control, made it something that didn’t really appeal to me. With Justin, however, the idea of letting him be in total control sounded more than a little nice. I didn’t know if it was him or this place or what, but I was ready for something new.

Justin turned my body until I was standing with my back to the tree. Then, he took me by the hips and lifted me, setting me down on the edge of the pond. The lower halves of my legs were still in the water, but the rest of me was above the surface. Justin stepped toward me until his now-erect member was right at the height of my sex.

He was close to me, tantalizingly close. But before he entered me, he reached forward and took my hands. Next, he held my wrists together, bringing them above my head. There was an overhanging branch above me, and Justin used the strip of bark to bind my hands to it. Once he’d tied his knot, I tested the restraints. He was right—there was no way I’d be getting out of them on my own.

“How does that feel?” he asked lowly.

“It feels, different. Different but good.”

And that was all he wanted to hear. Justin closed the rest of the distance between us, placing his hands on my rear and holding me into position. My first instinct was to put my own hands on his chest, to take in the sensation of his lean muscles. But I was quickly reminded of my current predicament as soon as I tried to move my hands.

“You’re going to have to let go,” he said.

I took in a slow breath, my breasts heaving. With a quick glance down, I saw how close he was to me. I wanted to grab his manhood, to drive it the rest of the way. But I couldn’t—I was helpless. The anticipation began to take hold. I swallowed hard and waited for whatever was next.

“Lose the tension,” he said. “Your body is so tight.”

“Easier said than done,” I said.

He smirked.

“The globe-trotting executive is going to have to learn a thing or two about giving in, I think.”

He was right. Sex was one thing, giving myself over to a man like this was something else. But I wanted it with Justin. I wanted him to take me, to do with me just what he wanted. So, I closed my eyes and breathed in and out slowly, focusing on the warmth of the water, the pleasant chill of the breeze.

“There you go,” he said. “Good girl.”

With that, he entered me. My eyes went wide, and a gasp sucked into my mouth.

Goddamn, he felt good.

My instincts returned, and I wanted to clamp my hands down on his ass and guide him into me. But I couldn’t—I was at his mercy.

His steely gaze fixed on me, Justin drove into me at a steady pace. I bucked my hips to the side, trying as best I could to have some kind of control over the lovemaking. But all the cards were in Justin’s hands.

The water splashed around us as he penetrated me, the soft sloshing of the pool mixing with the sounds of our bodies colliding. I closed my eyes tight again and bit down on my lower lip so hard that I worried I might draw blood. Justin’s constant thrusts into me quickly stirred up the beginnings of an orgasm, but I knew that I’d still have to let go even more before I could reach the bounds of pleasure where he wanted to take me.

Then, in the midst of his onslaught, something changed in me. I was ready to give myself over, to surrender. I let my body relax as I focused on nothing but the sensation of his manhood inside of me. My restrained hands unclenched as I turned myself over to Justin, submitting to him in the way I deep-down wanted.

He must’ve sensed this, as his thrusts became deeper, more insistent. He placed one hand on the small of my back, holding me in place. The other fell onto my shoulder. I took a look down, watching my breasts shake and quiver with each plunge. A placid expression formed on my face as my orgasm grew and grew.

Finally, it happened. The pleasure exploded in me like a bomb. Not a bit of me was free from the white-hot delight of the orgasm that took hold. A soft sound, a whimper of ecstasy, sounded from my lips. The orgasm was unlike anything I’d ever felt before, and with each long stroke, Justin pushed me more and more toward indescribable joy.

Justin came as I pulsed around him, draining his member inside of me. By this point I felt like a melted pile of flesh, helpless before Justin’s sexual power. When our orgasms faded, Justin held me close. We let the water lap at our bodies, nipping away the sweat that sheened our skin. Finally, he reached for the multi-tool kept nearby and snipped the restraints. My hands now free, I wrapped my arms around him and held him tight.

“How was that?” asked Justin, holding me nice and close.

“I…I didn’t know it could feel that good,” I said, my voice still breathy.

“It’s all about letting go,” he said softly.

He was right, but I could hardly think, let alone speak.

He held me tight like this for a long while, just us and the water. Part of me still wished that we’d never have to leave.

* * *

“Time to get going.”

Still naked, I lounged on the grass. Justin’s voice seemed far away, like that of a person in the waking world trying to break through a dream.

“Just another hour or two,” I said. “You know what? Make it just another day.”

“I wouldn’t recommend that unless you’d like to share the oasis with a bunch of hired goons,” he said.

That did it. I opened my eyes, now remembering that we were, in fact, in significant danger. I sat up and bounded to my feet. Justin was near the tree where we’d hung our clothes to dry after soaking them in the pool. But he was standing still and looking up.

“What’s going on?” I asked, walking slowly toward him.

“Come here and check it out,” he said, flashing me an expression of almost boyish excitement.

I moved to his side and looked up. But all I could see was the thick canopy of leaves and branches, the sun poking through here and there.

“What am I looking at?” I asked.

“Right there,” he said, pointing up.

I looked in the direction he indicated, not seeing anything at first. But then I noticed a few small shapes, shrouded in shadows. I gasped as I realized what they were.

“Koalas!” I said, bringing my hands to my mouth.

Now that I’d noticed them I could see them clearly. They looked down at Justin and me with impassive expressions on their adorable, fluffy faces. There were four in total—two adults and two babies. The adults were gingerly bringing leaves to their mouths, chewing them slowly.

“So cute,” I said.

“Remember what I told you before, though?” he asked. “They can be mean little things if you get in their territory.”

“But they look like little stuffed animals,” I said. “Like they couldn’t hurt a fly.”

“Maybe we should take them with us,” he said. “Sic ’em on the thugs if they give us trouble.”

“Now that I’d like to see.”

We stood for a few more moments, watching the animals as they, in turn, watched us. When I finally turned, I took in the oasis and the desert beyond with new eyes. Both the paradise and the wastes were all part of the same place, this strange land where I found myself. And I realized there was no person I’d rather experience it all with than the man at my side.

Justin plucked our clothes from the branches, and we put them on. After gathering some water and food for the road, he and I stepped up to the border of the oasis.

“Ready to leave this all behind?” I asked. “Not too late to stay and build a house.”

He smirked, his eyes fixed forward. Then, he took my hand and squeezed it tight. Together, we stepped onto the sand, toward whatever lay ahead.