Page 44 of Tracking Wolfe

“No, that’s not…” I felt him move out from underneath me. “Wait, that’s not what I meant.”

“Pretty sure it was. I understand, Wolfe.”

“No,” I said, grabbing his wrist before he could move off the bed. “You said no strings.”

Trace met my eyes and looked so… understanding. Empathetic. Kind. It made my eyes smart. He was familiar and also not. Family but… not.

“No,” he said patiently. “You said no strings.”

I blew out a breath. “Right.”

He inhaled a breath, held it for a beat, then exhaled. “Why don’t I give you some space—” He held a finger over my opening mouth. “—just to let us both clear our heads? I won’t leave the area, I promise. But this way, you can take a little time to think about things, and I can do the same. Then we can check in with each other later. Does that sound fair?”

I thought about it before responding. He was right. Mostly because I was afraid of hearing myself beg him not to leave again, and I knew I would if we spent more time together.

“Where are you staying?”

He grinned and thumbed over his shoulder. “I’m the obnoxious orange tent by the entrance.”

“You’re kidding. I drove right past it on the way in.”

He shook his head and leaned in to press a kiss to my forehead. “I’m only fifty yards away. Come find me if you need me. For anything.”

He moved off the bed and got dressed, allowing me plenty of time to watch him move through the motions. He was a beautiful man. Had the body of a much younger one because his job was physically demanding and his hobbies involved outdoor adventure.

“You’re so fucking hot,” I said with a huff of laughter. “Like, it’s not fair. I’ve hiked almost every day for weeks, and my ass still doesn’t look like that.”

He peeked back at me over his shoulder as he wriggled into his pants, deliberately drawing attention back to his plump cheeks. “You obviously haven’t seen your ass.”

The orgasm made me feel brave. “Oh yeah? Not bad?”

He grinned. I could only see half of his lips, but it was enough. “It’ll do.”

I felt the warm flush of satisfaction, wondering whether he would ever want to fuck me. While I felt brave, I didn’t feel brave enough to ask that. If the answer was a negative, it would kill the happy buzz I had.

And also crush me for life, so.

“You want to grab dinner later?” he asked. It came out casually, like it was no big deal. And maybe to him, it wasn’t.

But it was to me.

“Oh.” Really, Wolfe?

He turned to face me, yanking his T-shirt on and running fingers through his hair to smooth it. “Too… stringy?” he asked with a slight smile.

“What? No. I… it’s just… um.” I stopped and swallowed, throwing out a casual smile of my own to let him know how not a big deal this was. “We were going to do steaks,” I said.

I gestured at the area between Thierry and Armand’s Airstream and the Reynosos’ fifth wheel, where the group had already established a spot around one of the campground’s metal fire bowls.

Trace pressed his lips together and nodded. “No problem. I’ll… well, I guess maybe I won’t head to Jake’s,” he said with a wink that made my stomach flip and my soft cock twitch.

“Join us!” I blurted. “I mean. It’s a group thing. No big deal. You can… run up to the market and pick up a steak. Or chicken. Or whatever you want. And then Thierry and Armand—they’re really nice—they’ll cook it for you. If you want. Armand is really good at grilling since he got the Blackstone.”

I clamped my lips closed to stop the inane plea.

But then I couldn’t help it and added a little more. “And sometimes I play the guitar and, uh, sing.”

“Yeah?” His face softened into a smile. “You’d be okay with me joining?”