Chapter 68
My heart skips a beat at her note. Tiny little Ella in her sundress walking around these woods all by herself, heedless of all the dangers. A vision of her lying helpless with a snakebite has me tossing the food on a bench and hollering for Henry to follow me.
“All right, Henry, time for you to do some serious bloodhound shit.”
He trots off with his nose to the ground, and I hope like hell he’s following Ella’s scent and not some rabbit because he’s hungry. We walk further into the dense woods, and my apprehension rises with each step we take.
“Ella!” I holler, brushing back more of the dense foliage.
I keep screaming her name until I finally hear a faint response.
“Where are you?”
“I’m cooling off in the swimming hole!”
The swimming hole? What the fuck is she talking about?
I run through the woods toward her voice and stop short when I see her floating in the water. I’m barely able to register the discarded sundress at my feet and the tiny black bikini she’s wearing, because I’m so shocked at what she’s done.
“Jesus, Ella, what the hell are you doin’?”
She stands up and looks at me. The water hits her at about mid-thigh, giving me a fucking amazing view, but I’m so frazzled I can’t even concentrate on all that amazing flesh.
“I was hot, and then I found this water so I thought I could just jump in. I used to do it all the time in Michigan.” She looks around at the murky water and swamp-like conditions. “This is kinda gross though, and it doesn’t smell all that great.”
Realization seems to hit her, because when she looks up at me her face is filled with terror.
“I did something really stupid, didn’t I, Beau?”
The quiver in her voice makes me want to run out there and grab her, but I don’t want to terrify her any more than she already is, and I don’t want to startle anything close by that’s dangerous.
“Yes, darlin’, you sure did.”
I scrub a hand over my face and look around us. It doesn’t take me long to spot a cottonmouth not too far away, slithering along the edge of the water by the bank.
Her terrified voice draws my eyes back to hers.
“Are there snakes in here?”
Her head is swiveling around faster than I can keep up with, and I know she’s close to losing it.Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
“Of course not,” I say, stepping into the water. “Just stay there, though. I’m going to come get you.”
My boots quickly fill with water and my jeans are soaked through by the time I reach her.
“Hop on,” I say, turning around.
She quickly grabs on, wrapping her legs and arms around me. I can feel bare skin and a perfect pair of tits pressing into my back as I walk us out of the water. I spot two other snakes close by, and I yell for Henry to go home. I don’t like him being near so many of them. He happily trots off, and I make a mental note to give him a steak for supper.
When we’re on dry ground again, I reach down grab her sundress and boots, and keep walking. I hand her the stuff so she can hold them and grab onto her thighs. Her body is shaking against mine, and my dick is quickly growing to a painful size.
“Do you need me to walk,” she says, and her face is so close to mine, I feel her breath tickle my ear.
“No, I do not.”
She gives a very sad sigh in my ear and quietly says, “I lost my daisy.”
I give her thigh a reassuring squeeze. “I can pick you another one.”
That seems to appease her, and after a few minutes, she asks, “There were snakes, weren’t there?”
Now that she’s safe and we’re far enough from the water, I’m able to let myself laugh about it.
“Shit, yes,” I say in between laughs. “Some big sons of bitches, too!”
I feel her body shaking against mine, except this time it’s from laughter instead of fear.
“Please don’t ever do that again,” I say when I’m able to speak. “This is not Michigan. When you find water in the woods, dangerous things are livin’ in it.”
When she doesn’t say anything, I say, “Promise?”
She wraps her free arm tighter around my chest. “I promise,” she whispers by my ear. “Thanks for getting me out.”
I feel her press her body closer to mine, and I want to groan at how good it feels. I’m painfully aware that there’s only the tiniest scrap of material separating her body and mine, and the feel of her wet thighs is driving me wild. When she lets out a very soft moan, I realize I’ve been running my thumbs along the skin of her thigh.
“Are you dating anyone, Beau Thibodeaux?”
Her question and the sing-song way she says my name makes me laugh.
“No, Ella, I am not.”
“What a coincidence. Neither am I.”
She presses her cheek against mine, and I can’t help but smile. I’ve never met anyone who’s so damn adorable and sexy all at the same time.
When we’re back at the barn, I set her down outside and grab the hose.
“All right, swamp girl, let’s get you cleaned up.”
I turn the hose on and help her wash most of the swamp off her. The vision of water sliding down her tits, belly, and thighs is almost more than I can take. That bikini is hiding nothing, and thanks to the cold hot water, her nipples are rock hard.