Chapter 6: First Night

Astrid crossed the room in two steps and took my face in both hands.

She kissed me hard, and I kissed her back until the floor seemed to tilt.

The stove roared behind her, and the cabin glowed orange in the thin afternoon light.

"Tell me what you want," she said against my mouth.

"This," I said. "You. All of it."

"I haven't done this in a long time."

"Neither have I."

"Good," Astrid said, and she laughed, low and breathless. "Then we're even."

My fingers found the zipper of her green jacket and dragged it down.

She shrugged it off her shoulders and let it fall, and I pushed her flannel after it.

Underneath she wore a gray undershirt, worn thin, and I could see her ribs rise and fall.

She was leaner than I had thought, all muscle and long bone, with a scar on her forearm that I traced with my thumb.

"Rope burn," she said. "Years ago."

"I like it."

"You like everything."

"I like you," I said.

Her eyes darkened, and she undid my braid with her fingers, slowly, one loop at a time.

My hair fell over my shoulders, and she gathered it in one fist and tilted my head back.

Her mouth found my throat, and I made a sound I did not know I could make.

"Bunk," she said.

"It's narrow."

"I know," Astrid said. "I'm counting on it."

We tumbled onto it in a tangle of wool and laughter, and my elbow hit the wall.

I pulled her down on top of me before she could even catch her breath.

"Stop being careful," I said.

"I'm trying."

"Try less."

She smiled against my collarbone, and her hands began to unbutton my shirt.

She went slowly.

The air on my skin was cool for a moment, and then her palm covered my breast and the cool was gone.

I arched into her hand, and she made a low, approving noise in her throat.

"There you are," Astrid said.

"Here I am."

I pulled her shirt over her head, and the firelight ran down her shoulders and the length of her back.

I put my mouth to the hollow of her throat and felt her pulse hammer there.

Her hands shook, just slightly, as she undid the last of my clothes and shoved my jeans and underwear down my legs.

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