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She spent the next ten minutes showing him exactly how.
Finally he stood, still holding her with one arm like she weighed nothing, his free hand squeezing the generous curves of her ass through her sweats. “Come on, princess. Let me feed you.”
“How do you do it?” Sage asked, nestled deep in Cal’s lap as they looked out over the view.
“Do what?” His big hands rubbed slow, soothing circles up and down her arms.
The sun had finally cracked through the heavy cloud cover, flooding the high meadow in a sudden wash of golden light. Snow sparkled like scattered diamonds across the open field, and the wind carried the clean, sharp scent of pine and frozen earth. This place had always been breathtaking, but after that first magical week with Cal — when the world still felt new and terrifying and wonderful — he had brought her here. Now it was their haven, the one spot they escaped to when the rest of the world felt too loud.
They’d come straight here after breakfast. He’d held her hand the whole winding walk up, slowing his long stride so she never had to hurry. They’d talked about everything and nothing — her latest drawings, the land, Brutus’s latest dramatic sigh every time he stopped to sniff a snow-dusted bush or rock. The grizzly bear trailed them like a loyal shadow the entire way.
“How do you just… ignore how cold it is?” Sage pressed. She glanced down at Cal — open flannel, thick jeans, boots, and apparently impervious to physics — then down at herself: two sweaters, wool socks, snow boots, and his enormous leather trench coat that she’d been wearing more like a blanket than a jacket.
“You should be freezing, you know. Like any normal person.”
Cal’s low chuckle rumbled against her back. “Well, sweetheart,” he said, a smile warm in his voice, “you keep me warm enough.”
“But I barely cover you!”
His hands drifted lower, settling on her wide hips and giving a slow, appreciative squeeze. She unconsciously — liar — rocked back into him.
“Well… the parts that do cover me are very… effective.” His palms slid down to touch the plump flesh of her ass, squeezing gently. “And very warm.”
Sage blushed hard but kept her voice light. “So you’re saying my thick ass is basically a heating pad?”
Cal pretended to consider it like a serious scientific problem, kneading her cheeks with both hands. “Yup.”
She burst out laughing and smacked his arm. “Babe! You’re not supposed to—”
He cut her off with a deep, hungry kiss that stole the rest of the sentence and every thought in her head. When he finally pulled back, he rested his forehead against hers, eyes soft and steady.
“I love you.”
Simple. Total. Him.
Sage melted, letting out a happy little sigh. “I love you too, baby.”
They stayed like that for a long while, wrapped around each other while the sun played hide-and-seek with the clouds and hawks circled lazily over the snow-covered pines. The wind whispered through the trees, Brutus snored softly at their feet, and the man she loved held her peacefully.
The phone rang at three.
“What’s up slut bag?”
Sage grinned as she watched Cal fixing things around the barn from the third floor window of her art studio. Her art studio! She still couldn’t get over it.
“Hey Izzy…nothing…just drawing” she said as she sketched Cal as he hammered a nail into the barn wall. “And I’m not a slut, bitch!” She said giggling after a slight pause causing Izzy to laugh delightedly.
“Oh yeah? Tell me…did you happen to ingest any bodily fluids last night that—“
“Omg how the fuck did you know—“
“Because you just told me!”
Sage sighed. “How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
Sage made an exasperated noise. “How do you know everything!?”
