Mark, Sara and I had planned a camping trip for the first weekend of summer when we got together for Christmas. The weekend was drawing near, and we had everything together. But when it came time for us to leave, we encountered a problem that none of us had thought of. Mark was ready to leave at three o'clock in the morning. Since I was his next door neighbor, I walked over, and rode with him to pick up Sara.

When we pulled up in front of her house, I got out, and went to the door. I pounded on it as loud as I could. "Sara! Get your ass down here! The fish are waiting for us." After a few minutes, Sara came to the door wrapped in a blanket. "I can't go. I caught a nasty cold." "Ah, man... We'll have to postpone the trip." "Don't you dare. Mark's been looking forward to this trip." "What do you want us to do? Go out there alone?" "Yes." "Oh, gawd... You must be sick. You're trusting me to go out in the woods alone with your boyfriend?" "I trust both of you. Besides, it wouldn't go any further than a kiss." "A kiss is bad enough." "I don't consider it cheating, until he sleeps with someone else. Just go, have a good time, and bring back some fish." "Alright, Sara. Get some rest, and take your medicine." "I will." She waved at Mark, before closing the door."

As I got back in the truck, Mark asked, "is she getting her stuff together?" "She's sick, but she insists on us going without her." "I'll go talk to her." He went to the door, and spoke to her for a few minutes. When he came back to the truck, he kept his head down. As he got in I said, "well?" "We're going without her." "Are you ok with that?" "I'd rather she was with us, but we can have a good time." "Ok. Do you mind if I sleep on the way out there?" "No. Lean the seat back, and get comfortable." "Alright. Wake me up when we get close."

Sometime later I awoke when he shook me. "Hey, Jo, we're here." I put the seat back upright, and stepped out of the truck. I looked at the sunrise as I stretched. "Alright, scout leader, what do we do first?" I asked Mark. "Grab the poles and tackle. We can catch our dinner before we set up camp." "You got it." He grabbed two of the fishing poles, and his tackle box out of the back, then went down to the river's edge. I grabbed my stuff, then turned to go to the water. I stopped as I watched him stretch out the line for his stringer. His huge arms, tight shoulders, and even tighter butt suddenly made me regret coming without Sara. I continued my walk to the water, cast out my line, and sat on the bank.

As the morning wore on, it became unbearably hot. I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look just in time to see Mark taking off his shirt. I closed my eyes and turned away, but I still saw him in my mind. 'Damn you, Sara,' I said to myself. I opened my eyes as a shadow fell over me. "What's up?" "Let's leave our lines out in the water while we set up camp." "Alright." He held out his hand to help me up. I took his hand, and he pulled me up, but he pulled a little too hard. As I came up, I fell against him. I heard his chuckle in his chest. "Sorry. I don't know my own strength sometimes." "It's alright, Mark. Thanks for helping me up." "No problem. Let's get the tent up."

As we worked on the tent, I looked at him from time to time. He caught me looking a couple times. "Are you alright?" "I must be fine, cause my heart's still beating." "Just checking. Let's stand it up." Once we got it standing, he stood next to me with his hands on his hips. "Alright. Let's get the stuff inside." I started getting hot, so I took off my t-shirt to reveal my bikini top. As I laid my shirt over the side of the truck, Mark stopped with his hands on his bag and sleeping bag, and was looking at me. "Hey, Jo. Can you put your shirt back on?" I laughed. "If you can run around without your's on, so can I." I barely heard his groan as he pulled the bags out of the truck. Before I could get to mine, he threw his to one side of the tent, then came back for the ice chest, which he set right in the center of the tent. I grabbed my bags, and threw them to the other side of the tent.

"Hey, Jo, there's something on your line." I went to my pole, jerked on it, then reeled it in. "That's one big ass trout." "You have something." I nodded toward his poles. He went to get it while I unhooked mine, and put it on the stringer. As I was about to throw the stringer back out, he said, "hold on. I gotta put mine on." "Well, we have dinner," I said as I handed him the stringer. "Let's see if we can catch a few more before we start cleaning these." "Alright." I cast the line back out, and set the pole back in the hole that held it upright. "Want a beer?" I asked. "Sure." I went to the tent, and brought back a couple beers out of the ice chest. "Thanks." I clinked my bottle with his. "To catching many fish." "Salute." I went back to the tree I was leaning on before, and sat down. I took a long drink, then put the bottle between my bikini strap and my chest to cool me down. "Your beer is going to get hot that way. Quite frankly, I am too." "Gee, Mark. Real subtle." "Honesty is the best policy," he said before taking another swig of his beer. I laughed as I took my beer out of my top.

After a few more beers, and a few more fish, he started cleaning a couple while I gathered fire wood. When I got back to camp, he had set stones in a circle for our fire. I dropped the wood near the circle. As I sat down, Mark looked at me. "You cut yourself." "Where?" "Right under your boob. I guess one of the twigs jabbed you." "I can't see it. I'll be alright, though." "Let me clean it up, just in case." He got the first aid kit out of the truck, and took one of the alcohol pads out. He kneeled down beside me, and said, "lay back." "Really, Mark. I'll be fine." "Just do it." I sighed as I laid back. He laid his left hand on my ribs as he cleaned my wound with his right. My breaths came in shutters from his touch. It was amazing how gentle he was. "Do you feel alright? You're not breathing normally." My voice was shaky as I said, "yeah. I'm ok." "Well, you're done." "What? No kiss for my owie?" He gave me a lazy look. "Do you really want me to?" I laughed as I sat up. "No."

After dinner I sat on the tailgate of the truck and watched the sun set. "Want me to start some coffee?" "Nah, but I could use another beer." He grabbed a couple out of the cooler, and sat beside me on the truck. He opened mine before handing it to me. "I'm sorry if I haven't been much fun today," he said. "I just..." "I understand, Mark. You'd rather be out here with your girlfriend than your neighbor." "It's not really that. I just don't know how to act around women I'm not seeing." "I'm no different from Sara." I looked up at him, and noticed the fading sunlight caught the red in his hair. I pushed a few of his hairs behind his ear. "Mark, have you ever wondered... Never mind." "Have I ever wondered what?" "Never mind. It's not really something a friend should ask." "It'll drive me insane until you ask me." "Have you ever wondered what it would have been like if we were together, instead of you and Sara?" "To be honest, every time Sara and I fight. Have you?" I laughed. "If you knew, we wouldn't have come without Sara."

He smiled, then took a drink of his beer. "So, you have." "Yeah. I don't know if you have a mirror, but it's hard to miss the fact that you're a good looking man." I leaned my head back, and took a long drink out of the bottle. "I should have bought cans." I almost spit my beer out. He laughed. "Bad girls spit. Good girls swallow." I swallowed the beer so hard that it hurt. "Do you have to crack jokes while I'm trying to drink?" "Oh, yeah. The look on your face was priceless." I smiled at him. "You know, if nothing else ever happens between us, you're fun to hang out with, Mark." He tapped his bottle against mine. "So are you, Jo." We finished off the beers, and threw them with the rest.

As night fell around us, he laid his hand on my cheek. "One shot to see what it's like. Do you want to take it?" "Are you sure? Once we do anything, we can't take it back." He leaned toward me, and kissed me. I melted against him, and enjoyed his tongue sliding through my lips. I enjoyed it until he laid me back in the bed of the truck. He moved down to my neck; licking, kissing, biting. I swallowed hard, fighting the urge to let him continue. "Mark, how far is this shot going?" "How far do you want it to go?" I couldn't answer. I just let him go as far as he wanted to. He pushed the small triangles off of my breasts, and suckled them.

"Jo, let's go in the tent." "Are you sure?" "Either in the tent, or right here. I didn't think you'd want a misquito bite on your ass." "That's not what I meant." "I know. In the tent, or out here?" "The tent." He went in the tent, unzipped his sleeping bag, and spread it over the floor. I moved the cooler out of the way. Mark got up on his knees, and unfastened my top. As I pulled it off, he unfastened my jeans, and pulled them and my bikini bottoms down. I sat on the sleeping bag, and pulled them off as he worked on his jeans. Once he had them off, he turned his attention back to me. He laid me back, and went to work on my body again. This time, he went between my legs, giving me the sexual kiss like no man ever had before.

When he stopped, he stalked up my body like a panther stalking his prey. As his length slid inside my wet tunnel, I arched to take him in fully. "Oh, Mark... I've never wanted anyone as much as I've wanted you." He grabbed a handful of my hair, and whispered in my ear, "you're even tighter than I'd dreamed." He slowly slid in and out until I loosened my grip on him. Then, he worked up to a fast pace, making me cry out with each thrust. As my arms went around his neck, his went under and around me. Then he claimed my lips, as he drove himself in to the hilt faster and harder. He let out a long groan and slowed to a stop as he came inside me. He looked down at me, and let a single finger run along my cheek bone. "Can you keep a secret this big?" "Yeah. I can." He kissed my neck as he said, "even if we did it again, and again, and again?" I sighed, "oh, gawd, yes."

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The next day, as we got back to town, we stopped by to check on Sara. "Well, did you have a good time?" "We had a great time. Caught a lot of fish, too." "What else did you two do?" Mark and I looked at each other. "We drank, we fished, we ate, we drank some more, we slept. Not much else to do out in the woods." "Maybe I'll be able to make it next time." "You're looking better. How do you feel?" "Pretty good. Almost back to normal." "That's good." "Hey, Sara, I'm gonna take her home, and get a shower, then I'll be back." "Alright. Hurry back." "I will."

Once we got to the house, he helped me carry my stuff in the house. It all hit the floor next to the door. He picked me up, and carried me into the bathroom. He made love to me as we took a shower. When we got out, he wrapped a towel around his waist, and kissed me. "I'll bring the towel back when I come back tonight." He kissed me again. "I have to break it off with her, and see you only." This time, I kissed him. "I'll be waiting for you. And don't forget my towel." "I'll wear it back, so I won't."