My back hits the trunk of a small ash tree, chest rising and falling faster. The cigarette hisses as he puts it out against the bark just a hair’s breadth away from my ear. The light is lower, casting soft shadows over the contours of his face. His palms land on either side of my head, and then his thick forearms. “Don’t.” Don’t touch me. Don’t kiss me. Just don’t. “Bold of you to assume I want to.”
