Page 13 of Obsessed and Naughty Mountain Man

I don’t worry about being caught or if my glasses shattered.

I hold him close, shuddering with every breath, fingers digging into his back like vines yearning to root.

CHAPTER 4

LUCAS

This has been the best week of my life. My trip to New Zealand a few years ago was the best week of my life, but it's so far back in second place that I can hardly remember it.

Nothing existed before I met Luna.

My days revolve around her. Not climbing. Not summiting the nearest peak. Every part of my will and ambition orbits the shy librarian.

Much to her roommate’s frustration, we haven't spent a night apart since I took her between the stacks. At the apartment, Luna hushes me in her bedroom like we’re still making love in the library. She always breaks her own rule, and we catch stray looks of contempt from her roommate when we're in the living room.

When she's at work, we take every opportunity given to us. She texts me when there are no visitors; I rush over if I'm not already there. We've had sex in almost every section. I'm even getting better at cataloging.

Climbing has taken a backseat. I postponed a major trip I'd planned with a friend this week. When he asked what the deal was, because my climbing partners know that I never back out of the trip, I told him that I've met the girl I'm going to marry.

He was convinced somebody had stolen my phone and sent the text.

None of this is like me. I'm even looking at houses in Pine Whistle. Brock might think I'm a bum, but I've got money tucked away. I’ve had sponsorships, giant checks from competitions, and even done some freelance writing for outdoor magazines. Money isn’t an issue. Living below my means doesn't make me homeless; I’ve just never had anything other than climbing worth spending money on.

Now, I can see a future that I never wanted before.

It all makes so much sense in my head: I can plant roots here in Colorado, Luna doesn't have to move anywhere and she can keep her job at the library, we can get a house together, and I can keep climbing all through the Rockies. A perfect dream. One with room to grow.

But does it make sense in her head, too?

Luna throws her arms around me from behind, pulling me from my daydream. I've been watching a squirrel feast on his nut on a high branch. The little creature leaps away and climbs.

It's the weekend, and I've taken Luna camping. For someone who grew up in Denver, with all this wilderness a stone’s throw away, she doesn't have much experience with the great outdoors. Though I don't have much experience reading, so I guess we balance each other out.

The sun is setting on our little campsite. I found the place in one of the local maps in the library, and it was just a two-mile hike from where we parked the van off the back road. A stream trickles down into a basin from the top of a thirty-foot cliff. To our backs, a wall of trees gave us shade through the hot day. We set our tent up under their canopy, and I've been doing runs up the wall all day while Luna reads or naps or cheers me on.

All day, we resisted the urge to fill the woods with our moans. Mayberesistedis the wrong word. There's a wall up. Something is preventing us—or maybe it's preventing me, and Luna is too timid to push the issue.

All week, the idea of our life together has been growing inside of me. It's desperate to come out, boiling over and hissing on every breath. Except I don't know how to have this conversation. I've suspended myself from heights so great that it would've taken minutes to fall to my death, but I'm terrified of telling this girl how I feel.

Right now, this week is perfect. I don’t want to mess that up.

"You gonna climb again before the sun goes down? I wouldn't mind watching you." Luna says, still hugging me from behind even though I'm slick with sweat.

"Actually, I think it's your turn."

Luna lets go of me and scrambles back toward the tent. "Nope! I can't do it."

She crosses her arms, stealing a glance at the crag and the ropes I've run through anchors to the very top. The look in her eyes—one I've seen in new climbers so often before—tells me that she wants to try again, but she's afraid to take the leap.

Luna, baby, I know just how you feel.

"One more try." I grab the belay line and tug. "Totally safe. If you fall, I've got you."

Luna's lips move like her courage is trying to speak its first words. She tamps it down and throws her arms up. "I'm scared."

"It's rock climbing," I laugh. "Fear is part of the fun."

"Not for me. I like being in control of my environment, Lucas."

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