Page 11 of Adored By the Mountain Man

My breath catches. “Yeah?”

“What are we doing?”

I shrug. “Camping? Staring into the fire?”

He doesn’t smile at my weak attempt at humor. Instead, he leans forward, elbows on his knees, and runs his hands through his hair. “I need to tell you something, and it’s going to sound crazy.”

My heart instantly beats faster. “Okay.”

“I’ve been living in the mountains alone for years. Years, Callie. I swore off people, swore off this.” He gestures between us. “I convinced myself I was better off alone and isolated, that caring about someone was asking to get hurt again.”

The vulnerability in his voice makes my chest tight. “Harlan—”

“Let me finish.” His eyes find mine in the firelight, and their intensity takes my breath away. “Then you showed up. One day. That’s all it took. One day of watching you care about this place, of seeing how you light up when you talk about those kids, of feeling like I can breathe again when you’re around.”

I can’t look away from him. Can’t blink. My heart beats so fast that I’m convinced I’ll have to call Search and Rescue if I want to survive these heart palpitations.

“I know this is insane,” he continues, his voice sexy and rough. “I know we just met. I know I have no business feeling this way about someone I barely know. But, God, Callie, you’ve turned my entire world upside down in less than forty-eight hours.”

“I have?”

He nods. “For the first time in years, I’m not thinking about surviving. I’m thinking about living. When I look at you, I see everything I thought I’d given up on. Hope. Connection. A future that doesn’t involve hiding from the world.” He pauses, swallowing hard. “When you’re near me, I feel like I’m home.”

Shit, my heart might burst out of my chest. Everything he just said about feeling like he’s home, about hope, about his world being turned upside down, is exactly what’s been happening to me.

“You think you sound crazy?” I whisper, my voice shaking. “I’ve been sitting here wondering if I’ve lost my mind because I want to kiss a guy I only met yesterday. Because being near you feels like the most natural thing in the world, even though it should terrify me. I feel it too, Harlan. All of it. The way you make me feel safe and alive at the same time. The way being with you feels like I’m finally whole.” I lean closer, unable to resist him any longer. “Maybe we’re both crazy.”

“Maybe we are.” His voice is rough, almost desperate. “But I don’t care. All I care about is you, Callie.”

He leans in, and before I can blink, his lips are on mine. His kiss is fierce and possessive like he’s starving and I’m the only thing that could ever satisfy him. His hand slides into my hair, pulling me closer.

I gasp against his mouth, and my fingers grip his shirt, never wanting to let go. This isn’t just a kiss. It’s a vow. A claim. And I want more. More of him. This is what I’ve been waiting for without realizing. This passion, this connection, this feeling of being exactly where I belong.

He pulls back enough to look at me, his breath ragged, his eyes wild and primal.

One second.

Two.

Then his mouth is on mine again, like the space between us is unbearable and he’ll go mad if he doesn’t get close. And fuck, I feel exactly the same way.

His hands are everywhere—threading into my hair, sliding down my back, gripping my hips like he can’t decide which part of me to hold onto first. Or maybe he wants it all. And I sure as hell want to give it to him.

I kiss him back with the same primal need and intensity. My fingers claw at his shirt, pulling him against my body. Harlan groans into my mouth, deep and rough, like he’s losing control. I want him to. I want to see what it looks like when he breaks for me. When he lets go of every wall he’s ever built.

His teeth graze my lower lip, and he deepens the kiss again, only this time, it’s even hungrier, rougher. I’m dizzy with need, hot desire pooling between my legs.

“Harlan, I need you,” I say, the electricity that’s been building between us all day finally breaking free.

“You have me, Callie. This is forever, okay? I’m not looking for a fling. What I want is a lifetime of this.”

His words break through every last restraint I was holding on to. I’m dripping wet now and unable to let him go.

“Then show me. Have me. I need to feel you inside me.”

“Wait right here,” he says between gritted teeth and disappears into his tent.

A few seconds later, he comes out with a blanket and spreads it on the ground beside the fire. He turns to me, his eyes dark and locked on mine like I’m the only thing that matters to him. He holds out his hand, and I get up and take it.

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