Page 59 of Into the Mountains
Without looking away from him, I reach down between us and position him until he’s just inside me. My hand falls to the other side of him and I ease myself down. Both gasping at the feel of us together, I take him in and out a few times, until he slides in and out with ease. When he does, I sit up and take in the full length of him. He throws his head back into the pillows and bites his lower lip to keep from making any sound.
“Ride me harder, red.”
“Yes, Eli.” I listen and lean my hands down onto his chest, thrusting my hips into his, finding a rhythm together. The tension inside me is already building as the most sensitive part of me is hitting his pelvis in just the right spot.
“That’s it. Come for me, Charlie.” His hands come to my breasts and I let out a soft moan, wishing I could be louder. I almost do when he pinches my nipples and rolls them in between his fingers. My orgasm crashes over me like the tide over a rocky shore. Powerful and all consuming. Soon after, I feel Elias’s release, his whole body tensing under mine as he wraps his arms around me and his hands grasp at me.
Suddenly, his hands are on either side of my face and he’s kissing me. I feel pressure from his body and I follow his lead as he rolls on top of me, never pulling himself from me. He thrusts and kisses until he and I both slow down to languid movements and savory kisses. Our bodies are spent and I can almost see the web of emotions we have tangled between us. If we did anything to untangle them before, I think we undid all of that work and knotted them up more than they were before.
For a few minutes, or longer, the concept of time is lost to me at the moment, we lay in silence, still tangled up in one another. Finally, he kisses my shoulder and pulls my face toward his, kissing me again. I open my lips to him and slide my tongue into his, the tug deep inside, returning.
He starts to harden inside me again and we don’t stop. This time though, neither of us says anything. There’s no demands or jokes. There’s just slow movements and kisses that mean more than they should. One night is what we said. But I have a feeling we both know there’s going to be more nights after this one.
The air is cool as I wake, but my body is warmer than it was when I woke to the rain. I’m no longer shivering and the arms wrapped around me probably have something to do with that. Without second guessing, I snuggle closer to Elias, content with where I am for now. Even though I know the morning has come and our night of stolen kisses and secret touches is over. We agreed it meant nothing. But I don’t think my heart is fully listening. Part of me wonders if his is. I’m not going to give myself room to hope.
“Good morning, Charlie.” His arms tighten around me, holding me closer and I hate to admit that I don’t think I want to leave this tent. I was so reluctant before to share it and this is the exact reason why.
“Morning,” I whisper, sleepily.
“Do you feel better?”
“Mm, I do.” His arms never leave my body as I turn to face him. I curl my left hand into his chest as I allow the other to explore his side. “Much warmer.”
His lips press to the side of my head as the arm under me pulls me close. I look up at him and for the first time ina long time, I think I feel content. He places his finger below my chin and draws me closer to him, pressing his lips firmly against mine. This isn’t like the first kisses from last night that were fevered and filled with the tension from years ago finally breaking between us. These are slow, like he wants to savor them. Tuck them away into his pocket and save them.
I think I want to save them too.
“Do you think anyone heard us last night?” I ask. We stayed fairly quiet but there were a few times that I could have sworn we were a bit too loud and someone heard us.
“If they did, I doubt any of them will mention it.”
I raise my eyebrows at him. “Did you forget who we are camping with out here?”
His chest vibrates with a laugh. “You’re right. They’d be the first one to call us out on it. Sky in particular.”
“Do you think she’d be mad?”
The question hangs in the air while he thinks about it and for a moment, I regret asking it. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t—”
“No it’s okay. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t something that I’ve thought about a lot over the years. The Waters are very much still and always will be my family. And I knew that when I did eventually move on, it would be weird in all kinds of ways. I’m in their daily lives and they’re in mine, so navigating a relationship always seemed like it would be strange.”
“Good thing that’s not what this is then. No awkwardness.” If I could slap myself in the face without it looking completely weird, I would, because I can feel Elias tense next to me.
“Yeah, glad we don’t have to deal with things being weird,” he agrees. I sense he doesn’t actually agree though and I wonder why we’re both playing games with each other. Then again, we still haven’t fully hashed out what happened between us years before and knowing what that pain is all entangled in, I don’t know if I’m ready to.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ELIAS
Islept with Charlotte. More than once.
I’ve slept with her before, but that was when we were barely twenty years old, and it never happened again because shortly after that Ash came in and fucked everything up. The universe has a weird way of playing with the creatures that live there. People who loved each other over a decade ago somehow find their way back to one another after years of pain and loss all wrapped up into one, complete with an untidy, tangled up bow.
Last night, I tugged at that bow and inside the box I found more than I expected. I knew I had grown to like Charlotte again, I just didn’t realize how much until last night. It’s been fun being rivals with her once more, but being her friend, more if she lets me, is so much better. I think I want that. But does she?
The way she turned down the idea of us being in a relationship this morning tells me no. But the way she was with me last night tells me the opposite. She wouldn’t have touched me the way she did that second time or looked at me the way I looked at her if she didn’t have feelings for me. Right? Or maybe my ego is just enormous enough that it’s led me to believe that since she slept with me a few times in one night, she’s going toautomatically have feelings for me again. That she will want to be with me even after I hurt her and still have yet to apologize for it. We haven’t talked about our last date besides the night in her apartment when we agreed not to talk about it. After last night though, I think it’s something that’s unavoidable.
“Elias, are you even listening?” I look up to see Sky looking—actually, glaring—in my direction, waiting for me to answer whatever question I obviously didn’t hear. Shortly after Charlotte and I woke up, Sky started making noise around the camp, calling for everyone to get up for our next team bonding activity. What she doesn’t know is Charlotte and I did plenty of bonding last night, even though it doesn’t seem like it at the moment.
