Page 89 of Into the Mountains
When her feet hit the pavement, she wastes no time wrapping her arms around me, resting her head on my chest as the sobs course through her body. The breath shudders out of her as her shoulders shake and I wish I could do more than just wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head.
I’m not sure how long we stay like this, but after her body has stilled, she takes a final calming breath before stepping back, her hands resting at my waist.
“Thank you,” she says, her voice hoarse and tired from crying.
My fingers intertwine with strands of her hair as I push it back from her face. “You don’t ever have to thank me for being here for you. I want to be here for you. Now and in the future if you’ll let me.”
She leans her cheek into my hand, closing her eyes as she does. “Yes,” is all she says as she takes the hand holding her face and starts guiding me inside.
We make our way up the stairs and it brings me to the last time I was here. “Are there any killer birds inside this time?”
“Oh God, I fucking hope not. You probably jinxed it now though and need to do a sweep of the apartment before I go in.”
I laugh it off, but she turns around with a serious expression. She clearly wasn’t joking. When we get to the landing in front of her apartment, she squeals as I lift her up to move her around me so she’s right behind me. Dramatically, I open the door and start to step inside before I realize. “Did you really leave your door unlocked?”
“Oh please. Like your house isn’t unlocked right now?” She has a point, however, I still don’t like the idea of her home not being fully secure. We live in a fairly safe town, but you still never know. Being cautious is never bad.
“A bird is one thing, but an intruder is a completely different story.”
“I’d take the intruder over the bird.”
I turn around to face her. “Seriously?”
“It’s a bigger target for a baseball bat. Less likely I’d miss,” she shrugs.
“Remind me to knock before I enter your apartment the next time I come over.” I step inside and listen for a minute before doing a quick sweep like I said I would.
“All clear. No avian friends here.” She follows me in and takes her shoes off, letting them fall to the floor all the while looking around the apartment like she’s double checking my all clear.
“I promise, there are no birds. I checked thoroughly.”
“If your idea of being thorough is briefly scanning the room you’re currently in, remind me to never recommend you for any kind of security position.”
“I think I’d make a fantastic security guard actually,” I try to argue even though I know it’s futile. She has this argument fully in the winner’s circle already. In fact, I should step out and see if I can snag some flowers fromMarygold’sto congratulate her on her win. Present her with flowers and some kind of medal.
“Hah, you’d be distracted by a stray kitten and Ethan would end up with yet another feline friend.”
“Low blow.” I don’t even bother denying it, because we both know she’s right. For someone who never had or knew he liked cats his whole life, these kittens have me in a chokehold. Then again, it’s not like I’m trying all that hard to resist.
“Just speaking the truth, Eli.” The smirk on her face appears and I want to trace it with the tip of my fingers. If I saw it when she first arrived in Blue Grove I would have wanted to wipe the damn thing off, but this is different. This time, I want to feel it. I want to feel her smile on my skin. So I let urge take over and close the distance between us, my fingers leading me straight to where they’re itching to go.
They start on her chin where her skin is smooth and sweep over to the corner of her mouth. The side of her bottom lip is red like she’s been biting at it, pulling the skin between her teeth with the anxiety she felt when telling me about her mother.
Her smile widens and I do what I imagined, running my thumb across her smile, feeling all of it from one side to the other. When I get to the other side, I don’t stop and keep feeling the soft skin on her jaw, then her cheek until I reach her ear where I bury my hand in her hair behind her head.
A small moan leaves her lips as they stay in a genuine smile. One that reminds me of her when we were in the cave together, or riding on the boat that summer, laying under the stars one night. Of hearing her laughter around her family… around me until Ash—no, untilIruined it.
“Touch me,” she sighs.
I chuckle because I can’t help myself. “In case you didn’t notice, honey, I am touching you.”
She throws me a look that says I am clearly the idiot here, and I am beginning to believe that I am. Some things change and some others don’t. But at least this time, I’m her idiot.
I’d be her idiot any day. Hell, I’d be her circus clown, her court jester, anything if it means I get to be in the same proximity as her on a daily basis.
“Touch me where I want it.”
I smirk and before I can say anything, she reacts with an annoyed groan. I move my hand in her hair to the base of her neck cradling it with my thumb wrapped around the front in a light grasp. Her heart rate speeds up against my chest as I push her up against the counter, her lower back coming into contact with the edge of it, just missing one of the barstools, thankfully. That would have ruined the intensity that is now in her eyes. The kind of tension that when it breaks, it’s going to shatter into a million pieces. Ice shattering on top of a frozen lake. And it’s going to feel incredible.
