Page 20 of Entranced in the Mountains
“Icarus’ Launch Point,” I tell her. “Best lookout you’ll ever see. The view is spectacular.”
She grins as we walk under the leafy canopy. “My mother would give me a good talking to if she knew that I was heading into the forest on a first date with a stranger.”
“We’ve been through a lot already,” I say. “I don’t think I’m a stranger anymore.”
“No,” she whispers. “You’re definitely not.”
“But I do agree with your mother. She sounds like a smart lady.”
Ellie laughs and takes my hand. I feel like everything is right in the world as we head up the mountain, talking about everything we can think of.
I learn so much about her. About her family and her home back in Minnesota. How she’s itching to move out of her parents’ home but is waiting for the right time. About how she’s been playing the harp every day of her life and how Angelic Divine started and how it’s on its last legs.
Every word she says plunges me deeper in love. By the time we get to the first lookout, I’m completely taken.
“I’ve been talking so much,” she says, covering her eyes in embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I say, staring at her gorgeous face and ignoring the scenic view. “I’m hanging on every word.”
“I’ve done all the talking,” she says. “Tell me about yourself. How long have you been a cop?”
We continue walking up the trail and I tell her how I joined the force when I was twenty-three. It feels like a lifetime ago but at the same time, it feels like the blink of an eye.
The path narrows and steepens, and I let her go ahead. Those legs are smoking hot. They’re making it very hard to concentrate. And that ass, moving rhythmically in those shorts? God, it’s enough to test a man’s will.
“I think the hiking shoes were a good idea,” she says as she climbs up a rocky part of the path. A few stones tumble down the path behind her.
“Those shorts were worth every penny, I can tell you that.”
She turns around and shoots me a flirty grin over her shoulder. “Eyes on the path, Mr. Gray.”
She keeps teasing me as we climb, and every time she laughs, my step gets a little bit lighter. It’s like all the darkness I’ve held in from this job is being released with each step. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this relaxed and at ease.
The trail steepens, but Ellie handles it well, moving with an easy grace. Her hair is loose under her hat and it dances in the breeze. I keep looking up at her as we climb. I’m trying to memorize every inch of this girl. I don’t know what the future holds, but I want to remember this moment forever.
I’ve hiked this mountain hundreds of times, but this path has never looked better than it does right now with this angel in front of me.
“So,” she says over her shoulder as we get close to the lookout. She’s breathless but smiling. “How come a man like you hasn’t settled down? You must be beating the women away with that long night stick of yours.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Is that what you think?”
She raises her eyebrow as she studies me. “Yeah. I do. I bet the women of the Greene Mountains are frustrated beyond belief that no one has locked the hot Sheriff down.”
She turns away as she walks up the path. My eyes drop to her perfect ass, those beautiful cheeks swaying with each step. Idon’t know if I can take this much longer. My cock is getting rock hard and it’s making it hard to hike properly.
“You sure you don’t have a wife or girlfriend hiding somewhere up here in these woods?”
“All clear,” I say.
“Well, what are you waiting for, Sheriff?” she asks, looking over her shoulder with a grin.
“I don’t know,” I say as I gaze into her gorgeous blue eyes. “Maybe I was waiting for an angel to float down from heaven.”
That gets those cheeks blushing.
“Well, I hope you find your angel,” she says as she turns back to focus on the path.
“I think I did.”
