Total pages in book: 23
Estimated words: 21886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 21886 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 109(@200wpm)___ 88(@250wpm)___ 73(@300wpm)
I follow him up the steep incline of Wellington Mountain. When we’re about two-thirds of the way up, I hear her gorgeous voice.
“Colin?”
My heart aches when I look up and see her. She’s sitting on the rocky ground with her swollen ankle propped up on a boulder. Tears flood her eyes as I release Charlie and sprint up the mountain.
“I knew you’d come for me,” she whispers as I kneel in front of her and wrap my big arms around her. “You’re the only one I can always count on.”
Charlie bounds over, wagging his tail so hard his butt is shaking, as if he’s saying ‘Hey, don’t forget about me!’
She digs her fingers into the scruff of his neck and kisses the top of his snout. “You too, Charlie. Thank you.”
Now that his job is done, Charlie circles the area and lies down, taking a much-deserved break.
I’m so happy to see her. I’m so relieved.
I don’t want to hide my emotions from her anymore. I don’t want to act like I’m over her. I’ll never be over her.
“I’m sorry I left last night,” I say.
“No,” she says, shaking her head as tears run down her cheeks. “I’m sorry I left. I shouldn’t have left without you. I regretted it every day. I missed you so much, Colin. I hated myself for breaking your heart. For breaking us.”
“You didn’t break us, baby,” I say as I cup her cheeks and stare into her gorgeous gray eyes. “We’re unbreakable.”
“I don’t know what I was thinking,” she says with her chin quivering. “I gave up on us so easily. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I just gave you up. I was young and stupid.”
“We both were. I should have gone after you. I shouldn’t have let you go.”
We stare into each other’s eyes and we both know this hellish reality where we’re not together is finally over.
“Kiss me, Colin,” she whispers.
I lean in with a ravenous hunger and pull her mouth to mine. She moans as I plant my lips on hers and taste her sweet delicious mouth.
God, I’ve missed this.
I’ve missed kissing this girl. I’ve missed everything about her.
She grabs two fistfuls of my shirt and pulls me toward her as we kiss with all of the pent-up desire and reckless urgency that’s been building since she returned.
I slide my hands into her soft brown hair and tilt her head back to kiss her even deeper.
She suddenly pulls away. I moan in frustration.
“I want to be alone with you,” she whispers.
“We are alone,” I whisper back.
We both turn and look at Charlie who’s lying a few yards away, watching us. He lifts his head and wags his tail when he sees that our attention is on him.
We both start laughing.
“Alone, alone,” she says, giving me those sexy eyes. Her soft sweet breath is tickling my lips as she speaks and it’s making me want her so badly I can’t think straight.
I slide my possessive arms under my girl’s body and easily hoist her up. She stares into my loving eyes as I cradle her to my chest like I’m never going to let her go.
This time, I won’t.
I hurry back down the mountain with Charlie following close behind.
About to make this girl mine.
Officially.
Chapter Six
Molly
Even though my ankle is killing me, I’m in Colin’s big protective arms and everything feels right in the world. I breathe in his soothing masculine scent and it brings me right back to the days of being a lovesick teenager in his arms. He always smelled like the forest. Like freshly cut wood and crisp mountain air.
“You have a twisted ankle and you’re smiling,” he says as he looks down at me with a big smile of his own.
“I’m just happy,” I say as Charlie bounds up ahead to smell a bush. “Everything has felt… off since we broke up.”
“I know what you mean.”
It kills me thinking about what I’ve put him through. But I try to push all of that away and attempt to live in the present. This is a happy time. I don’t want to ruin it with thoughts of what could have been.
I can’t stop thinking about what Aiden and Julian said last night… About Colin being a virgin. Did he really not move on at all after I left?
The teenage me wouldn’t have asked. She would have wondered and obsessed about it for years, but she wouldn’t have been brave enough to bring it up. I don’t want that kind of relationship anymore. I want to be open and honest. I don’t want there to be any secrets between us.
I take a deep breath as I look up at his bearded chin.
“Did you really wait for me all those years?”
His arms tighten around my body as he looks down at me with his dark brown eyes. I nearly shiver from the possessive look in them.