“This is incredible,” she said, turning back to the rendering.
Her heart ached as she studied its lines. Greer knew there were so many things in the world she would never be able to see, but to have such tangible proof of them in front of her gave a unique kind of pain.
She wanted to explore every inch of the map, to experience it all in actual scale, to see the light falling over the impossible mountain ranges, to hear the babbling of the river, to feel the mist off the white rapids. A ribbon of wanderlust unspooled within her, tying its knots around her limbs as if she was a marionette. Her feet itched to go, go now, go and leave, go and learn.
“Can you believe the world is so big?” Greer asked. “That it goes on so far? And farther still, really. This is just where the paper ends.” With a touch of reverence, she set the map aside, unable to take in any more.
“It is a wonder,” Ellis admitted.
“Do you remember that time we went out to the Narrows?” Greer asked, and a sudden flurry of goose bumps raced over her. She rearranged the quilt so that it spanned across both of them. “When we climbed to the top of the cliff?”
Ellis nodded, shifted, and brought his arm around her, drawing her close. “The Great Bay was so much bigger than I ever imagined it would be.”
She nestled against him. “Remember there was that ship out on thecoast? It had so many sails on it. And we thought it was going to come into the bay with supplies.”
“It was the biggest one I’d ever seen,” Ellis said, leaning back against the incline of the roof.
Greer followed, laying her head on the broad plain of his chest. She listened to his heartbeat, lost in the memories of that day. Staring out at the world beyond the Narrows had been like discovering a long-locked door left open. Her imagination had run wild, making her dizzy as she tried to envision what wonders were out there, waiting to be found.
“But it didn’t,” she went on, sadness creeping in. “The ship. It just…went by. It was as if it didn’t even know we were here.” Her gaze fell back onto the map’s corner uneasily. Her entire world, everything she’d ever seen, was rendered there in minute detail. In just one tiny square.
“Two kids perched on a cliff is hardly cause for a clipper to stop,” Ellis allowed.
“Not us,” Greer clarified, her hand falling on him. “Us.The town. Mistaken.” She swallowed. “There’s a whole giant world out there, and we’re not a part of it. Ships sail by every season with places to go and lives to lead, and we’re just here.”
Ellis studied her. “Well…yes.”
“Doesn’t that ever make you sad?”
He frowned, considering. “Not exactly. It’s fun to imagine what that world might be like, but…I don’tneedto know. Not really. Everything I need, everything I want, is right here.”
“In Mistaken?” Greer asked dubiously.
He let out a snort of laughter. “On this roof. You, Greer Mackenzie, with all your wild wonderings and yearnings, are all I want. You’re all the world I need.” Ellis pressed his lips into her braids. “And every day I think how lucky I am that, of all the places in the world that you could be”—his breath was hot in the curve of her ear—“you’re here, with me.”
Greer wanted to give in to his kisses, wanted to sink into the heated bliss of his embrace, but the vast expanse of the map still poked at her,a splinter snagging her attention. “Does it bother you that I do? Wonder? About”—she waved her hand toward the Great Bay—“all that?”
Ellis cupped her face between his hands, pressing more kisses to her forehead, her eyelids, the tip of her nose. “Not at all. I fell in love with all of you.” He brushed his mouth across her cheek. “Your traces of stars.” He brought her hands up to his lips. “Your ink-stained fingers.” He nuzzled at her temple. “All those giant thoughts caught up in that extraordinary mind of yours.” He traced down her frame, squeezing at her arms. “You.”
Greer tipped her face to his so their mouths met, catching against each other’s. He tasted bright and crisp, the first bite of a polished green apple.
The kiss deepened and Ellis grasped her arms, trailed his fingers along the curve of her back, exploring every inch of her as if she were a map to be studied and learned.
“Ellis.”
His name hissed from her like a whispered prayer, an oath. Desire flushed deep as Ellis’s hands ran over her breasts, palming the curves, before moving to her hips, her thighs. She tugged him on top of her, welcoming his weight. She was pinned and could scarcely draw breath, and it was glorious.
His grip tightened, and she felt his hard length against her. She shifted, letting Ellis’s hands roam beneath her layers of skirts, running their way up her legs. He tickled at a spot behind her knees, and her laughter was hushed and breathless. “Stop!” she giggled.
“Stop?” he repeated with innocent amusement, drawing his hands back. Their absence sent a chill across her skin; it prickled her breasts and set her teeth on edge.
“No, don’t stop.” Greer covered his hands with hers and brought them back across her thighs. “Here.”
His grin deepened, dimples winking wickedly. “Don’t stop here?” Ellis reached higher, lingering at the top of her woolen stockings. “Or here?” He toyed with the knitted edge, teasing the pad of his thumb against her bare skin. “Or here?” He dared to go higher.
“Definitely there,” she whispered, holding back the cry that wantedto tear itself free as he found her center. Nestled away in their heated cocoon, it would be all too easy to forget where they were. All too easy to let out a hungry moan and draw the attention of everyone below them.
Ellis crushed his lips against hers, catching every whimper, stifling each cry.
