“Say it again,” I sigh. I want to hear this name on his lips. Onlyhislips. He’s destroying my memories, rebuilding them,and the nickname I never wanted to hear again is a delicious sin from his mouth.
I let myself go as he encourages me. There’s no scraping of bark against my back, only his fingertips offering affection. There aren’t disgusting grunts of taken pleasure, but soft hisses and sighs as he shudders beneath me, tempering his desire. It’s not “you like that, don’t you” but rather “tell me what you like.”
The air in the room is thick with the scent of sweat and mountain pine, creating a bubble around us that I inhale as my longing erupts into a gallop of need.
“I love you,” I breathe out, and Noah stills.
One of his hands moves to my face, cupping my cheek, then he drags a thumb over my lips. “You’re everything I’ve been looking for. The wild take-a-jump-off-a-cliff love. You have me utterly wrecked and at your mercy.”
I look down at him, his eyes glassy with a worshipful expression. He’s been so patient with me, kind and loving.
Noah takes me in, enraptured as his eyes trace over me, and the chill in the air causes me to shiver. “You’re so beautiful.”
He plays with the ends of my hair fallen around my face, using them to brush circles against my sensitive skin.
“Are you okay?” he asks, reaching for me.
I nod. I’m ready.Soready.
“Good,” he says. “Now take from me, Lil.”
Chapter 24
Noah
What the hell happened? I lay breathless, arms cradling a sleeping Lily, as I work to make sense of the last two hours.
This wasn’t my plan when I brought her to my cabin, and I’m scared she thinks this was my intention. When I saw her cut, something I caused, all I wanted to do was fix it. This thing between us has been brewing since we met, and I’d be a lying fool if I said I wasn’t on cloud nine right now.
My eyes caress over the soft expression of her face, lashes long and lightly fluttering across her upper cheeks as she sleeps. I meant what I said—I love her. It wasn’t something just said in the moment, and the fact she said it back—this is real.
She trusted me—istrusting me. Part of me is terrified she’ll wake up and assume this was a mistake.
I want to do this with her every day.
The cabin air is cold against my bare chest, and I decide to slide out to check on Max and get a glass of water. I pull the cover up and over Lily, thrilled when she nuzzles the spot my body was.
Bending down, I pick up her clothes that are flung around the bedroom floor, and as I bring her pants up, a piece of paperfalls out. Not thinking much of it, assuming it’s a tag or perhaps a random guest check from work, I pick it up.
It’s damp, and glancing at her, I unfold it, careful not to rip the page. The writing I recognize as Lily’s, even though many of the words in ink have bled. I can make out some of the poem, talking about the abuse she endured, but at the bottom of the page, written diagonally to her neatly spaced letters, are the words Miss me?
What? The handwriting is different. Why was this in her pants?
And better yet, “Miss me?” Miss this type of abuse? Did this man write this? Bran?
I wrestle between waking her up and also ignoring it all together.
After sliding on a pair of gray sweatpants, I pocket the poem and move out of the bedroom, gently cracking the door.
Max gnaws at his bone, and he side-eyes me as I make way to the kitchen and open the fridge. There isn’t much. I’m never here, and ever since Lily started staying with my mom, I’ve spent even more time over there. I reach for a bottle of water, grabbing an extra to put on the nightstand beside the bed for Lily when she wakes.
Out the window, dusk settles through the trees—we’ve slept right through lunch. I hadn’t thought through the time today, but I’d planned to grab some food after our hike.
I’m doing this all wrong. I have no idea how to be in a relationship. All I know is that I want forever with Lily, and I’m hoping that doesn’t scare her away. Hell, it’s scary how deeply I feel for her after such a short amount of time. For now, I want to love her, enjoy time with her—give her time to thrive and lay down roots in Pinebrook if she chooses.
I still at that.
What would I do if she didn’t want to stay? Could I let her go? Could I actually stay here knowing the woman who’s captured my attention so fully, so recklessly isn’t? It would be agonizing to see her leave and tormenting to leave my mother to follow her. I’m not sure I could. Plus, my mom would slap me upside the head for even considering losing Lily.
