Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 27760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27760 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 93(@300wpm)
Her legs wrap around my waist, her ankles locking behind me as she urges me deeper.
“You feel so damn good,” I groan, my voice thick with need. “I can’t go slow for much longer.”
“Please, more,” she breathes, her voice desperate. “I want all of you.”
Her words push me over the edge. I thrust harder, faster, losing myself in her warmth. “Lila… Lila…” I chant her name like a prayer, feeling her body surrender completely to me.
When I finally come, it’s with a force that leaves me shaking, my arms trembling as I hold myself above her, not wanting to crush her with the weight of my release.
“Holt,” she whispers, her voice soft but filled with an uncertainty that makes me pause. “I’m not on birth control.”
The words should scare me, but they don’t. Instead, they fill me with a strange kind of hope. I look down at her, my heart swelling.
“Well,” I say with a grin, “that’s an interesting turn of events, isn’t it?” I collapse onto her, holding her close, my face buried in her hair.
“Should I… go bathe in the river or something?” she asks, her voice small, unsure. “To make sure I don’t get pregnant?”
I chuckle softly, pressing a kiss to her temple. “It doesn’t work like that, sweetheart.” I tilt her chin up, making her look at me. “And besides,” I murmur, my lips brushing over hers, “I like knowing a piece of me is still inside you.”
I curl her into me, my body enveloping hers as completely as she’s rooted herself inside of my heart.
And as we lose ourselves in the wild, exhilarating freedom of the starry night, I realize that whatever happens next, this is real. It’s messy and complicated and terrifying, but it’s real. And I know she’s worth the risk.
Chapter Seven
Lila
The first rays of dawn push through the thin line of trees below, casting a soft glow over the rocky ledge. My breath catches as I open my eyes, reality hitting like a punch. The air is cold against my skin, but the warmth of Holt’s body at my back makes me hesitate before I shift. His arm is heavy across my waist, his breathing steady, deep, like he has no regrets about the night we spent tangled together beneath the stars.
For a moment, I let myself sink into the comfort of it. I close my eyes again, inhaling the earthy scent of him, mixed with pine and the crisp morning air. His chest rises and falls against me, and I try to memorize the feel of it, like it’s something I can hold onto. But then, the doubts creep in, cold and relentless.
Emails. Deadlines. The carefully curated world I built online. A life where everything makes sense, where every post has a purpose, and where there’s no room for messy entanglements like this.
I edge out from under his arm, moving slowly to avoid waking him. The chill hits immediately, a reminder of the real world outside the warmth of his embrace. I pull my knees to my chest, wrapping my arms around them as I stare out at the stretch of mountains, the mist curling between the peaks. My thoughts race, tangled like the knots in the ropes we used to climb up here, and I can’t shake the sense that I’m about to unravel everything I’ve worked for.
A rustle behind me, and then Holt’s low, sleep-rough voice cuts through the silence. “Running off already, princess?”
My spine stiffens, and I take a moment before glancing back at him. His hair is tousled, his lips curled into that cocky half-smile, but there’s an edge to his gaze that wasn’t there last night. I press my lips together, forcing down the flood of emotions his voice stirs. “I’m just thinking.”
He sits up, his eyes narrowing as he watches me. “Thinking about what?” He moves closer, each step a reminder of how easily he fills up space, how he’s always challenging me to take up my own. “About last night? Or about how fast you’re going to run back to your perfect little city life?”
His tone is sharp, but I hear the question buried beneath the sarcasm, the edge of uncertainty in his words. I force myself to look at him, to meet those intense blue eyes. “I need to think about what I’m doing here,” I say, my voice barely more than a whisper, but it gains strength as I keep talking. “About what happens next.”
His expression hardens, and he steps even closer, his shadow falling over me as the sun rises behind him. “Is that what this was to you?” he snaps, each word cutting deeper than I want to admit. “Just a ‘few nights in the mountains’? Jesus, Lila, I thought you were different.”
Anger flares, hot and raw, driving me to my feet. I spin to face him, my cheeks burning. “You don’t know anything about me, Holt!” I snap, my voice ringing out across the empty ledge. “Not everyone can afford to live like you, without any plan, without thinking about the consequences. Some of us have responsibilities. I can’t just... abandon everything and hope for the best.”