Page 31 of The Haunting of the Mountain

“It was a bad joke,” he says, scrubbing his beard with a thick hand.

I pull back, and Stone looks like he’s the one who saw a ghost.

“So that’s the last-minute thing you needed to do before we left.”

He nods. “I thought you were going to leave if you found out this place wasn’t really haunted. I wasn’t thinking straight. And after your run-in at the library.” He shakes his head. “I’m sorry.”

It takes me a moment to respond, as I skate along a wide spectrum of emotions. Everything that I’ve been feeling for Stone isn’t lopsided. I’m not mad. Not annoyed. A different emotion is bubbling up in my chest and throat.

“You want me here?”

“More than anything.”

Tingles radiate across my skin as he cups my cheek and brushes his thumb against my skin. With his eyes on mine, it feels like the rest of the world dissipates around us. The birdsong recedes into the background and I no longer feel the cold breeze. It’s like he’s flipped a switch and my body’s lit up as every intense emotion I’ve felt for Stone crashes into me at once. If Stone wasn’t holding me, I’d likely crumble under the weight of it.

“Why?” My voice is so soft, hardly above a whisper as it leaves my lips.

“Kyla,” Stone rasps, sliding his free hand to my neck as I slip my hands beneath his jacket, digging my fingers into his firm back.

“Because I’ve never felt anything like this before. I’ve spent decades alone on this mountain. I figured I would spend the rest of my life that way. Never minded it. Never questioned it. It wasn’t until I met you that I questioned everything.”

His thumb brushes my lips and I can hardly breathe, hanging on to every word that leaves his lips. My body feels weightless. My head’s up in the clouds. None of this feels real. It’s like I’m watching someone else’s life play out because a part of me still believes that none of this could happen to me. But I can’t deny it for long. Not with Stone’s warm, callused hands against my skin.His breath dancing across my lips. His words ringing in my ears so loud but all I want to do is crank the dial up higher.

“I need you, Kyla.”

Air leaves my lungs in a single, long puff.

“I want you.”

He threads his fingers in my hair, gripping—tugging me lightly, but hard enough that my head tips back and my mouth parts, waiting agonizingly long for his lips to finally brush against mine.

“I’ve known it from the moment I laid eyes on you.”

The flames in Stone’s eyes flicker, apprehension rising slowly in his features.

“But if you don’t feel the same…” He swallows. “If I’ve ruined it…”

My stomach twists. A jolt in my belly. My chest is tight. My throat’s welling and all I can do is shake my head.

“Just kiss me already,” I finally mutter.

The dim flames in Stone’s eyes ignite, engulfing him as an animalistic growl rumbles in his chest and reverberates through my body. Every nerve ending in my body is sizzling under his touch, his gaze, and when his lips finally touch mine, everything releases. Unclenches. An explosive chain reaction that begins in the tips of my toes and bursts out of the crown of my head. Thunder crashes and lightning lights up the sky but neither compare to the explosive power of Stone’s lips against mine. I’ve never been kissed like this before.

“So fucking, sweet,” he growls against my lips before diving back in for more. He rivets me in place with a single hand around my skull, fingers threaded in my hair, while the other roams freely across my body. Down my side. Along my ass, gripping and pulling. Against my breast, molding his hand around me—a perfect fit.

I moan as his tongue swirls against mine hungrily. My nails dig into his back and he rears his head and growls. When his penetrating gaze lands on mine, I swear I’m no longer looking at a man. I’m looking at a beast. Sasquatch has nothing on him.

“More,” he demands. “Mark me, Kyla. Fucking need you to mark me.”

And I comply willingly, digging my nails down the length of his back as he groans against my mouth. I leap up, wrapping my legs around his waist as he holds me against his body. There was never any question about Stone’s strength. The man’s enormous, with muscles I’m sure no one’s ever seen before. But feeling them is on a whole different level.

“Need you inside,” he rasps as rain falls. “Don’t want you wet and cold out here.”

“Too late for the former,” I mutter into his ear, biting his earlobe before licking the side of his neck. “And I don’t think a blizzard could cool me down after what your mouth’s done to me.”

He grips my hair and then I feel his beard scrape against my neck. “My mouth isn’t finished with you yet.” His lips sear against my skin before he takes his turn, dragging his tongue across my throat. “There won’t be an inch of your skin I won’t taste before the night’s over.”

Before I can respond, Stone turns around abruptly and rushes us back toward the cabin. But who am I kidding? Anything I’d say would be incoherent mush. All I can do is hold on to Stone as he gallops across the yard toward the cabin like a wild animal. He bounds up the front porch, damn near taking all the steps in a single stride.

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