Page 27 of Running to the Mountain Man

I’ve never felt so connected to another human.

“Goldie. You’re perfect. You’re fucking perfect.”

“Barrett,” she whispers weakly.

Carefully, slowly, I lift myself off of her, pull out, and lie on my side.

I turn her toward me.

“Baby?” I say, seeing the question in her eyes.

She smiles up at me, out of breath and looking completely worn out. As she should be. “I want you to kiss me.”

Chapter Thirteen

Goldie

The kiss is supposed to come first.

Before the heavy petting, and definitely before the other stuff.

But I’ve never done anything the way people expect me to.

Barrett’s kiss is magic.

I may be exhausted, wrung out, and hollowed out. I ache in places I never thought I could ache. Muscles are sore that I didn’t know I had.

But Barrett breathes new life into me with his kiss.

I expected to wince at another round of fireworks.

Instead, his lips are tender. His big, strong hand cups my face gently, and he presses his mouth to mine like I’m fragile and could break into a million pieces. Which I am, and I could.

My feelings are all over the place, and he knows this.

“How are you feeling?” Barrett asks.

“Different,” I say, my eyes welling up. “Like I’ll never be the same.”

He looks me over thoroughly, then replies, “Same.”

I can’t ever be with anyone else after this. I’ve decided. It’s just not possible.

The thought of what he’s done to me suddenly dries up the tears as a bubble of laughter surfaces. Oh god, I’m hysterical from triple, maybe quadruple, orgasms.

“Did I tickle you?”

I smooth down his crazy beard. “No. I’m laughing because you set the bar way, way too high.”

Barrett looks proud of himself. “Good.”

We stay up all night talking on the porch, watching the sun rise over the mountains as we sip strong coffee and listen to the birds. At some point, Barrett goes inside to grab a blanket to wrap me up in it because I refuse to miss the sunrise from this elevation.

He listens as I tell him more stories about my childhood. He tells me about his time in the military. About his split with his family, his time in the military, and everything that has happened to him since he left the Army. And about how his fiancée abandoned him with his best friend, which prompted Barrett to hole up on Windgrave Mountain.

His whole story makes my heart break.

“In many ways, I think you’ve had it way worse than I have,” I tell him.

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