Page 149 of Beneath the Mountain Sky
He slides his arms around my waist, tugging me up to him, and slanting his mouth across my own. The taste of him and me combined is heady as his tongue glides over mine. But he pulls away far too soon.
His eyes flash with humor. “We better get back to our clothes quickly because we’re about to have company.”
The post-orgasmic haze finally starts to subside enough that I can hear thundering footsteps.
I jerk away from him slightly. “Shit.”
They’re coming.
We’re too close to the camp to hope no one heard that.
He chuckles. “We’re okay!” His gaze cuts over his shoulder to whoever approaches. “Go back to the bonfire!”
The footsteps halt.
Killian’s large body blocks whoever it is from seeing me. I still duck my head against his chest, heat flaring in my cheeks. But even the intense embarrassment at being caught can’t override the feeling filling me right now.
For the first time in weeks, and in spite of what we’re about to do tomorrow, I finally feel free.
As if that missing part of me is within reach, and it doesn’t matter what we find because it will be okay.
19
WILLOW
Cool morning mist blankets the mountain, hovering over the ground and floating through the trees. Every step we take feels like passing through some sort of fantasy portal into another world. One bathed in the cleansing fog that doesn’t hide dangers but protects us from anything that might have ill intent.
Yet, the closer we draw to the gorge, the more that vise tightens around my chest. The harder it becomes to remember last night and how utterly perfect it was to fall asleep in Killian’s arms after what we shared.
Even knowing Killian is at my back—like he always is—and Connor and Liam are right in front of me, leading the way, I can’t help feeling alone up here.
Almost as if some residual memory of just that lingers in my heart, even if I can’t remember it fully.
My anxiety increases as we hike, and our surroundings feel more and more familiar. And not because Killian and I came up here not that long ago.
Another flash of memory hits me.
This time of racing through the gorge…
The narrow walls of rock closing in on me from either side…
Bare feet on uneven, rough ground…
Pouring rain…
Lightning and thunder overhead…
Carrying something, clutching it to me as if it’s precious…
My footsteps falter?—
Killian’s strong arms wrap around me from behind, keeping me from falling face-first on the steep incline. “I’ve got you, Honeybee.”
I sag against him, the memories still making my head swim as much as the exertion it took to get this far up the mountain.
His lips flutter over my ear softly. “You good?”
Killian has asked that question so many times since I got back that I can’t even count them.
