Page 88 of Broken on the Mountain
Thislove.
"Chase. Don't stop."
"Never." I kiss her chest, her neck, her mouth. "I'll never stop."
I love you. I love you. I love you.
The words pound through me with every thrust, every breath, every beat of my heart. I want to shout them to the stars, carve them into the mountain, make sure the whole world knows.
But I can't.
Because she's going to leave. Because I'm just a phase. Because I'm not enough to make her stay.
So I pour it all into the way I hold her, the way I move inside her, the way I kiss her like she's the only thing keeping me alive.
"I'm close," she gasps. "Chase, I'm—"
"Me too, baby." I thrust deeper, harder, chasing the release that's building at the base of my spine. "Come with me. Please."
She shatters first, her inner walls clenching around me, and the sensation drags me over the edge. I explode inside her, filling her with everything I have, and for one perfect moment we're completely, utterly one.
No barriers. No walls. No distance.
Just us.
I collapse back onto the blanket, taking her with me, and she sprawls across my chest while we both struggle to breathe. The stars wheel overhead, endless and eternal, and I hold her like she might disappear if I let go.
"That was..." She trails off, pressing a kiss to my collarbone.
"Yeah."
We lie there in silence, the fire crackling beside us, and I feel her body gradually relax into sleep. Her breathing evens out, and her weight settles more fully against me.
I reach for the second blanket and pull it over us both, tucking it around her shoulders.
I stare up at the stars and try to memorize this feeling. The rightness of having her here, under the Stone River Mountain sky, in my world.
I love you,I think, pressing a kiss to her hair.I love you, and I don't know how to let you go.
But I will.
Because that's what I do. I let people go when they need to leave. I don't ask them to stay when they have bigger, better lives waiting for them.
I learned that lesson with my mom. With Lily. With everyone who's ever mattered.
Piper shifts in her sleep, her hand curling over my heart, and I close my eyes against the sting of tears.
Just be yourself,Jamie said.That's all you can do.
So I'll be myself. I'll give her these weekends, these stolen moments, these pieces of my heart that she's already claimed.
And when she leaves tomorrow, I'll let her go with a smile.
Because loving someone means wanting what's best for them.
Chapter Eighteen
Piper
