Page 10 of Noel with the Mountain Man
He drives into that spot again and again, his control starting to fracture. One hand slides between us, thumb finding my clit, and the combination of sensations is too much.
"Kyler—I'm going to—"
"Let go," he growls. "I've got you."
I shatter around him, his name a broken cry on my lips. He follows seconds later, burying his face in my neck as he comes with a groan that I feel all the way to my bones.
We stay like that for a long moment, both of us trembling, hearts racing in tandem. Finally, he lifts his head to look at me.
His hair is a mess. His lips are swollen. He looks thoroughly wrecked.
And he's smiling.
"Hi," I whisper.
"Hi." He brushes a strand of hair from my face, the gesture achingly tender. "That was..."
"Yeah."
He carefully pulls out, and I wince slightly at the loss. He disposes of the condom and comes back to bed, pulling me against his chest. I curl into him, boneless and satisfied.
"I should probably feel weird about this," I say after a while.
"Do you?"
I consider. "No. Should I?"
"I don't know." His arm tightens around me. "I don't feel weird either. I feel..." He pauses. "I feel like I've been waiting for you."
My heart does skips a beat. "That's a dangerous thing to say to someone you just met."
"Probably." He presses a kiss to the top of my head. "But it's true."
I tilt my face up to look at him. "What happens when the storm ends?"
Something shifts in his expression—a flash of vulnerability quickly masked. "I don't know."
"Kyler—"
"You were never just passing through," he says quietly, fiercely. "I don't know how I know that, but I do. This isn't just... this isn't just the storm."
I should be scared. Should pull back, protect myself, remember that I came here to heal from one relationship and shouldn't immediately dive into another.
But looking at him, feeling the solid warmth of him against me, I can't bring myself to be careful.
"No," I agree softly. "It's not just the storm."
He kisses me then, slow and sweet and full of promise. And as we drift off to sleep, tangled together in the afternoon light, I let myself hope that maybe, just maybe, I didn't come here to escape Christmas after all.
Maybe I came here to find it.
Chapter 4
Kyler
Iwakeupwithher in my arms, and for the first time in two years, I don't feel hollow.
The afternoon light has faded to early evening. The storm's still raging outside, but inside our little cocoon of blankets, everything is warm. Peaceful.
