Page 31 of Into the Mountains (Blue Grove Mountain #3)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHARLOTTE

MAY - FIFTEEN YEARS AGO

THE SECOND DATE

M y decision to bring Elias here was an easy one.

When my parents bought the boat and Dad worked with me so I could get my license, the first thing I did was come out here to explore the other side of the island.

Everyone always docked on the main beach and I constantly wondered what was on the other side and the rocks made it too difficult to travel around to it.

So much of my time was spent here soon after that, watching the sun set and the stars pass by as a book played in my headphones.

I loved coming here alone, but I think I might love coming here more with him. His hands are tangled in my hair and my heart feels like it’s trying to escape my chest just so it can touch him too. I didn’t bring him here for this, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t cross my mind at all.

A moan escapes my lips, echoing off the walls. “For the record, I didn’t bring you here for this.” The nerve endings on the surface of my skin feel him smile against them.

“Admit it, red. You brought me here to seduce me.”

“Mmmm, you caught me.” I push against his chest just hard enough for him to back up a few steps away. “I had the utmost dire intentions to bring you here, strip down and tempt you until you started begging on your knees for me.”

“I’d beg just to be allowed on my knees for you,” he says with no hesitation in his eyes. And I imagine him in that position for a brief second, my legs on either side of his head and my face heats. He notices it, too, and a sly grin spreads to one side of his face.

“Will you let me be on my knees for you, Charlotte?” The sound of my full name on his lips almost brings me to my knees.

I unbutton my jean shorts and slowly push them down my hips, then my thighs before letting them fall to the ground.

I kick them off to the side and throw my sweater over my head, letting it fall to join the small pile of clothes on the ground with a soft rustle.

He lets out a strained sigh as I stand in front of him almost naked.

I may not have intended for this to go all the way, but I did make sure to wear a matching underwear set.

Just in case. After going back and forth for almost an hour on which color I should wear, I settled on classic black, and by the bulge practically begging to be released from his shorts, I made the right choice.

“Come here and let me worship you.”

“If you intend to worship me, shouldn’t you be the one coming to me?” I tease.

“You’re going to drive me insane, woman.”

I let out a giggle, because seducing him is more fun than I could have imagined. I’m far from that shy girl in high school. I’m out of my shell and confident. And ready to take him on.

Or in, in this case.

He levels the field by shedding his own shirt and shorts and it is my turn to stop in my tracks.

I’ve seen him with his shirt off before, sure.

The soccer fields were located near the entrance to the school, which was also the exit.

So every day after school, I’d go to my car, which was conveniently parked at the bottom lot right next to the fields and take as much time as I needed (or wanted) to leave school.

But he must have kept up with a serious workout regime over the summer and at college because he definitely didn’t gain anything since he’s been away.

In fact, I think he’s actually gotten more toned if that’s even possible.

Usually the first year of college is reserved for taking a step back, having fun, but also focusing on classes.

Then again, he did go on a partial sports scholarship, so he had to have been forced to maintain some kind of gym routine.

“Now, who’s the one ready to worship?” He cringes at his own words. “Ew, that sounded so egotistical coming from a man. I deeply and wholly apologize for that.”

“I never knew you to have such a big ego,” I say sarcastically because we both know that’s the biggest lie.

“I think you’re the one with the bigger ego,” he argues, moving closer to me. I don’t let him get a step closer. I step around and we start circling one another.

“Oh really?” Lacing my fingers behind my back, I step near the large rock where he started.

He takes his chance and moves across the distance between us before I can react.

His hands come under my thighs, lifting me off the ground and I don’t try to stop him.

Instead, I wrap them around his waist, locking my ankles at his lower back.

My arms come to rest on each of his shoulders and I press my body to him, the warmth from his seeping into my chilled skin.

Goosebumps prickle on the surface, raising my freckles.

My brain automatically flashes to the last time someone noticed my freckles like this.

The way she hurried to gather her clothes, not even bothering to get dressed on the way out.

I can still hear the door slamming behind her as she left without so much as an explanation.

“Hey,” Elias says softly. “Come back.” He tips my chin up to him, his eyes meeting mine, and if my body could cool into molten lava at one look, it would.

“Sorry.” I shake my head, trying to brush off the invasive thoughts and focus on the man in the present rather than the woman in the past.

“Tell what you’re thinking,” he whispers, placing a light kiss on my collarbone.

“Past things that aren’t important.”

“But you’re thinking them now, which means they might still be of a little importance. Tell me.” He doesn’t say it like a command or a plea, rather like he genuinely wants to know what is going on in my head at this particular moment and why I tried to shake the thoughts off like leaves on a tree.

“I just…got embarrassed for a second.”

He scrunches his eyebrows together in confusion. “Why?”

“Because, I got goosebumps, which made my freckles more noticeable and I thought…I don’t know. That you’d notice them.” I sound like an idiot. Of course he’s seen my freckles before. I’ve worn shorts and short sleeves around him in school and on our last date and he’s smarter than Sasha.

“I do notice them.” Lightly, he trails his fingertips down my arm and I get chills again for a completely different reason.

He follows them back up to my collarbone and down my chest between my breasts.

“I always wanted to see where they lead.” Warmth from his touch reaches my stomach as he keeps going lower and lower until he gets to the spot where our bodies are connected and he can’t reach any further.

He moves forward and slowly sets me down on the rock behind me, his hands never leaving my skin.

My thighs want to clench together at his touch, but he nudges them apart with his hips.

“I told you I wanted to be on my knees for you and I plan to follow through.”

“Okay,” is all I can manage as I watch him sink to his knees in front of me, teasing me with his touch. He moves closer and closer to my center, but goes back the way he came before he touches me where I want him the most.

“Please, Elias,” I beg.

“Not yet, red.” But he does give me some relief as he slides the palm of his hand over my clit briefly, leaving me wanting more as the ache inside only grows deeper.

As if sensing my impatience, he moves my underwear aside and inserts a finger.

Teasing me slowly, he goes in and out a few times before adding another.

My moans fill the cave and I can only hope the music on the other side is loud enough so people from the beach can’t hear them, but then again, even if they do, I don’t think I really give a shit right now.

“That’s it, let them hear you, love.”

My brain wants to catch on that last word, but I force it not to fixate on it and focus only on him and his movements. “Your mouth, Elias. I want your mouth on me.”

He groans and relents, but he doesn’t make contact with my skin. He leaves the fabric between his mouth and my clit. “Fuck,” I let out forcefully. “You.”

His laugh reverberates against me and if he was on my skin, I would have come right there. “Such a way with words, Charlie.”

Grabbing a fistful of hair, I pull him back down to me, this time catching the fabric with my other hand and pulling it to the side myself. The nerves in my body almost burst when his tongue touches me and I cry out.

His free hand digs into the side of my thigh and I lean back and let him devour me like he promised.

The tension inside me builds as he licks and fingers me, but I need more.

I need…something. I grab my own breasts and squeeze, the heat building with my own touch.

Without hesitation, he takes over one, his hand digging its way beneath my bra.

I sit up to take it off, freeing my breasts while he watches, his eyes now fixated fully on them.

When I lie back again, he grabs one while I grab the other, both of us working me to my release.

I look down to find him watching my hand to see what I am doing to my breast so he can do the same.

I pinch my nipple and gasp when he mirrors my movements, the pull deepening low inside me until it finally snaps.

“Elias,” I gasp as he consumes me. When my orgasm subsides, my body feels heavy, but sated.

He languidly kisses his way up my body pausing at my breasts to suck and pull at my now sensitive nipples.

I try to squirm, but he wraps his arm around my waist, holding me in place.

He continues his path and lightly presses his lips to mine for just a second.

Before deepening the kiss. I can taste myself on his lips and I could die happy here I think.

He picks me up and I wrap my legs around his waist again feeling the hardness there. I reach down between us and nudge my hand into his boxers and moan at the feel of him.

“Fuck,” he moans.

“Did you bring a condom?” I ask breathlessly.