Page 54 of Into the Mountains (Blue Grove Mountain #3)

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

ELIAS

I ’ve fallen completely and deeply in love with Charlotte Monroe all over again. I knew from the second my lips met hers on the camping trip that I had no chance. The feelings from so long ago bubbled to the surface and there was no place for them to go other than boiling right over.

With the project coming to an end, it feels almost ominous for us.

We’ve been working so closely over the last few weeks, it won’t be the same after we are finished with the shelter expansion.

We do, however, have the road trip to our hometown to look forward to.

By the looks of it, that could happen within the next week as long as Charlie seems ready for it.

Sometimes she’s more hesitant, while other times she seems more than ready to go.

Almost excited? But I think that is more excitement for seeing her old friends rather than visiting her old house.

I am curious to see mine, though. I haven’t told her, but when I sold it, I never even looked into who bought it.

I did all the paperwork I could online, so I wouldn’t have to make another trip there.

I wonder who lives there now. Do they take care of it?

Do they have kids that play in the front yard that I used to?

Is the half dented mailbox still there from when I hit it with a stray baseball that one time?

Maybe Charlie isn’t the only one with ghosts.

Arms wrap around my waist from behind, her lips pressing against the exposed skin of my back.

I cover her hands with mine and close my eyes to her touch.

I never get tired of her touching me. Her skin against mine lights something inside of me that only grows every time we are together. A fire she continues to stoke.

“What are you thinking about so hard?” she whispers.

“You.” Twisting in her arms, I wrap mine around her and pull her body to mine so we are pressed together with no room in between us.

She smiles and kisses her way across my bare chest. “Mmmm, that feels good.”

“Ready to go another round?”

“This was supposed to be a working date to finalize everything before our meeting with Jacob tomorrow.”

Her mouth reaches my nipple and she flicks her tongue over it briefly, surprising me. “We can finalize it in the morning before the meeting. Besides, we’ve gone over the plans plenty. He will love it.”

She’s so confident in what we’ve done together, both in her work and mine, and I can’t help but wish for some of her confidence to rub off on me.

I’ve always been a little bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my work, making sure every single detail is exactly where it should be—measuring everything multiple times, going over the prints again and again to make sure they’re right and sometimes there’s still that small sense of doubt I got something wrong even though I’m sure I didn’t.

The sensation of her teeth gently scraping across my other nipple yanks me from my thoughts. “It was your idea to have a working date at night, at your house… in your bedroom.”

“Hey, the bedroom was your idea and now I’m convinced you just used that as an excuse to get into my pants.”

“And if I did?”

“Then I’d say you’re a very clever girl.”

“Very Jurassic Park of you.”

“I knew you were going to say that and I fucking love you for it.”

We both stiffen. Neither of us have said the actual words before. We talked about falling for each other, but for whatever reason, we’ve never actually said those three words. In my case, four words.

After another beat of silence, I say, “If you’re waiting for me to take that back, I’m not going to.”

I watch her face to gauge her reaction. Her eyes are wide, but I can’t read the emotion behind them and my heart starts to beat a little faster for a different reason than a minute or so before.

“I—” she starts and then closes her mouth. “I fucking love you too.”

My heart swoops in my chest and it feels like it’s doing its own little victory lap around my other organs, high-fiving them on the way.

Neither of us says anything else. Our eyes just rove over each other, like we are expecting the other to disappear and we’ll wake up from whatever dream we’re in. When we don’t, we close the inches between us and when our lips meet, there’s nothing stopping us.

In sync, I lift her as she wraps her arms around my shoulders and puts weight on her arms to secure her legs around my waist, ankles locking at my lower back.

When we get to the bed, neither of us hesitates to get to where we want.

I push into her and while we both have immensely enjoyed the demanding sex we’ve been having, this is different.

This is slow and passionate. Not that the other times haven’t been filled with it, but this is different. It’s…love.

And it’s Charlotte Monroe. And dammit she is beautiful underneath me.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you.”

Our hips grind against each other, my cock completely filling her as she rocks back and forth, her hands digging into my back. Our moans fill the small space of my bedroom until we climax together and fall in a tangle of limbs on my bed.

After a few moments, we lie side by side staring over at one another, our hands wandering at our sides, whispered “I love you’s” filling the night.