Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Ryland
“Ready, angel?” I ask after I take a quick shower, throw some fresh clothes on, and am ready to leave with Ellie.
“Yes,” she says, bouncing up enthusiastically.
I almost reach over to hold her hand as we walk outside.
It would feel so natural, so right, but we’re not there yet.
Hopefully, we will be soon. I’d like to be able to hold her hand whenever the mood strikes.
Something tells me that once I’m holding it, I won’t ever want to let it go.
“Can I ask you something?” she says as we walk down the street toward Greene Adventure.
“Anything.”
“How come you keep calling me angel?”
“That’s all I could think when I saw you playing the harp on stage,” I say. “Angel. If angels do exist, no one can convince me that you’re not one of them.”
She looks away, trying to hide her smile, but I can still see those cheeks blushing.
“Let’s get you some shoes,” I say, throwing caution to the wind and taking her hand. She gives it to me and holds my hand back. “Unless you’re going to fly up the mountain with angel wings?”
“No wings,” she says with a laugh. “But are you sure these shoes aren’t good enough?”
“For these mountains? Not a chance. I’m not going to risk you falling off.”
We head into Greene Adventure and get her set up with new hiking shoes, and a new outfit.
She’s going to be too hot in jeans, so I grab her some shorts, a breathable hiking shirt, and a hat.
I know she’s not going to want me to pay, but I’m paying for everything today.
No way my girl is paying for a thing on our first date.
I slip the worker my card and he charges it without her knowing.
“No way,” she says when the worker tells her it’s already been paid. She turns to me with accusing eyes. “You didn’t have to do that!”
“I invited you on the date, so I pay,” I say with a finality in my tone. “Sorry, Greene Mountain rules.”
“So, this is a date?” she asks with a grin.
Oh shit. Was I reading the signals wrong?
“Isn’t it?”
“If you want,” she says with a shy shrug.
“I want.”
She stands up on her toes and gives me a soft, gentle kiss on the cheek. “Then, it’s a date. Thank you for the hiking gear.”
“You can thank me by not falling off the mountain.”
We leave her clothes with the clerk and head out all decked out for the mountains. It’s a gorgeous summer day and we head out to the best trail in the area. I know she’s going to love it. I’ve been hiking up it for fifty years and it still takes my breath away.
“So, where are you taking me?” she asks when we arrive at the beginning of the trail that leads into the forest at the base of the mountains.
“Icarus’ Launch Point,” I tell her. “Best lookout you’ll ever see. The view is spectacular.”
She grins as we walk under the leafy canopy. “My mother would give me a good talking to if she knew that I was heading into the forest on a first date with a stranger.”
“We’ve been through a lot already,” I say. “I don’t think I’m a stranger anymore.”
“No,” she whispers. “You’re definitely not.”
“But I do agree with your mother. She sounds like a smart lady.”
Ellie laughs and takes my hand. I feel like everything is right in the world as we head up the mountain, talking about everything we can think of.
I learn so much about her. About her family and her home back in Minnesota. How she’s itching to move out of her parents’ home but is waiting for the right time. About how she’s been playing the harp every day of her life and how Angelic Divine started and how it’s on its last legs.
Every word she says plunges me deeper in love. By the time we get to the first lookout, I’m completely taken.
“I’ve been talking so much,” she says, covering her eyes in embarrassment. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” I say, staring at her gorgeous face and ignoring the scenic view. “I’m hanging on every word.”
“I’ve done all the talking,” she says. “Tell me about yourself. How long have you been a cop?”
We continue walking up the trail and I tell her how I joined the force when I was twenty-three. It feels like a lifetime ago but at the same time, it feels like the blink of an eye.
The path narrows and steepens, and I let her go ahead. Those legs are smoking hot. They’re making it very hard to concentrate. And that ass, moving rhythmically in those shorts? God, it’s enough to test a man’s will.
“I think the hiking shoes were a good idea,” she says as she climbs up a rocky part of the path. A few stones tumble down the path behind her.
“Those shorts were worth every penny, I can tell you that.”
She turns around and shoots me a flirty grin over her shoulder. “Eyes on the path, Mr. Gray.”
She keeps teasing me as we climb, and every time she laughs, my step gets a little bit lighter. It’s like all the darkness I’ve held in from this job is being released with each step. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this relaxed and at ease.
The trail steepens, but Ellie handles it well, moving with an easy grace.
Her hair is loose under her hat and it dances in the breeze.
I keep looking up at her as we climb. I’m trying to memorize every inch of this girl.
I don’t know what the future holds, but I want to remember this moment forever.
I’ve hiked this mountain hundreds of times, but this path has never looked better than it does right now with this angel in front of me.
“So,” she says over her shoulder as we get close to the lookout. She’s breathless but smiling. “How come a man like you hasn’t settled down? You must be beating the women away with that long night stick of yours.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “Is that what you think?”
She raises her eyebrow as she studies me. “Yeah. I do. I bet the women of the Greene Mountains are frustrated beyond belief that no one has locked the hot Sheriff down.”
She turns away as she walks up the path. My eyes drop to her perfect ass, those beautiful cheeks swaying with each step. I don’t know if I can take this much longer. My cock is getting rock hard and it’s making it hard to hike properly.
“You sure you don’t have a wife or girlfriend hiding somewhere up here in these woods?”
“All clear,” I say.
“Well, what are you waiting for, Sheriff?” she asks, looking over her shoulder with a grin.
“I don’t know,” I say as I gaze into her gorgeous blue eyes. “Maybe I was waiting for an angel to float down from heaven.”
That gets those cheeks blushing.
“Well, I hope you find your angel,” she says as she turns back to focus on the path.
“I think I did.”
We pass the final trees and the trail opens up onto the spectacular lookout.
Ellie gasps when she sees it. Icarus’ Launch Point is a large, flat ledge of stone that juts out over the valley far down below.
The valley is covered in millions of colorful wildflowers with a lazy river snaking through it all.
Surrounding the valley are the most majestic towering mountains on the planet. It’s breathtaking.
But I don’t look at any of it. My eyes are fixated on Ellie as she takes it all in for the first time, looking like she’s filled with a sense of wonder and awe. She’s so beautiful it hurts.
“This is unreal,” she says as she takes it all in. “So gorgeous.”
The breeze is nice and cool up here, tingling on our sweaty skin.
“I can smell the flowers,” she says as she inhales deep and smiles.
“This is my favorite place in the world,” I say as I gently take her hand and look out at the scenic view. “I didn’t think it could get any better, but I guess I was wrong.”
She smiles shyly and then rests her head on my shoulder as we stare out at the beautiful world, hand-in-hand.
I need to say some words to her. It’s probably a bad idea, and I bet Cara would tell me to wait for at least the second date before I spill my heart out, but I can’t.
I’m not the kind of guy who can hold back.
When I find something I want, I go for it with everything I got. And I want her. God, do I want her.
“I know this is fast,” I whisper as an eagle soars across the vast blue sky. “And I know we haven’t even finished our first date.”
She lifts her head and looks up at me. Her blush deepens, and I see it—she feels it too, the same pull that’s gripping me.
“But I don’t want you to leave,” I say, throwing it all out there. “I’ve never met a girl like you and I don’t want it to be over.”
The wind catches her golden hair, lifting it off her shoulders, and I swear my heart forgets how to beat.
“I know we’re far apart in age,” I say, putting it all on the line. “But I don’t care about the years between us. I just know that when I saw you, something in me stopped searching. Something in me clicked.”
Her lips part, her blue eyes soft and wide. “Ryland…”
I close my eyes, waiting for it. If she feels differently, I might just have to leap off this cliff to end the pain.
“I like that you’re older,” she says and my whole body floods with relief. “I think it’s sexy.”
The breeze picks up, brushing her hair against my chest. She tilts her face up toward me and I can’t hold back any longer.
I slide my hand onto the back of her neck and lower my mouth to hers.
She moans when I kiss her.
The kiss starts slow and gentle, hot and romantic. I taste her mouth and slide my tongue against hers like I’m kissing the most precious thing in the world. Her lips are so soft and warm, trembling just a little, and the sexy sounds she keeps making—oh fuck—they undo me completely.
I pull her closer, and she melts into me, her hands resting on my chest like it’s her safe space. I’ll be the safety net this girl deserves. I’ll be everything for her.
The world drops away as I deepen the kiss, holding her tighter, tasting her sweetness.
I’m in deep now. I’m obsessed with my angel.
Her heart beats against mine as she leans into me, her tongue sliding into my mouth. There’s no going back now. She’s not leaving. I don’t care what I have to do.
I slide my hands into her hair and her hat tumbles to the ground. We don’t stop to pick it up. We don’t stop for anything.
My heart is pounding when we finally pull apart, both of us breathless. Her fingers trace the line of my jaw, her eyes studying mine like she has a million unanswered questions behind them.
“Okay…” she whispers.
“Just okay?” I ask with a grin.
“Not the kiss,” she says with a shy smile. “That was… more than okay. Okay to staying for a few more days. If you’ll have me.”
I feel like the luckiest man on Earth.
“If I’ll have you?” I say as I cup her cheeks in my big hands. “Angel, you’re already mine.”
She moans as I kiss her again.