Chapter 49
FORTY-NINE | TARYN
Purples and pinks blend into an ombre of colors with wispy clouds streaking across the sky like someone took a paintbrush to the atmosphere and made it their own personal masterpiece. The vibrant hues reflect off the water of the Columbia, the view easing the vibration of panic in my bones.
My feet hang off the truck bed, dangling and swaying. The chilly air soaks into the black silk fabric of my dress, the wind catching the loose cloth, making it ripple like the waves below.
I’m forced to take this corner on the cliffside almost daily while driving or riding with one of the guys.
Shortly after my accident, Colten paid a construction company to build a barrier.
And though the guardrail eases some of the panic that vibrates in my bones whenever I get close to the cliffside, each day is more manageable.
Like today.
Colten pulled his truck off the road to a spot where we could watch the sunset over the water.
At first, I refused to come anywhere near the cliff that nearly killed me.
But once I saw the view, my heart craved to watch it.
To soak in the chilly fall air while a picturesque landscape is sprawled out before me.
The edge of the orchard is behind us. Leaves rustle in the wind, some falling from branches and fluttering to the earth below. Occasionally, I can hear the pounding of apples crashing to the ground. Inhaling a deep breath, the scent of algae and wood lingers in the air, sweeping off the river.
Colten rounds the corner of the truck, gripping his black suit jacket and tugging it off.
The white shirt stretches against his forearms, his strong shoulders rippling when he removes his tie.
Placing the garments on the side, he lifts himself up to sit beside me, the truck bouncing with his weight.
Blankets and pillows are in the bed, and he reaches for a blanket. Whipping it out, he lays it on my legs and wraps his arm around me, tugging me closer. His leather and cinnamon scent envelops me.
Today was a heavy day.
The funeral.
All the beautiful words he said about his mother and the woman she was still echo in my mind.
I wish I could’ve known Jane and met the woman who raised the resilient man sitting beside me.
The last five years have been hell for Colten. The weight he’s had to endure. The armor he had to carry around to be the man his family needed. But I’ve fallen in love with him because when the dark and evil parts of the world consumed his parents, he refused to let go and let it destroy him, too.
He rests a hand on my thigh, peering at the world expanding before us. I, on the other hand, keep my eyes locked on him.
“Today, I remembered why I promised myself I would never fall in love,” Colten says, keeping his eyes on the river.
My heart throbs in my chest, unsure where this is going. “Okay…”
His tongue darts out, wetting his bottom lip. “They were my example of love. I saw the moments they couldn’t keep their hands off each other—the way they smiled at each other…God, the way he wrapped my mom in his arms.”
I place my hand on his, intertwining our fingers.
“My parents were the perfect example of what love should look like. Just as quickly, they became an impeccable standard of everything it shouldn’t.
” His face turns to mine, his bright green eyes holding me captive in his gaze.
“I focused on the nothingness in their relationship, Taryn. The parts that were too dark and bitter even to contemplate wanting to give myself over to something that could eventually tear me apart. But every single day, I have put my family first. All my decisions revolve around them because they are my everything. And despite what happened with my parents, loving my siblings is effortless. Easy.”
My eyes flit between his.
“I dragged you here for them, but waking up each morning, knowing you were in my house, in my head, knowing that you could be mine if I just told you how badly I wanted to love you in every way possible, drove me to the brink of madness. I should’ve said those words to you in that shower, and I’m sorry I didn’t. ”
I reach for his face with my other hand, stroking his jawline with my fingers. “Colten, you don’t have to apologize—”
“No, I do.” He latches onto my hand lovingly, tightening his grip around it.
“When your truck went off the cliffside, I briefly thought about what a future without you would be like.” His hand releases mine, but before my body chills at the loss of him, his index finger presses below my chin, keeping it steady so he can peer into my eyes.
“And now I understand that whether it’s failed love or a loveless life, they are both equally empty and hollow. ”
His thumb drifts over my bottom lip. “I wasn’t lying when I said I’ve loved you every day since we found ourselves sitting across from each other in that office. Because since that moment, you have stirred the dormant parts of my soul, Little Ghost.”
My heart thunders. The artery bounces around the inside of my chest as if it can burst out of my sternum and magnetize to his.
We may be in our black attire from earlier, but as the sun dips below the horizon, the world engulfing us is bright and vibrant.
His green eyes reflect the sunset, and suddenly, I’m gazing into a living kaleidoscope of colors. “I’m in love with you, Taryn Meyers.”
Not wasting a second, I swing my leg over his lap, straddling him in my dress on the edge of his truck bed.
My lips collide with his, my body showing him exactly how I feel.
His head tilts, his hands reaching around to cup my ass and pull my core flush with his.
I deepen the kiss, letting my tongue dance with his in a way that has my soul catching fire in my chest. My ribs protest my movement as I grind on his growing cock, but I ignore the pain because there’s only room for one feeling right now.
“I love you, Colten,” I breathe against his lips, my fingers fondling the first button on his white dress shirt.
I pop them open one by one, revealing the expansive tattoo on his chest. “I have been yours since you first called me Little Ghost.” He looks up at me, his lips swollen and glistening.
“But despite the nickname, you always see me.”
“Always.”
I turn my head, eyes scanning the landscape before the colors disintegrate and pave the way for the night.
“It was brave to bring me here to the cliff,” I say honestly. “I only got out of the hospital a week ago. Remember? You should, because you’ve never left my side.”
My head quickly turns back toward him when he shifts his body under mine. He leans backward, his arms around my waist, dragging me down with him. He lies against the pillows and blankets, and I fall onto his chest.
“I remember. You’re never allowed to go back there.”
I smile at him. His hands grip my waist, his strength and muscle flipping me over effortlessly and gently so he doesn’t egg on the pain in my ribs. I’m trapped beneath his frame, the open flaps of his shirt taunting me with his flexed abdomen. God, those hard lines are perfection.
He must sense my neediness. Rolling my dress up to expose my black thong, he presses the solid ridge of his cock confined in his dress pants against my pussy, grinding on top of me. The moan I release has his fingertips pulsing into my skin.
His lips brush against the shell of my ear.
“On second thought, I’ll make you a deal.
” Moving to the slope of my neck, I feel the tilt of his lips against my heated skin.
It makes my clit throb, muddling my head so I can’t think straight.
“The next time we find ourselves in that hospital will be when you’re having my baby. ”
Gripping onto the collar of his shirt, I pull his face to mine. “Colten Lindenvale, you have yourself a deal.”
A groan of pleasure rattles his chest, the sound transferring a vibration that impales my bones the second his lips crash against mine again.
Sometimes, I wonder if I would’ve found my way to him without the teaching position. I contemplate what would’ve happened if he hadn’t lured me to Cedar Creek. But, to be honest, I don’t think I believe in fate.
I believe in decisions.
That our decisions, minuscule or vast, hold power to control us and the future we allow ourselves. Our personal choices can create a shock wave that ripples and affects others around us, even when we don’t believe they do. But how we handle things determines the outcome and how we move forward.
Me?
I’ve always moved forward too quickly—hopping from one place to the next with no sense of direction. Here with them, Lindenvale Hill feels like home. In the bed of this truck, with the orchard on both sides and the river stretching before us, peace overwhelms me.
Because the moment I was forced to slow down, I finally found my center.