me to my knees. That’s what you do to me. I want to spend my evenings tracing the lines of your body with my fingertips until you feel them stirring your soul, knowing that’s exactly where I belong.”
“You make it sound amazing.”
“Stay with me.”
She gives me a long look, and while the words don’t come, the answer’s in her eyes.
“Stay at La Rouge. Give me time to show you what we’re meant to be.”
She wraps her arms around my neck. “You don’t need to show me anything. I never thought when I ran from my past that I would run into you.”
Her words hit me where it counts, right in my heart, where they sink and settle in like a slow, simmering burn. My pulse races and I can’t speak. Too many emotions run through me.
Tears fall from her eyes and when I press my lips to hers, the salt of her tears fill my mouth. But there’s more. I taste her love mingling with hope.
“I love you, my little backpack, and I never want to let you go.”
Evelyn comes apart in my arms. She cries and laughs as she kisses me.
“I love you too, Asher La Rouge, and if you’ll have me, I want to stay. I never want to leave.”
“Thank fuck for that.” I lift her into my arms.
“Speaking of fucking.” She pulls reaches between us and places her hand over my hard length. “If you’re going to tie me to you, you’d better start now.”
“I never thought you’d ask.”
I never thought I’d hold the whole world in my hands, but I have that and more with Evelyn.
She’s the future I’ve been chasing.
The forever I want to make.
The slow fire burning in my heart.
Evelyn is my future and I’m her beginning.
And for the next few hours, we communicate without words, showing each other how hot our love burns.
Epilogue
“You ready, little backpack?” Asher looks at me, eyes brimming with excitement. His expression is full of adventure. We stand at the beginning of the John Muir trail, over two-hundred and twenty miles of backcountry wilderness lies between us and the end.
But the end is not our destination.
Instead, the journey is what we look forward to, a time for the two of us to be alone and see if this thing between us is strong enough to endure a lifetime of adventure.
I already know the answer to this. I’m simply waiting for Asher to catch up and get on board.
I shift my backpack on my shoulders, loving the fit of my brand-new pack. Its weight settles on my hips, and I adjust the shoulder straps for comfort. My boots are new, although I’ve spent the last month breaking them in on the trails behind La Rouge vineyards. I’m ready, eager, and excited to tackle something I never thought I could do.
“I’m ready.”
“Let’s do this.” He waves me forward. It’s a grand gesture. He wants me to be the first to step foot over the official beginning of the trail. Asher knows what this hike means to me. In many ways, it forms a bridge between my past and future.
Considered a grueling test of a hiker’s skill, this trail isn’t for the faint of heart. We’ll be hiking far from civilization, cut off from all the creature comforts for two to three weeks. My original plan was to attempt this trail on my own, determined to prove something to myself, specifically that I’m no longer the vapid socialite of my past.
But I’m not alone, and there’s nothing to prove. I’m happy and content. I’m proud of who I am.
The most handsome man in the world is by my side. He leaves La Rouge Vineyards at the height of the fall harvest. It’s a crucial time for his business, but I’m more important. I was willing to put this off, but winter is coming, and the trail will become impassible. It’s now or wait for early summer to arrive. Asher didn’t want to wait.
And it’s not like we left La Rouge Vineyards to flounder. Cage stays behind, working with George, the vineyard’s foreman. Together, they’ll bring in the harvest and begin the crucial first steps of producing the next award-winning La Rouge vintage.
Asher and I have all the time in the world to disappear.
Not that we are…disappearing that is. Our progress will be tracked.
We cave into Cage’s demands, and Prescott’s as well. We’ll travel with a satellite phone which will be used to call in each and every night. Our journey will be