I want to try out that thing you told me about.”
“What thing?”
“Yelling my secrets to the mountaintops.”
He gave her a quizzical look, but didn’t resist when she led him to where his coat and boots lay discarded on the floor by the door.
They put their winter gear on and then descended the steps, walking to the back of the house again. The sun was higher in the sky now and the ice sparkled golden instead of silvery white. Winter birds twittered in the trees, and the sounds of dripping water could be heard all around. She suddenly felt silly. The crisp air had made her feel better, helped her zinging emotions settle, and now she hesitated. What am I doing?
But as soon as the thought went through her mind, she spotted a rock sticking up out of the snow. Well . . . why the heck not? She took a deep breath and stepped up onto it, facing toward the blue-gray mountains in the distance. As if each and every sorrow demanded release, swirls of emotions rioted for first place in her mind. She cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, “I’m so hurt and . . . and angry that no one in town wanted to take me in when my parents died! Sometimes I want to move far away from this damn town and never look back!”
She let out a huge heaving breath, watching the tips of those mountains, imagining she could see the vapor of her words—the long-held truth—floating away from her body to take residence in those dark peaks. She turned, stepping carefully off the rock where Jak stood looking at her thoughtfully.
“Better?” he asked.
She sucked in a big breath, her chest rising and falling. “Yes. I think so.” She paused. “Yes. You were right. It helps. I feel better al—”
“Keep going.”
She paused but then nodded once, climbed back up onto the rock, and turned toward the mountains. “Sometimes I hate God for taking my parents from me! I . . .” A sob came up her throat but she tried to stop it from escaping. “Sometimes I wish I’d died that night too.” Her throat felt tight, as she instinctively tried to resist more painful words spilling from her tired, love-famished soul, and simultaneously made the effort to force them out. “I’ve been so scared and alone.” And that was all she could do. The sob that escaped then was followed by a small hiccup as she tried desperately to get her emotions under control. She turned back toward Jak, but too quickly, slipping on the ice-covered rock, losing her footing and plunging forward.
Jak caught her, his arms wrapping around her waist as she wept. “You’re not alone,” he whispered. The whimper died on her lips as she opened her eyes to his face directly in front of hers, his mouth mere inches from her own. Her heart stuttered, swelled. For a suspended moment, their quickened breaths mingled in the air between them. She blinked in surprise, her body stilling. He glanced at her lips, his gaze heating and his arms squeezing her just a little tighter. Kiss me, she thought. Oh please, kiss me.
She could see the indecision on his face but knew he had to be the one to advance whatever it was between them. For a frozen moment, the entire forest stilled. The whole world waited. And then as quickly as that, their mouths were meeting, and Harper exhaled a breath of relief and joy over the sudden overwhelming pleasure of his mouth against hers. The knowledge that he had chosen her. And she had chosen him.
For a second, they were both still, then he let out a small sound, a combination between a grunt and a groan as he opened his mouth very slightly and rubbed it over hers. Despite the completely unpracticed nature of the kiss, sparks shot through her veins, her blood heating. She didn’t want to take control of the kiss. The waiting, the discovery of what he would do instinctively, was more arousing than anything she’d ever experienced.
He was holding her off the ground easily with his arms wrapped around her waist, and she sought even more closeness with him. She wrapped her legs around his body, bringing their cores together. He breathed out a harsh breath but didn’t disconnect his lips from hers. The meeting of their bodies seemed to give him more confidence in their kiss, and he tilted his head, his lips parted