Rowdy (Marked Men #5)(67)
Even if that place was some forgotten cabin in the Colorado mountains.
CHAPTER 15
Rowdy
IT WAS THE FIRST full night of sleep that I had gotten since she walked away from me earlier in the week. I don’t know what woke me up before dawn, maybe the fact the air mattress was sagging in the middle or the call of the birds in the pine trees, but something had my eyes popping open before it was even light out. I automatically reached for the body that was supposed to be curled up alongside mine and jerked up into a sitting position when I came up empty.
The cabin was tiny, so it was easy to see I was alone and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where my city girl would’ve gotten off to before the sun was even in the sky. I mean there was no bathroom, the place was beyond rustic, but I didn’t think Salem was the type to go tromping through the woods without letting me know where she was going or waking me up to hold the flashlight for her. So I pushed my messy hair off my face, pulled my boots on, and went to find her.
It didn’t take long. The cabin was in a clearing that sat on a crystal-clear lake that was fed from runoff from the mountains. The area was a national forest and the land that wasn’t part of it was privately owned by guys like Phil that just wanted a quiet escape from the city. This wasn’t a lake that allowed anything with a motor on the water, but there was still a weather-beaten dock for rowboats and kayaks jutting out from the rough shoreline. Salem was sitting on the end with her legs dangling over the side, a blanket wrapped around her shoulders while she watched the first rays of dawn break across the sky. When I got closer I noticed she had an open beer in her hand and a soft smile on her beautiful face. If I had had paper and something to draw with, I would have captured the moment for posterity.
I sat down behind her and trapped her between my longer legs and wrapped an arm across her chest to pull her back so that she was resting against my chest.
“Breakfast of champions.” I took the beer from her and took a swig, making a face as I did. It was too early for Coors Light, but whatever.
“I couldn’t figure out how to turn the little stove thing on.”
I’d brought a camp stove up so we could have breakfast and coffee but I hadn’t bothered to hook the propane up to it. Good thing. She probably would have blown us up messing with it. Beer was a poor substitute for coffee this early in the morning, though.
“You’re up early.” I linked our fingers together on one hand and rested my chin on the top of her head. There was nothing like sunrise and sunset in the mountains. The entire sky turned orange and red and looked like flames racing across the jagged peaks.
“It was quiet and it’s never quiet. I wanted to enjoy it for a minute. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything so pretty.”
“Me either.” Granted, I was talking about her and she knew it, because she laughed and it made her soft hair brush against my chin.
“Rowdy . . .”
“Salem . . .”
It was such a nice moment, one that had taken us so long to get to. I couldn’t think of any place on earth that was better than this. And I knew for a fact that there wasn’t any better girl.
“You make me very happy, you always did.” It was all there in her voice. The way that the past and the future were all tangled around each other but still had us standing strong and together right in the middle of it.
I blew out a deep breath and took the can of beer from her and set it down so I could turn her around in my arms so that we were facing each other. She wrapped her legs around my waist and curled her arms around my neck as we stared at each other. The blanket fell away and she shivered as the cool morning air brushed across her shoulders. I collected her ebony hair in one hand and used it to tug her head back so that she was looking up at me with sleepy and sexy eyes.
“I always thought it was the firsts that matter, but now I know that it’s the lasts that stay with you.”
Her mouth puckered into a little frown of confusion and I bent down to kiss that ruby above her lip. She shivered again and this time I knew it didn’t have anything to do with the chill in the air.
“I believed for a long time that I was never going to get past the first girl that made me feel like I was in love. I used it as an excuse to keep other women at an arm’s length because I was terrified of being hurt again. I was afraid, I still am, but I realize that the fact I want to be with you, that I care so much about you, means so much more than the fear.”
She sighed and moved one of her hands to rest in on my cheek. “I don’t want you to be afraid of me, Rowdy.”
“You were and have been the source of a lot of firsts for me, Salem. The first girl I kissed. The first girl I ever cried in front of. The first girl I ever gave a present to. The first I never forgot. You’re the first girl that has ever kept me up at night and the first girl that makes me hurt badly with the way I want you. Looking back, I think when you drove away that day you took a piece of me with you that I didn’t get back until I saw you at the shop. All of those firsts are important and made me see things more clearly without the filter of time and resentment in the way, but what really matters is the lasts.”
I bent down so I could kiss her. I just pressed my lips lightly against her parted mouth and whispered to her, “You are the last person I want to kiss. The last woman I want in my bed. I want you to be the last girl that touches any and all parts of me, Salem, and that means so much more than a first. Who cares if Poppy was there first or if there were nameless people in between? All that matters is that at the end of it all there is just you, only you, and no one else.”