Run to Me: A Mountain Man Romance (Clarke Brothers Series Book 3)

by Lilian Monroe

  Before I know what’s happening, Ethan is lifting me up and marching me back to his bedroom. I laugh, wrapping my legs around his waist and hooking my arms around his neck.

  “You really have a thing for picking me up today, don’t you?”

  “I just like having you in my arms,” he replies, tossing me gently onto the bed as I yelp and giggle. He grins, climbing on top of me and laying his body on top of mine. The heat of his skin singes me, and he brushes his lips over my clavicle. He groans, laying soft kisses all along my shoulder and neck. I tangle my fingers into his hair and press my hips up towards him.

  “You’re so sexy,” he groans, and I shiver. His fingers trail up my sides, under my shirt and his hands feel like fire. Then, it’s like thunder clapping. The passion between us explodes. He pulls my shirt off over my head and I tear at his top. He bites the skin on my shoulder and grinds himself into me as I claw at his pants, kissing anything my mouth comes in contact with.

  He rolls me over and I straddle him, sitting up for a moment to run my hands over his chest. He groans, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

  “Do you have any idea how good it feels when you touch me?” He growls as he runs his fingers up my thighs, wrapping his arms around my backside. Shivers run through my legs as his hands travel up to the small of my back.

  “Some idea, yeah,” I respond, closing my eyes as his touch sends me into a tailspin. He tilts his hips up towards me and I can feel the hard length of his shaft through our clothing. I look at him through half-closed eyes, biting my lip.

  “This is such a bad idea,” I say as I reach behind me to unclasp my bra. He groans as I pull it away and toss it beside the bed.

  “Terrible idea,” he agrees as his hands run up my sides to cup my breasts. He thumbs my nipples and another shiver passes through me.

  “Worst idea I’ve ever had,” I breathe as I unbutton his jeans and pull the zipper down. He lifts his hips to let me take his pants off and I sigh as I see the outline of the cock I’ve been dreaming of since the first night I spent with him.

  “Destined to end in disaster,” he replies as I stand up and unbutton my own jeans. He groans again as he watches me undress, and then reaches over to touch my panties. He runs his fingers between my legs and my knees go weak.

  “Get on top of me,” he commands, and I have no choice but to do what he says. My body takes me to him, and I shiver as his hands run up and down my thighs. I grind my hips on top of him and feel his shaft get harder in his underwear. He keeps his thumb near my bud, on top of my underwear so that every time I move, a shiver of desire passes through me.

  The air between us is thick. My skin is scorched every time he touches it, and I feel like a coiled spring. He brushes his fingers over my bud, my ass, my stomach, my breasts, and every touch sends me reeling. I do the same to him, reveling in every groan and every grunt he makes.

  Finally, the tension is too much. He grabs my waist and flips me onto my back, reaching over to his side table and pulling out a condom. I’m trembling with excitement as I watch him tear the crinkling package open and tear off his underwear. He slides the condom on and rips my panties down my legs.

  My breath is shallow, and my body is ready. I gasp as he enters me, and the rest is a blur.

  I’ve never made love like this. We’re animals. We tear at each other, my nails leaving red scratch marks down his back as he drives his shaft inside me. My back arches and he nips at my neck, palms my breasts and thrusts deeper.

  I’m gasping, moaning, bucking with him as we let the pleasure and desire take over. I’m on top of him now, and I yelp when he smacks my ass with his palm. It stings, and it sends a new wave of pleasure through me. I look over to the side and in a mirror, I see his red handprint on my ass. Something about the mark on my skin makes my blood turn to fire.

  “Do it again,” I breathe, digging my fingers into his shoulders.

  “What?” He asks between breaths.

  “Slap my ass,” I pant. “Do it again.”

  His eyes flash and a grin tugs at his lips. “If you say so,” he replies, and does what I ask.

  That’s the beginning of the end for me. In that moment, when I let myself open up and be carried away by our pleasure, I know I’m his. It doesn’t matter what rumors surround him. It doesn’t matter what rumors surround me, I’m his. We’re linked. When my orgasm erupts through my body, his name is on my lips, his hands are on my body, and I’m his.

  Chapter 20 - Ethan

  The next few weeks fly by. The days start to get shorter as summer rushes towards autumn, and my heart sings. Zoe and I steal any moment we can together. I think Sherry knows, but I’m not sure. Bryan grins at me whenever Zoe walks in, and I know the Lang Creek Rumor Mill is churning. We do our best to keep things quiet, but it’s hard. Zoe is magnetic. It’s almost impossible to hide.

  At some point, we stop trying to hide it. People see us walking together in town, and the rumors fly, and then they stop. Katie and Mara meet us at Harold’s some evenings, and my brothers meet Zoe and warm to her. Without me realizing how, we’ve slipped into a relationship that everyone seems to understand and accept without either of us having to really say anything.

  I try not to think about the fact that Zoe will be leaving soon.

  At work, Zoe briefs us on security measures and audits our procedures. She submits a report to Sherry after a few weeks with us, and I don’t hear her talking about the hotel fire much after that. Sherry asks her to look at the other conservation programs we have in place. Zoe quickly adapts to life at the Park.

  She’s standing over Bryan’s desk as they discuss an invasive beetle that seems to have found a home in the north-eastern part of our Park. I smile as I watch her laugh and talk with our coworkers. She’s slipped into life in Lang Creek so easily.

  Last night, we video called her daughter. She speaks to her every night, and I met Audrey for the first time almost two weeks ago. Since then, I’ve spoken to her a few times. She’s precocious and funny, just like her mother.

  Zoe stands up and stretches her back, glancing over at me and winking. Her phone rings, and she frowns before answering it. I crane my ears to try to hear who she’s speaking to, but she ducks into the conference room. When she re-emerges, the smile is gone from her eyes and she looks troubled. A shadow is over her face and she slumps back into her chair.

  I push my own chair back and head over to her desk.

  “Everything alright?” I whisper, glancing around at the mostly-deserted office. Zoe lifts her eyes up to me as if she’s noticing me for the first time.

  “I, uh, yeah, actually,” she says. “Everything is good. I just got offered a promotion. A really, really big promotion. The ‘you-don’t-turn-this-one-down’ kind of promotion.”

  My heart sinks. “Oh,” I say, trying to force a smile. “When do you leave?”

  She shakes her head. “That’s the thing,” she says. “The promotion is here.”

  My eyes widen and my jaw drops. I’m not sure how to react. Zoe is staring at me, waiting for me to say something. I clear my throat.

  “You don’t seem too happy about it,” I say as my chest tightens. A lump is forming in my throat as I watch the woman I’ve been seeing every day struggle with the idea of staying here.

  She laughs mirthlessly, shaking her head. “If it were just me, I’d be jumping for joy. Being here is the best that’s happened to me since Audrey was born. But that’s the thing,” she says, staring at me with pain in her eyes. “Audrey! Am I just supposed to uproot her whole life and bring her here, away from her friends and her grandmother and everything she knows?”

  I lean against her desk and my heart slows down. She wants to stay. I have to keep the smile from my face as I consider the difficulty of her situation. I take a deep breath to try to quiet the thumping of my heart.

  “Was that your boss on the phone? What did you tell him?”

  “I said I’d think about it. I told him I had to t
hink about Audrey.”

  I nod.

  She puts her head in her hand and blows a big breath out of her nose. She inhales and looks at me. “I don’t know what to do. I know why I want to stay here,” she says quietly, staring at me. My heart jumps and I slide my hand over hers. She squeezes my fingers and shakes her head.

  “But that just feels so selfish.”

  “Why don’t you get your daughter over here? When does school start? A couple weeks from now? Fly her out and you can show her the town and the school, and see if she likes it. Then you can decide.”

  Zoe stares at me for a few moments. “I hadn’t considered that. That’s not a bad idea.”

  “Why not? If she likes it here, it’ll be a lot easier to make your decision. Then you won’t have to turn down your ‘don’t-turn-this-one-down’ promotion.” And you’d stay here. With me.

  A smile breaks over Zoe’s face and the shadow over her forehead disappears. She jumps up from her chair and throws her arms around me. I stiffen, not used to touching her in the office.

  Zoe catches herself and pulls away, squeezing my shoulder as she drops her hands.

  “I’m going to call my mom,” she says. “I might be able to fly both of them out here by the end of the week. You could meet them,” she says almost hesitantly, searching my face.

  I smile. “I’d be honored.” My heart thumps as I watch her duck into the conference room again, this time having a much more excited conversation. I rub my temple with my hand and take a deep breath.

  Is this what I want?

  I glance at Zoe and feel my heart pulling towards her. I haven’t been this happy… I don’t know, maybe ever. I want her to stay. But does that mean I want to be a dad? Would I be a dad? Would she expect me to take on that role? Would things between Zoe and I change?

  Of course things would change. She’d have her daughter here, and we wouldn’t be able to run off together whenever we get a moment. I watch her through the conference room window and am surprised that I don’t mind the thought. Is it possible I might be excited about having Zoe and Audrey here with me?

  The thoughts are flying around my head and I stalk out of the building, breathing a sigh of relief as I step outside. I walk over to a nearby trail and lean against a tree, closing my eyes and breathing deeply. When I open them again, Zoe is opening the door and scanning the parking lot for me. She sees me, and a smile splits on her face.

  My heart lifts, and I feel excited and terrified all at once. As Zoe walks towards me, the breeze flutters through her hair and the sun makes her skin glow. She looks so incredibly beautiful that it almost hurts to look at her. She’s like the sun, and I can’t resist her pull. When she walks over to me, she throws her arms around my neck without a word. She kisses me, and the doubt in my heart disappears.

  Chapter 21 - Zoe

  When I tell my mother about the promotion, she makes a noise and is quiet for a few moments.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I say. “They’re basically creating a position for me here, doubling my pay, and offering me way better benefits. I’d be consulting for three National Parks!”

  “That’s very exciting, Zoe,” she answers slowly. “Congratulations.” I hear her shift the phone to her other ear and I take a deep breath.

  “I was thinking you could bring Audrey out, so she could see Lang Creek. We have a couple weeks before school starts. If she’s not willing to move here, then I can turn the promotion down.”

  My chest squeezes when I say the words, and my thoughts fly to Ethan. Turning the promotion down sends a needle of pain deep in my chest when I think about leaving Lang Creek and of leaving Ethan. But at the end of the day, Audrey needs to be the priority.

  “Do you…” I trail off and take a deep breath. “Do you think it’s a bad idea to bring her here?” A lump forms in my throat and it’s hard for me to say the last couple words. My mother makes another noise and sighs.

  “No,” she says, “I don’t think it’s a bad idea. I think it’s a wonderful idea to get Zoe away from the city and get her to experience something different. Knowing Audrey, she’ll love it. And…”

  “… And…?”

  “Well, I’m not quite sure what went on at school, or who these girls are that she knows, but…”

  Fear starts snaking around my heart and I stand up straighter. “Mom, just tell me,” I say through clenched teeth.

  “I think she might be bullied at school.”

  My stomach drops and I feel dizzy. “What? What do you mean?”

  “She won’t talk to me about it. Getting her to tell me anything that upsets her is like pulling teeth,” she says. “No question who she got that from,” she adds.

  I ignore her quip. “Mom, how do you know? What kind of bullying? Is she okay?”

  “It’s those girls that she knows,” my mom says. “I’m not entirely sure, but I found Audrey crying after school a couple times.”

  “What!”

  “I didn’t want you to worry! She’s tough, Zoe, she’s started to open up about it.”

  “Mom! How could you not tell me this? How did I not notice?” My heart start to break as my eyebrows draw together. My daughter!

  “Listen, Zoe, all I’m saying is that going to see you, and maybe even moving somewhere new might be a good thing.”

  “… But…?” I prompt.

  She’s quiet for a few moments, and I stare out my hotel room window, chewing my bottom lip. I always feel like I need my mom’s blessing, even though I’m a grown woman. If she’s not happy with this idea, then it will break my heart to go through with it. My head is spinning. What if Audrey is being bullied? How could I have missed the signs? I knew there was something off about that friend of hers–what’s her name? Megan! I could tell by the way Audrey talked about her.

  My mom sighs again, and it feels like a hand is slowly squeezing my chest so that I can’t breathe.

  “But it’ll break my heart to see you go, Zoe,” she almost whispers. I hear her clear her throat and her voice betrays her emotion. “I’m being selfish, and I’m sorry.”

  “Mom, you don’t need to apologize,” I start, but she cuts me off.

  “I should be happy for you. I should be celebrating. Instead, I’m sad that I won’t have Tuesday night dinners with my girls anymore.”

  “Mom…”

  She sniffles and clears her throat. “I’ll tell Audrey when she gets home from soccer camp, and then you can call later and explain everything.” Her voice is harsher, as if she’s forcing herself to suppress her emotions.

  “Mom…”

  “I’ll go over to your house to get anything that you might want me to bring. When were you thinking of flying her over?”

  “Mom, stop!” I finally say. “First of all, I’m flying you both over. I’m not having my eight-year-old daughter come here on her own. And plus, I want to show you this place too! Who knows, maybe you’ll want to move here with us!”

  My mom pauses and sniffles and clears her throat again. “Alright, honey. I’ll talk to you later when I have more control over myself.” I can hear her voice relax ever so slightly. “Love ya.”

  “Love you too, Mom.”

  I hang up the phone and flop backwards onto my bed. I hadn’t even thought of my mom! I’d only thought of Audrey, but of course my mother would be sad we were leaving! She has no one else in Seattle. My heart squeezes. She might feel like she was being selfish, but now I feel like that too.

  I close my eyes and put my hand over my forehead. I stay like that for many minutes, until I take a deep breath and force myself to get up. I glance out the window at the setting sun, and I try to shake off the heaviness in my heart.

  I’ve been here for over two months, and the sunsets never cease to take my breath away. I watch the colors shift and change as the sun goes down, the dark mountains cutting jagged lines through the sky. I lean my head against the window frame, and I stare off into nothing as I try to quiet my whirling mind.

>   Ever since I got that phone call earlier today, I haven’t been able to make sense of what’s right. I want to take the promotion. I want Audrey to come here and I want to build a life with her, away from the memory of her father’s death and away from the city. If she’s being bullied at school, then I definitely want to get her out of there. I want her to experience something different, and I feel like I’ve found something special in Lang Creek. They’ve accepted me into their community so warmly, and I’d love for her to experience that before she’s old and jaded.

  And of course, I want to keep seeing Ethan. The look on his face when I told him about the promotion wasn’t exactly jubilant, but when we kissed in the parking lot, his eyes had softened and his smile had been brilliant.

  I jump when there’s a knock on the door. I open it to see Katie, dressed in her regular clothes with her bag slung over her shoulder.

  “Just finished work,” she says. “You want to come to Harold’s with me and Mara? There’s a band on tonight. You might know the lead singer,” she winks.

  I open my mouth just as my stomach grumbles. Katie’s eyebrows shoot up and she laughs. “Sounds like your stomach wants you to come!”

  I smile and glance at the time. It’s almost time to call Audrey. I nod to Katie, who smiles warmly. Her, Mara, and I have become close over the past two months. Little Hailey reminds me so much of Audrey when she was born, and I think Mara has appreciated having us around to help out. Going out with them tonight will be a nice way to unwind after telling Audrey about the promotion and the possible move to Lang Creek.

  “I just have one quick phone call to make and I’ll be right over. Save me a seat?”

  Katie smiles and nods. I close the door just as my phone starts to ring. My mom’s face pops up on the screen and I take a deep breath, clicking to answer the incoming video call.

  “Hey, monkey!” I say when my daughter’s face appears on the screen. She smiles at me, and my heart softens.

  “I’m not a monkey, Mom,” she says, rolling her eyes like only eight year olds can.