Home > Always Be My Forever (Men of Rocky Mountain)(2)

Always Be My Forever (Men of Rocky Mountain)(2)
Author: Alexis Winter

“Wait, I want to do that,” I say as I stop August from unclasping her bra. I want to savor this moment—to remember every little thing about her tonight—because I don’t know if I’ll ever get to experience this again. She doesn’t say a word as I release the clasp and her bra falls down her goosebump-covered arms.

“Are you cold?” I whisper against her neck.

“No,” she whispers back before tilting my head and kissing me again.

I wish I could say the night lasted hours, but I couldn’t make myself go slowly after that moment. It was a tangle of hands rushing to get jeans off, lips crashing against each other, and moans and grunts mixed with the sound of slapping skin and panting. It was all over too soon, but it was the most magical night of my life, and it’s so easy to transport myself back to those moments . . .

I hold August’s naked body against mine as she curls into my side. We don’t say another word as I cover both of us with the blanket I brought and we both fall asleep.

 

 

“Shit, Remi, wake up! The sun is up and I can’t find my bra!”

I groan and rub my eyes before cracking one open. The sun is blinding and I pull the blanket further up my body, over my head.

“Hey, I’m serious! My mom is going to kill me!” she says, ripping the blanket off my naked body.

“Hey!” I instinctively place my hands over my junk, not wanting to expose myself in the very bright early morning sun. I sit up, registering where I am, and all the memories of last night come flooding back. I feel something under my ass cheek and reach down, pulling up August’s bright pink bra.

“Found it,” I say as she reaches over and snatches it out of my hand. She turns her back to me, putting the bra on beneath her T-shirt like some magic trick.

We finish getting dressed, climb into the cab of the truck, and fly down the mountain back to town. We’re a few minutes from pulling into her driveway and I don’t know how to talk about last night.

“So, about last night—”

“Yeah?” she asks. I was hoping she’d offer her thoughts on the subject, but she just looks at me.

“Well, I know you leave for college in less than two days, bu—”

“Let’s just say this was the best sendoff gift? The perfect way to say goodbye as we both start this new chapter of our lives,” she interrupts me and it wasn’t the response I was hoping for or expecting. She gives my knee a squeeze. I glance over at her as I pull into her driveway, and for a moment it looks like her eyes are sad—like if she blinked too hard, a tear would fall.

“Oh—okay, yeah.” Fuck! This is not how this was supposed to go. I was supposed to tell her that she’s my soulmate and best friend and that I’ve been in love with her for a decade—that even with time and distance, we could make it work because we’re meant to be together.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow night at your going-away party?”

“For sure. And don’t forget to tell Landon. I want to see both him and Willow, and I know he can’t keep track of time to save his life.” She opens the truck and hops out of the cab, but then turns to face me one more time. “And thanks for last night, Remi. I—I didn’t know you could kiss like that.” She slams the door and runs up the sidewalk to her front porch, where her mom is standing with a scowl on her face and her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

 

 

Five Years Ago . . .

 

 

* * *

 

“I can’t believe it’s been six years since graduation,” August says between bites of popcorn shrimp. Her once-dirty-blonde hair is a gorgeous chocolate with professional highlights throughout. She has the same long, thick, silky strands as before and I’d give anything to run my hands through them again.

“Yeah, it’s crazy.” I nod. It feels like it was just yesterday we were teenagers in the back of my pickup, just before she headed off to college, and then I blinked and we were adults living life like nothing had ever changed between us.

The reality back then was that we both acted fine after the night we hooked up. She made it clear it meant nothing to her, so I acted like it meant nothing to me. But somewhere along the way, we both became so obsessed with pretending that nothing happened that night that we drifted apart. She went off to college in Michigan like she’d always planned, and I started my apprenticeship at my dad’s electrical contracting business.

All those promises of staying in touch and me coming out to Michigan went by the wayside. Truth is, I couldn’t bring myself to go to Michigan—to see her living her best life without me like I didn’t even exist. I see now that it was childish and selfish, but at the time, it ate me alive and destroyed our relationship for a solid two years until we finally found our way back to each other. I lied to her, though, and told her the reason things went downhill was because of my life back here—a failed serious relationship and the stress of building my career.

“You really sure about settling back here in Grand Lake? I mean, you’ve got that fancy degree and there’s a big world out there, August.” I’ve mentioned this to her a few times and can see she’s starting to get slightly annoyed at my push for her to get the hell out of here.

“Why would I want to live anywhere else? It’s gorgeous here, my family’s here . . . you’re here.” She mindlessly runs a fingertip around the rim of her glass. “It’s home.”

“Yeah, I get it. Just don’t want you shorting yourself.”

“So how are things going with Ti—Trista? Tiara? Sorry, I seriously cannot remember which one you’re dating,” she says, referring to the Mason twins.

“Trista,” I reply, “and it’s not going. Called it off a few weeks ago.” I poke a fry in my mouth, not wanting to have to explain to August why it didn’t work out. Pretty sure all my old excuses of she just wasn’t my type are starting to wear thin. Can’t exactly come out and say she’s not you and I’m in love with you and always have been, so I’m a hopeless fucking mess . . . please save me.

“Aw, that sucks. I’m sorry.” I can see the look of pity on her face and I know she’s about to ask what happened, so I stop it by changing the subject.

“You know, we never talked about our hookup after high school graduation. Who knows? Maybe we were supposed to pursue that.” I make eye contact with her as I pop a fry in my mouth. Fuck it, I don’t care if I scare her off at this point.

She looks shocked for a moment before letting her head fall back and giving me a taste of her signature bellowing laugh. Great, now she thinks it’s just a joke.

“Oh my God, can you imagine?” She fans her face as she laughs.

Okay, it wasn’t that funny. Jesus.

“We would constantly fight over the TV since you always pick the most shoot-’em-up-style movies or pure gore on our movie nights, plus you usually eat half my popcorn.” She continues on with a list of reasons why we would never work, and with each joke and comment, I can feel my blood pressure rising.

I can’t stand being constantly reminded of why we aren’t meant to be together. I wish she could see that those are all superficial and ridiculous reasons not to try with someone.

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