From Here to Eternity (Moonlit Ridge, #1)

by A.L. Jackson

She watched me like she was both terrified and intrigued.

“What happens in here, you can’t take back. You sure you want to stay?” Something intense filled her caramel gaze, and her response nearly knocked me on my ass. “Every choice we make is one we can’t take back.”

An electric current ran up my arm, and I nearly tripped. His presence slammed me like a shockwave.

“Don’t you know there’s beauty in pain?”

In grief we must live.

“It’s the only thing we can do. Live. Put one foot in front of the other.”

Fifteen minutes later, I left her shop with an entire armful of flowers since apparently for Raven’s friends, it was buy one, get thirty free.

“Well, my dad was supposed to go to work so he can make some money because he’s got a whole lotta bills he’s gotta pay, and I had to get my bag with all my favorite things in it so I could go to Miss Liberty’s house so she could take care of me, and I’m not supposed to be runnin’ on the stairs, but sometimes I just gotta hurry because I’m always makin’ him late.”

“How’s it that I was the one supposed to be marking you, and you’re the one who left the imprint? And now I can’t stop thinking about marking myself all over you. Writing myself on every fuckin’ inch of this sweet little body.”

While the only thing I wanted to do was wrap her up. Slay whatever fucking demon had chased her here.

“I’m afraid that I want you to touch me.”

My insides were knitted with the need to wrap her up and promise her I’d never let anyone get near her. That whatever she was running from wasn’t too big for me.

I’d pull the stars from the sky if it meant it’d erase the fear that had overcome her last night.

“And if you need someone? If you get scared or want to give into whatever the fuck happened last night? If you want to run like I know you were planning to do? Then you come to me. You understand? You don’t have to be afraid.”

“And what if being afraid is the only thing I know?” “Then you give that fear to someone who can hold it.”

We’ll just head on home while you check out her suitcase.” She clearly was implying my suitcase was my vagina.

“Might not be the kind of guy to fall for and I sure as hell am not one to love, but I am absolutely the kind of guy to come to if you’re in trouble. And I know it, Little Runner, that you’re in trouble.”

“I want to destroy the bastard who hurt you.”

“I want to erase every scar he left. Kiss each of them away. Help you heal them so you know you have the strength to go on. So you know you don’t have to hide anymore. Because hiding who you are is a fuckin’ tragedy, Charleigh. Tragic when I can feel the goodness trying to shine out of you.”

“Promise you, these hands will never hurt you, Charleigh. They’ll only ever bring you pleasure.”

Favorite color? Tell me it’s pink like those sheets I got a peep at on your bed. Pink like those distracting scrubs you always wear. Same as the pink that flushes your cheeks when you’re turned on. Because I’m pretty sure that exact color just became my favorite.

“You’ve got no obligation to me, Charleigh. Don’t owe me a thing. But it will be my fuckin’ honor to be the one to show you that you’re a treasure, too. To show you that you deserve to be loved and touched and adored. Only thing I ask is if you get scared? If you feel like runnin’? Then you run to me.”

“There is no shame in fear,

Promise you, I won’t let you go until you’re flying free.

“I can handle your truth.”

“Don’t need you to hide. I can handle your burden.”

“I’m not your responsibility.” I dipped down until my lips were a breadth from hers. “Yeah, baby, you are. The second you ran through my door? That’s what you became. My responsibility. So, thank you, Little Runner, for runnin’ to me.”

Leather and ink and wicked things.

“Hey, what are you guys doin’ in there? You better not be havin’ a party without me. I been waitin’ out here for the whole day, and I almost don’t have any of the patience left. And patience is somethin’ Miss Liberty says I gotta have.” A small shot of amusement rolled off my tongue, and Raven snagged me by the hand as she whipped open the door. “What? Have a party without you? That would just be rude.” “The rudest.” Nolan said it with a resolute jut of his chin.

He was a safe place. Sanctuary. A place of healing.

“Looking at you is like looking at the sun breaking on a new day and wishing I could hold onto that moment forever. That’s what I’m going to give you, Charleigh. A million new days where you get to wake up and shine all your light. Shower this world in your beauty because there’s so fuckin’ much of it, it’s a disgrace to keep it hidden. Gonna make you shine, Little Runner. Fuckin’ glow.”

“I think there are worse things in the world than bears.”

Don’t be embarrassed. I only heard him shouting your name, but I think there’s a chance the entire town heard it.”

But sometimes, our souls know our match, and they’re drawn to the only one who could really understand and accept everything we are.”

“Nah, baby, I think you’re the perfect accent to all my dark. A light when things always look so goddamn bleak.”

“How could it be too fast if I’ve been waiting on you my entire life?”

“Because I love you. I’m so fucking in love with you. So caught up I can’t see a future where you don’t exist in it. I can’t imagine a day that I wake up without you in my arms. You fuckin’ struck me the first time I saw you, Charleigh. Pierced me all the way through. Stole some part of me when I inked myself on you. But you have all of me now. If you want it. If you’ll take it.”

I’ll take it. I need it. Because I love you, too. I think maybe a part of me fell for you that night. Because I was dead inside. So dead, and you lit the last vapor of hope that I possessed. Stoked it and brought it back to life. And I want to live. I want to live. And I want to live it with you.” In grief we must live.

“Told you, Little Runner, this is where you belong.”

“I just got lost looking for you, but I finally found my way.” “Well, it’s really good you found me because I already loved you like you’re my mommy because I already loved you the most, just like I love my Daddy-O.”