Page 61 of Holding Ground

The second his tongue swipes mine, my nipples tighten in my bra, and I press into him, not wanting any distance between us. He groans into my mouth, gripping the back of my head harder.

I don’t know how long our kiss continues, because time seems not to be a factor in this hidden alcove, but when he pulls away, Elliott rests his forehead against mine and cups my face.

“If we don’t stop now, I’m afraid we won’t be able to.” His voice is low and rough.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.”

He chuckles deep in his chest, then steps back. “You still don’t know why they call it Echo Lake.”

Right, the whole reason we’re here.

“Are you going to tell me?” My head tilts.

“Scream.” He crosses his arms.

“Excuse me? Are you planning to drown me?” I look around.

He shakes his head at me. “Just scream. As loud as you can.”

I frown at him, and he gestures with his hand to give it a try.

So I scream as loud as I can until my throat burns.

My voice ricochets off the rock face and echoes several times around us.

I laugh, wanting to do it again. “That is so cool…Hello!”

Hello, hello, hello, hello.

“You do it.” I nudge him with my elbow.

Now that it’s his turn, Elliott appears a little sheepish, but he’s a good sport about it. “Emelia!”

Emelia, Emelia, Emelia, Emelia.

We go back and forth a few times until our throats are sore from screaming so much.

“Want a drink?” Elliott goes over to one of the seats where there’s a built-in cooler under the cushion. “There’s beer, water, soda.”

“Water is good for me. Thanks.”

He grabs us each a water, twists the caps off, and hands mine over. The cold liquid soothes my throat.

Elliott caps his bottle and takes my hand, leading me between the gap in the console to the front of the boat. We settle on opposite sides, stretching out our legs.

“Thanks for taking me here.”

“You’re welcome. I’m glad I got to show it to you.”

“Have you brought Baylor here yet?”

He smiles, and I can tell he’s replaying some memory of his daughter in his mind. “Yeah, just this summer, actually. She wouldn’t stop begging me to bring her here every day after the first time I showed her. After the sixth day in a row, I told her we had to give it a break.”

I laugh. I can totally picture Baylor screaming at the rocks, loving it.

“When was the first time you ever came here?”

Something shifts in Elliott’s demeanor. “The first time I ever came here was with my father. It was just him and me. With two younger siblings at the time, getting him all to myself was a rarity. That’s probably why I remember it so well.”