The Fall of Sky (Part Two) Read Online Free Page A

made of embedded boulders bigger than houses stood before us. They dug into the earth with their majestic bodies, half hidden and jutting out toward the azure sky, reaching toward the angry sun for mercy. Or for something else.
    “This is it. Can you lead me to the edge? I know how big the rim is, but I don’t really want to find out if I miscalculate a step one second too late.”
    I grasped his hand and laughed. “Sure thing! ‘Bout time I felt useful.” His warm smile made my insides flare up into a sweet oblivion, and I ripped my eyes away before the overwhelming need to rip his clothes off and straddle him on the soft earth took over. Why was I feeling so horny? I had to shake this crazy off before I fell in far too deep. He was an abyss—blue, dark, and beckoning with an endless drop to who knew where. I could easily fall into it, but how bad would climbing back out be?
    “Here,” I paused a couple feet from the edge of one of the smooth boulders. Stepping up onto it, I gave Saul a tug. “It looks flat enough on top to dangle your legs off of.”
    “Perfect.” His brilliant white smile was like a blinding reflection of the bright sun. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the patches of sun that did sneak their way past the branches of the canopy above seared into my skin like hot marshmallow sticks. I was relieved to find a good shaded spot on the large boulder.
    Scooting down onto it with all fours, I prayed we didn’t slip off. Saul followed suit, inching closer until his legs were dangling on the overhang. A slight breeze met us, causing strands of my hair to lift into the air. The sound of leaves rustling like someone shaking the branches out came and went with the wind. This was serenity in all its glory.
    “So you loved this place when you could see?”
    He nodded. “When I got my license, it was one of the last places I went before my eyesight began to fail. I came up here all the time, any chance I got. Nothing like the majestic panorama of the mountains to make one’s problems feel so small and insignificant.”
    That was so close to the truth it made me shiver. Up here, we were specks, tiny spits of nothing in a pot full of beauty. Everything that marred the beauty of the world was obliterated up here on the shoulders of mountains. Even the shiny reflections off the top of cars below, weaving their way up the curvy roads, which could make anyone carsick, were just sparkles in the mix. Tiny dots of shiny nothings. It was truly humbling.
    “No wonder you know your way around here so well.”
    He grinned sheepishly. “I even spent nights here. The days I ran away from home in my wild days, I spent up here hiking, sleeping under the stars, and taking in the sounds of the woods. It’s quite eye opening to be out here, in the wild, alone, defenseless. In the dark, it made me realize that there was still so much life out here, in the blinding black of night. There, I could hear crickets, calls of animals making their way through the night, avoiding their predators. Even the predators themselves were cozying up, or hunting. I couldn’t be sure what they were all doing, but every noise made me feel more alive with the forest as my old life slowly died away.”
    “I can see why you like it here so much.”
    Saul’s arm slid around me, pulling me closer in the process. His body heat radiated through mine, sending my skin ablaze. I wondered if he knew he did this to me, caused these volatile reactions that wanted out surfaced on my skin and begged for release. I was pretty sure he knew. How could he not? I wanted to do things to this man I’d never allowed anyone to do to me. Here, in the wild, I could let him slip my clothes off and take me, over and over, until the night approached and the air grew too cold to tolerate without a blanket or two.
    That wasn’t a bad idea actually. I licked my lips in thought as I stared at his chiseled face. He’d let his stubble grow in and had a beard forming.