“You’ll see in a minute.” He started the car and took off toward the front gate.
When we passed through, I thought my eyes might fall out of my head. I couldn’t have seen the sign correctly. Reaching over, he placed a finger under my chin and closed my mouth.
“Close your mouth, before the bugs fly in.”
“The Grand Canyon? You brought me to the Grand Canyon?”
It was a place I’d always wanted to go, but never in a million years thought I’d find myself.
“I had a feeling you’d never been here, and I thought sunrise would a spectacular way for you to see it the first time.”
The tears came on so fast I had no chance of stopping them and they leaked down my cheeks, blurring my vision and making it hard for me to draw a full breath. Ashton glanced over at me. “Don’t cry, Elena.”
“I can’t help it. I’ve never been so happy.”
The sky was still dark and it was hard to see. My heart pounding in my chest the longer we drove. I knew we were getting closer.
Ashton pulled the jeep to a stop and jumped out to grab the bag. Stepping out of the car, I was surprised by the drop in temperature.
“Wow, it’s cold.”
“Until the sun comes up.” He lifted the bag in his hand. “I brought things to keep us warm. Come on, I don’t want you to miss any of it.”
He flicked on a flashlight and led the way, the light seeming extraordinarily bright in the darkness. I was used to nighttime, obviously, but I didn’t know if it was the change in location or something else, but everything seemed . . . more. The air was colder, the night darker. I caught up to Ashton, looping my arm through his as we followed the trail and the feel of him against me was just the same.
More.
We weren’t the only ones there. Voices could be heard all around us. When we finally stopped walking, I was glad Ashton had me put sneakers on. He lay out a blanket and pulled another from his bag. Taking a seat in the center, he gestured in front of himself.
“Sit with me. This is the best place to see the sunrise this time of year.”
Shivering at the cold I sat between his legs, leaning against his chest and he wrapped the other blanket around the two of us, holding me tight to him. It felt so right, sitting here with him like this. But it was hard to concentrate on anything but the beauty surrounding me. As we sat watching, the sky changed from a light blue to orange and eventually a pink.
Then, in the most unforgettable moment of my life, wrapped in the arms of the man who saved me from the hell I’d been living in, I watched the sun peak over the horizon.
“It’s beautiful.”
I didn’t dare move my eyes from the sky, knowing this was a once in a lifetime moment. I didn’t want to miss a single second. Nothing could make the moment any better.
“Yes,” Ashton said, resting his chin on my shoulder, his mouth right by my ear. “You are.”
CHAPTER 21
Ashton
The awe in Elena’s voice made everything worth it. No one had ever bothered to treat her like a princess. My dad read me like a book the first night I brought Elena to his house for dinner—something about her called to me. I didn’t know what, I didn’t know why. I just knew. At first I told myself that it was all about saving her, but the reality was she’d found a way past the barriers I put up.
I watched her as we sat there waiting for the sun to come up, studying the curve of her jaw, the way her hair flowed around her, thinking Elena was beauty and elegance wrapped into one package but she didn’t realize it. It baffled me.
The sun continued its ascent and Elena sat watching, completely enthralled. All I wanted was my hands somewhere on her body; it didn’t matter where, as long as I was touching. I could have tried to tell myself it was about the feel of her body, the sex, but I knew it wasn’t. Every moment I spent with Elena, I found myself changing, becoming a man worthy of being with her.
I had so much more planned for the day: hiking, lunch in a fabulous restaurant not far from the park, then a quick plane ride back for the baseball game. I decided against taking her to the box; too many bad memories. They were things she might have to face eventually, but she didn’t have to deal with it yet. Not on our date, anyway. To avoid this, I’d bought seats behind the dugout, on the first base line. If she really wanted to watch the game, there were no better seats.
Thinking about the box, and everything it signified, brought my mood low. At some point I needed to decide if this was something I could keep doing for my dad. Did I want to continue to be the loan shark, or simply be the restaurateur and chef? Was it possible to do both?
The sun had fully risen in the sky. Elena turned her head to face me. “Thank you,” she said softly, placing a brief kiss on my lips.
“You’re so very welcome.”
She turned to gaze back over the summit. “Do we have to leave yet?”
“Nope.” I stood and reached my hand down to her and helped her to her feet. “I thought we might do a little hiking first.”
I produced a water bottle each and the smile on her lips was brighter than the newly emerged sun.
“Are you ready?” I asked, watching her take in her surroundings.
“I’ve never been more ready for anything in my life.”
For the next few hours we hiked different trails, sticking to the easier ones. Elena hadn’t hiked before and I was afraid one of the harder trails might be too much. About an hour in, we stopped for a drink of water and to rest our legs for a moment.
Seated on the rock below mine, she looked up at me. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
She gestured to my face with the water bottle. “The glasses.”
“What about them?”
“Well, I noticed on the plane you weren’t wearing them while you were reading. You had them on top of your head.”
“Oh.” I chuckled. “I don’t need them for seeing things up close, only things in the distance. It’s just easier to wear them all of the time than only when I need to see far away.”
“Well, that makes sense.” She lifted her bottle to her lips again, taking a sip of the water and I was glad that she was no longer speaking because all I could think about was how much I wanted those lips wrapped around my dick.
Later, Ashton. Be patient.
“What about contacts?”
I snapped myself out of my fantasies. “Never had much luck with them. I own a set, but after a few hours they’re not very comfortable.” I wouldn’t mention my slightly narcissistic side. I knew many women had a thing for men with glasses—stylish glasses at least.
“Shall we finish up and head back to the car? I have more surprises planned.”
Her gaze snapped to mine. “More?”
“Yep. The first is a special place for lunch but you’ll see when we get there.”
“Okay.” Her smile was infectious and I found myself grinning inanely, something I didn’t do a lot.
It took us about a half an hour to reach the car. I loaded the bag into the back seat and climbed in the driver side. Elena had already climbed in the car before I had the chance to open her door.
“What did you think?” I asked as I drove down to the restaurant.
“It was perfect. I can’t think of a better reason to get up at three in the morning.” She paused and smirked. “Well, maybe one other reason . . .”
“Elena,” I groaned. “If you keep up with those comments, I’m going to pull the car over.”
When her hand landed on my thigh, I stopped the car on the side of the road, looking over at her and trying to remember all the reasons I shouldn’t push her.
But goddamn . . .
She’d removed the sweatshirt during the hike. The T-shirt she wore only defined her breasts even more, right down to the hard nipples, visible through the thin fabric.