Read Online True North by Allie Juliette Mousseau - Free Book Online Page A

really keep five love songs from the same band in sequence on their playlist? No way, not guys like Jake. I was surprised he even had them on there.
    Songs like “Nobody Else,” “Still Worth Fighting For” and “Come Undone” made me dizzy.
    My head staggered, and I knew I had to stop, but it was too irresistible—for fuck’s sake even if I was lying to myself and all of this was a figment of my overactive imagination—the moment was mine to live in at this very second, even if it was all pretend on my part. I allowed my emotions to simmer to the boiling point—they were mine too, and even if I never got to see Jake again after today, I’d have this memory to always carry with me. Hell, I’d been carrying around the memory of my first kiss for four years—this one could fuel me for a decade.
    If I could be brave enough to let myself fall apart just this once, would I someday find the courage to put myself back together again when he was gone?
    What mattered most now, above everything else, was that I lived in this moment, because just like I’d come to life when he kissed me—I was so alive now simply by being with him.
    I had never been pulled to anyone’s presence like I was to Jake.
    We drove an hour north on 85 towards the Canadian border. Eventually, Jake turned us into the Lake Zahl Wildlife Refuge. The roads were empty and it felt like we were the only people in the world.
    Jake brought us to the edge of the lake. The sun glinted off the water’s surface like magic. He shut down the engine and dropped the side stand.
    “ Don’t move.” He carefully got off the bike, while My Darkest Days still played on. Slowly, he turned around and settled himself back on the bike, only this time he was facing me.
    I felt like a magnet, and he was steel.
    He drew his body over mine and I held my breath in anticipation. He leaned himself across me to reach into his saddlebags. I was completely and utterly undone by the press of him against me. I nearly died.
    He came back up with two bottles of local Black Shox Porter from Laughing Sun Brewery. They were dripping with condensation and I realized he’d had them on ice. Securing one of the bottles between his thighs, he popped the top off the other. He met my eyes as he lifted the bottle to his lips for a long pull. I watched, mesmerized by the movement of his throat and the dip of his Adam’s apple.
    Jake brought the bottle back down and held it out to me. The electricity in his eyes stirred my butterflies. In the exchange, I wrapped my fingers around the bottle and his hand, sending sparks clear down my arm. I tasted his mouth on the bottle’s edge like a kiss and was immediately aroused.
    I had to close my eyes against these feelings and him and the intensity of the music before I shattered into a million pieces.
    He was quiet, and when I finally opened my eyes, he was watching me. Neither of us said anything. I felt like we were trying to stitch the wound of the last three years that we’d lost so that we could come to this moment. Was that possible?
    His gaze was too intense, and I looked out over the lake. Wild Canada Geese were flying overhead—my favorite birds.
    “ Are you going to fly away, Liv?” His voice was deep and thick again.
    When I brought my eyes back to him, he was looking at the geese too.
    I offered him back the brew. “No.”
    He thoughtfully ran his thumb over the lip of the bottle, and I wondered desperately what he was thinking about.
    “ Are you?” I tried.
    “ I’m tired of flying,” he said flatly.
    I thought for a minute. “Well, this is a good place to land.”
    “ Thanks for forgiving me for last night. You really kicked my ass. I wasn’t expecting it,” he confessed. “Not an excuse for me being an asshole. I’m not sure exactly what came over me, really.”
    I nodded and watched him drain the bottle.
    He switched the empty with the full and continued, “That’s not entirely true.” He popped the top and offered