“Hey, none of that now,” I warn, hands on her thighs gripping tight. “Don’t let me hear you talking bad about yourself.”
“How do you know it’s not true? You did find me stuck in a tree, Pace.”
There is a teasing in her tone, a smile on that pretty mouth, and I am smitten. Jesus, she’s beautiful. Adorable. Her nose scrunches up at she stares up at me, that smile growing even bigger. I would give this woman anything and we just met. What the hell kind of magic is she working on me?
“I am a good judge of character, sweetheart. I judge you as...a brilliant woman who does not belong up here on my mountain. Doesn’t mean you should not be here. Or that I am not glad you’re here.”
Somehow, I said something right. Piper beams up at me, her hands tightening on my shoulders, tugging me closer. I move closer. I need to check on that wound, but it is going nowhere. I am nestled between her thighs, her soft body pressed to mine, that beautiful smile making my heart flip-flop. For a moment, I cannot remember how we got here. It doesn’t seem to matter.
It matters once I notice how my cock notches between her thighs. Right up against her heat, which is so hot and makes me think a million filthy things I could do to her. It seems she notices this at the same moment. Her big brown eyes grow bigger, hips twisting, rubbing her sex against me.
“Let me take care of that wound, Piper,” I tell her in a voice I do not recognize. It’s thick with lust, with want, and I am afraid of scaring her off.
Turning from her, I stride down the hall, adjusting my hard cock as I go. I will it to take a breather. Calm the fuck down. This won’t be the only time I have her close. I will make sure ofthat. Grabbing a first aid kit and a towel, I head back out to tend to her.
I am stopped in my tracks by what I find waiting for me. Piper sits atop my counter where I left her. With the way the late afternoon sun shines in, she is almost glowing. Her big brown eyes come to mine after I catch her playing with Smokie—who hates to play—and she smiles big and bright.
I am in serious fucking trouble here.
I might have saved her from that tree, but I think this woman just saved me from loneliness.
Chapter Four
Piper
I could not be more twisted up with emotions.
I am as embarrassed as I have ever been in my life. That beautiful mountain man I was ogling earlier found me stuck in a tree. In a tree. I was mortified. Then he carried me inside his house as if I were his new toy. I kind of liked that. Now he is tending to a nasty cut on my knee, being as gentle as can be. I swear I am edging an orgasm just from having his big, rough hands on me.
“Why go up the tree, sweetheart?” he wonders, glancing up at me.
Oh, there it is. That cute little word from that perfect mouth. Does he have to be so damn handsome? Because if I am being honest, it is a little unfair. He can’t be nice and handsome and sexy and sweet all at once. It is justifiably unfair to me. To anyone who crosses his path.
“There was a monster after me. It may have been a very large rabbit,” I tell him with an embarrassed laugh. “I thought it was something worse.”
“No, you were right to run from a rabbit. They can be vicious,” he teases me with a wink, blowing gently on the abrasion he just cleaned.
His breath on my skin is hot, sending sparks of need right between my thighs. I shift beneath the ache that pulses between my thighs, wishing he would stop touching me. Wishing he would never stop. His mouth brushes over my knee, on either side of the wound, and my eyes just about roll back.
“I-I should not have come up here. I am glad I did. It was pretty. I mean, then you saved me. I am just not meant to be up here. I came here to take risks. Moving was a riskof course. I threw a dart at a map. This place is better than I could have known. It’s beautiful but I’m....well, I’m not good at...well, people. This sort of thing,” I wave a hand between us to indicate any interaction with any other human. This is different, of course because interacting with him is unlike any other interactions I’ve ever had.
Pace pulls back after he fixes a Band-Aid over the gash. Knelt before me, head tipped back, his light eyes shimmer in the diming sunlight. Lord, he is beautiful. With a dark beard that I would call bushy, but I bet he thinks is tamed, dark, mussed hair, and his huge body, he screams mountain man.
There is softness behind those light, caramel eyes. At least as they gaze up at me there is. His nose is straight, perfect, and I note the uncharacteristic gold hoop piercing there. His mouth is...well, it is in a word,delicious. I find myself wondering if he tastes sweet, or smoky. How long would he let me kiss that mouth? What else could he do with those perfect lips?
“Anyone ever tell you how pretty you are, Pace?”
His handsome face, orprettyas I just claimed, wrinkles with a frown. Pushing back, he stands up, putting distance between us. I do not like it one bit. I much prefer the way he was crowding me just now. How safe I felt with him all around me. I start to reach for him before I realize I must have upset him somehow. Embarrassment is the strongest emotion that washes over me.
Sliding down from the counter with a thud, I thank him with a whisper before hobbling towards the front door. I get about two steps out of the kitchen before I am picked up off my feet once again. I struggle in his grasp before he sets me on the kitchen island. I would tell him how impressed I am with his strength, but I am too upset to speak.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“Back where I belong. In my loft in town. I am not anadventurous girl. I should not have come up here. I just...seeing you intrigued me, I guess.”
“You admitting youwerewatching me earlier, sweetheart?”
Realizing my mistake, I flush, pushing at his shoulders. “No! Not you specifically, I mean. Just all of you...your type, I guess? Mountain men.”
