“Hi, this is Cassidy Mitchell. I’m calling because there was a fire at my house last night. I won’t be able to come in today.”
As I listened to her phone call, I learned she worked as a receptionist in Fernwood, the big town about an hour north of Red Oak Mountain.
That made sense. She had that warm, approachable quality that would make people feel comfortable. She was the kind of woman who would remember your name and ask about your kids. Cassidy had all the social graces I’d missed out on in life.
She talked for a few more minutes, explaining the situation, and I let my mind wander to last night.
The way she’d looked at me on the couch and leaned in, her lips parted, her eyes half-closed. For one insane moment, I’d thought she wanted me to kiss her.
But that couldn’t be right. Women like her didn’t want men like me. She’d been traumatized, clinging to the nearest source of comfort. It hadn’t meant anything.
But then later, after her nightmare, when I’d held her on the edge of my bed.
Both of us had been barely dressed, her soft body pressed against mine, her tears falling on my chest. And I’d felt the heat between us.
I’d been comforting her, but she’d also been comforting me, soothing the ache buried deep inside my heart.
By the time she’d calmed down, I’d been rock hard in my underwear, ready to make her forgetallabout her troubles. Then I’d had to get out of there before I did something stupid.
But I’d been on the verge of it, only one frayed strand of morality holding me in place.
It wouldn’t have been right to take advantage of a woman who had just experienced the shock of watching her kitchen burn down. Right? Right?
My cock thickened now just thinking about it. What if I had made a different decision and given in to the animalistic instincts inside me? I grabbed my coffee cup, taking a long swallow to distract myself.
“Okay, thank you. I’ll keep you updated.”
Cassidy ended the call and set her phone down. “They were really understanding. I’m new there. I’ve only been here in the Ozarks for just under a year, but they still gave me a paid week off and said to take as much time as I need. Isn’t that amazing? The people around here are so nice.”
“Yup.” I cleared my throat while I shifted my cock under the table, trying to find a more comfortable position for it. I’d already called off my logging shift this morning while she was asleep. I couldn’t leave the woman to wake up in my cabin by herself. Not after the shock she’d been through.
Plus, we had business to take care of.
“We should go down to your place when you’re ready and see what we’re dealing with. Call your insurance company. Maybe salvage some clothes for you.” My eyes darted down to her cleavage unwittingly, lingering over the creamy curve of her breasts that peeked out of the top of the nightgown, just begging me to uncover them.
I preferred her like this. Half-naked in my shirt, smelling like my sheets. But this wasn’t reality. This was what you call a fluke.
“That would be great.” She stood, and the nightgown rode up on her thick thighs. They were the kind of thighs that begged for a man’s hands on them. Maybe evenmyhands. I looked away.
The drive down the mountain took about twenty minutes on the winding dirt road. Cassidy sat in the passenger seat, giving me directions. I’d only seen her house from my perch on the mountain. I didn’t know how to get there by road, only through the woods.
When we got there, and she saw the place again, she let out a defeated sigh.
The farmhouse looked worse in daylight.
The kitchen side of the house was blackened and gutted, the window frames empty, and the siding charred and peeling. Smoke damage crawled up the exterior wall.
Cassidy made a small, sad sound beside me. I reached over and squeezed her hand before I could think better of it.
“Let’s go inside,” I said. “See what’s salvageable.”
The smell hit us first. It was acrid and chemical, the kind of smoke that got into everything and never came out. Cassidy coughed, and I pulled my shirt up over my nose, gesturing for her to do the same.
The kitchen was destroyed. Appliances melted, cabinets collapsed, and the ceiling caved in. Water damage from where I’d hosed it down made everything slick and treacherous.
But the rest of the house…
I moved through the rooms carefully, assessing. The living room had smoke damage but was structurally sound and the bedroom where I’d found her was intact, though everything reeked of smoke.
