Page 14 of Tempted By the Mountain man

“It’s not obvious,” I fire back.

“Oh, come on. If you two were the main characters in one of my books, my readers would be pitching a fucking fit that you two haven’t figured it out yet.”

“Figured what out?”

“That you want to bang each other’s brains out.”

“That’s…graphic.”

“We’re two thousand miles from all the judgmental assholes who have some sick loyalty to a creepy man who wouldn’t know where to find a clitoris if it hit him in the face. I’d bet you the royalties of my next book release that his wife is already getting some on the side.”

“Where are you going with this?” I ask.

“No one’s going to judge you here, Jade. If you want to have some consensual adult fun with the flannelled-up mountain man, then you should go wild.”

I want to argue, but the only argument happening in my head is the one asking what might’ve happened if I stayed in River’s bed until he woke up.

What the hell?

Maybe I should go a little wild.

9

RIVER

I wake with the gentle glow of the early morning sun in my face and wait for the bone-deep exhaustion to hit me.

But for the second morning in a row, I feel refreshed.

I don’t understand it.

Until I discover the woman hovering over me, an expression that clearly says oh shit, I got caught on her face.

Her very beautiful face.

“Um, this is awkward,” Jade says, biting her lower lip.

She’s straddling my hips, and her center is alarmingly close to the tent pitched beneath my boxers. Morning hard-ons are par for the course, but my damn cock is practically pointed right at her.

“I was trying to sneak out before you woke up,” she admits, sitting back. Hard nipples poke through the thin cotton of her loose pajama tank.

Fuck me.

“Sneak out?” I’m trying to piece together how this woman ended up in my bed in the first place. Sure, I’d been dreaming about her. But⁠—

“You were having a nightmare again,” she says, looking shier still.

A blush creeps up her neck, and dammit if my fingers don’t ache with the need to touch it. I want to know if her skin is hot there. I want to feel the rapid beating of her heart against my hand. I want those hard nipples scraping against my palms.

“I didn’t want you to be alone, but I think I may have overstepped⁠—”

“You stayed with me?” I ask, putting the pieces together.

For the first time in weeks, maybe longer, I finally feel rested. I finally feel as though I slept through the night.

“Marty was pretty pushy about it,” she says, flashing me a meek, flirty smile. “I’m sorry. This is totally awkward. If you want to fire me⁠—”

“Fire you?”