His Savage Longing: A Curvy Woman Mountain Man Romance

Chapter 4

Zane

The rush of our impromptu race up the ropes course lingers in my veins like a drug, every nerve ending still thrumming. Watching Aspen fearlessly hurl herself into that climb, eyes blazing with the same reckless fire I”d fallen for all those years ago... it”s intoxicating.

For those fleeting moments, she was my Aspen again—wild, uninhibited, alive with the thrill of adventure. No trace of the tightly wound corporate professional who”d arrived yesterday, only the fiery free spirit I”ve missed more than I ever let myself admit.

As we retrace our path back toward the central campgrounds, she practically vibrates beside me. Her cheeks are flushed, emerald eyes sparkling in a way that makes my chest constrict.

”That was...” She trails off, shaking her head as she struggles to find the words. ”God, I haven”t felt that alive in years.”

”Told you this place would reawaken that spirit in you.”

Aspen nods, her lips still curved in a giddy grin, and a flicker of hope ignites in my gut. Maybe I”m finally getting through to her.

We emerge into the central clearing, the dilapidated state of the cabins and outbuildings on full display. I tense, bracing for the disillusionment to set back in. For Aspen”s excitement to wither in the face of the camp”s crumbling reality.

Instead, her gaze rakes over the scene with an almost hungry intensity, her lips pursing as the gears visibly turn. Then she pivots toward me, a new light blazing behind those vivid eyes.

”Okay, so let”s just say we did keep the camp. We”d obviously need to overhaul the cabins completely,” she muses aloud. ”Gut them, rebuild with more modern amenities and creature comforts, but keep that classic log cabin aesthetic on the outside. Give them a rustic-chic kind of vibe.”

My brow furrows as I process her suggestions. Modernize the living quarters? Creature comforts? The very notion makes me bristle with unease. ”Isn”t part of the Camp Silverpine experience supposed to be about disconnecting?” I argue. ”Roughing it a bit, living simply?”

Aspen scoffs, already shaking her head before I”ve even finished. ”You can”t honestly expect today”s generation to totally disconnect from basic amenities like power, plumbing, and wi-fi.”

”Why not?” I shoot back, unable to mask the edge of challenge in my tone. ”We managed just fine with the bare essentials.”

”That”s because we were different!” she retorts, throwing her hands up in exasperation. ”We were a couple of little outdoorsy weirdos. Most kids today wouldn”t last a day without their creature comforts and digital addictions. We need to adapt if we want to make this place viable again.”

I open my mouth to argue, but Aspen”s already off again, pacing as her rapid-fire ideas spill out in a torrent. ”And the dining facilities definitely need an upgrade, too. No more cold showers and slop on a tray. I”m thinking a modern lodge-style hall with gourmet meals, maybe even a cafe or taproom for the older campers and visitors...”

With each new suggestion, I can feel my hackles rising further, my jaw clenching as a familiar defensiveness settles over me. ”You want to turn this place into a luxury glamping resort?”

She pauses, pinning me with an exasperated look. ”It doesn”t have to be luxurious, Zane. Just comfortable enough for people to actually want to experience it.”

”By stripping away everything that makes it an authentic outdoor experience in the first place?” My tone drips with sarcastic disdain. I can”t seem to bite it back, even if I wanted to.

”Oh my god, you”re impossible!” Aspen throws her hands up, whirling to face me. ”Why is it so hard for you to embrace any kind of change or progress? This place needs to modernize and evolve with the times if we”re going to make it relevant again!”

I scoff, shaking my head as I fight the rising wave of outrage threatening to drown out all reason. ”You call installing wi-fi and luxury cabins evolution? That”s just more corporate bullshit, smothering the wildness out of everything until all that”s left is some sanitized, pre-packaged facsimile of an experience. No different than those pathetic ”glamping” scams designed to let rich city folk pretend they”re roughing it for a weekend before retreating to their climate-controlled cocoons.”

”Wow.” Aspen”s eyes blaze with sudden fury, her cheeks flushing crimson. ”Not everyone wants to run off to go full-on mountain man and live in a shack without so much as a word to anybody!”

I can feel my own anger swelling to match hers as the dam holding back our tangled history finally shatters. ”At least I didn”t abandon my entire identity for a bullshit corporate rat race!”

”You don”t know a damn thing about my life!” she fires back, her lush lips twisting into a sneer. ”Not after you just up and vanished on me without any explanation! I didn”t have the luxury of retreating into the woods to lick my wounds like some overgrown child.”

The words slice deep, each one a razor-edged reminder of the devastation I left in my wake all those years ago. But the sting only stokes the flames of my own fury.

My gaze rakes over Aspen, really drinking her in. The way her chest heaves with each indignant breath, the swell of her breasts straining against the thin cotton of her t-shirt. Those lush lips twisted in an expression of utter defiance, just begging to be claimed and quieted.

The reckless, insuppressible hunger that always simmered between us is a raging inferno now. I can practically smell her desire, taste it on my tongue. Rational thought fractures, obliterated by this all-consuming need coursing through me.

I surge forward, closing the distance between us in two strides. Aspen”s eyes widen momentarily, anger giving way to shock. But she doesn”t retreat, doesn”t protest as I seize her by the arms and yank her against me. Our bodies collide with bruising force, the impact driving the air from her lungs in a guttural exhale.

Then my mouth crushes down on hers, swallowing her sharp gasp.

There”s no finesse, no tenderness in that first soul-scorching kiss. It”s all unleashed fury, years of bitter history and unspent lust finally combusting.

We stumble backward, a tangle of grasping limbs and roving hands as I propel us blindly toward the nearest abandoned cabin. The door clatters open, spilling us both inside.

Aspen wrenches her mouth free with a shuddering gasp. ”Zane...” It”s a strangled moan, half plea and half warning that I ignore completely.

My hands are already roaming, desperate to map every lush curve and hollow. She arches into my touch, her head falling back to expose the creamy column of her throat. A low growl rumbles up from my chest.

God, she”s so fucking beautiful like this—wanton, uninhibited, unleashed.

I shove her against the nearest wall, her back thumping against the aged wood as I crush my mouth over hers again. She meets my intensity with equal ferocity. Every gasped breath, every ragged moan is saturated with a desperation born from too much history, too much longing left unslaked for far too long.

Somehow, my shirt is ripped open, buttons scattering. Aspen”s fingers knot in my hair, tugging sharply. Teeth clash and nip, nails scrape against skin.

This isn”t a tender reunion or sweet reconciliation.

It”s pure, savage longing.

My hands find Aspen’s waist, dragging her t-shirt up until I can palm the lush curves of her breasts. She arches into my touch with a whimper, so fucking responsive.

Drunk on her intoxicating scent, the taste of her, I tear my mouth free just long enough to wrench her shirt up and over her head. Aspen”s tousled crimson curls fall in a riot around those flushed, beautifully debauched features. Her emerald eyes blaze with a reckless fire I”ve only seen hints of until now.

”Zane...” she gasps again, and again, I silence her with another scorching kiss, swallowing every syllable.

My hands roam freely now, mapping each lush swell and valley as I reacquaint myself with that body I”d once worshiped so reverently. She may have changed in the years since I last touched her, but that intoxicating blend of delicate softness and toned strength is as intoxicating as I remember.

”So goddamn beautiful,” I growl against her breasts.

Aspen keens softly at the rough scrape of my stubble, her nails scoring lines down my back. Every touch is a searing brand, marking her claim as thoroughly as I”m staking mine on her.

I hoist her up, pinning her against the wall as her legs instinctively lock around my waist. We”re perfectly aligned, separated only by the remnants of our clothing and the last tattered vestiges of control. Aspen grinds against me, and I nearly blackout from the rush of need that scorches through me.

”You always did like to play a little too rough for your own good,” I grit out with a sharp thrust of my hips against her core.

”And you loved every second of it.” Aspen”s breathless retort is laced with challenge as she moves her hips in a slow, excruciating roll designed to undo me completely.

I claim her mouth again, swallowing her whimpers as I fumble between us, opening her jeans just enough so that my hand can slip beneath her underwear. She moans into my mouth as I cup her mound and slide a finger inside her.

”You”re so goddamn wet,” I groan against her mouth, feeling her slick heat envelope my finger.

She pants in response, her eyes on mine as I begin to move my finger in and out of her. I add another, stretching her, curling them up to hit that spot that I know will drive her wild. Aspen”s nails dig into my shoulders, her legs tightening around my waist as she grinds down on my hand.

I pull my hand out of her jeans, her juices glistening on my fingers, and bring them to her mouth. She opens those luscious lips and tastes herself, tongue swirling and teeth scraping. I watch, hand braced on the wall beside her head, breaths coming heavily as my cock swells against my jeans.

“When’s the last time you were properly fucked?” I ask.

She releases my fingers with a pop. “I don’t remember,” she answers.

”That”s a damn shame,” I murmur, my hand trailing down until it wraps around her neck and draws her mouth to mine. ”But don”t worry, I”m going to make sure you never forget this.”

Her eyes flash defiantly. “Promises, promises.”

With a smirk at the challenge, I drop her legs from around my waist and spin her around so that her front is pressed against the wall. With one hand on her lower back to hold her in place, I use my other hand to yank her pants and underwear down to her ankles. She kicks them off, spreading her legs wider for me, shoving her ass back into my crotch.

Fabric rips, zippers rasp, and then I”m inside of her in one powerful thrust. Aspen”s back bows, her cry of rapture echoing off the cabin”s weathered walls as I bury myself to the hilt inside her scorching heat.

”Fuck...” The guttural curse wrenches free as the world whites out for one endless heartbeat.

We”re still for a suspended moment, savoring that exquisite fullness. Then Aspen”s hips surge back against me in a desperate roll that shatters the last threads of my control.

I move, driving into her with rough, punishing strokes as the dam shatters completely. There”s nothing tender about this joining; no soft whispered affections or tender caresses. It”s harsh and elemental, our bodies colliding with the same ferocious intensity as our clashing emotions. Anger, hurt, and soul-deep cravings all blending into something primal.

Aspen”s body is a trembling mass of need as I press her further against the wall, using my weight to pin her in place. I grab a fistful of her hair, tugging her head back to expose the curve of her neck to me. She whimpers as I nip and suck at the tender skin there, marking her as mine.

“Fuck, Red,” I growl against her ear, my voice low and ragged. “I’ve missed this.”

”Show me how much you missed it, Zane,” Aspen pants, her voice laced with desire. ”Make me feel it.”

Fuck, this woman.

I snake one hand around her body, finding her swollen clit and rubbing it mercilessly. She bucks against me, her desperate cries urging me on as I use my other hand to pinch her nipple hard, twisting the sensitive bud between my fingers.

The world has shattered into shards of blinding pleasure and guttural cries torn from our throats. I lose all sense of anything except this—the scorching heat of her surrounding me, the taste of her sweat, and the scent of pine smoke and feminine musk thick in the air.

I feel Aspen”s inner walls beginning to flutter around me, her body winding tighter with each frantic thrust. She”s teetering on the edge of ecstasy, and I”m poised to push her over it.

”Zane...” she keens, emerald eyes blazing into mine as that precipice draws ever nearer. ”Oh god, don”t stop...”

I have no intentions of dousing this wildfire raging between us.

Not until it burns us both to ashes.

Intertwining our fingers, I press her hands against the wall and surge forward with a bruising intensity. My hips collide with hers, again and again, driving us both toward that sweet, mind-numbing oblivion.

Aspen throws her head back with a ragged cry, every muscle pulled taut and quivering as that first searing wave crests over her. Her body convulses, her inner walls clamping down on me like a vise as she shudders violently against me.

The sight of her coming apart so completely is my undoing. Two more jarring thrusts and I follow her into oblivion with a hoarse shout, buried to the hilt as my own release sears through me. I can feel it pulsing through me, filling her as she continues to milk every last drop from me.

We”re both trembling and drenched in sweat, chests heaving in unison as we slowly come back to ourselves. For a fleeting moment, there”s a sense of peace unlike anything I”ve felt in years. A completeness that only Aspen”s presence has ever been able to provide.

But it can”t last—the harsh reality of what we”ve just done, of all the tangled history and unanswered questions still lingering between us.

Slowly, carefully, I ease back, pulling out of her, feeling her shudder at the loss of me. She turns on shaky legs, emerald eyes searching my face with an unreadable expression. There”s a flush riding high on those beautiful cheekbones, her plump lips slightly parted as she struggles to catch her breath.

”Zane, I...” She trails off helplessly before swallowing hard. ”I don’t know what to say.”

The words are like a dousing of ice water, the momentary peace shattering around us.

”You”re telling me,” I mutter gruffly, averting my gaze as I begin retrieving my scattered clothing. ”That was...”

”A mistake,” she finishes for me, wrapping her arms around herself as if warding off a chill. ”We can”t let that happen again.”

I stiffen at the dismissal, my temper flaring despite my efforts to contain it. ”Is that so?”

Aspen shakes her head, her tousled curls bouncing. ”You know it was. We”re not the same people we were back then. Too much has happened, too much...”

She falters again, drawing a shaky breath as a shutter falls over those expressive eyes. When she continues, her voice is carefully devoid of emotion. ”We need to stay focused on deciding Camp Silverpine”s future. That”s what”s important here. Not... whatever this is between us.”

I can”t bite back the bitter scoff as I retrieve my torn shirt and shrug it back on haphazardly. She”s right, of course—at least on a rational level. Aspen and I have always been an all-consuming wildfire, one that inevitably burns itself out before long.

But some perverse part of me still can”t resist stoking those smoldering embers one last time. ”You sure about that, Red?” I drawl, my voice a low rumble.

Her jaw clenches at the familiar nickname, those expressive eyes flashing with a hint of residual desire before she slams the shutters down again. ”I”m sure.”

With a terse nod, she turns and strides out of the dilapidated cabin with her head held high, leaving me to gather the tattered remnants of my control in her wake.

I know she”s right, dammit. Aspen and I have never been able to resist this intoxicating, primal pull for long before it all goes up in flames again.

But even knowing the dangers, I can”t resist the siren”s call to chase that scorching oblivion just one... more... time.