My Mountain Man Recluse: A Grumpy Sunshine Age Gap Romance

10. Jagger

Acreak from the floorboards wakes me from my half sleep, which is all I’ve been able to muster while lying on a rug and knowing Izzie is in my bed.

I turn toward the noise, and she’s there. A vision in the darkness, my oversized t-shirt clinging to her curves and riding up her thighs.

“I had a nightmare.” Her voice is shaky.

Without a word, I pull back the edge of the blanket and shuffle back on the rug to make room for her. She climbs in beside me, her floral, sleepy scent evading my space and wrapping itself around me.

We’re wedged between the couch and the fireplace, and the only way to fit is with her body pressed against mine.

She’s trembling, and I wrap my arms around her and meet soft, pliant flesh. I bite my lips together to stifle a groan as her thighs bump against mine.

My dick hardens, and I push my hips back so as not to bump into her.

“Is it your mom?”

She nods and a tear glistens on her cheek, captured in the glow of the dying ember off the fire.

“Baby girl.”

I wipe at the tear with my thumb, and once I touch her I don’t want to stop.

My hand moves to her hair, stroking her, soothing her. But with every stroke, my desire for her grows.

I push it down deep inside me. She’s come for comfort, not for what I want to give her.

“We argued,” Izzie whispers. “The night she died. I was horrible to her.”

A fresh set of tears erupts from her eyes and I gently wipe them away, wishing I could wipe away her pain so easily.

“You were fourteen, Izzie. You were being a typical teenager.”

She bites her lips, fighting the tears. “I told her I hated her.” The confession makes her body shudder. And I pull her head to my chest, letting her cry it out.

“I told her that, and then she never came back.”

My heart constricts at her words. She’s been carrying this around for the last seven years.

“All teenage girls are mean to their mothers sometimes. She knew you loved her, Izzie.”

“If I’d known she wasn’t coming back…” She doesn’t finish the thought as a wave of sobbing overtakes her body.

I hold her, whispering words of comfort until she can speak again.

“If I knew she wasn’t coming back, I would have told her I loved her. I would have clung on to her and not let her go.”

My poor girl has been suffering for so long and I want to take the pain for her, to absorb it, to share it so she doesn’t have to feel it alone.

I gently take her cheeks in my hands and tilt her head so she’s looking at me.

“Your mother forgives you, Izzie. She would have understood teenage hormones. She would have forgiven you.”

Izzie nods slowly. “I know. Mom would have forgiven anyone.”

And I see Carol in her in this moment, the same kindness, the same bottomless well of empathy that meant she took on everyone’s pain, absorbed it, and made it her own.

“You’re just like her, you know.”

Izzie wipes at her eyes, and a faint smile graces her lips. “Dad says the same thing.”

“She’d be proud of you, Izzie. She’d be proud of the woman you’ve become. I know she would.”

The words seem to comfort her, because she burrows her head into my shoulder but the crying has stopped. She sighs deeply and is still.

We stay like that for a long time, me holding her in my arms. I think she’s gone to sleep until she tilts her head to look at me.

“I missed you when you stopped coming to visit us.”

The words make my heart beat faster. It’s hard to breathe with her so close, and she’s looking to me for an explanation I can’t give her.

I can’t tell her she’s the reason I stopped visiting. That she’d grown into a woman, and after twenty long years in the military I finally found something else I wanted. Something I couldn’t have: her.

“Why did you stop visiting?” she whispers.

The wide-eyed innocence is gone, and the look she’s giving me is all woman. There’s desire in her eyes that matches my own, and if I stare too long, I’ll do something I’ll regret.

Her eyes dart to my lips, and she tilts forward. Her lips brush against mine, and I close my eyes and groan at the gentle caress. The heat of her breath and the taste of her lips is everything I imagined.

I should resist, but I can’t. She’s here, she’s in my arms, and it feels so damned right. My lips crash into hers and she parts her mouth, letting me in as our tongues collide.

Her body crushes against mine, and my hard-on pokes into her belly. She gasps, and her eyes widen in surprise.

Then she surges forward, her hands wrapping in my hair as she tugs me closer, tangling up my thoughts and emotions until desire overtakes me.

I pull her soft hips toward me and she parts her thighs, wrapping one leg over mine. My hardness brushes up against damp panties and she moans, the sweetest sound that has me gasping for more.

Only I can’t do this. She’s Landon’s daughter. She’s vulnerable. No matter how much I want to sink into Izzie’s warm body, it wouldn’t be right.

Summoning all the discipline of twenty years of military training, I pull away.

We’re both breathing hard as we stare at each other in the dim light.

“You need your sleep.”

Her brow creases in a frown and she stares at me, her breathing ragged.

“There’s something else I need, Jagger.”

Her voice is determined, and I’m not sure how much pressure my resistance can stand. But I can’t take advantage of Izzie. She was crying in my arms a few moments ago. No matter my desires, I can’t take her like this. She’ll wake up tomorrow and regret kissing an old man like me.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you. I’m sorry.”

But she’s not disgusted or relived. She looks disappointed, and her eyes don’t lose the desire burning in them.

My cock stirs, and I quiet it. I cannot do this with Landon’s daughter.

She needs comfort, that’s all. In the morning, this damn storm will have passed, and I can get her back to her father with her virtue intact.

Until then, I’ll give her comfort and ease her burden. But I will not kiss Izzie Laker.

“You’ve had a big day. Get some sleep, baby girl.”

She doesn’t resist as I roll her to face the fire. I curve my body around hers and wrap my arm around her waist and tuck my dick awkwardly between my thighs.

Spooning Izzie is more than I deserve, but damn it, for one night I’m taking this small piece of her.

She must be exhausted, because soon her breathing becomes even and she sleeps.

Minty snuggles in between our legs, and the three of us sleep in the small space between the sofa and the fire.