CHAPTER TWO
Blake
The woman I’d just rescued was staring at me like I was some kind of feral animal that might pounce at any second. Smart woman. The only pouncing I was thinking about had everything to do with getting my mouth on every inch of her soft skin.
Fuck.
I tried not to notice how she looked on my couch. I hadn’t had anyone in this cabin for over six months—and the last time, it was just another man like me. Scared. Isolated. We’d traded a few words, checked in on each other and then he’d left.
This woman? She didn’t belong here. Not on the mountain. Not in my cabin. This was my space. My sanctuary. I didn’t do houseguests, and I sure as hell didn’t do curvy brunettes with smart mouths and eyes that saw too much.
Still, when I had knelt in front of her and wrapped my hands around her ankle, the sound of her breath catching had lit something dangerous in me. A low, burning fire of need I hadn’t felt in years.
“What’s the verdict, Doc?” Her voice had a sassy edge that made me want to throttle her. Or flip her over this couch and fuck the attitude right out of her.
“Sprained. Not broken.” I kept my touch clinical, professional, even though her skin was impossibly soft and warm under my fingers. “You’ll live.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
Smart-ass.
I glanced up at her, and she was watching me with those dark eyes, chewing on her bottom lip. There was something vulnerable there, underneath all that attitude. Something that made my protective instincts flare even hotter. My cock twitched, hungry and impatient.
Shit. She might be exactly what I needed.
The thought hit me like a sucker punch. I’ve been alone on this mountain for three years. Three years of peace, quiet, and no complications. Three years without a woman in my bed, without soft curves under my hands, without the sound of a gasp or moan meant just for me.
I wrapped her ankle with more force than necessary.
“Ow! Easy there, mountain man.”
“Name’s Blake.”
“Well, Blake, I’m Sadie. And unless you’re trying to cut off my circulation, maybe dial it back a notch?”
Sadie. It was sweet with a bite.
“Sorry.” I loosened the bandage, and she sighed in relief. That sound… fuck it went straight to my dick.
This was a problem.
“So,” she said settling back against my cushions like she’s planning to stay awhile, “you live here alone?”
“Yeah.”
“How long?”
“Three years.”
“Why?”
I stood up abruptly, putting distance between us. If I didn’t, I’d be kneeling between her thighs for a very different reason. “You hungry?”
She blinked at the subject change but didn’t push. Yet. I could see the questions in her eyes. “Starving, actually. Aaron wasn’t big on meal breaks during our romantic hiking adventure.” The way she said romantic dripped with sarcasm.
“What did you see in him?” The question was out before I can stop it.
She shrugged, and the movement made her long-sleeved shirt stretch tight across her breasts. Her nipples brush faintly against the fabric, and every instinct inside me said to claim her. Right then. I force myself to look away.
“Good question. He seemed...safe, I guess? Stable job, nice apartment, knew which fork to use at fancy restaurants.” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Turns out safe doesn’t mean much when he leaves you stranded on a mountain with a twisted ankle.”
“His loss.”
The words slipped out, and she went still. We stared at each other for a long moment, something settling in the air between us.
“Is it?” she asks softly.
Yes. His fucking loss and my gain.
Instead of answering, I headed to the kitchen. “Hope you like grilled cheese.”
“Are you kidding? I love grilled cheese. Aaron was always trying to get me to eat quinoa salads and kale smoothies.” She made a gagging sound. “Apparently my curves needed managing.”
I froze, my hand clenched around the loaf of bread. A growl worked its way up my throat before I caught it. The thought of anyone telling her to hide those curves made my blood boil. The urge to hunt down that pretentious prick and break more than just his jaw was so strong it took my breath away.
“Your curves are perfect.”
The words were out before I could stop them, low and unguarded in the quiet of the cabin.
Silence.
I turned around, and she’s staring at me with wide eyes, color flooding her cheeks. I knew I wasn’t the only one thinking about what I could do with those curves.
“I...” she started, then stops. “I’ve never had a romantic weekend, you know. I should have known it wasn’t going to be romantic when he asked me to drive myself to meet him.” She let out a bitter laugh. “What kind of romantic weekend starts with separate cars?”
“A shitty one.”
She looked up at me, surprised by my bluntness, then smiled. “Exactly. I guess I’m not really the romantic weekend type anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Look at me,” she said with a self-deprecating laugh.
“I’m not exactly the size two blonde most guys take to cozy mountain cabins.
But then we weren’t going to a cabin. He wanted to rough it by sleeping in a tent.
I personally like four walls between me and the dark.
” She drew in a deep breath. “Sorry, I tend to ramble when I’m nervous. ”
I set the bread down and walked back to her slowly, deliberately. She watched me approach like I’m a predator, which wasn’t far off.
Stopping in front of the couch, every muscle tight, I said, “Any man who doesn’t want to worship every inch of your body is a fucking idiot.”
I barely resisted the urge to bend down and taste her mouth.
I wanted to see if it was as tartly sweet as I imagined.
I wanted to take her hand and press it to me, make her feel exactly what her curves were doing to my body.
Instead, I forced myself back to the kitchen, needing space, needing something to touch that wasn’t her.
The bread. The counter. Anything solid enough to keep me from reaching for her.
Behind me, her voice followed—lighter now, almost teasing. “By the way… rescuing me back there? And punching Aaron? Honestly, I’ve wanted to do that a time or two myself.”
I huffed out something close to a laugh. I didn’t laugh much anymore. “Seemed like he had it coming.”
“Oh, he did. Trust me.” There was a smile in her voice, but underneath it, I heard the edge of truth.
“You’re not going back down the mountain tonight, Sadie. You’re staying away from him.” It was an order that I was more than willing to enforce.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I don’t have any place to stay. We were supposed to camp out tonight. Although I have the tent. I suppose I could set it up in your, um, front yard.”
I shook my head. “No, you’ll sleep in my bed.”
Of course, every filthy thing I wanted to do to her raced through my mind. I shook my head trying to clear it. Damn, I felt like I’d been drugged. My heart was racing, my thoughts were foggy. And my dick was hard as a rock.
She fidgeted with the hem of her shirt, not meeting my eyes. “Actually, could I... would it be okay if I stayed for the weekend? I know it’s a lot to ask, and I don’t want to impose, but I just don’t want to go back home just yet.”
Her voice got smaller with each word, like she was expecting me to say no. Like she’s used to being turned away. That wasn’t going to happen.
“I’ll pay the going rate,” she quipped, trying to lighten the mood. “What do mountain men charge for couch privileges these days?”
“You’re not paying me anything, Sadie.”
Because looking at her now, with her hair messed up from the wind and her shirt stretched across her curves and her mouth slightly open like she wanted me to kiss her, I knew one night wasn’t going to be enough.
Not even close.
I was already thinking about how she’ll sound in my bed—breathless, needy, whispering my name in the dark.
I was going to keep her. The certainty of it should have scared me, but it didn’t. For the first time in a long time, something felt right.
She felt right.
Now I just had to figure out how to make sure she never wanted to leave.