CHAPTER FIVE
Sally
I woke up warm. And sore. In the best possible way.
Landry’s arm was heavy across my waist, his breath soft against the back of my neck. His chest was a wall of heat pressed against my spine, his hand splayed possessively over my stomach like he’d claimed the spot overnight.
The memories of the night before flooded back, sending a pleasant heat through my still-sensitive body. The way he’d touched me, the things he’d whispered against my skin, the way he’d looked at me like I was something precious and wild all at once.
There were bruises on my hips where his hands had held me down. Little marks on my throat and breasts from his mouth. Scratches down his back from my nails. The pleasant ache between my thighs that told me last night had been very, very real.
I shifted slightly, and his grip tightened. A low, sleepy growl rumbled against my skin.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he muttered, voice rough with sleep and sex and something else that made my stomach flip.
“Nowhere,” I whispered, settling back against him.
“Damn right.”
His mouth found my shoulder, pressing a lazy kiss there, then another—moving toward the curve of my neck like he couldn’t help himself. Like he wasn’t done with me yet.
I twisted in his arms to face him. “I kind of expected you to disappear before sunrise. Go brood by a tree or chop down something to repress your feelings.”
His lips curved against my skin. “Yeah? And what makes you think this doesn’t count as emotional growth?”
“Because your version of intimacy is you’re mine now and a possessive death grip in your sleep.”
“Are you complaining?”
“No. Absolutely not.” I grinned, but it slipped when he pulled back, serious now, his eyes locked on mine.
“This isn’t just sex, Sally,” he said. “This is me not being able to keep my hands off you. This is me wanting to tear that smart mouth of yours apart every time you open it. This is me wanting to keep you up on this mountain so no one else gets a fucking look at you.”
My heart thudded. His words were possessive, almost primitive, and they shouldn’t have thrilled me the way they did.
He grabbed my chin, tilting my face up. “Because if I give you everything I want to give you, Sally, you’re never leaving here.”
I didn’t flinch. Didn’t look away. “Good. Because I’m not going anywhere.”
That was all it took.
His mouth crashed onto mine, savage and claiming, his hands dragging me against him like he was done pretending he didn’t want this.
His fingers found me fast, sliding between my thighs, finding the heat already pooling there. “Still so wet for me,” he muttered, mouth trailing down my neck. “You don’t even need me to be nice, do you?”
“Never liked nice,” I panted, rolling my hips into his hand. “Nice is boring.”
He growled, lined himself up, and slammed into me in one sharp thrust that stole my breath. “Fuck,” he groaned, forehead pressed to mine, breath hot against my lips. “You’re mine, Sally.”
“I’ve always been yours,” I gasped, clinging to him as he moved inside me, fast and rough, perfect and consuming. He kissed me again, his tongue matching the rhythm of his thrusts. It didn’t take long. I was already teetering on the edge.
“Come for me,” he ordered. “Let me feel you.”
I did. Hard. Shuddering and gasping his name, my body clenching around him. He followed with a growl, thrusting deep one last time as he spilled inside me.
And he didn’t let go.
Not this time.
He held me after, arms wrapped tight around me like he didn’t plan to let go.
“Don’t,” he rumbled when I shifted. “Not yet.”
“You’re bossy.”
“Yeah. And you’re mine.”
It should’ve sounded ridiculous. But it didn’t. It sounded like a vow.
“You sure you want to claim me, McAllister? I’m a handful.”
“I’ve got big hands.”
“Cocky.”
He cupped my ass. “No. Just confident.”
We lay tangled together, our bodies still humming, when the low rumble of engines cut through the quiet. Landry didn’t move, but I felt the shift in him. Tension, alertness, protectiveness. “Brothers,” he muttered. “Get dressed.”
I did, quietly, wondering if what we’d just shared would come tumbling down. I knew he had five brothers who ran the logging company beside him. What I didn’t know if they’d be angry that I’d stepped into their lives virtually overnight.
He swung the door open and stepped onto the porch like he was bracing for a fight. A massive black truck pulled up beside the downed tree. Another followed. Three men climbed out, all big, broad, and unmistakably McAllister.
The tallest—bigger than Landry, dark hair tied back, full beard—didn’t say a word. Just stared at the tree like he could dismantle it with a thought.
The second one had a cocky grin and walked like he’d just rolled out of someone else’s bed. “Well, well, look what the storm blew in,” he drawled, eyes locking on me.
Landry’s hand wrapped around my wrist, tugging me close. “Don’t,” he ordered his brother.
The other man smirked. “Didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Damn right I was.”
The third brother, silent, leaned on the handle of an axe. Watching. Calculating.
The witty brother kicked the fallen tree. “So what’d you do, big brother? Chop this down yourself to trap her up here?”
“Fuck off,” Landry said, but there was no real heat in it. Just the familiar exasperation of siblings who had been pushing each other’s buttons for decades.
“Sounds like something I’d do.” He just grinned at Landry’s growl. “Lucky for you, we brought chainsaws.”
“Get to work.”
“Say please.”
Landry didn’t blink and his brother sighed. “You’re no fun.”
The first brother started unloading gear, quiet and efficient and the others joined. Soon the sound of chainsaws cut through the early morning silence. Landry didn’t offer to help. He stayed close to me, fingers still wrapped around my wrist.
“You can let go,” I whispered.
“Not ready yet.”
I turned to him, fingers brushing his stomach. “You worried I’m going run off with one of your brothers?”
His eyes darkened. Possessive. Fierce. “Try it.”
“Relax, lumberjack,” I said, rising on my tiptoes to place a kiss on his stubborn jaw. “You already claimed me.”
“Damn right I did.”
And in that moment, with chainsaws buzzing and brothers bickering, I knew that Lone Mountain had become my home.
That this stubborn, sometimes infuriating mountain man had become my home.