Chapter 5
five
Kysa
My alarm goes off just in time to grab a cup of coffee and watch the sunrise over the mountains, something I’ve described in my books but have never seen in person.
Not worrying about the tiny sleep shorts and short crop top I threw on last night after my shower, I grab my coffee and step outside, only to be brought up short by a sexy mountain man asleep in one of the chairs he sat in last night—his long legs crossed at the ankles, his chin resting on his chest, and his arms crossed over his chest, sound asleep.
This is so going in my next mountain man novel.
A faint smile touches my lips as I think about Tobias sleeping outside my tent all night like my own personal bodyguard.
I rush back inside my luxury tent and pour a second cup of coffee before waking Tobias.
I sit in the seat next to him, set the coffee mug in the drink holder on the armrest of his chair, and tug on the sleeve of his flannel shirt.
“Wake up, sleepy head.” I lift my mug to my lips, closing my eyes to savor the first sip, not realizing Tobias is awake and watching me until I feel the heat of his gaze and open my eyes. “You’re awake.” I smile and set the mug in the drink holder on my chair’s armrest.
“What time is it?” he says in a husky voice that makes my toes curl.
I reach for my coffee mug, but before I can bring it to my lips, he snatches it from my hands and takes a long drink.
“Black, just like I like it.” With a sigh of contentment, he hands the mug back to me.
I press my lips to the same spot where his were, finding it oddly intimate, and take a long drink of my own.
Is this what it would be like to wake up in the mountains with my very own mountain man?
“It’s a little after five.” I say trying to clear my dangerous thoughts.
“So, what do you want to do today?” he asks, taking the mug from my hands again and taking another drink.
This is it. This is what Aria was talking about—find a sexy mountain man and live out the fantasies I write about. Before I lose my nerve, I blurt, “Skinny dipping. I want to go skinny dipping in a lake.”
“What did you just say?” He spits out the coffee in surprise, luckily turning his head away from me.
“Not up for the challenge?” I wrap my hand around his on the coffee mug, bring it to my lips, and take a slow drink, watching his eyes flare wide with desire and never breaking eye contact.
He pulls the cup from my lips and sets it in the drink holder. “I need you to slow down and tell me what you're thinking in that beautiful head of yours.”
He thinks I’m beautiful.
I could jump for joy, but now isn’t the time.
“As I told you last night, I’m a romance author.
But what I neglected to mention is that I’m also a virgin.
” My cheeks heat as I confess, but I power through the embarrassment—go big or go home, right?
And right now, I want to go big—there's no use in sugarcoating it.
“I have to watch internet porn, so I know how to describe the sex scenes in my books.” I wait for him to say something—anything—but he just stares at me, mouth open in shock.
“I need sexual experience to make them seem more realistic, and I want you to be the one to show me.”
Time passes slowly before he finally responds, “I’m not sure I’m the best man for the job, Honey.” He swallows hard, his Adam's apple bobbing as he forces the saliva down. “I’m a virgin, too.”
“You’re joking, right? I mean, there’s no way, you’re so hot.”
“I’m not joking.” He lifts his hand, caressing my cheek lightly. “I never wanted anyone until I met you.”
All my insecurities about being too tall, too curvy, too everything, and the feeling that no one seems to want me come crashing down on me.
I write about romance because I don’t have any in my life.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to,” I say, completely ignoring the fact that he just said he wanted me.
“I don’t think you heard me correctly.” Carefully, he picks up each coffee mug, empties them, and sets them on the ground before grabbing me around the waist and pulling me onto his lap.
“I said I want you, and I plan to have you whether it’s in the lake, on the bed, or outside in front of God and all his creatures.
From the first moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were mine.
” He slowly lowers his head to press his lips to mine, giving me a chance to stop him if I don’t want him to kiss me.
Little does he know, this is my go-big-or-go-home moment.
I throw my arms around his neck, crashing my lips against his in a kiss filled with need and desire.
“Slow down, Honey.” He breaks the kiss, stroking my hair. “We don’t have to rush this.”
“I’ve waited long enough to find you. I want this, and I want you now.”
He stares at me for a long time before finally speaking. “All right, but if we do this, you’re mine for the rest of our lives and beyond.”
Without hesitation, I wrap my arms around his neck and show him with a kiss what my answer is. He opens his mouth, coaxing me with his tongue to do the same. I open wide, meeting his tongue stroke for stroke, oblivious to the sunrise behind me.
“I want you,” I whisper into his mouth.
His hand slips behind my head as he gently grips the back of my neck.
“If we’re going to do this now, we’re going to do it right, in a bed.
” He stands, lifting me like I weigh nothing, and carries me to the bedroom and sits me on the bed as his hands make quick work of my sleep clothes.
“Beautiful.” His eyes drop from my face to my breasts, then finally to my bare sex.
“Your turn.” I reach for him, but before I can lay a hand on him, he’s taking a step back and stripping out of his clothes.
“I only have so much control, Kysa. I’m afraid that if I let you touch me too much, I won’t last very long when it comes to the main event.”
“You sound like a cowboy talking about a rodeo.” I laugh, even though I think it’s a perfect line for the cowboy series I’m planning to write next.
“Is my little romance author into role-playing?” Tobias shifts me so I’m lying on the mattress, with him hovering above me.
“I don’t know,” I say between kisses. “It depends on what you want me to dress as.”
“How do you feel about Xena, Warrior Princess?” he raises an eyebrow in challenge.
Little does he know I already have the costume, since I dress as her every year for Halloween. “I’m not a princess. I’m a warrior,” I reply, quoting her most famous line from the TV show.
“That’s where you’re wrong. You are a princess—my princess.” The look in his eyes erases all my worries and doubts, and I realize I’m falling for him.