4. Chase
4
CHASE
This sure as hell wasn’t the plan.
I wanted to keep my distance and supervise Sienna in secret, not spend more time with her. But somehow, I’ve ended up with her sitting in the passenger seat of my truck, Moose in the back as I drive us out of the forest and into Cherry Hollow. If we’re really going to fix up Sienna’s old shack, we’re going to need supplies, so we’re heading to Stirling’s Lumber & Hardware on the outskirts of town. It’s owned by Duke Stirling, one of my lumberjack buddies.
“This place is so pretty,” Sienna says as we drive up Main Street and hang a right, crossing the bridge over Sugar Creek. “Have you always lived here?”
It’s not easy to concentrate on the road ahead with this gorgeous woman sitting next to me. Sienna’s dress has ridden up a little and her thick creamy thighs are on display, making my cock swell.
“No,” I say eventually. “I grew up in Winterdale—it’s a town about ten miles north of here.” I try to adjust myself without her noticing, relieving the pressure behind my flies before I ask, “What about you, city girl? Always lived in Denver?”
“You bet. I hardly ever leave it.”
I shoot a glance at her. There’s something wistful in her gaze as she stares out the window, but then she catches sight of Moose in the rear-view mirror and smiles. Her brown eyes shine with affection, and my mouth goes dry as I imagine her looking at me that way.
Dammit, never thought I’d be jealous of my dog.
“Tell me something,” I say as we finally pull up outside Stirling’s Lumber & Hardware a couple of minutes later. “Why do you care so much about fixing up the cabin if your whole life is in Denver?”
Sienna looks at me, eyebrows raised like I’ve caught her off guard. “I…well, I can always use it as a vacation cabin like my aunt did.” She shrugs, looking bashful as she adds, “Maybe I don’t want to stay in Denver forever.”
My heart jolts. “You mean you’re thinking of living in the cabin?”
“Maybe? No…I don’t know.” She shakes her head, running a hand through her hair. “I guess I just want to make some changes in my life, and it would feel good knowing I have the option to get away from it all when I need to.”
I want to ask her what she’s trying to get away from. There’s so much I don’t know about this girl and her life back in Denver, but I can’t get too close. Sienna might be having some doubts about her city life, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to give it all up and live in the forest. We’ll fix up the cabin, then she’ll go home and I’ll probably never see her again.
Which is good, I remind myself, ignoring the knot forming in my stomach. That’s how things should be.
Once we’re back at the shack with everything we need, Sienna and I get to work. I set up a few supports and clamber onto the roof to fix the hole while Sienna clears up the leaves, glass, and wood debris below. Moose barks at us encouragingly from outside, leaping around until he eventually tires himself out and settles on his stomach to watch us.
We don’t talk much. We’re totally focused on our work, and by the time the sky starts to darken, the roof is almost done. I lay some tarp over what’s left of the hole before climbing back down to the ground.
“Damn,” I mutter as I enter the cabin and see Sienna’s handiwork. Not only is the whole place sparklingly clean but she’s pulled up half the floorboards and started laying new ones.
“Does it look okay?” she asks, straightening up and wiping sweat from her brow. “Did I do it right?”
My cock jolts at the sight of her. She’s sweaty and disheveled, breathing hard, her cheeks red from exertion. She’s tied her hair back into a messy bun, and I can’t handle how fucking pretty she looks.
Is this what she’d look like with my cock inside her?
Would her cheeks turn that shade if I fucked her senseless?
Shit. I know I shouldn’t be thinking these things. Sienna’s half my age—I’m forty-two and she’s barely into her twenties. But her curves are driving me wild, and it’s getting harder to hide my attraction.
“Chase?” she asks, chewing her lip. “You’re not saying anything…did I do it wrong?”
I clear my throat. “No, it looks great. Couldn’t have done it better myself.”
She grins at me, her face glowing. “Not too bad for a city girl, right?”
I watch as she bends down to grab the hammer from the floor. Her plump ass cheeks strain against the material of her dress, and I groan under my breath, my cock hard as rock.
This girl has no idea how sexy she is…no idea what she’s doing to me right now…no idea how much I want her.
“I’m pooped,” she says as she straightens up, handing me my hammer. “You ready to call it a day?”
I nod, my throat too dry to speak.
Sienna smiles at me. “Thank you for doing all this, Chase. I hate to admit it, but you were right. There’s no way I could have done this without you.”
I chuckle. “Can I get that in writing?”
Sienna sticks her tongue out at me teasingly and my brain short-circuits as I think of all the things I want to see her do with that pretty mouth of hers.
Dammit, I don’t know how much more of this I can take.
“I saw a place called Fireside Lodge when we were in town,” Sienna says, totally oblivious to my internal meltdown. “I was thinking of staying there tonight. Is it nice?”
I swallow hard. “Yes.”
“Good. Well, I better get going then.”
I should let her go. I definitely shouldn’t invite her to stay at my cabin. That’s the last thing I should do?—
“You can stay at my place if you want,” I say gruffly.
Fuck.
Sienna blinks up at me, looking surprised. “Chase, you’ve already done enough for me. And anyway, I know you like your own space. It’s better if I stay at the lodge.”
She’s giving me an out, but I can’t take it. I can’t fucking help myself. I want her with me. If she leaves now, she might change her mind about the whole thing and never come back. She could go back to Denver any second and I’d never see her again.
That should be exactly what I want.
But it isn’t.
I know damn well it isn’t, even if I don’t want to think about what that could mean.
“I want you to stay,” I tell her.
A teasing smile spreads across Sienna’s face. “I thought you couldn’t wait to get rid of me?”
I grunt. “Do you want to stay or not, smart mouth?”
“I’d love to.” She beams at me. “Thank you, Chase.”
She’s standing so close to me. I can see the freckles on her cheeks, the golden flecks in her brown eyes, the sheen of gloss on her plump lips.
They look so fucking kissable: red and juicy, just begging to be sucked.
Before I realize what I’m doing, I lean down toward her, and Sienna’s eyes widen. Our faces are almost touching, and at that moment, I need to kiss her. A second passes but it feels like an eternity as we stare at each other, my heart thumping so hard it hurts.
Kiss her. Fuck the consequences. This girl is too beautiful to resist.
But before I get the chance, Moose barrels toward us. He darts around, barking as he breaks us apart, desperate for attention. Sienna laughs as he leaps up to greet her, but her attention is still on me.
“I’ll go and get my luggage out of the car,” she says once Moose finally gets down and starts jumping up on me instead.
I nod, watching as she leaves. Even from behind she looks gorgeous: her dress stretching across her wide hips and full ass, those pretty pink locks streaming down her back.
“Goddammit, Moose,” I mutter with a scowl. “You sure know how to pick your moments.”
But I can’t stay mad at him, and he knows it. I give him a reluctant pat on the head, and when Sienna comes back with her luggage, I take it from her. We walk to my cabin together with my cock-blocking husky in tow, looking annoyingly pleased with himself.