Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Ayden
A city girl?
Here in my cabin.
Soaking wet, in ruined expensive clothes, and needing my help.
Since when did I take in strays?
Especially city ones.
I was a loner. A small-town mountain man who lived alone with my dog, kept to myself, and didn’t bother a single soul.
Yet here she was at two am, walking all over my property, in her pricey ruined heels.
It annoyed me yet, she turned me on. Why?
I imagined her living here. A city girl plucked from her cozy life and dropped here, in the cold rainy woods.
Ha. One day in this cabin in the woods and she’d be begging to go home.
Yeah, I had indoor plumbing with a toilet and a shower. But I chopped my own wood for my wood stove, grew my own fruits and vegetables, only bought local food, and roughed it out here. It was how I liked it.
None of that stupid come easy to me shit city people got used to. A cab at your beck and call, or food delivered right to your door, or a million parties and social events, endless socializing and an exhausting night life.
No, thank you.
My older parents raised me on their farm, just the three of us, and after they passed, I moved to Appleridge, and never looked back, carving a little hole in the wall in the world for just myself.
The last thing I needed was a city girl and her destroyed shit fucking my world up.
Yet here she was.
And the most insane thing?
I felt drawn to her.
All I could think about was kissing her sexy lips.
Bluey whined as I held him back, the gorgeous woman walking through my front door and into my foyer. I closed the door behind me and said to Bluey, “Be good or you’re going in your crate,” before letting go of his leash.
He immediately ran towards the rained-on woman, sniffing her all over. My eyes fell down to her heels, covered in mud, the leather material looking waterlogged and ruined.
She patted him gently on the head before looking at me again like she needed saving.
This woman needed saving a lot it seemed.
“Bluey, leave her alone. That’s enough.” I said, Bluey scampering off towards the living room. “Anyway, I’m Ayden, by the way. Feel free to take off your shoes. I’ll run and grab you a towel and a change of clothes. I hope a large pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt works.”
“Raci. And that’s fine, thank you.”
I left her standing there as I walked up the stairs, hurrying to grab a towel and clothes. I felt her eyes on me, like the sun searing into my back on a hot day.
When I returned downstairs, I handed her the items and took a second to look at her face, closer than I had before.
Raci was beautiful, with light brown hair and blue eyes, soft and deep, with a hint of green pooling in the middle.
Even though she was wet with mascara leaking down her cheeks, and her hair hanging limp, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on.
And despite her being everything I hated, the complete opposite of a roughing it kind of guy like me, it didn’t stop the onslaught of feelings I had for her.
I wanted her.
I wanted to claim her as mine.
I watched as she towel dried her hair and wiped her face, her heels sitting on the floor beside her. With her not in heels, she came up to my shoulder, and I wanted to tuck her beneath my arm and never let go.
“I’ll show you where the bathroom is so you can change.” I said, never taking my eyes off her. I wanted to stare at her forever.
“Thank you.” She said as she continued wiping herself off, following me down the hall and past the living room. On the right, was a half bathroom, and I pushed opened the door and turned on the light for her.
“I’ll be in the kitchen, which is at the end of the hall. Would you like a cup of tea? Something to warm you up?”
“Do you actually have any hot chocolate?”
“Hot chocolate?” I chuckled. It reminded me of being five and coming in from a long day in the snow. “You’re in luck. I happen to love hot chocolate with a good squirt of whipped cream.”
“Great, thank you,” Raci said before closing the door.
In the kitchen, I mixed two cups of hot chocolate, setting them in the microwave to warm up. Bluey wandered in and sniffed me. I gave him a treat. “I know. It’s weird having company. But you’re handling it like a good boy.” I patted his head and gave him a second treat.
As I told my dog how much I loved him, Raci appeared in the kitchen, smiling as she held the towel and her wet folded up dress.
My eyes fell downwards, unable to help myself with taking her in. She looked damn good in my clothes, even though they swam on her. “My t-shirt and sweatpants fit you well.” I joked.
Her cheeks reddened. “Don’t they?” She did a little pretend twirl.
I grabbed our mugs from the microwave, placed a dollop of whipped cream on top of them, and handed her one. I slid onto a bar stool at my kitchen counter, offering her the one across from me.
Silence fell between us as we sipped our hot chocolate, shooting glances at each other like two crushes in middle school.
Normally, I’d turn away by now, as she represented everything I hated about the city life.
The over-the-top clothes and pricey way of living went against everything I believed in.
Our own planet supplied us with what we needed to live, so what was the point of spending a thousand dollars on a pair of heels?
Yet…I couldn’t turn away.
I wanted to crack her open and find out everything there was about her.
Did she want to learn about me, too? Or was she dying to get out of here?
I glanced at her and saw she was staring at me, as well. She quickly looked away as her cheeks flushed an even deeper red.
“When you’re done, I’ll show you upstairs to my bedroom. There’s a phone charger too, if you need it.”
“Thank you. You’ve been so kind.”
“I couldn’t leave a woman stranded on a mountain in her high heels, now, could I?”
Raci’s mouth lifted in a smile. And if I wasn’t mistaken, her eyes shot flirty glances my way.
I shifted in my seat and cleared my throat before finishing my hot chocolate.
Raci couldn’t be more different than me if she tried. But something inside told me she was everything I ever needed. I just didn’t know it yet.