Trapped With The Mountain Man (Ozark Mountain Men Temptations #3)

Chapter 1

Leah

The first breath of mountain air hit my lungs, and I felt alive again. It was so different from the recycled office air I’d been breathing for years.

The trail started gently, winding through trees just beginning to bud. And as I walked, my shoulders relaxed for the first time in months.

I was so glad I’d booked this trip, even if I had to come on my own.

A chainsaw buzzed somewhere in the distance, the sound oddly comforting. There hadn’t been many cars when I’d pulled into the parking lot of the Spring Hollow Wilderness Preserve, so I knew there weren’t that many people here today.

The chainsaw was a reminder that there was someone else out here in these vast, silent woods.

While I hiked, I brooded.

My ex, Colin, wasn’t the only problem weighing on my heart. He wasn’t the biggest problem, either.

My job was slowly killing me. Sixty-hour weeks staring at spreadsheets and datasets, optimizing metrics that meant nothing to anyone.

I made good money. I had excellent benefits. And I was so desperately unhappy that some mornings I sat in my car in the parking garage, screaming silently before I could make myself go in to work.

Colin had trashed my self-esteem, but it was my job that was the real problem. It was sucking my soul right out of me.

The trail started to go down, down, down into the valley below.

My hamstrings burned, but I pushed through it, letting the physical discomfort drown out the swirling thoughts in my mind.

The chainsaw grew louder as I descended, and I realized I was hiking toward it.

This whole thing, hiking in the woods by myself, was out of character. In fact, I’d never done anything like it before.

The entire vacation to Red Oak Mountain was an anomaly in my life.

It had been five years since I’d taken anything more than a staycation. So actually leaving the state, getting on a plane, then driving to this little speck of a mountain town hidden deep in the Ozarks had been a big step out of my comfort zone.

Just like the tree in front of me. I slowed to a stop as I looked at it.

The tree trunk was thick, and it had fallen across the entire path, blocking the way.

Someone had spray-painted a hot pink x on it, and I imagined it had fallen during the recent storm that had come through Red Oak Mountain.

Should I go back?

I looked behind me where the trail curved up. Then I looked past the fallen tree where the trail continued its winding descent.

Nope. A little obstacle like this couldn’t stop me. I climbed over the trunk, straddling it with one leg, then the other, surprised at how rough the bark felt through my leggings.

Then I was past it, my feet slipping on mud and wet rocks.

The trail was slippery today.

I hadn’t been in love with Colin. I could admit that now.

I’d been in love with the idea of Colin.

Somehow I’d believed that if I just tried hard enough, love would eventually grow. But how long should it take for two people to fall in love? Two years hadn’t been enough time for us, and now I was pretty damn sure I’d just been—

The trail curved around a massive boulder, and I stopped dead in my tracks, all thoughts of Colin leaving my mind in a flash.

Who is that mountain hottie?

A man stood on the edge of the trail with a chainsaw in his hands, surrounded by the fresh-cut remains of another fallen tree that must have come down in the storm.

His hair was wild from the wind, sawdust clinging to his dark blonde strands, and he looked like something epic standing there, grounded and strong, like he was rooted to the earth itself.

And for some completely unknown reason, he was shirtless.

I drank him in as a visceral jolt of heat shot through me. Was it rude to study the trail of hair that led down his belly before disappearing underneath his belt buckle?

Maybe. But I couldn’t stop staring.

Oh, holy hot damn.

They sure didn’t make men like him in Boston.

He was picking up a chunk of the log, getting ready to throw it, when he spotted me, his eyes going wide.

We just stared at each other for a long moment, then he tossed the log off the trail and rumbled, “You need to get by?”

“Oh, uh, well.”

His eyes held mysteries in their pools of blue, and I almost felt myself getting lost in them. But that would be ridiculous.

He gave me a quick once-over, then put the chainsaw down on the ground, angling it so the blades didn’t touch the earth.

Then he stepped off the path, making room for me to pass.

His voice was rough, like he didn’t use it much. “Go on by if you want. But a word of warning, the trail gets muddier the closer you get to Spring Hollow.”

“Hi,” I said, because apparently my brain had stopped working and that was the best response I could come up with.

Surprise flickered in his expression, and the corner of his mouth twitched. “Oh. Yeah. Hello. Most people turn back before they get this far.”

“I’m not most people,” I blurted out, feeling heat creep up my cheeks.

The words came out before I could stop them, and I watched his eyebrows raise, his gaze sweeping over me.

“I reckon you’re not,” he rumbled. He looked at me like I was something unexpected that had dropped into the middle of his life.

That’s when my heart did something complicated in my chest.

But I must have been the only one feeling the zing because a second later his eyes shut down, going remote on me, and he bent down and picked up another chunk of log from the trail, chucking it to the side.

He looks like a Nordic god.

And what, I was flirting with him? My dumpy ass? Embarrassment trickled in.

“I should let you get back to work,” I managed, gesturing vaguely at the fallen tree. “I’m just… heading to the spring.”

He nodded, still watching me with those steady blue eyes. “Trail gets rocky a quarter mile down and there’s more storm damage ahead. Watch your footing.”

“I will. Thank you.”

I made myself walk past him and step over the remains of the cut tree trunk, hyper-aware of his gaze on my back.

My pulse was hammering for reasons that had nothing to do with the hike and everything to do with his moody eyes that were certainly watching me walk away right now.

Then I heard him call out, “Another storm’s rolling in tonight. Make sure you get back to the trailhead by dusk.”

“Thanks. I’ll do that!” I responded as I hurried down the trail, mortified that I’d tried to flirt with the man.

I was used to dating men who felt most comfortable in a suit. This man didn’t look like he even owned a suit. And somehow, in this moment, that was absolutely tantalizing.

I’d never been with a blue-collar kind of guy before.

My dating history included career professionals more concerned about climbing the corporate ladder than getting their hands hot and dirty on a piece of wood.

Mm. Something was wrong with me, because I wanted to run back to him and talk him into making love to me right there on the forest floor.

Don’t look back.

Don’t do it.

But I couldn’t help myself. I turned my head over my shoulder for one quick glance.

He was literally staring at my butt and licking his lips like some kind of feral mountain beast, his eyes on fire for me.

I let out a girlish giggle I hadn’t heard come out of my mouth in over twenty years. “I’m Leah, by the way. Nice to meet you!”

He grunted. “Welcome to Red Oak Mountain, Leah. Enjoy your trip.”

Then I continued my hike with an extra spring in my step. I’d never had a man look at me like that before.

My battered ego felt buoyed for the first time in a long while, even if the hottie hadn’t bothered to tell me his name.

I hiked for another twenty minutes, listening to the sound of his chainsaw the whole way down. Eventually the noise of it faded away, and I found myself in the most beautiful place in the world.

So this is Spring Hollow.

Coop, the boy from the Whispering Ridge Cabins where I was staying, had recommended this hike when I asked him what I should see around here. His dad, Forest, had tried to talk me out of it, saying it was a tough hike best done with a seasoned guide.

But I had a bad habit of digging my heels in when someone told me I shouldn’t do something. It just made me want to do it more.

Maybe Forest had been right. The hike had been more than I expected. I’d be sore tomorrow morning, but it would be worth it.

The spring in the hollow at the base of the mountain was everything Coop had promised: crystal clear and impossibly blue, surrounded by moss-covered rocks and the kind of silence that felt sacred.

I sat on a boulder and pulled out the ruby ring my ex had given me for Christmas on our first year together, watching it catch the fading light.

Goodbye, Colin. I didn’t love you either.

Then I threw it into the water and watched it sink. I sat there for a long time, contemplating my life.

This vacation felt like the only good decision I’d made in a long time.

I’d chased money and gotten it. But the thrill had worn off.

I was only thirty-four, but I had a fully stocked retirement account, a paid-off condo in Boston, and enough stress that my doctor said it would kill me if I didn’t make a change soon.

She’d put me on blood pressure medication the last time I’d gone to see her and told me that I needed to take this seriously. Reducing my salt intake wouldn’t be enough.

The spring was beautiful, but it didn’t contain the answers to my life.

Unless the answer was to quit my job and move somewhere like this. Despite the storm damage, Red Oak Mountain was beautiful.

And it seemed to operate at a slower pace than the rest of the world.

A pace I wanted to get to know.

That’s when everything clicked into place. I furrowed my brow, thinking hard.

Could it be possible that I was the only thing holding myself back from living a different life? I didn’t know if it was the gorgeous man I’d passed on the trail, so full of life, or the magic of this place.

But out of nowhere, I finally had the courage to do something I should have done a long time ago.

Pulling my cell phone out of my fanny pack, I dialed my work number.

But wouldn’t you know it? All I got was the sound of static fuzz.

There was no cell reception down here.

I laughed. The irony was that by the time I got back to civilization where cell phones worked again, I’d probably chicken out.

This had been a now or never kind of moment.

And maybe it was a sign from the universe that I was being too impulsive.

I stood up and wiped the dust from my leggings. That’s when I realized how late it was.

The sun had dipped behind the mountains while I wasn’t paying attention, and the shadows had grown long and deep. I checked my phone, my stomach dropping when I saw the time.

Dusk was settling in fast. Plus, there was a light mist coming down now.

I headed back up the trail, my legs already aching, my breath coming harder than it should.

Let me tell you, going back up is a lot harder than going down. Now I understood Forest’s warning about how tough the hike was.

I should have listened to that man.

The chainsaw had gone silent at some point, and I felt like I was completely alone for maybe the first time in my life. Was I the only person left out here?

The trail seemed longer going up, and the light was fading faster than I could climb. But I wasn’t the type to give up, so I hiked through the burn in my thighs.

Surely I could make it back to the parking lot before night fell.

My chest tightened with something that felt a lot like fear.