Chapter 5
Leah
I looked away from the bed quickly, my cheeks flushing hot despite the chill still clinging to my damp clothes. Maybe if I didn’t acknowledge it, we could both pretend the sleeping situation wasn’t going to be incredibly awkward.
Instead, I busied myself exploring the small cabin, running my fingers along the rough-hewn logs of the walls while Jameson stirred the soup.
The historical displays were actually fascinating now that I had time to look at them properly. There was old trapping equipment and a collection of hand-forged tools that looked like they belonged in a museum.
“Do you think there was glass in these windows at one point?” Right now, they were just three empty holes leading straight into the outside world. No glass, no screens. They were contributing to the chill in the air.
“Glass would have been a luxury reserved for the rich. They probably kept them open like this in the summer, then put wool blankets or furs over them in the winter.”
Jameson seemed to know everything.
My hand caught on a rough edge of wood near the window frame, and I hissed as a sharp sting lanced through my palm.
“You okay?” Jameson was beside me in an instant, his bare chest suddenly very close as he reached for my hand.
“Just a splinter.” I tried to pull away, embarrassed, but he held firm.
“Let me see.”
He turned my palm toward the firelight, and I watched the muscles in his forearm flex as he angled my hand for a better look.
Now I could see the dark hair dusted across his chest. It trailed down his stomach, and I had to force my eyes to stay on my own hand instead of following that trail lower where it disappeared into his pants. I think I understood why they call it a happy trail now.
“Hold still,” he rumbled as he pulled a small multi-tool from his pocket and flipped out a tiny pair of tweezers.
His touch was surprisingly gentle as he steadied my hand against his. I watched his face as he worked, his brow furrowed in concentration, those blue eyes focused intently on the task.
“There,” he held up the tweezers triumphantly, a tiny sliver of wood caught between the tips. “All done.”
“Thank you,” my voice came out soft.
Jameson was still holding my hand, standing way too close for a shirtless mountain beast. Oh, how I wished this were like a romance novel.
We could fall into bed together, and tomorrow I’d wake up and realize he was my Prince Charming.
We’d go back to his castle and live happily ever after.
And I’d never have to go back to my job again.
But life didn’t work like that. The most I could expect was a one-night stand followed by an awkward morning after. Although he’d make for some great vacation memories.
Even though I didn’t normally do one-night stands, with this man I might be open to it. He wasn’t like anyone I’d ever met before, and I was slightly intoxicated by his presence.
A crack of thunder split the air outside, so loud and sudden that I jumped and grabbed his arm without thinking.
The storm had been building for a while, but now it seemed to unleash all at once, rain hammering against the cabin roof.
“Hey,” Jameson’s voice was calm and steady. “Hey, look at me.”
I forced my eyes up to meet his, my heart pounding in my chest. Another boom of thunder rolled through the mountains, and I flinched.
“It’s just a little sound, like fireworks on the Fourth of July,” he said, pressing my hands between both of his.
His fingers were calloused, and something about the solid pressure of his grip made my racing pulse start to slow.
“The cabin’s been here for over a hundred years.
It’s weathered worse than this. It won’t come down because of a tiny little rainstorm. You’re safe here.”
“I know,” I let out a shaky laugh. “I’m being ridiculous.”
“You’re not,” his thumbs rubbed gently against the backs of my hands. “Storms are intense out here. Nothing like what you get in the city.”
I nodded, focusing on the steady rhythm of his touch. Warmth radiated from his bare skin, and my hands felt warmer in an instant.
Thunder rumbled again, but it seemed more distant now, less threatening.
“Better?” he asked.
“Better.”
He released my hands, and I immediately missed his warmth, a tiny shiver rolling through me.
Jameson grabbed one of the wool blankets from the bed and wrapped it around my shoulders before I could protest. Then he crossed to the wall and lifted down one of the massive bear pelts, spreading it out on the floor in front of the fireplace.
“Come sit while we eat,” he said, settling onto the fur. “It’ll be warmer down here, closer to the fire.”
I lowered myself onto the pelt beside him, hyper-aware of how close we were.
He handed me a tin cup of soup, and our fingers brushed as I took it from him.
“So what brought you all the way out here from Boston?” he asked, stretching his long legs out toward the fire. “There must be closer places to vacation.”
I took a sip of the soup. It was salty and hot. Exactly what I needed.
“This is a funny reason to book a vacation, but I saw a comment on a travel forum,” I shrugged.
“A woman named Nicole said they found the love of their life at the Whispering Ridge Cabins here on Red Oak Mountain. She wrote quite a tale about it. I thought…” I shook my head, laughing at myself.
“I don’t know what I thought. That the magic would rub off on me, maybe. ”
Nicole had married a man named Graham, who’d been doing handyman work on her rental unit the night she came to town. She said she’d almost accidentally killed him with a bottle of wine when they first met. I wanted to hear her whole story.
“Did the magic work?” he asked, firelight dancing across his features.
He had what looked like genuine curiosity in his eyes, and something in my chest cracked open. “I don’t think so. I haven’t run into any handymen yet,” I joked. “Although the cabin rental is lovely. And Red Oak Mountain is beautiful, too.”
“Too bad. I guess you can’t believe everything people write online.”
“It was still worth coming. I didn’t really think I’d meet a man on vacation.
I just needed a break. I’m burnt out,” I said between sips of soup.
“My job is slowly killing me, and I just got out of a two-year relationship that I thought was heading somewhere. But come to find out, I’m pretty sure I was just a convenient Friday night hookup for that man. ”
“Ouch. That’s tough.”
Sighing, I admitted, “I’m thirty-four years old and I have no idea what I’m doing with my life. Honestly, I’m on the verge of quitting my job and joining a nunnery.”
Jameson snorted. “You don’t strike me as the nunnery type.”
“No?” I raised an eyebrow. “What type do I strike you as?”
He was quiet for a moment, studying me with those steady blue eyes. “Someone who’s brave and ready to face the unknown even when it scares you.”
That settled in my heart. Jameson might look like a gruff, rugged mountain man. But he paid more attention than Colin ever had.
“Sometimes I don’t feel very brave.”
“What, like with the fence tonight?”
“No. I’m comfortable living with my fear of heights. But… I’ve been struggling to make a decision for the last five years, and I just keep putting it off.”
“What kind of decision?”
I laughed and swatted his arm, then thought better of it when sparks flew up my fingers where I’d touched him. He was still half-naked after all, and only sitting a few inches away.
But I wasn’t going to dump my work drama on this poor man. He’d end up listening to me all night, or scaling that fence just to get away from me.
“Mm, I don’t want to bore you with the details. What about you?” I asked. “Do you have someone waiting for you at home?”
“No,” he shook his head, his jaw clenching. “I… don’t really do relationships.”
“Ever?”
“It’s easier not to let people in.” He said it matter-of-factly, as if he were stating a simple truth about the weather.
“Haven’t you ever wanted someone in your life?”
He was quiet for a long moment, staring into the flames. “My parents were a cautionary tale.”
I furrowed my brow.
“My mom cut off her whole side of the family when I was a kid. Grandparents, aunts, cousins… all gone. Haven’t seen any of them since I was six. Then my dad did the same thing a few years later. Then we moved here to Red Oak Mountain. Now it's just my sis and me.”
"How horrible." My heart ached for him. I had a huge extended family.
“My parents fought constantly,” he said as he stoked the fire. “They stayed together ‘for the children’. When what they should have done is split up for our sake instead. Cindy and I learned pretty quickly that love is a myth. When you buy into it you’re just giving someone the power to hurt you.”
“I’m sorry.” My gaze dropped back down to the naked expanse of his chest again. The man was chiseled in a way I didn’t know was possible. “My parents were the opposite. It’s because of them that I’ve been looking for a happily ever after my whole life.”
“You? You’re gorgeous, hon. I bet there’s a ton of men who’d love to snatch you up.”
I snorted out a very unladylike laugh. “That’s where you’re wrong, Jameson.
I know about men. They just want a fun ride for a night or two.
Most of you aren’t looking to settle down.
Not really. But you’re probably smarter for not even trying to play the game.
Maybe that’s what I should do. Oh! Now we’re back on the nunnery track again. Maybe I should enlist.”
That got a chuckle out of him, and I sensed him ease into my presence a little bit more. “It’s not like the military, Leah. You don’t enlist to become a nun.”
“How do you know what the process is?”
He shrugged, a gentle smile teasing his lips upward. “I don’t know, but I bet you don’t either. We’ll have to wait until we have internet again to find out.”
“So your parents were that bad?”
Jameson shrugged again. It appeared to be his stand-in for communication.
But then he opened up a little. “They’re not that bad on their own. But together, man, they’d forget all about us while they battled it out. And their fights were always stupid. About little things like which one of them didn’t unload the dishwasher at the end of the night.”
He stared at the fire so intently that we both fell into silence.
My parents had made love seem effortless. I couldn’t remember ever seeing them fight when I was growing up.
It was sad that his experience had been so different.
He surprised me when he rumbled out, in a voice raspier than usual, “They’re the reason I don’t believe in love. Seems like a lot of pain for not much payoff. My little sis is the same way. Cindy says she’ll be single for life, too.”
After taking another sip of my soup, I confessed, “I’m not sure I believe in it either. I kept waiting for it to happen with Colin. We dated for two years and I never felt… anything, really.”
He grunted.
“We broke up a few months ago. I finally told him I wanted to see us move our relationship forward a little. That’s when he told me that he was happy with us as we were. He said seeing me once a week was easier than hunting down a new woman for sex every Friday night.”
“That guy was an asshole,” Jameson announced with conviction.
“Yeah. You know the only reason I stuck around was because he got me a ring on our first Christmas together. It was fourteen-karat gold with a ruby in the center, and even though it wasn’t an engagement ring, I felt like it symbolized a commitment to a future together.
Turned out it was just a pretty bauble to him. I don’t even like rubies.”
Jameson growled, “He sounds like a fucking idiot.”
“Maybe,” I laughed. “Or maybe I’m the idiot for thinking love is something that can grow if you just give it enough time.”
“Yeah,” he nodded, “If it exists, I think it probably hits like a lightning strike.”
The sky took that moment to flash, the whole interior of the cabin lighting up before a rolling boom filled the air.
I jumped again, and his lips quirked up.
Jameson rubbed my knee, “Funny timing. It’s just a little rainstorm, Leah. You’ll be all right.”
It felt important for him to know, so I told him, “I’m not afraid of the storm. The thunder just seems louder up here on top of the mountain.”
“Yeah. We get all the good storms around here. We’re pretty fucking lucky.”
And that’s when I realized he meant it. He liked this weather, mother nature getting rowdy all around us, like it was quickening the blood in his veins.
What kind of man was he? Jameson was a mystery to me. And somehow it felt completely natural sitting here with this shirtless beast, talking about our deepest feelings.
My heart stuttered in place, and I wondered if this was what love felt like. A yearning to dig deep and uncover his secrets.
Tonight felt like magic.
And I realized Nicole from the travel forum might have been right.
Red Oak Mountain wasn’t like anywhere else on earth.
It was the only place wild enough to contain a man like Jameson.
You wouldn’t ever see someone like him walking down the streets in Boston.
He needed to be here where the wild things were.
We sat in silence for a moment, the fire crackling between us as the storm raged outside. I reached for the water canteen at the same moment he did, and our hands collided over the tin rim.
Neither of us pulled away.
His fingers were warm against mine, rough and solid, and when I looked up, his eyes were already on me. The firelight caught the gold flecks in his blue irises, and I forgot how to breathe.