Page 1 of Stubborn Mountain Man

1

GILLIAN

Thwack!

Thwack!

The sound blasted through the trees, making its way to the trail where I was. Whatever was making that sound would likely bring my death.

I was having second, third, and fourth thoughts about this whole adventure. What had I been thinking?

Thwack!

The noise was definitely coming from my left, and it was close by. Was it an animal? A human? Someone chopping up firewood in preparation for the cold weather that would be here before we knew it?

I shook my head as if to shake off the curiosity threatening to take over my brain. I called it curiosity, but really I was just nosy.

Thwack!

I could use a break. I’d been on this trail for two full hours, and this backpack wasn’t getting any lighter. By my calculations, I had another hour to get to the campsite—the one I had to photograph to send proof to my friends that I followed through on their dare.

I looked around, then laughed at myself. I’d been walking alone on this trail for an hour. What made me think someone would be behind or ahead of me?

But I’d come to a stop on the trail, and now I was eyeing the trees. There was a clear path between a group of them, and it was calling to me. It was like fate was telling me to go that way.

“Ha!” I said to myself. “Since when do you believe in fate?”

I was the most practical of all my friends, and that was the problem. They thought I was boring. When I pointed out how adventurous I was, they dared me to go hiking alone. Apparently, the fact that I’d been back and forth on these trails since I was old enough to walk didn’t seem to matter. My parents were big on hiking, so this was almost like coming home.

But I never met an opportunity for adventure that I didn’t accept. And an opportunity for adventure had just been issued to me. I smiled and began my slow, hesitant walk down the trail.

Thwack!

The sound was getting closer. What if an ax murderer was on the other end of this path? I could be walking right into a bad situation. I could be walking toward my own death. A stranger wielding an ax was definitely a scary thing.

Still, I kept walking until I reached a big tree and saw something that stopped me in my tracks. It was a man wielding an ax, but the sight didn’t fill me with fear. Instead, a slow, steady hum started from somewhere deep inside me.

The man was shirtless with a pair of baggy, faded jeans that hung low on his waist. He probably hadn’t planned on being seen out here, so he hadn’t bothered with the belt. Or maybe he didn’t care.

He held the ax at his shoulder and stared at a downed tree in front of him. It had a big gash toward the end and some chunks on the ground next to it. As I’d thought earlier, he was probably chopping up the tree for firewood.

I stepped back, putting a palm on the tree and taking comfort in the shelter it provided. He wouldn’t see me here, even if he turned around.

He wiped his brow with his left hand, then straightened again, putting both hands on the ax. It whipped through the air as he took another swing at the tree.

Thwack!

Warmth spread through my body, and I squeezed my legs together. There was definite moisture there. This guy was making me wet, and I hadn’t even seen his face yet. Just that tanned, toned backside and those well-defined muscles of his arms as he swung.

What would those arms feel like around me? What would it be like to wrap my legs around his waist as he plunged into me, holding me up against one of these trees?

I shifted my weight, then took a tentative step backward. I needed to get out of here before I was busted for being a total peeping Tom.

I took another step and twisted around, preparing to take off. But suddenly, what my foot landed on wasn’t ground. It was air.

My left leg went into a hole all the way to mid-calf. Then pain shot through me, and I let out an involuntary screech as my backpack flopped to the right, bending me at an awkward angle and making the pain worse.

In the silence that followed, I knew I’d been busted. There was no way I hadn’t. I placed a hand on the ground on either side of me and pushed up slowly, trying to withdraw my foot so I could get the heck out of here. But pain shot through my body again, this time worse.

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