Page 45 of Ten Mountain Men

“What would you prefer we call you?” Lynx asks.

I’m about to say that I liked it when Lynx called me Sunshine, but…

“I don’t know,” I say. I swallow hard. “Actually…” I pause. I inhale, then exhale. “Actually. I don’t want you to call me anything right now. I just want you to shut up and kiss me.”

Lynx hesitates. Then he gently puts me down.

He shakes his head.

“No you don’t,” he says.

I’m about to argue. Oh, yes I do. I really really really do. Put your big old hand down my panties and see how very much I do! This girl is wet for you, Mountain Man! Wet and sizzling.

But his eyes are so sad.

“And I don’t want a pity kiss,” he says.

I look up at him and frantically shake my head. “It’s—”

“I’ll take a pity kiss,” Nash says. “And don’t you dare judge me, Lynx. You can live like a fucking monk if you want to, but I never took a vow of celibacy.”

“You took a vow of celibacy?” I ask Lynx. I glance back—and up—at Nash. “But—”

Oh my God. Is that why all these brothers live up on this mountain, isolated, together? Because they’ve taken vows of celibacy? Have they built their whole lives around avoiding the temptation to give in to their carnal needs? Is that why Luke is so against me being here? He’s terrified my feminine wiles will break him?

My God, they grow more and more fascinating with every second that ticks by!

But no, if that’s the case, the exchange between Lynx and Luke in the kitchen, about whether or not I’d let one of them fuck me, that would make no sense.

“No, I didn’t take a vow of celibacy,” Lynx says. Is that annoyance in his tone? “But I’m not the kind of man a gal like you wants to kiss and we both know that. Luke was right about that much.”

“Oh, yeah?” I draw myself up to my full height. “Put your hand in my panties and find out how wrong you and Grumpy Luke are, Lynx Björnsson. I dare you.”

My hands are on my hips and there’s a stare so intense and challenging in my eyes it’s giving me a little bit of a headache.

Wait…what?!

His big juicy lips, nestled in all that beard, snarl. But in a sexy way. He turns and walks a few steps away, leaning the fishing pole against a tree.

“If he doesn’t want to take you up on that, I will,” Nash says from behind me.

My head is spinning, whirling betweenOh my God, I want one of these men touching me, one of their massive fingers inside me, nowandWait, wait, wait!

Lynx has made his way back to me. “Well, unbutton your pants.”

I gulp. I feel panicked and I know he can see it in my eyes. He nods.

“Didn’t think I’d call your bluff, did you,ma’am?”

He wouldn’t believe me even if I told him. Would he?

“You don’t want Luke to be right, but he is.” There’s a finality in Lynx’s nod I don’t like at all.

“He’s not,” I insist. “The truth is…”

The truth is, other than some unfortunate fumblings with a high school boyfriend who handled my girlparts like they were a slippery football, no one’s ever touched me there. And that was so long ago, it doesn’t even count, right?

“The truth is…”

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