Page 54 of Ten Mountain Men

“I thought she was going today?” The thought bums me out. But we said one night, right?

“Lynx and Nash are thinking with their dicks and have changed their minds about that, and they’re going to try to convince the others to let her stay until her so-called injury is healed up. But she needs to go now. Not when her ankle is better. Now. All you have to do is say you agree with me in that determined way you have, and one by one, they’ll relent.”

I take a deep breath, shoving my hands into my pockets. On the exhale, I say, “But I don’t want her to go.” Another inhale, another exhale. “I don’t want her to go,” I assert firmly, my jaw setting with unwavering resolve.I’ll find a way to make this work, no matter what it takes.

Not now. And maybe not even when she’s healed up either. I know she’ll leave, probably sooner rather than later. She didn’t just wander onto our mountain from the ether. She’s got a life, out there in the real world. She wouldn’t want to stay with us forever even if we wanted her to. She’s a city girl with a city life. Probably lots of sophisticated, city suitors who don’t need her to make them over. Why on earth would she want to be here, with us, any longer than she has to be?

Luke is staring at me, eyes narrowed like he can read my thoughts, and I hope he fucking can’t because if he knows I would lock, stock, and barrel let her stay forever if she wanted to, I have—in the words of Great Grampa Björnsson—an ass-whoopin’ a-comin’.

But.

Last night, when she was making me over, it felt like we were building up a real connection. The rapport between us was so good. She made me feel so at ease.

Then, when she was curled up in my bed, on top of me…

Damn, it felt amazing. I want more nights like that. As many of ’em as I can get.

And if she wants to have some threesomes with any of us, put me on the list of willing participants. I don’t mind having lunch late every day for the rest of my life if it means finally getting laid. Hell, I’d forgo lunch completely for the rest of my life if it meant getting laid by our gorgeous houseguest. I’ll take it anyway. Twosome, threesome, foursome, orgy. I just want her.

And this ain’t just about getting laid, though I wouldn’t mind. It’s more.

“Please. Please…” Luke plasters his hand to his face, fingers splayed like a starfish. His voice overflows with exasperation. “Please don’t tell me you’re getting some sort of teenage puppy dog crush on this woman.”

Before I can respond—to tell him no, even though I kind of think I definitely am, he takes off on another ranting tangent.

“I’m just going to be honest with you, Bucky. I think Goldie is a Sasquatch hunter.”

I burst out laughing. But his expression remains serious.

“Oh, you weren’t joking.”

He had to have been joking.

“Of course I’m not joking! I’m deadly serious. Think about it. This is the reason she wanted to give us all makeovers, to prove her theory. If she is a Sasquatch hunter, she’ll have heard the legend.” He wags a finger at me.

I raise an eyebrow. “The legend.”

“Yes,” he growls.

“Like the story Pa used to tell us? That you can’t shave a Sasquatch?”

Well, you can, but by the next day you won’t be able to tell you did. Sasquatch fur grows right back in a snap, thicker and wilder than before.

“Exactly,” he says emphatically, with a smug twist to his stupid mouth, as though he’s just proven something. Then he squints his eyes, looking at me real hard. “You look different. She made you over!”

“Yeah, so?”

I don’t for a minute think Rose-Gold Locke is any kind of hunter. I think she’s a city gal who got curious about the great outdoors, wanted to experience a taste of nature and maybe a temporary change of pace, but has no idea what she’s doing out here in the wilderness. Those movie star sunglasses and her cute li’l glittery pink camouflage prove it, and it makes me smile just remembering her in them.

Luke is not smiling. He goes off about Pa and I get this uncomfortable feeling in my belly, like someone is squeezing my intestines, flattening them out real good. I tune him out ’til I just hear the words Pa and Sasquatch and Pa and Sasquatch and a lotta blah blah blah in between.

He glances at the window of the cabin and I follow his gaze. Goldie is watching us with interest.

Damn, she is a sight. Just a glimpse of her and the squeezing feelings travel from my belly to my groin, but there it feels…pleasant.

Luke scrunches up his eyes at her and stalks out of her view, still ranting. I follow, counting backward from a hundred to keep myself from thinking about those big blue eyes of hers gazing up at me while those pretty pink plump lips of hers welcome my cock into her mouth.

I discreetly adjust myself, pushing that vision away. But what a vision it is.

---