Page 10 of The Haunting of the Mountain

I shouldn’t.

I stare at the flannel shirts hanging in the closet. I’ve been looking at them for a few minutes, feeling the well-worn but comfortable fabric. I’d been warned by one of the locals at the Inn that I shouldn’t wear a mountain man’s flannel during a storm. When pressed, she simply raised her left hand, brandishing a gorgeous ring.

It’s all local legend. Nothing to it. But I am investigating the strange things that happen here. Leave no stone unturned.

Goosebumps flare across my body as I think about Stone. He’s like no man I’ve met. Sure, he was a little scary at first sight. What woman wouldn’t be scared by a giant, shadowy figure as wide and tall as a door barging into yourlegallyrented cabin sometime after midnight?

But once he got his hands on me. Once I saw him in the light and not the version my imagination had created, I came around. Boy have I come around…

The man is gorgeous. Handsome. Although a little rough around the edges, I can’t help but find myself drawn to him. His name suits him. I swear he’s equal parts man and mountain with a body carved from one of the peaks I saw from town.

And his beard.Phew. I never knew I had a thing for beards until I met Stone. Dark with streaks of white. Big and grizzled. I wonder what it would feel like to thread my fingers through it. I wonder how his muscles would feel, dragging my tongue across them.

Whew.

These thoughts are crazy, but I can’t help but have them as I peruse the flannels for a few more moments, settling on the emerald green.

“Okay…” I mutter, holding it against my body.

The shirt could be used as a damn tablecloth. A parachute. A sail for a boat. Okay, maybe not but this thing is huge. I consider putting it back but then I catch a whiff of it and there’s no way. I bring it to my face and start huffing it.Huffingit. What am I doing? Okay, one last—oh my god!

It smells like evergreens. Hints of spice and wood and man. Wow. I wasn’t a believer in the local legend, but I’m coming around to it. This. Is. Crazy. I just met the man. His name isStone.None of this makes sense.

I collapse on the bed, trying to understand what’s happening as I hear Stone on the other side of the door.

He knocks.

My pulse pounds.

“Kyla?”

God, that voice. It’s so deep and raspy. I feel it more than I hear it.

“Yes?” I say, trying to stay calm.

“I’ve got some bandages for you. I need to check out that leg.”

I glance at my bare leg. It’s scraped, but it’s not too bad. A little tender, but nothing serious.

“Okay,” I say without thinking.

The door starts rattling and my eyes flare. I’m damn near naked.

“Wait!”

The rattling stops.

“I’ll be out in a minute. I hope you don’t mind if I wear one of your flannels.”

There’s a long pause. “Not at all.” A few more beats and then I feel him leave, his footfalls shaking the floor with every step.

A few minutes later, I make my way out of the bedroom, swimming in his flannel. I cinched a belt around my waist and it almost looks like a dress, but not really. I like it though.

“Jesus,” Stone rasps when he turns around.

My body lights up when I see the look on his face, devouring me from head to toe with his dark green eyes. And then again when he drops what he’s holding. He’s checking me out and I like it.

I pad slowly to him, relishing the heat from his gaze. I’m not sure I need that wood stove if Stone keeps looking at me like that.

---