Page 6 of The Mountain Man's Flame

“Shit,” I mutter. “Let me take a look.”

She shines the flashlight toward me, and I can practically hear the scowl in her voice. “I know how to turn on the breaker.”

I love that Nova is feisty and independent. But this is my area of expertise. “I see this stuff regularly. The breaker keeps tripping because you have too much current going through your electrical lines. When was the last time anyone looked at the wiring in this place?”

I grab my dry coat and pass it to her. The HVAC was already having trouble keeping up and now the temperature in the library is going to drop even faster.

She accepts it, shivering slightly as she puts it on. “I’m not sure. The place was built probably sixty or more years ago. I doubt the library has the budget for anything. I mean, the roof is in pretty bad shape too.”

I’ll get my friend King and his crew out to take a look at the roof when the weather clears and a couple of us can get up there. But for now, I follow her out of the room and down to the dank basement.

“See, it’s right here.” Her voice wobbles on the last word as she drops her phone. It lands with a thud followed by a shattering sound. But the phone isn’t what I’m worried about. I fumble in the dark, grabbing for her.

Fortunately, I manage to latch onto her arm and pull her against my body. Without the sense of sight, I can appreciate the way her lush curves are pushed up against me all the more. She only comes to my mid-chest, and I can feel her hot breath through the thin material of my t-shirt.

I drop my hand from her arm and reach for her hips. “You alright?”

Her voice is high and breathy in the dark, “Kiss me.”

4

NOVA

Aiden’s voiceis deep and growly in the dark. His hands are clutching tightly to my hips and short circuiting my brain, or it could be the adrenaline from my near fall down the stairs.

I try to speak but all that comes out is a squeak. I clear my throat and try again. “Kiss me.” I don’t know where the words come from but in this moment, I’ve never wanted anything more than Aiden’s kiss.

He doesn’t make me ask again and he doesn’t hesitate. His lips are against mine, possessive and relentless. He runs his tongue along my bottom lip until I’m opening to him.

My hands are suddenly around the warm skin of his neck, urging him on. I’ve kissed guys before, but I’ve never been kissed like this. Like I’m the first, last, and only woman that exists.

When he strokes his tongue against mine, I moan into his mouth and squeeze my thighs together. If just a kiss with Aiden is making my panties this damp, I can’t imagine what it would be like if we were intimate together.

Finally, Aiden breaks the kiss and presses his forehead against mine. “Electric…electricity. We gotta…do the thing we came for.”

I can’t help but smile at how rattled he sounds. I like the idea that I can affect him that deeply, make him lose his concentration. “You need a light source.”

He grabs his cellphone and lights up the stairway. I follow him down and when we’re safely at the bottom, he says, “Point me in the direction of the fuse box.”

I put my hands on his shoulders and turn him in the right direction. My fingers tingle where I’m touching him. What is it about him that makes every touch feel like he’s electrified? “It should be about thirteen steps to your two o’clock.”

I listen as his footsteps grow further away and decide that since we’re in the dark, I can be brave. “So, that was a really good kiss.”

“Perk of being a virgin,” he calls over his shoulder. “You get really good at the kissing part.”

Despite my dating history, I’m also a virgin. An image of how we could spend this snowstorm appears in my head. That would definitely be one way to keep warm. “How old are you?”

“Thirty,” he answers casually as if we’re discussing his shoe size and not the fact that he has never had sex in his life.

“So, you’re not embarrassed to admit that?” I’m trying to wrap my head around this thought. He has a fan club. Cindy May bakes him her special gooey butter cake every week and he still hasn’t let anyone into his pants.

“Why should I be?” I hear him open the fuse box. “I like the idea that I’m only ever going to belong to one woman in my lifetime.”

Before I can stop it, I snort. “Here I thought I was the oldest virgin in Mount Bliss.” I wonder what it would be like to be with Aiden. The kiss was amazing, but we’d probably fumble our way through the good part and that would make it bad. And awkward. We definitely shouldn’t have sex.

The lights flick on, and Aiden gives me a grin. “Nope, that honor belongs to me.”

For some reason, I like how comfortably he owns this. In a society that encourages and applauds men for promiscuity, he’s not embarrassed or ashamed to admit he’s made a different choice.

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