Page 6 of Claimed By the Mountain Man

“Nope, I’ve got it.” I did not have it, but I felt like showing weakness was not a good idea.

I tried to swing my leg over and promptly lost my balance. Logan caught me against his chest, his hands steady on my waist. Heat bloomed everywhere we touched.

“You were saying?” His voice rumbled through me, and suddenly breathing was difficult for reasons that had nothing to do with the altitude.

“Just testing your reflexes.” I gave him my brightest smile. “They’re excellent, by the way.”

I gasped as he lifted me over the log. Of course, he stepped over it like he was stepping over a twig. He didn’t move onimmediately. For a moment, we just stood there, too close, the mountain air crackling between us.

Then I did something stupid. Or brave. Sometimes, when I acted on impulse, I had a hard time telling the difference.

I kissed him.

It wasn’t a romance novel kiss—no fireworks or sparks or whatever. It was better. Real. His lips were warm and slightly cold, and he tasted like coffee and surprise. For one heartbeat, two, he was frozen. Then his hand slid into my hair, and oh. Oh.

His tongue found the seam of my lips and moved across it. I immediately opened for him—for the best first kiss of my entire life. Maybe, I thought hazily, my first last kiss. A girl could hope, I thought, clasping the front of his shirt with my hands. He wasn’t shy now that we were kissing, his mouth took mine with a hunger that matched the ache building between my thighs. That was the best and only way I could describe what was happening.

His tongue slid inside, seeking all the dark and warm places, stroking softly, but firmly. I’d been kissed before, but nothing like this. Nothing that made my body feel like it was melting from the inside out. Nothing that made my panties wet with just a kiss.

His hand tightened in my hair, guiding me, tilting my head to deepen the kiss and I couldn’t help the small moan that escaped me. God, if he could do this with just a kiss, what would it feel like if he really touched me?

He pulled back first, his eyes dark. “Why did you do that?”

“Just checking.”

“Checking what?”

“To see if we’re compatible.” I stepped back, my heart thundering.

“And?” His face was a mask, revealing nothing that he might be feeling.

“And what?”

“Are we?” He stared at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable.

I fought the urge to answer him. To say, yes sir, we were indeed compatible. But then those same infuriating doubts I’d been fighting my entire life filled me once again. Maybe he didn’t think we were. Maybe he thought I was too forward, too talkative. Too curvy. Too, well everything. It wouldn’t be the first time a man would have accused me of being that.

Finally, he spoke, breaking the silence. “We should catch up with the others.”

But as he turned away, I caught a glimpse of his body. Of the ridge beneath his pants.

Yes, I thought, mentally hand-pumping my fist in the air. We definitely were.

CHAPTER FOUR

LOGAN

That kiss haunted me for the rest of the hike.

I could still taste her on my lips, still feel the way she’d melted against me, soft and warm and willing. The memory of her small moan kept replaying in my head, making it damn near impossible to focus on my clients. Hell, made it difficult to walk.

“You two make such a cute couple,” Mrs. Henderson said as we reached the summit lookout. Her husband nodded in agreement.

“We’re not—” I started, but Samantha cut me off.

“Thank you,” she said brightly, throwing me a look that clearly said ‘play nice.’ “We’re still figuring things out.”

Figuring things out. Right. Like how I was going to survive the rest of this hike without doing something stupid. Like pushing her up against the nearest tree and finishing what that kiss had started.

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