Page 14 of Forgotten Mountain Man

I’d barely set myself to my task for a handful of minutes when she clattered her way into my space, joining me along the bench instead of the other side of it.

“Morning, grumpy,” she said, way too cheerful.

I looked down at her, sweating one of my long sleeved tops—and what looked like nothing else. Well, nothing else, because creeper me knew exactly what she had on under the soft, oversized material that hung to her knees anyway, but she’d forgotten something critical this morning.

“The hell are you doing, Presh?” I pushed the half-made coffee in her direction and stepped back.

It still wasn't enough space as she reached around me to snag the room temperature, heat treated milk.

“Making coffee. Maybe toast. Do you want anything?” She made herself busy as usual and lived up to the promise she had tried to make to me on that first day back when I'd been an utter asshole and shut her down for offering.

I cringed at the memory as she pirouetted past me, the hem of my shirt riding up along her thighs to give me more than a glimpse of creamy, curved flesh the perfect shape for my palm.

Palms that itched to see how her body fit against the shape of my hands.

“Did you forget something important when you left the bedroom?” I bit my tongue on saying more.

The woman before me had me saying more words than I'd managed in over fifteen years. I still haven't worked out if that was a good or a bad thing.

“Like that?” She pirouetted back in the opposite direction, giving me a glimpse of her other thigh.

The view matched.

“Like pants, Faith.”

She laughed at me, and flipped the hem up in full to flash me her lace panties that just covered her ass. I’d already seen that view, but close up she was even more tantalizing than before. “Nah. I got sick of rolling the legs up every ten seconds when they fell down. Decided this was long enough. Right?” Her eyes were full of mischief and something else I couldn't quite interpret.

I snarled, grabbing the material out of her hand and yanked it back down. “Don’t do that.”

“What?” She gaped at me. “Are you a eunuch as well as a hermit? I mean, I didn't check last night, but?—”

All sense left me. I grabbed her waist and pinned her back against the bench, screwing the thought of making sure she had space and wasn’t terrified of me overwhelming her. Her lips fell into a perfect ‘o’ shape as I ground my very muchnoteunuch-y hardness against her stomach.

“No, Faith. It’s not that I don’t want you,” I grated, my voice deciding now was the perfect time to give up for the day already, fuck it. “I’m just fucking terrified what it means if I do push my luck with you. Because I’ve still got to get you safely down the mountain and that’s gonna be real fucking hard to do if I screw up the trust we’ve garnered between us into next week. You feel me?” I braced my arms behind her, leaning into her space so she had to arch backwards just to look up at me, or continue breathing.

Not that I really gave her a choice, because for just one moment, I did want her to feel me. All of me. And I wanted her to make that choice so damn bad, I ached for her.

Then sense slammed into me and I dropped my hands, retreating fast.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you.”

Silence fell in my kitchen as she panted. Her whole body trembled as she straightened, her hair tangled over my bench like some crazy red-headed Rapunzel variation.

Faith shook her head. “I know you’ve been watching me.”

I blinked at her. My mouth dried. “What?”

“Last night, in the pool when you backed off. If you’d stayed I…wouldn’t have objected. I mean…” Her cheeks flushed. “I didn’t mean to flash you with a full frontal, but I wouldn't have objected.”

“I tried not to look.”I am so full of shit.She was utterly glorious.“I didn’t want to scare you.”

“I know.”

My chest rose on fast, long breaths. “I’m sorry, Faith.” I shook my head. “This is my fault. I’ve been trying not to be attracted to you all damn week. This is why I shouldn't be near people. Why I left?—”

“Bullshit.” She shot me a fiery glare that would have asked a city boy. At least, I hoped it would have or my ego might not have stood her next test. “You missed it, every time, didn’t you? I knew you were there, Walker. I was dancing for you.”

The ability to breathe left me. My brain stopped churning. But other parts of my anatomy got with the picture pretty damn fast as I crossed the kitchen to stand right in front of her, looking down at the red headed bombshell who had walked into my life and rearranged it on a whim.

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