Page 4 of Claimed By the Mountain Man

Ever since the IED, thunderstorms had been difficult for me. The unexpected loud, booming thunder was a trigger for me. My PTSD was thankfully mild compared to many others, but certain things like loud noises, for instance, were triggering for me. They sent me into fight-or-flight mode and often caused me to have a panic attack. But, since there was nothing to be done for it right then, I did my best to clear my mind and concentrate on the task at hand. So, I raised my binoculars and continued to scan the scenic expanse of Fire Mountain. As much as I couldn’t wait to leave this place when I joined the Army, I truly loved this mountain and this community. Nothing was getting by on my watch.

Four hours later, I was walking back down the path from the lookout tower when I noticed a man chopping wood off to the side of the path. He was a ways off, but something about the man caught my eye.Listen to me.Somethingcaught my eye.Like I didn’t know exactly what had caught my eye. It was the fact the man was shirtless… and positively god-like in his physique.

If I wasn’t mistaken, that god-like specimen was Gage fucking Holloway. And I was definitely not mistaken.Fuck me! He looked good.He looked even better shirtless than I had imagined. And I had done a hell of a lot of imagining the last couple of nights, or maybe the more correct term would be fantasizing. And I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t touched myself during the majority of that fantasizing.But, my god! Look at the man. Who could blame me?Rippling, toned abs and full, hard pecs covered by glistening, bronzed skin.And oh, holy hell!Hehad a thin, dark treasure trail that disappeared beneath his tight, black jeans. Next thing I knew, my feet were headed off the trail and straight toward him as if they had a mind of their own. They were practically skipping to him, for god’s sake.

I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him. After he’d left the bar that night, I’d immediately gotten the lowdown from my grandfather on the man… everything he knew anyway, which unfortunately wasn’t much. From what Pop had said, Gage had moved to town a couple of years ago and seemed like a good man, but he mostly kept to himself. He always came in alone and always sat in the same booth. He also always ordered the same high-end whiskey and sipped on it all night while either people watching, burying his head in his phone, or occasionally working on his laptop. And after the other night, I was pretty sure we could add one more activity—surreptitiously ogling me.

Well, Gage hadthoughthe was doing it surreptitiously anyway, but I had clocked his attention every time. Not that I minded it. I quite enjoyed it, actually. I had also enjoyed catching him in the act every chance I got and giving him my best smile just to mess with him. I knew it was a little bit evil, but I couldn’t help reveling in that cute-as-hell, deer-in-the-headlights look he got every time I caught him looking at me.He was fucking adorable!According to Pop, he’d only ever seen Gage drink more than a single glass of whiskey one time. And he’d gotten nearly blackout drunk that night, to the point Pop took his keys and insisted he stay overnight in the apartment above the bar… the same apartment I was staying in now.

Pop had said he’d actually needed to help Gage up to the apartment because the man was so far gone, he could no longer walk on his own. He’d never told Pop why he was so intent on drinking himself into oblivion that night, but Pop said he keptmuttering something about being sorry and that it was all his fault. Gage obviously had a story. But then, didn’t we all?

I’d also found out he lived in a remote cabin on the mountainside and owned a woodworking shop where he mostly made custom furniture. Apparently, he was quite popular. Folks came from all the surrounding towns for his pieces, and he even had a successful online store as well. I hadn’t realized he’d lived so close to the trail that led to the lookout tower, though. I was kind of surprised I’d never seen him when I’d taken the trail in the past. Just dumb luck, I guess, that I’d seen him today. Well, I, for one, was not about to waste that stroke of luck. I was determined to get Gage to actually have a conversation with me this time.

I found myself drawn to him in more ways than one. My feet were certainly drawn to him, taking me straight to him as if he were their true north. For some reason, or maybe several reasons, I really wanted to get to know the man. And I wouldn’t turn down a kiss or two, either. Wasn’t holding my breath for that one, though. I’d settle for not being thrown off of his property, honestly. I had a feeling I was going to have to go slow and take baby steps with him. Going slow was seriously not in my nature. But, for him, I’d try. And I really wanted to ask him about that freaky jolt of electricity that happened when our fingers touched that night. There’s no way I was the only one who felt that.

Wanting to catch him unawares, I tried to walk as quietly as I could, taking careful steps to avoid snapping a bunch of twigs and alerting him to my presence before I was ready. Turns out I needn’t have bothered, because as I got closer, I could see he was wearing headphones. So, he likely wouldn’t have heard me anyway. I crept up behind him and quickly removed one of his earbuds before leaning down to whisper in his ear.

“Hey, Paul Bunyan. Looking good!”

He jumped about a foot off the ground and let out a high-pitched screech that would have rivaled that of any teenaged girl. It was fucking hilarious! Until he turned and brandished the axe like he was ready to separate my head from my body, that is.Well, that certainly took a turn.His chest was heaving with exertion, and his eyes were wild. I could tell the moment it registered to him who I was, because his eyes softened and he dropped the axe to his side, exhaling a long, put-upon sigh.

“Cooper? What the hell? Didn’t anyone ever teach you not to sneak up on a man with an axe? I could have killed you. “

I shook my head at him. “Nah, you wouldn’t have. Despite the fact that you’re putting out some serious sexy-serial-killer vibes right now, you’d never kill me. I’m too adorable to kill.” Then I hit him with my best sexy smirk before smiling widely at him, making sure to pop a dimple.Never underestimate the power of the dimple!

Gage just shook his head in frustration and looked up to the sky like he was asking for patience from some higher power. Or maybe he was thanking them for me and my adorable dimple. It was a toss-up really which it was. Sighing again, he said, “What are you doing here, Cooper? And how did you even know where I lived?”

“Oh, I didn’t. I was walking down the trail from my volunteer shift at the fire lookout tower when I spotted you over here chopping wood… shirtless. And I gotta say, that dude on TikTok has nothing on you, sir.”

He looked utterly and adorably confused. “What are you going on about? A dude on TikTok? I honestly have no fucking idea what you’re even talking about.”

“Come on, you know, the dude on TikTok who’s always splitting huge chunks of wood? It’s his whole brand. People go crazy for it. I have to admit, it is pretty sexy. I think you’ve got him beat, though.”

He just stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Oooooh,” I say full of excitement, “you should post a shirtless picture of yourself with that axe thrown over your shoulder like that on your website. I bet your sales would skyrocket!”

“No. Just no,” he said with a finality to his words before shaking his head once more. “Again, Cooper, why are you here?”

Smiling, I told him, “I just wanted to see you, that’s all.” Then I made a show of looking him up and down before adding, “I didn’t expect to see quite so much of you, but I’m certainly not complaining.”

He rolled his eyes at me, then turned and walked towards his house.

“Where are you going?” I all but whined, more than a little disappointed.

Without looking back, he threw back over his shoulder, “I’m going to get a shirt.”

“Don’t do that on my account,” I yelled to his retreating back. Was I supposed to just wait here? Was he coming back? I felt a little uncomfortable just standing alone in this man’s yard, but before I could think too much on it, he came back around the corner, wearing an old, faded, baby-blue t-shirt. I couldn’t say Ididn’t miss the flesh that had been on display—because of course I did—but he looked damned fine in that shirt.

“Look,” he said, “thanks for stopping by, but I really need to get to work. I took a break to chop some firewood, but I have orders to fill.” He took off walking to his workshop, and to his obvious dismay, I followed right along behind him.

He went straight to a table with some sort of saw built into it and began stacking wood planks onto the table, readying them for the saw. Then he slipped on some goggles, turned on the saw, and got to work as if I weren’t even there. I wasn’t that easy to ignore, though. He was about to learn that the hard way. I stood on the other side of the table saw opposite him and just stared intently at him until he sighed very loudly (that seemed to be his go-to response to my antics) and shut off the saw to glare at me.

“Much better, “I said, with a wide smile. I could barely hear myself think with that thing on. “

“Cooper, you can’t just stand there staring at me while I work. It’s distracting. And that’s not a good thing when I’m working with a very sharp, metal blade.”

“Exactly. It’s much safer to just leave that thing turned off while you talk to me. I just loooove a man who’s safety conscious.” I smiled and batted my eyelashes at him in an exaggerated fashion.

He scoffed at me, but he also finally cracked a reluctant smile. “Yes, well, be that as it may… I really need to turn this saw back on and get some work done. I’ve got deadlines, people waiting on furniture. In fact, there’s a very excited four-year-old boy waiting on this particular project. And I don’t want to let him down. “

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