Page 1 of The Mountain Man's Desires

CHAPTERONE

Shane

I kissed her.

I kissed her, and now, she hated me.

Well, really, I barely grazed her lips before she jerked backward like I stung her.

My heart cracked at her reaction. What the fuck was I thinking?

Except I knew exactly what I was thinking. I’ve pushed these feelings down for so long. How much more could I take?

Apparently, I was all wrong. Because when I kissed her right outside her brother’s house on his doorstep, her cheeks turned pink, and her mouth dropped open. She jumped back and almost dropped the bouquet she was holding.

I’d known Lena my entire life. I’d loved her since we were kids. Even when she was only twelve and I was fifteen, and I knew Graham would kick my ass. Yet I hadn’t ever seen her look at me like she was right now.

Like she couldn’t believe what I did.

My breath caught in my throat.Say something, you idiot.My chest rose and fell quickly, keeping pace with the wild beat of my heart.

Lena opened her mouth. I braced myself for her sharp, sassy attitude, the one I loved so much. It never came.

Instead, she spun on her heel and walked inside, slamming the door in my face.

Fuck.

Graham knew we were coming here together. In fact, he sent us racing around town this morning, picking up flowers and a cake from Ruby’s bakery. I knew he’d ask questions if Lena walked in alone, so I had no choice.

With a deep breath, I pushed forward, my mind replaying the morning with Lena like a movie reel. We had so much fun, laughing and singing songs in my truck. Drinking hot cocoa and complaining about bossy Graham. As I shut the door behind me, there he was. I braced myself for his questions.

Thankfully, he was too caught up in his own proposal and put me to work.

The next couple of hours were painful.

It was hard ignoring Lena while watching my best friend ask the love of his life to marry him.

I wanted to be the one proposing to the love ofmylife.

Lena.

How was I going to convince her?

How was I going to convince Graham?

Because there was no way I could convince myself to move on without her.

And I couldn’t bear the thought of losing both of them.

Instead, I suffered in silence.

But that silence…it was growing impatient.

* * *

“Can we talk for a second?”As I followed Lena out to her SUV, I stared at her perfect round ass, her tight jeans hugging every curve. And fuck, does she have a lot of them. What I’d give to caress each one…

“What about? I’m kind of in a hurry.” Lena clicked her key fob, opened the door, threw her bag in, and started the engine. She had met me here this morning before we ran errands in my truck. Now I wished I’d picked her up so I could drive her home.

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