Page 7 of Wounded Mountain Man

“Where are you taking me?” I asked.

If he said home, I’d tell him I didn’t want to go home. But then what? Just stay here all night? Sleep on his couch?

No, I wanted to sleep in his bed, which was alarming, considering I’d never wanted to sleep with a guy before. Not seriously. I was a virgin, and once he found out, he probably wouldn’t want just a meaningless fling. That wasn’t what I wanted, either. But I was pretty sure a guy like him would run for the hills at the thought of deflowering me.

“I’m going to take you to the most scenic overlook in this particular area,” he said. “And then I’m going to give you the ride of your life.”

At those words, heat went straight to the area between my legs. He was coming on to me. I’d have to tell him the truth about my lack of experience with riding a man. But I could do that later, once we got where we were going.

I wadded up my hamburger wrapper, snatched up my phone, and started scooting out of the booth. “Let’s go.”

4

DUKE

Nothing in my life had ever felt better than Jessalyn’s arms around me as we rode toward the most beautiful view in town.Shewas the most beautiful view in town, actually, and now that we’d introduced ourselves and I knew her name, I realized just how right it felt being with her.

I pulled into the parking lot next to the overlook, breathing a sigh of relief to find it deserted. That didn’t mean it would stay deserted, but this time of night, it was unlikely we’d have company. Besides, it was so quiet up here, I’d hear a vehicle coming well in advance.

“Here we are,” I said after I cut the engine, allowing the silence to surround us.

She held on a little longer than she had to. Did that mean she enjoyed this too? I planned to find other reasons to have her body against mine by the time the night was through.

“Wow,” she said, looking around as I helped her off the bike. “This is just…wow.”

“I had a feeling you’d like it. I guess none of your customers have had you drive them all the way up here?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “I don’t get to see any beautiful scenery. Most of my pickups are at the lodge. Occasionally, I’ll get a glimpse of the mountains when I’m picking up someone at their cabin, though.”

“I come up here when I need to clear my head. Or when I just need a change of scenery.”

That probably sounded weird to her—that a guy who lived completely alone and had very few interactions with other humans might need to go somewhere to get away. But the walls of the RV felt like they were closing in on me sometimes. And if it was between coming up here, looking out at the mountains across the way, or going down to the bar and being surrounded by people, I’d take the view any day of the week.

“I’m going to take a look,” she said.

She started walking, and I opened my mouth to stop her. I didn’t want her to get too close to the ledge. This weird overprotective urge had taken over, and I didn’t know what to do with it.

I wanted to keep her safe. I wanted to put my arms around her and make sure nothing ever harmed her. And that wasn’t like me at all. The caring side of me had been wiped out about a decade ago, when I had a large chunk of my leg taken out by shrapnel during my first deployment.

“This seems like the kind of place that would attract teenagers,” she said, turning to face me.

I was only a couple of feet away now—close enough to reach out and touch her. Which was exactly what I wanted to do. But I kept my hands firmly at my sides.

“You know, for making out and stuff,” she said.

“There aren’t too many teenagers in this town yet. But that’ll change soon enough.”

She nodded slowly. “That makes sense. This place really started growing about a decade ago, right?”

“Maybe a little longer. Still not long enough for all the mountain men who’ve met women to have teenagers. So maybe there’ll be a demand for high school teachers.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled. “I like the way you think.”

I didn’t know what she liked about it, but I’d take it. I’d take anything she liked about me.

Fuck, I was getting attached. I really liked her. More than liked her. I wanted her. I needed her. I could see myself getting addicted to having her around.

How had that happened so quickly? I’d never felt anything like it before.

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