Page 2 of Crushing on the Mountain Man

“No, it’s just me. I’ve come to fix up Gran’s cabin. We might rent it out or sell it.”

“Is gran okay?” The old woman had always welcomed me, fed me, she was close with my family. She had the cabin next door for as long as I could remember. And when the Barns family stopped coming here for summer, old Gran just came on her own so I always checked in on her.

“She’s fine. Just getting older and we don’t like her coming out here on her own. We are trying to get her into an assisted living place but she is fighting it.”

“I bet she is.” That old woman wouldn’t like to be cooped up in a home. She’s got a wild spirit that I can relate to. A need to be free.

I look down at the items Brandy has put on the counter. A deadbolt, a padlock, pepper spray and a can of beans. This isn’t the sort of place where people lock their doors. Or feel the need for defensive weapons. I frown. A feeling of protectiveness coming over me. I don’t like the idea of little Brandy Barns alone and scared. I don’t like it at all.

I look at Brandy and her face tells me she doesn’t want to discuss her purchases. Tight lips, a slight blush of color on her face. I bag up the items and hand them to her with a smile.

“Now I know you’re back in the cabin, I’ll have to stop by and say hello. We could go out on the boat or jump off the jetty like old times.”

She shakes her head. “I’ll be busy. I’m not here for a holiday. There is lots to do to fix up the cabin.”

“Well, maybe I’ll just check in and make sure everything is okay. If you need me I’m usually around here or I’m staying in the cabin at the back of the property.”

“You’re not staying in the house?”

Now it’s my turn to shake my head and hand her her shopping, not wanting to answer her questions.

As Brandy leaves I still can’t believe she is all grown up. She was my friend's little kid sister. Absolutely determined not to be left out or left behind. She fished with us, swam, built forts, jumped off rocks. Everything.

With her comment about the house reminds me I should go check in on it. It’s not good to leave the old place empty and unused for so long.

It’s a point of pride that I don’t live in the family house. Not that it matters. It’s just one of many houses owned by the family. And I am still on Kingsley land. But it matters to me. To show them I don’t care about that life. I can do without their houses, their money, their obligations.

Chapter 3

Brandy

Seeing Knox makes me feel fourteen again. God, I had such a crush on him. He and his family own the big stone lake house. Gran’s little cabin sits right on the border of the back of their land. The Kingsley family had four boys. Pierce and Carter were older, in their early twenties. But Knox was the same age as my brother and Wesley just two years older. Those boys would explore the lake and have adventures.

I was the little kid sister running after them. My mom would have preferred I stayed clean and in nice dresses, even on a mountain lake holiday! Luckily she had my little sister to fawn over otherwise I’m sure I would have been trapped with the grown ups. But given the choice of staying with my mom and sister or having wild, messy adventures with the boys. The choice back then was easy.

I’d been ten years old the first summer we came here. The family in their big stone house fascinated me. Four boys who seemed to run wild and do whatever they pleased. I’m not sure when it happened. But by our third summer at the lake I was well and truly smitten with Knox.

I loved the way his hair fell over his forehead. How he would always yell out as he jumped off the rocks. His pure love oflife. But there was a quiet, sensitive side to him too. Unlike his brother Wesley, who was always laughing, there were nights around the fire when Knox would talk about his father’s rage. The family obligations. What it was like trying to live up to his older brothers, the family expectations.

Knox wanted to run away from it all. And I loved him fiercely for everything he had to go through.

Of course, that was just childish emotions. Teenage hormones. Nobody actually falls in love at fourteen. At least, that’s what my mother told me.

But still, it’s been over ten years and one conversation with Knox and all those old feelings come rushing back. Along with some new ones. Like how much he has grown. A man now, with broad shoulders, toned, tanned muscular arms. A flat stomach. Big, strong thighs obvious through the long swimming shorts.

He still has the greatest hair. Wavy light brown, lightened by the sun. It falls over his forehead still and curls at the ends. It’s the kind of hair you want to run your fingers through. Just to touch it.

And if touching is allowed. My fingers itch to touch his golden tanned skin. Explore just how wide his chest is now. How it would feel to run my hands over his shoulders. I wonder if those arms could pick me up and carry me as he did once when I cut my foot on some glass as a kid.

But, he is not the only one who has grown up. I grew up a little too much. My thighs are chubby, I have a belly and my boobs jiggle no matter how much I invest in bras.

No, I don’t think I’ll be swimming or boating with Knox. It is true, that I have too much to do. But the truth is, I would beembarrassed for him to see me in a swimsuit now. The fact that he just got hotter as he got older is even more reason for me to keep my thunder thighs to myself.

The very next day I answer a knock at the cabin door to find Knox there grinning at me. Just the vision of him in the morning light takes my breath away.

“Thought I’d come by and see for myself the state of this old place.”

As he steps into the cabin it makes the space feel smaller. Intimate. He stands looking around. You can see almost everything from this spot. Back in the day, his family would host dinners and barbecues and I remember walking through the stone house in awe of all the space, the different rooms, the size of the kitchen. One whole side of his place was windows looking out to the river and letting light flood in.

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