Page 25 of Protected By The Mountain Man

Right before I came I breathlessly stuttered out, “You better watch out talking like that, West. Or you might find a woman moving in with you. Are you prepared to give up half your closet space?”

He grabbed my hips and pumped harder, right as I clenched around him, tightening, tightening, tightening…release. I flew off the earth and back.

Then there I was shattered and spent, clinging to the tiles on his shower wall, while he growled, “For you, Mia, I’d give up thewholecloset. Is that enough enticement?”

I could hardly talk, I was still orbiting from my orgasm, but I managed to say, “You make us sound like more than a vacation fling, West. Are you sure you want to lead a woman on like that?”

He was still hammering into me since he wasn’t done yet, but now he groaned low and guttural. Then he reached around and pinched my nipples hard as he released inside of me, his warm seed filling me up.

West sounded like he’d lost control completely, his breath like a runaway freight train going down a mountain, no brakes in sight.

He leaned against me, pinning me harder against the shower wall. We were both soaked and spent, warm water cascading down onto us.

When he could finally speak again he said, “Mia, whether we’re a vacation fling or something more is all in your hands. You’re the one with a time limit in place. Not me.”

Pulling out of me, he gently turned me around until I was facing him.

The shower water was running down his body and his eyes held a softness in them that I wasn’t used to seeing from a man. How could such a strong, burly guy have a look like that on his face?

He drifted his hands up to my cheeks and murmured, “We should be crazy. We should see this through. The courthouse is open. We could get married today. Then see what we can make of us. There’s a connection here that I’ve never felt before. You tell me if you don’t feel it too, because I think you do. Tell me you do.”

I lost the ability to talk.

West looked like he was being completely, totally, sincere right now.

No man hadeverproposed to me before.

And it wasn’t like I’d been hunting for love. I’d just figured it might have passed me by.

But here he was.

My mountain man.

My hero.

The one I’d been waiting for my entire life.

“My friends would think I’m crazy.”

His eyes hooded over.

“This isn’t about yourfriends. This is about us. Don’t leave. Stay with me. We can figure anything out if we work on it together.”

Sometimes life gives you an opportunity. And it’s up to you what you decide to make of it.

This was crazy.

But it was also exhilarating.

And what did I have to go back to? Great friends, for sure. But I could visit them.

My dad had been the only family keeping me in Chicago, and he was gone now. The rest of my family was scattered around the country.

My job was ending soon.

And I could sublet my apartment until my lease was up.

West was… possible.

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