Page 9 of Protected By The Mountain Man

“Yeah. It, uh, got me in the sternum.” The kayak had felt a lot heavier landing on me than it had when I’d been steering it through the water. And it wasn’t exactly true that it had hit me in the sternum. The damn thing had smacked straight into my tits. They were aching now, but I knew I’d live.

He took a visual assessment of me and barked out, “Sit down for the rest of the ride. The water’s getting choppy. I don’t want you to fall overboard.”

I clutched my bag and meekly said, “Okay.”

Where was the warrior woman now? Somehow, this adventure had turned intotoomuch adventure. I just wanted dry land under my feet again.

But at least there was a Red Oak Mountain hottie bringing me to safety. I’d have a story to tell in my hotel room later on tonight.

Kaitlyn and Susan will never believe what happened.

I snuck another glance at West as he steered the boat across the lake. He was gorgeous.

Strong. Confident. Fearless.

If I was being honest with myself I felt almost awestruck over him. He was one of those hero types you see in movies but never run across in real life.

Plus, he had a hell of a mountain man ass on him. I studied it fondly while he boated me to safety.

Chapter 4

West

When the kayak had landed on top of her, my first instinct had been fear that she’d been hurt. But then her legs had splayed wide and all I could do was stare at her sweet, sweet pussy on display.

All forme.

I’d done better than catch a few fish today. I’d caught myself a beautiful mermaid named Mia.

But the lake wasn’t safe today.

If it weren’t for her, my boat would be tied to my dock right now, and I’d be on my back porch sipping a brew while I watched the storm roll by.

Instead, we were both in the middle of it, driving in the wrong direction.

When I got her to shore, I was going to have to anchor my boat and beg a ride home from her. It was a good thing we’d found the kayak with her car key in it, otherwise both of us would have been stranded on the shore.

I figured she’d be good enough to give me a ride back home after I stopped to pick her up like this. I glanced at her, still trying to figure out how she’d landed herself in this mess.

She was brave and perhaps a little foolhardy to go kayaking by herself on a lake like this, with no prior knowledge of the topography.

And obviously she hadn’t checked the weather beforehand or she wouldn’t have been out here today. It’s not like this storm was a surprise. It had been in the forecast for the last three days.

Focus.

I pulled up the anchor and got the boat moving again. With the rain pelting down like this, it was time to seek cover, and we were still at least fifteen or twenty minutes from the main shore.

I checked in on her a few times during the boat ride. Mia had a brave look on her face, but there was a tiny bit of fear hiding in the corner of her eyes.

“We’re almost there,” I told her as I spotted the main shore.

She visibly breathed a sigh of relief, and some of the nervousness I sensed in her dissipated.

We weren’t in the clear yet, but we were close. The one thing I knew is I didn’t like boating in storms. It had happened before. Sometimes weather rolled up out of nowhere. But usually, if a person was diligent, they could avoid bad weather on the open water. Only a fool rode around on a boat in weather like this.

I got my boat as close to the shore as I felt comfortable, and dropped two anchors to keep it steady.

But there would still be a hell of a swim for both of us. I knew I could handle it, but I wasn’t sure about her. We were about fifty feet out. And with the way the waves were thrashing, I didn’t like the idea of her being in the water.

---