Page 41 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

But she didn’t give up.

She adjusted her grip. Shifted her stance. Swore under her breath.

There was this look in her eyes, determined, frustrated, but focused. Like she needed to prove something to herself more than anyone else.

And damn if that didn’t get to me.

Without thinking, I stepped in again. My hand wrapped around her wrist, adjusting her grip. The other landed lightly on her lower back to square her shoulders. Her breath hitched at the contact, but she didn’t pull away.

“You’re fighting it,” I said, low. “Let it move through you.”

She turned her head, looked up at me. Close. Too close.

“I don’t exactly have a lot of practice letting things move through me, Garrett,” she said, her voice soft.

My name in her mouth sounded different. Not sharp, just honest. Like she was raw and bleeding through.

Everything shifted in me. I felt deep and stupid and dangerous.

“Maybe it’s time you learned.”

She didn’t blink. Didn’t move. She held my gaze like she was trying to figure me out, like maybe I wasn’t what she expected either.

Finally, I stepped in.

I moved behind her, close enough to feel the heat rolling off her body despite the cold. My hands came down over hers on the axe handle, guiding her fingers, steadying her grip.

“Like this,” I murmured, my voice rougher than I intended.

She stiffened for half a second, then breathed in slow, like she was trying not to react.

But I felt it, the way her shoulders tensed under my hands, the subtle shift of her weight as she leaned back enough to register the space I took up behind her.

She smelled like vanilla and campfire smoke. Sweet and earthy. Delicious.

I adjusted her stance, the brush of her hips against mine a spark I didn’t ask for. I tried to focus. Tried to remember what the hell we were doing out here.

“Ready?” I asked, speaking into her ear.

She gave a quick nod. “Yeah.”

Together, we lifted the axe. I let her lead the motion this time, just enough guidance in my grip to keep her balanced.

Her breath hitched as the axe came down and split the wood clean in two.

She gasped, half-laugh, half-disbelief. “Holy shit. Did you see that?”

She turned to me, breathless, eyes bright. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, or maybe from the thrill of it, and her mouth was parted like she was still catching up to the moment.

I looked down at her. Couldn’t look away.

A sizzling flame crackled between us.

I didn’t think. I didn’t calculate or control. I just moved.

My mouth was on hers before either of us could stop it.

She made a soft, startled sound, but didn’t pull away. Her hands were still on the axe, pinned between us, but her body leaned into mine like it belonged there.

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