Page 4 of Cozy with the Mountain Man
Deep down inside, she was mine.
And she wasn’t going anywhere. Not if I had anything to do with it.
But if she found out about the darkness in my past, would she even want me?
CHAPTER THREE
Emilia
Rowan might’ve beenfrigid on the outside, yet it didn’t turn me away. If anything, it turned me the hell on.
I wanted to crack him open and dig deep inside to find out what he was all about.
Why did he live all alone in this big, remote cabin? Or did he live alone? Was there a wife or girlfriend around? Perhaps his mom or dad lived here? So many questions swirled in my head.
The biggest one?
Why did I want to know so much about him? Why him?
The want, the need, the urge was there. I needed to figure outwhy.
Thankfully, Louie worked his cuteness magic and got us inside. Never in my life before had I been so thankful to feel the warmth from the roaring fire.
The icy chill melted from my bones as I watched Rowan and Louie bonding. He loved belly rubs and attention, both of which Rowan was giving him plenty of.
Okay, focus, Jules. You need to get home.
I sat back down on the plush loveseat and tapped the screen on my phone. I brought up Hailey’s phone number on the call app, my finger hovering above the numbers.
“Are you hungry? I have beef stew in the crock pot. I bet Louie wouldn’t mind a piece of beef.”
His deep voice startled me, and I dropped my phone. I grabbed it quickly, my cheeks growing hot.
Can he cook?
Is this a dream right now?
A man as hot as he can cook?!
Okay, that sounded rude. But I loved to cook and always hoped to meet a man who enjoyed it, too. Not that Rowan was the guy I was looking for or anything. I had stopped looking, basically, when dating became a chore and focused more on myself and my career as a writer.
“But I thought you said five minutes?” I asked when, really, I wanted to say please feed me some of your beef stew and then lick my naked body all night long.
Rowan scratched behind Louie’s ears. “I can’t send you guys back out into that storm. It’ll be dark soon. No one’s going anywhere until tomorrow. I doubt they’d even send a tow this far up.”
I squirmed in my seat, the heat from his gaze burning right through me. “Shit. I screwed up.”
“It’s okay. It happens to the best of us.” His mouth lifted in a half smile, but it was more than I’d seen from him all night. I’d happily take it.
“Are you sure? You didn’t seem like you wanted company,” I asked with hesitation in my voice. “I’m sure my friend will meet me with her boyfriend and?—”
“No. It’s too dangerous. For you, your friend, whoever. You can spend the night here. You can take my bed, and I’ll sleepon the couch, or I can make up the guest bed. I’ll set up some blankets for Louie, too.”
“But this is too much. A few minutes ago, you didn’t want us in here longer than five minutes.”
“Forget what I said five minutes ago. There’s no way I’m sending you out there or asking someone to risk their life coming here. The weather forecast wasn’t right. This is a lot more snow than they predicted.”
The roughness in his voice sent desire coursing through me, my skin tingling, my core aching, my thoughts wild with what sex with him would be like. I imagined he could easily throw me around despite my full figure.
