Page 10 of Craving the Mountain Man
She tilts her head, studying me with those green eyes that see too much. "Having a little fun. Blowing off steam."
For some reason that comment stung.
"That's all this is?"
She closes the gap between us, resting her palms on my chest. I can feel the heat of her hands through my shirt, can smell her shampoo and the lingering scent of sex.
"Unless you want it to be more."
I freeze.
She's giving me a choice, laying her cards on the table.
She looks up at me, eyes calm, curious. Open.
And fuck me, but I want to say yes.
Yes, I want more. Yes, I want to know what it would be like to wake up next to her every morning, to come home to her smile, to build something real in this place.
Except, she's leaving in a few days, and because her brother's flying in soon for his annual visit, and there's no way I can lookhim in the eye knowing what I've done. I've lived alone in these woods for a reason, and it's not just because I like the quiet.
It's because I don't do complicated. Because every time I've tried to build something with someone, it's fallen apart. Because I'm better at solitude than I am at love.
"Let's not overthink it," she says, softer now, reading the conflict in my expression. "We've got a few days. No strings. No expectations. Just... you and me."
She rises on her toes and presses her mouth to mine, slow, warm, lingering.
Whatever willpower I had left? Gone.
The taste of her, coffee and sweetness and want, destroys the last of my defenses. I lift her in one motion, and she wraps around me like she belongs there, like this is what we were always meant to be.
I carry her back to the bedroom, kicking the door shut behind us.
This time, I take it slower.
Lay her down on the bed. Kiss her until she’s squirming, begging, whispering things that make my blood boil.
And for a while, I believe the lie we're both telling ourselves.
That this ends when she leaves.
That I can walk away.
That this won't wreck me when she's gone.
But even as I hold her against me, feeling her heartbeat slow against my chest, I know the truth.
She's gotten under my skin, into my blood and when she leaves, because she will leave, she's going to take pieces of me I didn't even know I still had.
Chapter Five: Cassidy
I'm sore in the best way possible.
The kind of aching that comes from being kissed stupid and thoroughly ruined by a man who looks like he could chop down a forest with his bare hands. Every movement reminds me of what we did.
Evan Mills is everything I shouldn't want. And everything I do.
I've had lovers before. College boyfriends who fumbled around in dorm rooms. David, who thought he was God's gift but couldn't find my clit with a GPS. But none of them, none, made me feel the way Evan does.
