Page 4 of Her Mountain Man Neighbor
“Oh.” The girl smiles, her face lighting up, and for a second I feel like I’m being bathed in sunshine. “Well, that means I’m your neighbor too. I’m Grace.”
“Lucian.”
Grace reaches out a hand like she wants to shake mine, before retracting it when she realizes it’s still caked in mud.
“It’s really nice to meet you,” she says. “And I’m really, really grateful to you for saving me. I promise I’m not usually this dumb…or this muddy.”
I grunt, not sure what to say. Now that Grace is safe, it seems like her fear has washed away, replaced by a bright smile and sparkling eyes. I’m tongue-tied. Hell, I’ve never been good at talking to people, but it’s impossible to find the words when this beautiful woman is looking up at me so sweetly.
“You’re shivering,” I say eventually, noticing the way her body seems to vibrate against her sweater.
“Only a little.”
She’s covered in cold, wet mud. I need to get her back to Holden’s so she can warm up, but when I tell her this, she looks reluctant.
“I told them I’d be back in an hour,” she says, her teeth starting to chatter. “But, i-it’s only been thirty minutes. They’re not expecting me back yet.”
“So what?” I ask.
“Well, I l-left the house on purpose so that they could…”
“So that they could what?”
Grace’s cheeks pinken. “You know…do the deed.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I’m sure they’d rather stop having sex than let you freeze.”
She smiles at me jokingly. “I w-wouldn’t be so sure. You h-haven’t seen them together. They’re pretty l-loved up.”
I shake my head, beckoning her to follow me. “We’re not gonna sit and wait for you to get hypothermia. You need to get warm.”
She doesn’t argue. Instead, she nods and follows me into the trees, hugging herself for warmth. I move slowly, shortening my strides so she can keep up, making sure she stays close as we wind through the golden forest. I keep my face impassive as we walk, but inside, my head is spinning with thoughts.
Fuck.
Grace is so damn beautiful—there’s no escaping it. Every time I look at her, something sparks inside me, an electric current buzzing through my veins. I’ve never felt this way before—never reacted like this to a woman—and it’s making me fucking crazy. I can’t stop staring at her, snatching glances out of the corner of my eye. She’s a stranger, but I already feel drawn to her, a moth to a damn flame.
But it’s not right.
Not at all.
Grace is half my age, barely into her twenties, while I’m a middle-aged grump who just turned forty. Which means my new neighbor is strictly off-limits. I need to take her back to Holden’s cabin and forget about her. Forget about the way she’s stirring me up inside, making my heart squeeze tight every time our eyes meet.
I need to bury these feelings fast.
Before they consume me completely.
3
GRACE
I followLucian through the woods, rubbing my arms. Cold is seeping into my skin, my sodden clothes making me shiver. But despite my chattering teeth and the goosebumps erupting on my flesh, I barely notice. I’m too focused on the giant walking ahead of me. He clearly knows the forest like the back of his hand, and I watch as he moves effortlessly through the thick trees, his heavy footsteps crunching against the fallen leaves.
I’m pretty mortified about what happened at the river. I can still hear the water from here, and I cringe at myself, wondering why the heck I tried to make the jump. It was stupid. Reckless. I need to remember that I’m not in the Hamptons anymore. This isn’t my parents’ mansion, or the manicured acres around their property. This is Cherry Mountain. Untamed. Wild. As rugged as the man walking in front of me.
Lucian is just as hot from behind. I feel a throb of desire as I stare at his broad back, his tight ass—perfectly sculpted in a pair of blue jeans. Somehow being covered in mud only adds to his attractiveness, but I still feel terrible that he ruined his clothes because of me. Heck, I don’t think I could have made a worse first impression on him if I tried. No wonder he seems so grumpy. He must think I’m a walking, mud-covered disaster,and he’s not wrong…but I still want to redeem myself a little. I just need to get him talking.
“It’s beautiful out here,” I say brightly. “Have you lived here long?”
