Page 5 of Tempted By the Mountain Man
“Do you want me to build us a fire? I could take my shirt off when I do it,” he says with a flirty wink over his shoulder, and I can’t help but laugh.
“Nah, that’s okay.”
“The offer stands. If you change your mind later.”
“Thanks,” I say, rolling my eyes. “Have you always been such a gentleman?”
“Always,” he says as he puts the orange juice in the fridge and closes the door.
“So, you’re really okay with taking the couch tonight then?”
“Sure, unless you’d rather share the bed.”
“No, that’s alright.”
He just laughs as I spin away from the kitchen and head toward the bedroom door.
“I’m going to take a shower,” he calls out to me.
“And you want me to help wash your back?” I blurt out and I freeze as soon as the words leave my mouth.
I have no idea where that came from. I’ve never been so bold or forward before in my life.
“Are you coming on to me?” Amos asks and I steel myself before I turn to face him. As soon as my eyes meet his bright green ones, I feel myself swaying toward him and I have to curl my hands into fists, my fingernails stinging as they dig into my palms to resist my feelings for him.
“No, of course not.”
He raises one black eyebrow at me and I clear my throat. My whole body feels too warm, like I’m overheating and I can’t tell if it’s from embarrassment or my attraction to him.
“I’m going to turn in for the night,” I tell him and he nods.
I head into the bedroom and start to dig through my bag for some pajamas. I wish that I had something nicer, something sexier than the threadbare tank top and old shorts that are just a little too short and too tight.
Amos heads into the bathroom, the door closing quietly behind him and a second later the shower turns on, the old pipes creaking slightly from the water pressure. I do my best to ignore the image forming in my head of a naked and wet Amos, but it’s hard. I’m honestly a little surprised at how vivid the image is and I close my eyes, taking a few deep breaths to try to get my sudden libido under control.
I pull on my pajamas and brush my hair out, braiding the thick locks into a braid that hangs over my shoulder. I set my toiletry bag next to my suitcase on the dresser just as the water turns off next door.
I still feel like I’m going to overheat, but I try to ignore that. I just need to brush my teeth and wash my face and then I’ll be ready for bed and I can forget about the attractive stranger sleeping in the next room.
I grab my toiletry bag and head toward the bathroom right as the door opens. I’m expecting Amos to say goodnight and disappear into the living room. What I’m not expecting is for him to step out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam with only a towel wrapped around his toned waist.
Water droplets cling to his tan skin and my mouth drops open. For one terrible second, I worry that my tongue is hanging out of my mouth like a dog that just spotted a juicy bone.
My eyes don’t know where to look. I try to focus on his green eyes, but I keep straying down to his chest, to the corded muscles of his shoulders or biceps. They run over the dips and bumps of his six-pack and I feel out of place in my XXL pajama set.
How is a guy as hot and ripped as Amos into a curvy girl like me?
I close my mouth, forcing my eyes up to his and keeping them locked there. He’s smiling at me and I’m realizing that he must do that a lot. He’s young, probably only a few years older than me, but there are faint laugh lines already forming around his mouth and smile lines forming by his eyes. It’s obvious that he laughs and grins a lot.
Why do I find that so hot?
“All done?” I ask, my voice coming out a little strangled. I hold my toiletry bag up, using it like a shield to hide my nipples trying to poke through the old shirt for his attention.
“Yeah,” he says and his voice sounds just as gravelly as mine does.
His eyes dip to my chest and then my legs and I’m surprised when I see his eyes darken. It seems that I don’t need fancy lingerie to seduce a man. At least not to seduce Amos.
He looks up, his eyes clinging to mine and the look that I see in their depths has the breath stalling in my lungs. I’ve never had anyone look at me like that. Like I’m all that they want. Like I’m the center of their whole world.
