Page 7 of Loved By the Mountain Man

A delicious shiver goes through my body at the thought, and now I know for sure that I’m crazy.

It’s an adventure, I tell myself. And the whole point of leaving home and taking this crazy-ass journey was to have an adventure. It might be foolish, yes, but my skin is tingling all over with excitement. Follow the adventure is my motto for the road, and going up the mountain with a hot mountain man is about the biggest adventure you can have.

Besides, Angie couldn’t stop singing Kobe’s praises. She said I was in safe hands and he was a proper gentleman. Which is kind of disappointing. I think I’d quite like him not to be a gentleman.

So here we are, with my bag hastily packed and Kobe gallantly carrying it to his pickup truck.

I swing my arms against the cold. I haven’t had a chance to pick up a winter coat yet. I thought I’d have more time before the weather closed in, but Mr. Mountain Man predicts a storm.

He throws my bag into the backseat and pulls open my door. But before I can get in, he stops me with his hand on my shoulder.

I’m turn around casually as if his touch hasn’t just set off a hundred nerve endings singing through my body.

“Put this on.”

He slides out of his coat and hands it to me. He’s only got a long sleeve T-shirt on underneath that clings to him, showing off every delicious muscular curve.

I noticed a slight limp as we walked over to his truck, which has piqued my curiosity. I want to know how he got the scar on his cheek, why he walks with a limp, and how those defined abs feel when I run my fingers over them.

“Won’t you be cold?” I draw my gaze way from his abs and up to his chiseled face.

“I’m used to it.”

Gratefully, I shrug on his coat and slide into his truck.

We leave the small town behind and head up a winding mountain road. Mountain man knows what he’s talking about when it comes to weather, because the snow gets heavier as soon as we set off.

“You live alone?”

I cringe as soon as I’ve said it. It sounds like I’m fishing for information rather than making conversation. Although I can’t help holding my breath waiting for his answer.

“Yup. Just me and the mountain.”

He’s not got a wife. I don’t know why that makes me so happy. I’ve just met the guy. His fingers drum the steering wheel, and I can’t keep my gaze off those hands, so big and rough. I wonder what he does with them all day.

“Do you work up here?”

“Yup.”

He’s a bit of a one word kind of guy, so I’m surprised when he starts talking in more than one sentence answers. Kobe tells me about his carpentry business, making furniture in the mountains and coming down to help with repairs and maintenance in the town.

I like to hear him talk. His soft, rumbly voice is soothing and comforting. The snow falls silently around us, and my eyelids start to feel heavy.

I don’t know how long I doze for, but I’m startled awake by the crunch of gravel as we turn into a driveway.

“You awake, Sleeping Beauty?”

Ohh, I like the way that sounds on his lips.

“Sorry.” I turn away discreetly, wiping my mouth in case I was dribbling, which would be totes embarrassing.

Snow is falling heavily now, and the windscreen wipers are on full bore. I can just make out a wooden cabin peeking out from between the snow-laden fir trees, its slanted roof heavy with pure white snow.

The snow is thick on the ground but his truck plows through it easily, coming to a stop in front of the cabin. The pieces all slot perfectly together and a string of fairy lights illuminates the porch, with two chairs on the deck facing out to the forest. A warm feeling grows in the pit of my stomach and rises up to fill my chest. It’s like déjà vu, as if I’ve been here before, which is ridiculous because I never have. Or maybe it’s the opposite of déjà vu. Maybe I know that this is where I will return to many times.

“It's beautiful.”

I step out of the truck, and with the snow falling, I feel like I’m in a Christmas movie. Kobe grabs my bag, and I follow him into the cabin.

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