Page 2
Story: Ferocious Mountain Man
I didn’t want to stare her down and make her uncomfortable. I was basically going for a polite but disinterested vibe.
“Just until Sunday,” she said. “We could only take the weekend off. I’m not really interested in him personally. My friend Andi is sure he’ll take one look at her and fall madly in love. She’s convinced they’re soulmates.”
I nearly laughed out loud at that one. Soulmates. She’d based that on seeing a video of him. A video where he wasn’t even talking. We knew nothing about him except he looked good without a shirt and he could wield an axe like nobody’s business.
“I’m going to shoot some video and post it online,” she said. “Kind of like a scavenger hunt.”
Except the guy was a human being. I felt a little bad for him, being treated like a piece of meat. Okay, so women had been treated that way for centuries. But there was something about this guy that made it bug me. A kindness in his features. It sounded ridiculous, even to myself, since his face had been barely visible as he chopped wood, but I saw something in his eyes.
Yeah, maybe I was fangirling a little myself.
“Well, good luck,” the woman said, giving a half wave as she barged out of the bathroom.
I opened my mouth to say, “Wait,” but what exactly was I going to do to keep her here? I had a whole list of questions I’d planned to ask, and I’d blown it. And the bar would be closing soon. It was late as heck.
I was shaking my head as I tried to map out a new plan on the drive back up the mountain. It was Friday night. The woman I’d just met was here until Sunday. That was probably the case with a lot of the groupies who’d come to town looking for him.
I’d get my story. I’d wait until tomorrow and head to the camp, maybe blend in and pretend I was one of them.
I should have stayed there all along. But I’d gotten some good shots earlier today of the Hardwood Hottie doing yard work. It had taken everything in me to keep those pictures to myself. I’d share them with the world soon enough.
My mind was set to climb into the cushy sleeping bag on the air mattress inside my tent, but my heart stopped when I pulled onto the familiar dirt patch. It was gone. All of it. My gigantic bright red tent and, as far as I could tell, all its internal contents—including my makeup bag and changes of clothes. Someone had stolen it all.
I had to call the police. I’d file a report. But what good would that do? I’d be stuck here with only my purse, phone, wallet, and lip balm. Oh yeah, and my car. I still had my car.
I scanned the area, looking for signs of anyone who might have been a witness. Who was I kidding? There was nothing out here but trees and owls and birds. And maybe a bear somewhere in those woods.
Something else was out here, though. Another person. The man standing on the front porch of his cabin. A man who was very definitely the Hardwood Hottie.
He was staring right at me, holding what I assumed was a bottle of beer in one hand. His other hand was shoved into the front pocket of his jeans. Did he have a smile on his face? I was pretty sure he did.
I took a deep breath, shoved my phone in my back pocket, settled my purse on my hip, and started walking. This guy knew something, and I was going to find out what it was.
2
RAFE
Had a trespasser ever been so freaking beautiful?
No. The answer to that was no. There wasn’t a woman alive who was this beautiful. Not that I’d seen, anyway.
Her long, thick auburn hair stood out in the moonlight as she walked. Those enormous tits bounced with each step. She probably wore a bra. I was pretty sure she did, despite the bouncing. There was no containing a chest that big.
I took a sip of beer, trying to look cool, calm, and collected. Maybe the cold liquid could help with what was going on inside my body. Things were heating up in a very inconvenient way right now.
“Did you see it?” she asked. “You had to have seen something. Someone stole all my stuff.”
I lowered the bottle, swallowing the gulp I’d just taken. She thought some stranger had come in and stolen all her stuff? That was a weird way to go, but maybe she had no idea how safe it was. Since she obviously wasn’t from here, that was highly likely. In fact, she had “city girl” written all over her.
She stopped in front of me, and her expression changed. Her gaze swept my entire body before it returned to my face. Her jaw dropped. She liked what she saw.
Right now, I was exhausted with being treated like a piece of meat. But her appraisal was different. Her opinion of me mattered.
“Someone didn’t take your stuff, darling. Not a thief, anyway.”
I second-guessed my words as soon as they were out of my mouth. Calling her darling…well, that sounded a little condescending, didn’t it? I definitely didn’t mean it that way. It was a term of endearment. And I definitely felt endeared to her, whatever the hell that word meant.
But my cute little pet name was the least of her worries right now. That was clear in the way she narrowed her eyes at me and asked, “What do you mean, by ‘not a thief.’ Someone else took my stuff?” Silence. Then she tilted her head. “Did you take my stuff?”
“Just until Sunday,” she said. “We could only take the weekend off. I’m not really interested in him personally. My friend Andi is sure he’ll take one look at her and fall madly in love. She’s convinced they’re soulmates.”
I nearly laughed out loud at that one. Soulmates. She’d based that on seeing a video of him. A video where he wasn’t even talking. We knew nothing about him except he looked good without a shirt and he could wield an axe like nobody’s business.
“I’m going to shoot some video and post it online,” she said. “Kind of like a scavenger hunt.”
Except the guy was a human being. I felt a little bad for him, being treated like a piece of meat. Okay, so women had been treated that way for centuries. But there was something about this guy that made it bug me. A kindness in his features. It sounded ridiculous, even to myself, since his face had been barely visible as he chopped wood, but I saw something in his eyes.
Yeah, maybe I was fangirling a little myself.
“Well, good luck,” the woman said, giving a half wave as she barged out of the bathroom.
I opened my mouth to say, “Wait,” but what exactly was I going to do to keep her here? I had a whole list of questions I’d planned to ask, and I’d blown it. And the bar would be closing soon. It was late as heck.
I was shaking my head as I tried to map out a new plan on the drive back up the mountain. It was Friday night. The woman I’d just met was here until Sunday. That was probably the case with a lot of the groupies who’d come to town looking for him.
I’d get my story. I’d wait until tomorrow and head to the camp, maybe blend in and pretend I was one of them.
I should have stayed there all along. But I’d gotten some good shots earlier today of the Hardwood Hottie doing yard work. It had taken everything in me to keep those pictures to myself. I’d share them with the world soon enough.
My mind was set to climb into the cushy sleeping bag on the air mattress inside my tent, but my heart stopped when I pulled onto the familiar dirt patch. It was gone. All of it. My gigantic bright red tent and, as far as I could tell, all its internal contents—including my makeup bag and changes of clothes. Someone had stolen it all.
I had to call the police. I’d file a report. But what good would that do? I’d be stuck here with only my purse, phone, wallet, and lip balm. Oh yeah, and my car. I still had my car.
I scanned the area, looking for signs of anyone who might have been a witness. Who was I kidding? There was nothing out here but trees and owls and birds. And maybe a bear somewhere in those woods.
Something else was out here, though. Another person. The man standing on the front porch of his cabin. A man who was very definitely the Hardwood Hottie.
He was staring right at me, holding what I assumed was a bottle of beer in one hand. His other hand was shoved into the front pocket of his jeans. Did he have a smile on his face? I was pretty sure he did.
I took a deep breath, shoved my phone in my back pocket, settled my purse on my hip, and started walking. This guy knew something, and I was going to find out what it was.
2
RAFE
Had a trespasser ever been so freaking beautiful?
No. The answer to that was no. There wasn’t a woman alive who was this beautiful. Not that I’d seen, anyway.
Her long, thick auburn hair stood out in the moonlight as she walked. Those enormous tits bounced with each step. She probably wore a bra. I was pretty sure she did, despite the bouncing. There was no containing a chest that big.
I took a sip of beer, trying to look cool, calm, and collected. Maybe the cold liquid could help with what was going on inside my body. Things were heating up in a very inconvenient way right now.
“Did you see it?” she asked. “You had to have seen something. Someone stole all my stuff.”
I lowered the bottle, swallowing the gulp I’d just taken. She thought some stranger had come in and stolen all her stuff? That was a weird way to go, but maybe she had no idea how safe it was. Since she obviously wasn’t from here, that was highly likely. In fact, she had “city girl” written all over her.
She stopped in front of me, and her expression changed. Her gaze swept my entire body before it returned to my face. Her jaw dropped. She liked what she saw.
Right now, I was exhausted with being treated like a piece of meat. But her appraisal was different. Her opinion of me mattered.
“Someone didn’t take your stuff, darling. Not a thief, anyway.”
I second-guessed my words as soon as they were out of my mouth. Calling her darling…well, that sounded a little condescending, didn’t it? I definitely didn’t mean it that way. It was a term of endearment. And I definitely felt endeared to her, whatever the hell that word meant.
But my cute little pet name was the least of her worries right now. That was clear in the way she narrowed her eyes at me and asked, “What do you mean, by ‘not a thief.’ Someone else took my stuff?” Silence. Then she tilted her head. “Did you take my stuff?”