Page 5 of Cherished by the Fearless Mountain Man (Lumberjacks of Timber Peak Valley #5)

Brock

I hear the front door shut, and the soft crunch of her footsteps on gravel fades before they circle back toward the cabin.

It only now hits me. She’s staying. Willa will be here in my cabin tonight. After the sun goes down.

Shit. The stabbing pain in my leg is nothing compared to the dread of spending an entire evening and night with her.

Not because I don’t want her company, but because I don’t trust myself.

I’ll have to keep myself from reaching out and caressing her hands.

From leaning in and kissing her goddamn sexy lips. Will have to—

My thoughts are interrupted by the door opening again. Willa steps inside, clutching a medical bag like she’s prepping for a full-blown stakeout. She looks determined, but also guilty.

“I need to tell you something,” she says, chin raised high.

I raise an eyebrow. “That bad, huh? You think I’m going to croak within the next hour?”

She doesn’t laugh. Fuck. Am I seriously in worse shape than I thought?

“No, you’re not croaking on my watch, Brock. But…” She squares her shoulders. “It’s not standard procedure to stay overnight with patients. Not like this. I lied because I was worried something would go wrong if I didn’t stay. I knew you’d say no if I was honest.”

“Let me get this straight. You lied to stay and keep an eye on me?”

She blinks, looking scared. Shit. Does she think I’m going to reprimand her or something? I’d never do that to her.

“Willa, stay. Seriously.”

“Seriously?”

I nod. “You already went through the effort of bringing in that extra bag from the car. It would be a shame to waste that effort, right?” I joke. “So yeah, stay. I don’t mind.”

“You’re not mad?”

I suck in a sharp breath of air. “I could never be mad at you.”

“Thanks.”

“You don’t have other patients tonight?” I ask.

She shakes her head. “Just you.”

“All right then, Willa. Guess I’m all yours,” I say, unable to keep from smiling like an idiot.

We both look at each other for a couple of seconds, neither of us sure of what to say or do next. I can see the cogs turn in Willa’s head.

“I’m making us dinner,” she says and heads to the kitchen without waiting for my reply.

Thirty minutes later, she’s whipped up a pasta. It tastes amazing, and I clear my entire plate. But then, we don’t know what to do. It all feels so domestic.

“You want to watch a movie or something? Or do I have to undergo additional medical exams before you clear me to turn on the TV?” I joke.

She laughs and rolls her eyes at me in amusement. “A movie sounds perfect.”

“Any preferences?” I ask, handing her the remote after turning on the TV.

She sits next to me and scrolls through the offers on the streaming services I pay for. Mere minutes later, the opening credits of a movie roll by.

I don’t know what the fuck we’re watching or which actors star in it, though. All I can focus on is how close Willa is sitting to me. So close that I catch her floral scent. So close that I feel her body heat, warming me like a damn fire on a cold mountain night.

It could also be the fever that’s warming me, of course.

Before I can second-guess myself, I slide my arm over her shoulders. She doesn’t stiffen or swat my arm away. Instead, she snuggles closer, and it feels like she was made to fit right next to me. My breath hitches, but I keep my eyes on the screen, pretending I’m watching the damn movie.

She lets out a soft, contented sigh, and something inside me shifts.

Maybe it’s the fever, maybe it’s being this close to her, maybe it’s hearing her sigh happily and wanting to hear more of it.

Whatever it is, I’m not about to fight it anymore.

I’ve wanted her since the day she walked in here.

Since we shared cupcakes from Sweet Peak Retreat.

Since I saw her gorgeous laugh light up her face the first time we met.

It’s been amazing, but it’s not enough. I want more.

I want it all.

I want her.

And the funny thing is, I’m not nervous. I’m fearless. Because if my instincts are right, I just know Willa wants this too.

I shift carefully, mindful of the stabbing pain in my leg, but every second I hesitate feels like wasted time.

I can’t wait any longer. I turn toward her slowly, letting my hand slide from her shoulder to cup her jaw.

Her eyes grow wide as they meet mine, but she doesn’t look offended or disgusted. She looks hopeful. Happy.

I arch an eyebrow as a question, and she gives me the tiniest of nods, a puff of air escaping her lips. She licks them, and I lose all constraints. I lean in, and our lips meet with an intensity that steals the breath right out of me.

Her hand finds my chest, steadying herself against me. I shift again and wince with pain, but she doesn’t pull away. Instead, she leans into me, her hands threading through my hair, her tongue pushing past my lips.

“Are you okay?” she asks as I wince again when a sharp stab cuts through my leg.

I nod. “More than okay, Willa.”

She pulls back enough to study my face. “I should stop. You’re still healing, and I’m supposed to be taking care of you, not—”

“Not what?” My hand cups her cheek, and I let my thumb trace the curve of her jaw.

“Not making me feel more alive than I have in months? I’ve wanted this since the day you walked into my cabin,” I whisper.

“Wanted you since you started bossing me around about taking my medications and staying off my feet.”

A soft laugh escapes her lips. “I don’t boss you around.”

“You absolutely do.” I lean forward, ignoring the protest from my injured leg. “And I love every second of it.”

“Well, sure, because you don’t even listen to me. Climbing a ladder with that wound…” She shakes her head, but she’s still smiling like crazy. “I want you, too, Brock. So much. You’ve all I’ve thought about since I first set foot in here. But I’m your nurse. There are boundaries.”

“Boundaries,” I repeat, my lips brushing against hers. “What boundaries?”

She doesn’t answer. Instead, she closes the distance between us again, kissing me with the same hunger and need I’m feeling. When I shift and grunt softly from the pain, she breaks away with concern written across her face.

“We need to be more careful,” she murmurs, her hand still tangled in my hair. “I can’t have you reopening those sutures because of me.”

“Then you better follow the old adage about kiss and make better ,” I say with a grin that makes her laugh.

“That’s not how medicine works, Brock.”

“Are you sure? Because I’m feeling remarkably better already. You’re doing a fantastic job as my home nurse, Willa. Taking care of me in ways I didn’t even know I needed.”

Her cheeks flush. “You’re making it very hard to stay professional when all I want to do is—” She stops and bites her bottom lip.

“All you want to do is what?”

She looks up at me, her eyes dark with desire.

“When all I want to do is show you exactly how much I need you. But don’t report me to my superior, okay?

I promise I’m a professional. You’re the only one who brings out this…

this passion and pure need in me. The only one I’m willing to cross a boundary for. ”

“Trust me, anything I’d put in a report about you would be X-rated, and I’m not about to give some administrator reasons to think about you the way I do.

I don’t want anyone else knowing how incredible you are, how you make me feel, or getting any ideas about what’s mine.

That report would give them reasons to notice you, and I’m selfish enough to want to keep you all to myself. ”

“I’m yours?”

I nod.

She grins at me. “Well, in that case, what are you going to do about it?”

Something primal flares in my chest at her words.

“What am I going to do about it?” I repeat, my voice dropping to a rough whisper. “I’m going to show you exactly what being mine means. First, I’m going to kiss every inch of you until you forget every other man who’s ever so much as looked at you.”

She shivers in my arms, her hands fisting my shirt. “And then?”

“Then I’m going to spread your legs wide open and take you until you’ll never doubt who you belong to.

” My lips trail down her neck, and I feel her tremble in my arms. “And tomorrow, when you go back out there to tend to other patients, you’re going to have my marks on your skin as a reminder that you’re mine, and mine only. ”

“That’s very presumptuous,” she whispers, but she doesn’t stop me from kissing her.

“Is it?” I pull back to look at her. “Tell me I’m wrong, Willa. Tell me you don’t want to be mine.”

“I can’t tell you that. Because I do want to be yours. Completely. And I want you to do exactly what you promised me.”

“What part? I made a lot of promises.”

“The part about you spreading my legs open.”

Her honesty breaks something loose in my chest, and I know there’s no going back from this moment. My hands slide down to the seam of her shirt, needing it to come off already.

“Willa,” I growl, my voice rough with want and the pain flaring in my leg.

“Shh,” she breathes. “Let me take care of you.”

She guides me back against the cushions, her movements careful but charged with barely restrained hunger. She puts a cushion under my injured thigh.

“Tell me if anything hurts, okay?”

I nod.

She strips herself bare for me, and I inhale sharply.

Not from leg pain this time, but from pure, primal need.

I let my eyes roam her curvy body, my dick growing rock-hard in seconds.

I quickly fumble with my clothes, but I need her help to remove my shorts.

I hate being this dependent, hate having to accept help, but with her, it’s different now. It feels natural.

As she takes off my shorts, I watch her. Drink her in. Her tits are perfect, her hard nipples proudly standing up. I can’t wait to close my mouth around them. My gaze travels lower, and fucking hell… Her pussy is glistening, which means she’s as turned on as I am.

With my shorts off, she gently pulls down my underwear next. My dick springs free, and she lets out a small gasp. She tries to hide it, but nothing gets past me.

She tosses my boxer shorts aside and pauses, her gaze traveling over every inch of me like she’s memorizing the view.

“Willa,” I grit out. My hips twitch, needy and aching for her.

She straddles me slowly and carefully, her warmth settling over my thighs. The heat between her legs barely brushes where I want her most, and it makes my breath catch.

I reach for her, my hands palming her tits. She gasps when I run my thumbs over her nipples, and I do it again, just to hear it once more.

“You’re killing me,” I manage to say between gritted teeth.

It takes every ounce of restraint not to buck my hips and slide my dick inside her. I want to, but I’m letting her set the pace.

Willa leans down to kiss me, and the wetness from her pussy slides over my dick. Fuck. If I’d known this is what would happen after jamming a chainsaw into my leg, I would’ve done it way sooner.

“I want you, Brock,” she whispers.

“Then take me,” I say. “Do you have a condom?”

“I’m on the pill.”

“Good, because I want to feel every part of you.”

She shifts her position to guide my dick to her entrance. Her eyes lock on mine as she slowly sinks down until I’m buried to the hilt.

“Fuck,” I groan.

She’s tight, hot, and wet. She’s perfect.

Willa moves slowly at first, getting used to the size of my dick.

But once she finds a rhythm, it’s like all bets are off.

She tilts her hips back, then forward. She slams into me with such determination, with such lust in her eyes, that I lose all inhibitions.

I moan loudly, not caring about anything but Willa riding my dick.

She plants her hands on my chest for balance as she rides me, her hips rolling in a steady grind that has my teeth gritted and my eyes threatening to roll back. Every moan she lets out wrecks me. Every brush of her fingers across my skin lights me on fire.

I slide one hand up her body, cupping her breast, brushing my thumb over her nipple until she gasps. Her head falls back, and the sight of her with messy hair, parted lips, riding me like I’m hers, burns itself into my memory.

“Willa,” I growl again.

“I’ve got you,” she whispers, breathless and wrecked. “I’ve got you, Brock.”

And fuck, she does. In every way. Her words undo me. Not just my body, but my fucking heart, too. No one’s ever said that to me and meant it. Not like she does. And I can’t get enough.