Page 8 of Crushing on the Mountain Man (Mountain Man Summer #3)

Brandy

It’s been an emotional evening. Letting myself go. Sex for the first time. And so much love for Knox I feel it welling up in my chest. But he has his life here at the lake. I have a demanding mother, a sister getting married and a job to find.

I can only lay here with Knox for so long before I start worrying that it is just going to be this one time. A memory I will treasure forever. But what I wouldn’t give for my life to be different. To stay here with Knox. For this to be more than just sex.

Knox’s kiss is only making me feel more love for him. But I have to know where we stand. He breaks off the kiss, smiles gently and looks into my eyes.

I hold my breath. This is it. This is the break up. We are different people. It’s been fun but it’s not going to work.

And then he grins. And my heart flips over.

“Brandy, first off, you will be amazed and shocked when I tell you what my shirtless lifestyle earns me. So you don’t have to worry about money. I can take care of you for as long as it takes for you to figure out what you want to do.”

My heart swells. He is saying he wants me to stick around. And he kisses me again. Like he can’t help himself.

“Secondly, the girl I knew was wild and free. I think she’s still in there somewhere.”

He is right. I used to be so carefree. At some point I let my mother win. I gave up. I bent to her will, with the dresses and the hair style she wanted. At some point it was just easier to do the things she wanted rather than fighting over and over again.

There are only so many times you can be told that you are the problem. Too much. Too much energy. Too hard to get along with. Not good enough. It breaks my heart to think of me as a kid running around in the mud and laughing and loving life.

“Do you want to return to the city and get another office job?”

Knox interrupts my thoughts. I shake my head. No.

“Do you want to stay here with me?”

I nod and can’t help the happy smile. Knox kisses me again. This time a longer and deeper kiss that leaves me breathless and has my heart racing. It’s getting hard to ignore the fact we are both naked.

But Knox has more to say. “You are beautiful. Crazy intelligent and smart and wonderful. I have a feeling that if you give it two minutes serious thought then we could come up with something you love that lets you be wild and free and stay here with me.”

Another kiss.

“That last part is the most important.” He mummers against my lips as his hands run over my body. “Cause I’m not sure I can let you go.”