Page 3 of Mountain Man’s Bonfire Beauty (Wildwood Valley Harvest #5)

AYDEN

I hadn’t seen so many people in one place since moving here three years ago. I was pretty sure only a fraction of these teenagers actually lived in Wildwood Valley. Most of them probably came from the nearest towns, which were a decent distance away.

Once I got past my initial resistance to crowds, though, my attention was on one person, and one person only. Parker.

She stood with a group of vendors on the other side of the bonfire.

Most of them were dating my buddies and co-workers who were surrounding me right now.

But I had a hard time keeping my eyes off her.

The fire gave her face a glow, made her even more beautiful. Radiant—that was the best word for it.

Every now and then, our eyes would meet, and my heart would skip a beat. It was very high school, and I was loving every minute of it.

“Ayden here was worried for nothing,” Marc said.

“He probably kept this whole thing safe,” Ashe said.

I gave my buddy a nod. “Thanks, buddy.”

“I saw you with that s’mores vendor.” Clayton bumped my arm with the hand holding a bottle of beer. “Seems like she’s pretty into you.”

Clayton was a newer friend, while Ashe and I had gone through deployment together.

That made it a little awkward that Clayton was commenting on my love life, but it shouldn’t surprise me.

He, along with the three other guys standing here with me, had all taken up with women who were vendors at this very fair.

It only stood to reason they’d want to pull me into that whole situation with them.

“I don’t know about that.” I took another swig of my beer. “We got off to a rocky start.”

“Rocky starts can be the best kind,” Marc chimed in with a grin. “Ask me how I know.”

The guys laughed, and I found myself smiling despite my reservations. Maybe they had a point. The afternoon we’d spent working together had felt natural, easy in a way I hadn’t experienced with anyone in a long time.

“She’s been looking over here all night,” Clayton said. “And not at any of us.”

As if summoned by his words, I looked across the fire again. Sure enough, Parker’s gaze was trained on our group—on me, specifically. When our eyes met, she didn’t look away this time. Instead, she smiled, a soft, almost shy expression that made my chest tight.

“See?” Clayton said smugly. “Told you.”

The evening continued like that, with me trying to focus on the conversations around me while being hyperaware of Parker’s every movement.

She’d moved from the vendor group to help serve s’mores to families, her natural ease with the kids on full display.

Parents gravitated toward her, trusting her instantly with their children.

She had that gift—the ability to make everyone around her feel comfortable, safe.

I was so caught up watching her that I almost missed Ashe checking his phone.

“Shit,” he said, his voice cutting through the laughter around us. “Guys, it’s 11:47.”

The effect was immediate. All five of us straightened, suddenly alert.

“We promised Bobbi we’d have everything shut down by midnight,” Marc said, already moving toward the fire. “How did it get so late?”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, shifting into problem-solving mode. “We need to move. Now.”

The next fifteen minutes were a blur of organized chaos. The guys scattered in different directions—Ashe and Clayton started herding the remaining teenagers toward the parking area and Marc and Blade began collecting trash and abandoned lawn chairs, while I focused on the fire itself.

This was the tricky part. You couldn’t just douse a bonfire this size with water and call it good. That was a great way to create a steam explosion that could seriously hurt someone. It had to be done methodically and safely, even if it was midnight and everyone wanted to go to bed.

I started by spreading out the burning logs with a long metal rake, separating them so they’d burn down faster. The flames immediately began to diminish, but I could tell it was going to take a while for all the embers to die completely.

“Need any help?”

I turned to find Parker approaching, her arms wrapped around herself against the night chill. Most of the crowd had dispersed, and the vendors had packed up their booths. She should have been long gone by now.

“I’ve got it. You don’t have to stay. This could take another hour.”

“I know.” She settled onto a nearby log that had been set up as seating earlier in the evening. “I don’t mind waiting. Besides, someone should keep you company.”

The guys had finished their cleanup and were heading to their trucks, calling out goodbyes and promises to help clean up tomorrow if needed. Within minutes, it was just Parker and me in the glow of the dying fire.

“Successful night,” she said after a comfortable silence had settled between us.

“Yeah, it was.” I continued working the embers, spreading them out farther. “No injuries, no property damage, no angry calls from the fire marshal. I’ll take that as a win.”

“You should. This was really well organized.” She paused. “You’re good at this kind of thing.”

“Taking care of details? Making sure nothing goes wrong?” I shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

“No, I mean leading. People listen to you, trust you. That’s not something you can fake.”

Her words settled into something warm in my chest. I walked over and plopped down on the ground next to her, settling the large stick I’d used to stir the logs on the ground next to me.

“Thanks,” I said. “That means a lot, coming from you.”

“Why from me?”

I looked over at her, considering how much to reveal. “Because you’re good at reading people. You have to be, working with kids all day, managing crowds at your booth. If you think I’m doing something right, I probably am.”

She smiled, and even in the dim light, I could see the pleasure in her expression. “You know, when you’re not lecturing me about fire safety, you’re actually pretty sweet.”

“I wasn’t lecturing—” I started, then caught myself. “Okay, I was totally lecturing. Sorry again.”

“Apology accepted.” She pulled her legs up onto the log, wrapping her arms around her knees. “For what it’s worth, I understand why you did it. After what you told me this afternoon about your friends…”

“Still doesn’t excuse me being an ass.”

“No,” she said with a small smile, “but it explains it. And explanation goes a long way with me.”

We fell back into comfortable silence, the only sounds the soft crackling of cooling embers and the distant sound of car engines as the last stragglers headed home. The temperature had dropped significantly since the sun went down, and I noticed Parker shivering despite her jacket.

“Cold?” I asked.

“A little. But it’s peaceful out here. I’m not in any hurry to leave.”

Neither was I. For the first time in longer than I could remember, I was exactly where I wanted to be, with exactly the person I wanted to be with.

The realization should have scared me—usually did, when I let myself get too comfortable with someone. But sitting here with Parker, watching the last of the fire die down under a sky full of stars, fear was the last thing on my mind.

“Ayden?” Her voice was soft, tentative.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you. For today, for this afternoon, for…all of it. I know I gave you a hard time, but having you around made everything better.”

I looked over at her, struck by the sincerity in her voice. In the dying firelight, she looked almost ethereal, her copper hair glowing like she was lit from within. Beautiful didn’t even begin to cover it.

“Parker,” I said quietly, my voice rougher than I intended.

She turned to face me fully, and something in the air between us shifted. The easy friendship of the afternoon was still there, but underneath it was something deeper, more intense. Something that made my heart race.

“Yeah?” she whispered.

But before I could figure out what I wanted to say, how to put into words what I was feeling, a gust of wind scattered the embers, sending up a shower of sparks that got our attention.

The moment broke, but the feeling lingered. As I stood and resumed tending the fire, I could feel her watching me, and I knew that whatever this was between us, it was far from over.

We still had at least another hour before the fire would be safe to leave. An hour alone, under the stars, with the most fascinating woman I’d ever met.

Normally, I’d be counting the seconds until I could be snug in my own bed, fan blowing on me, room-darkening shades in place. But not tonight. Tonight, I wanted to sit here, to stretch things out, to stay until the sun rose—and then I’d curse the sun for rising.

Nearly a half hour later, the smoke finally died down enough that we had no excuse to stick around anymore. We started walking—her wearing my jacket and me fighting a smile at the sight of her in it.

“I can give you a ride to your car,” I said, gesturing toward my truck as we walked toward it.

The tailgate was down, the bed empty. I’d parked it there so some of the teenagers could hang out in the back and enjoy the fire from a safe distance. But now it looked odd—the only vehicle left—just a big, cream-colored truck in the middle of a field.

“You know, I don’t have to be home anytime soon,” she said. “I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to sleep anyway.”

“Why is that?”

“Too worked up. Overstimulated.”

“Talking to me does that?” I chuckled. “I don’t think anyone’s ever told me I overstimulated them before.”

“Not talking,” she said softly. “Just being close to you. It does things to me.”

I came to a dead stop. We were nearing my truck by then, but something in me felt like once we got there, that would be it. We’d have to get in and go home. I was dragging it out.

“Yeah,” I said. “Same here.”

Real eloquent. I was a true romantic. I wanted to roll my eyes at myself. I was definitely out of practice when it came to this sort of thing.

“You don’t understand.” She took a deep breath and let it out. “This is not normal for me at all. I’m bad about running at the first sign that a guy might not be perfect.”

I let out a dry laugh. “I’m far from perfect. You might want to start running.”

What was I saying? Was I encouraging her to run? That was the last thing I wanted her to do. Or was it? Maybe I was so scared of all this that I was looking for a way out.

“That’s exactly why I should run,” she said. “But I don’t want to. Not this time.”

We’d reached the truck. She turned to face me, her back against the tailgate, and I could see the resolve building in her expression.

“There’s something you should know,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “About me. About why I’m so nervous right now.”

I waited, sensing this was important.

“I’ve never…” She took a shaky breath. “I mean, I’ve dated, but I’ve never actually been with anyone. Like that.”

The admission hung in the air between us, vulnerable and honest. My heart started racing for entirely different reasons.

“Parker—”

“I know what you’re thinking,” she rushed on. “Twenty-three and still a virgin. It’s pathetic, right? But I was always so focused on avoiding the wrong guys that I never gave the right one a chance, and now?—”

“It’s not pathetic,” I said firmly, stepping closer. “It’s not pathetic at all.”

She looked up at me, her green eyes reflecting the starlight. “I don’t want to be afraid anymore, Ayden. And I don’t want to run.”

In one fluid movement, she hoisted herself up onto the tailgate, her legs dangling over the edge. The action brought her face level with mine, close enough that I could see the determination mixed with nervousness in her expression.

“I want you to be my first,” she said softly, her hands reaching for the front of my shirt. “If you want that too.”

My breath caught. This beautiful, brave woman was offering me something precious. Something she’d never given anyone else. The weight of that trust, that choice, settled over me like a boulder.

“Are you sure?” I asked, my voice rough with want and wonder.

“I’ve never wanted anything more in my life.”