Page 2 of My Wild Mountain Man (Summer in the Pines #15)

raven

. . .

My ponytail swished back and forth behind me as I trudged through the forest. One I had taken more times than I could count. I hardly recognized the path because even though I knew better and had been told to pay closer attention, my nose was stuck in a book.

Again.

But who could blame me? It was hard to put a book down when you needed to know what was going to happen next!

How the characters were going to end up together despite the countless things standing in their way.

I sighed and looked around, hoping to find something that would give me a clue of where I was.

I frowned when it seemed like I might have truly gone off the trail.

The ground below me wasn’t even well worn. Shit!

It wasn’t the first time I’d done this. I chewed on my bottom lip and straightened my shoulders. The worst thing I could do was panic.

I had been born and raised in Moonlit Pines; even as introverted as I was, there wasn’t a trail I didn’t know.

My parents had made sure of it, even when I had whined and complained about going outdoors where bugs flew about and the sun was too bright, they had pushed for me to explore. I secretly loved it. It’s why I hit the trails every chance I got.

That and the fact it reminded me so much of Bash.

My older brother’s best friend and completely off limits.

If only my heart could get the memo! I was a twenty-one-year-old never-kissed virgin because of my stupid little crush on my brother’s best friend!

What could I say? I’d fallen madly, deeply in love with the guy from the very first day my brother had brought him home.

My sisters teased me over my crush. There was no way I could have denied it.

Not when I blushed any time he was close by.

But time went by, and life moved on like it tended to do.

He left for college and then the Marines. I’d thought somehow, distance and years would make those feelings go away. And maybe I had tricked myself to think that when I’d left to attend beauty school. But that first day, when I’d walked into the brewery and laid eyes on him, I knew it wasn’t so.

I shook away the thought as I brushed a strand of hair out of my face and tried to figure out where I was.

That’s when I heard it. Water! I was close to the waterfall!

Suddenly, the hot summer sun felt a tinge warmer.

I could go to the waterfall, take a break, maybe swim, finish my book, then find my way back from there!

With a plan in mind, I headed towards it.

Just as it started to come into view, I stopped in my tracks.

My mouth went bone dry at the sight of the man who I was always thinking about in the water.

His bare chest was glistening from the water that was sluicing down his muscular, inked-up, hairy chest. My tongue felt too big for my mouth.

He was what every wet dream was made of.

He had always seemed bigger than life to me, but right then and there, he was incredibly masculine.

The epitome of the species. And all I wanted to do was climb him like a spider monkey.

My feet felt like they were nailed to the mountain ground while I stood rooted in place, accidentally hiding in the lush greenery, unable to look away while he swam around the river. Before I knew it, he was getting out of the water, and my eyes were going to jump out of their socket.

He wasn’t just swimming. Bash Ledesma was skinny dipping!

I knew he was big, I mean tall! But the thick appendage between his muscular thighs seemed almost fake.

Men can be that big?! I had no idea. I would definitely be asking Olive.

Out of the girls, she was the one who had the most experience.

Maybe I wouldn’t! I knew Olive; she would ask why I wanted to know, and there was no way I would tell her it was because I’d seen Sebastian, Bash, the one man in the whole wide world who had ever called my interest naked!

Knowing my sister, she would want a peek!

Not that she knew just how deep my love ran for him. She didn’t. No one did. She just thought I found him pretty to look at. If she knew, she wouldn’t ever think of trying anything with him. Oli was a girl’s girl through and through.

All thoughts of my sister, or anything really, were wiped from my mind as my attention moved back to my very own Adonis.

Bash sat on a rock, wiping away the excess water from his face as he stared out at the waterfall.

The muscles of his back bunched and flexed, making me wish I had an ounce of artistic talent so I could go back to my place and sketch out how beautiful he was.

Instead, I quietly stood there watching him while I battled to remind myself to breathe.

He looked like he was deep in thought. Like he was torn about something.

Something I wanted to see if I could help out with.

But I couldn’t. I hadn’t spoken to him since New Year’s.

Not really. Not like I used to. Simple hellos and byes were all I limited myself to since that day.

Just the reminder of watching him flirt with the drop-dead gorgeous photographer made me queasy.

It was stupid. Lame, really. Bash wasn’t mine. Not even close. But it had been a bruise to my ego. No matter how much I’d changed since being a dorky kid, I would never be the kind of woman Bash Ledesma would ever look at twice. I’d never be his type.

The sad reminder made my shoulders hunch over before I quickly stepped back, away from the waterfall and back towards the trail. I took a step but didn’t notice a rock, and I slipped.

“Shit!” I cried out a little too loudly as a searing pain vibrated through my knee. “Crap,” I mumbled, brushing off the dirt.

“Hello?” Bash’s voice called out. “Someone out there?” I quickly tried to consider my options.

Crawling through the thick forest popped into my head.

A huge black hole swallowing me was another thought.

But since those only existed in cartoons, and I had chosen to wear shorts on my little walk, I figured crawling would get me even more scratched up.

I stood up slowly, and thankfully, when I did and our eyes connected, he had already pulled on a pair of shorts.

“Hey! It’s just me!” I called out.

“Rave? Shit.” He hurried towards me as I stood there like a bump on a log. “You okay?” he asked. The moment he reached me, his hands were on me. Checking my legs and arms. Unknowingly leaving a trail of heat in their wake.

“I’m okay,” I squeaked. “I just, umm, got turned around because I was reading and, umm, slipped on a rock and fell, but I’m fine. See?” I shook my leg for him as if that was going to prove I wasn’t in pain. “I’ll just be on my way! I’m sorry to, umm––“

“Breathe for me, Raven,” he ordered, placing my hand on his bare chest. His skin was wet and warm. The muscles beneath were solid. God, he is sexy !

He breathed in deeply, and I followed, my eyes unable to move from his dark ones, soaking in everything I could while being this close to him. The small dark freckles across his cheeks, the golden hues that swirled in the darkness of his gaze. The way the bridge of his nose had a slight bump to it.

God, he was beautiful.

“Better?” he asked, snapping me out of my delusional thoughts.

I simply nodded, ignoring the fact I was probably three shades of red.

I hated how much I blushed. Especially when it came to him.

It felt like my heart was about to jump out of my chest and my knees could buckle beneath me in the blink of an eye.

“You were reading while walking?” I chewed on my bottom lip. Those dark eyes of his searched mine, and all I could do was stare back. “What am I going to do with you, pretty girl?” He tucked a strand of hair that had come loose from my ponytail behind my ear.

Pretty girl. If only he actually meant it.

“I’m sorry I interrupted your swim,” I whispered. “I should get going.”

“Let me get my stuff, and I’ll head out with you.” Head out with me? I knew the walk back would be at least an hour, and as much as I wanted to spend time with him, I really didn’t think it was a good idea.

I am trying to get over him, not fall harder!

“Oh, you don’t have to––“

“Yeah, I do. I want to.”

“You do?” I asked. His gaze never wavered from mine as he took a step closer, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.

“I do.” Something was happening. There was something about the way he was looking at me that felt… different.

“Oh.” My lips parted as my chest rose and fell. I watched as his eyes dropped to said chest, and I could have sworn my nipples tightened to impossible peaks at that very moment. Can he see them? He moved a little closer, and I found myself swaying towards him, too.

“You want to come with me?” I asked, my tone way too breathy. I shook my head. “I mean walk back?” I asked again. My hand ached to touch his bare chest again. His nose flared, and then he frowned.

“I do.” His voice sounded deeper. Thicker. “I mean, what if you get to reading and wander off again? Your brother would kick my ass if you got lost.” My brother. Right.

I was an idiot.

Whatever felt different about that moment had been some stupid figment of my imagination. Bash didn’t want me. He wanted me to be safe. For my brother.

“Onyx. Right.” Whatever hope I had that he wanted to hang out with me faded away, making me feel like a deflated balloon. “You really don’t have to worry. I’ll be fine.”

“Why have you been avoiding me, Rave?”

“Avoiding you?” I snorted and shook my head. “Someone thinks a lot of themselves.”

“Don’t do that. Talk to me.”

“Why would you think that?”

“We haven’t talked in a while,” he pointed out. The fact he noticed made me want to swoon. God, I was hopeless.

His hand took mine, and I loved the way they fit. Just looking down at mine in his muddled my brain. “So?” he prompted, and my eyes roamed up to lock with his.

“What? I’m sorry, what was the question?”

“You’ve been avoiding me,” he said, and because I was me and suddenly a smartass, I responded like one.

“That’s not a question,” I pointed out. “That’s a statement.”

“Shit.” His lips twitched, and I saw it. That little dimple of his popped out and made me want to swoon. It was seriously unfair how cute he was. “Stay here,” he ordered before he jogged back to where his things were.

“You know, I’m not a dog!” I yelled back, but for some reason, I did just as he asked.

I watched as he tossed his backpack on and grabbed his water bottle before jogging back to me. “Ready?” he asked, and I shrugged.

I walked close to him as we walked side by side in silence for the longest while.

Usually, with anyone else, I would have been tempted to fill the silence or even pull out a book, but with Bash, I didn’t feel that need.

It might have been quiet, but it was a comfortable silence.

One that was outlived too quickly when he spoke.

“How’s work been?” he asked, and I glanced up at him.

“It’s been okay.” I shrugged. “I got a couple new clients.”

“That’s good,” he grunted before silence fell between us again.

“Any new events planned out for the brewery?” I asked, making my own attempt at small talk.

“Not really. Austin wants to host a couple of paint and sips. We will see, though.”

“You don’t like the idea?” He shrugged, raising and dropping one of his boulder-looking shoulders.

“It’s not a bad idea. I just don’t think we need all the extra hoopla. The new chef your brother hired is great, and our beers are going to be exclusively served at the ski resort starting this fall. I just don’t want us to be spread ourselves too thin.”

“That makes sense.”

“So… that book you were reading when you got lost.” He pointed to the paperback still in my hand.

“I wasn’t lost , lost exactly,” I mumbled.

“How was it?”

“It was good.”

“Hmm,” he grunted. “You need to be more careful. What if some weirdo had been out here?”

“Weirdo?” I giggled. “This is Moonlit Pines, Bash. Nothing bad happens here.”

“Bad shit happens everywhere, Raven. I just… promise me you’ll be more careful.”

“God, you sound like my brother. ‘ Stop reading those books, Raven,’’ ” I lowered my voice to mimic Onyx’.

Bash surprised me, taking my wrist and pulling me into him.

So close, I could feel his body heat, and when he leaned in, his head dipping low enough that his breath tickled my lips, a deep warmth coiled up low in my belly.

“I never said to stop reading. I just want you to promise me you’ll pay more attention. Especially when you come out here alone.”

“Why? Do you pay extra close attention when you’re out here alone?”

“Raven.”

“Bash,” I countered. I had no idea why I was poking the bear in him. Pushing buttons I had no right to push.

“I swear to god, little girl, you’re making it hard for me to not pull you over my knee and spank you,” he growled, and the whole world froze.

Right in that moment, nothing moved.

I mean, the birds still sang and the breeze blew, but I felt like I was frozen solid while his probably empty threat painted itself out in my head. And I liked it. A lot.

“Shit! I didn’t mean… fuck!” He lifted his hand like he was going to touch me but stopped mid-air before it dropped to his side. With his hands clenched, he started to walk ahead of me, and I blinked for a moment.

Swear to god, little girl, you’re making it hard for me to not pull you over my knee and spank you. His words replayed in my head, painting an image that made my toes curl inside my shoes.

“Catch up!” he yelled, and it got me moving. Behind him, I watched his body move with grace and ease, making me wonder if he did everything that way.

We didn’t say another word.

Which worked for me since I couldn’t seem to get my thoughts together. His words kept bouncing around in my head. Spank me. Did that mean what I thought it meant? Was he into BDSM? Or was he just trying to be funny and got embarrassed.

Sweat slicked my skin, but I didn’t complain. When my stomach growled, he must have heard it, because Bash stopped and handed me a granola bar from his backpack and an extra water bottle.

Suddenly, all too quickly, we were back at the clearing that headed to the parking area of the trail. He stopped and turned to look at me. The moment our eyes locked, I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. So, I did what I was good at and avoided him.

“Thanks for leading the way,” I mumbled with an awkward wave. I walked past him, my focus on anything but his eyes, and hurried straight towards my little blue SUV. I was too flustered by what he had said that I never realized he knew where I’d parked.

And because I didn’t look at him, I didn’t notice he was staring at me with so much longing it would have knocked the wind out of me.