Page 4 of Rescued by the Lumberjack (Moonshine Ridge Lumberjacks #1)

Chapter Four

Phoenix

M y rescuer kneels in the dirt and gravel and scowls as he gently lifts away the torn edges of my clothing to inspect the scrapes and bruises underneath.

His hands are so big and warm, covered in rough calluses that catch in the nylon hiking clothes I'm wearing and leave trails of tiny tingles where they graze my unharmed skin.

His dark eyes are kind, despite the scowling, and tiny creases have begun to settle into the corners, making me wonder if he's older than he looks.

Dark hair lays in a scattered pattern on his head, damp with sweat along the top of his forehead and mussed from my fingers and no doubt from crawling on the ground to save me.

My eyes can't manage to stay off his lips though. Full and firm behind the dark beard, and even though the whole side of me feels like I get hit by a sledge hammer and I know he's right when he says we need to get the scrapes washed and bandaged, all I really want is to kiss him again.

"Leave it," Adam commands when we reach the bottom of the trail and he sees me start limping toward my car. "You ride with me. We'll come back later for it."

Somewhere between the kiss, his assessment of my wounds, and the remaining half mile or so back to the parking area, we finally got around to introducing ourselves.

Adam's been filling me in on his work as a lumberjack with the Murdock brothers' logging company. The reason he was up here today when I needed him.

I've been explaining how I love hiking through the old forest and slipped off the side of the cliff when I was hiking out earlier. I haven't mentioned the fact that I was running full speed down the trail or why.

"It's not a problem, Adam, I can drive myself out."

Adam's dark brows draw together over his eyes, his jaw squared under the beard as his sets his expression into a stern order.

"You're limping. I'll drive you."

He actually carried me the last hundred yards down the trail. My joints are stiffening up from where I took most of the impact along my right side. When he saw me limping, he growled and hoisted me into his arms without giving me a chance to protest.

I'm not a light package. I know that and ordinarily it doesn't bother me much. Then again, I've never needed to be carried off a mountain before.

The fact that Adam did it without breaking a sweat or making a single comment about my curvy frame only has the desire to kiss him again growing deeper. To kiss him again-- and maybe more.

"Let me help you." Adam opens the passenger door of a capable-looking work truck, tucking my small pack behind the seat before lifting me gently off my feet to help me up into the cab.

"You need anything from your car before we leave it for the night, sweetie?"

His fingers lay lightly over my hurt knee, careful to avoid the raw skin. His touch does funny things to me, and heat blooms between my thighs.

"No," I answer. "There's nothing in there I need."

"Let's get you home and cleaned up."

He keeps saying "home" like we live in the same place and I realize I haven't corrected him not once.

I'm kinda hoping he means his home, I want to see how this rugged mountain man lives.

And I want to find out if that kiss was just the relief of being saved, or if this attraction to Adam is as real as I feel it might be.

Adam

C onversation started off awkward as hell.

Phoenix had been down on that narrow rock ledge for over an hour before I came by and thoughts of what could have happened to her if she'd slipped off the edge anywhere else or if I hadn't come by when I did tormented me as we made our way back to my truck.

She told me about how she likes going into that creepy, abandoned forest because it feels peaceful and told me how she'd slipped on some loose rocks while she was standing too close to the edge of the cliff-- but there was a tremble in her voice when she was talking that has me thinking she wasn't telling the whole story.

My brain's all twisted into knots; wanting to taste her sweet lips again, bed her down after I get those scrapes cleaned out, claim those sweet curves and ease the tension I can feel she's holding in her sore muscles.

But I also want to scold her for going out alone with no way to contact help if she needs it.

I want to lecture her about that old forest and remind her that folktales get started for a reason and if they manage to live as long as the stories about the Weeping Wilderness have, then there might just be a reason for that too.

I want to wrap her up in bubble wrap and never let her out of my sight so I can I make sure she's safe all the time.

The jumble of emotions running through me is new to me and it's got my tongue tied in more knots that my gut, making all my attempts at talking to the pretty young thing riding shotgun in my truck come out as not much more than grunts and growls.

"You okay with me taking you to my place so I can get those cuts cleaned and dressed properly?"

Look at me, managing to string a whole sentence together.

Next to me, Phoenix slides those blue eyes my way and gives me a ghost of smile with a nod of her head.

"Yeah, I'd like that," she tells me sweetly.

She makes me feel some damn confusing things, for sure, and every one of them tells me she's something I need to hang on to.

"I can make you some dinner after? Or I can order up something from the Brick and Porter if you don't mind me running by town to pick it up."

"Let me cook for you," she tells me, smiling over at me, "it seems like the least I can do to thank you for saving me today."

"You need to rest. I'll do the cooking." I return her smile, adding a wink, and a quick brush of my thumb along her jaw.

"Guess I'll have to find another way to say thanks, then."

I don't think she meant the innuendo I hear in her words, but that doesn't keep a hundred images of ways I'd like her to thank me from crashing into my brain.

With a groan that I hope I keep to myself, I pass through the small town of Moonshine Ridge that's become my home, ignoring the little office where our resident doctor hangs her shingle, the daycare center that our local sheriff deputy's wife runs, and turn onto the small road that branches off the main highway through town just before passing the two eateries in town.

Current and Ginger Jone's brewpub passes on my side of the road, looking busy with the outside tables full of hungry locals and tourists enjoying Ginger's craft beers alongside her husband's brick oven pizzas.

In the side mirror, I catch a glimpse of Cedar McAllister's tavern disappearing behind us and think about how much I'd like to walk into either of those places with Phoenix tucked under my arm.

I oughta take her over to the doc's and have her give my girl a look, but it's late in the day and Doc's probably already home up on the river with her family anyway.

Phoenix is scraped the hell up, but nothing's broken and none of her cuts are deep enough to need stitches; I can swing her by Doc Jone's office tomorrow.

Truth is, I don't want anyone else looking after Phoenix. I want to be the one taking care of her, making sure she's safe and comfortable.

This girl's got me feeling more than just protective over her, she's got my body all keyed up and my brain thinking of her as mine already.