Page 13 of Daring the Mountain Man
“You don’t know the terrain. You could fall, get lost, or encounter a bear.”
“I’m not a bear snack, Thorne. I’m your wife. Sort of.” I tilted my head back, meeting his brooding gaze with my best sassy smirk. “And if you’re so worried about my safety, then you’d better start entertaining me. I need a tour. I need to know where the danger zones are.”
Although I was pretty sure where the danger zones were as far as getting completely in over my head with him.
“The whole mountain is a danger zone for someone wearing those,” he snapped, gesturing to my stylish but definitely-not-hiking-grade footwear. They were sneakers, plain and simple, while he wore what looked like steel-toe enforced hiking boots. He should be thankful I wasn’t wearing the pair of flip-flops I’d packed.
“Then teach me. Show me around. Unless you’re afraid of being alone with me in the woods?”
His eyes flashed—a sudden, hot spark of something that wasn’t just annoyance. He took a step closer, invading my personal space until I had to crane my neck. I refused to take a step back, which I was pretty sure what he wanted. Just like facing a bear, show no fear. Or was that a wolf? With a bear was I supposed to run?
Heaven help me, what do you do with a mountain grump?
“I’m not afraid of the woods, Maddie.”
“Then what is it? Because every time I get within five feet of you, you look like you’re trying to calculate the fastest exit route.”
“I’m trying to be a gentleman,” he rasped, his voice dropping into that low, vibrating register that made my toes curl. “I’m trying to remember that this is anarrangement. But you make it very difficult when you follow me around looking like... that.”
“Like what?” I challenged, my heart hammering against my ribs. I had dressed in jeans—and one of his flannel shirts he’d left hanging in the bathroom. I thought of it as an invitation to help myself.
“Like you’re waiting for me to break.”
Break? I wanted him to snap if I were honest. I did not marry this man for sex. I married him for mutual benefits. But…
Sex with him would be a very, very nice benefit of our arrangement. I just didn’t know how to convince him. I was a woman of very limited experience in that area. Very limited.
In fact, zero.
“If you want a tour, fine. But we stay on the marked trail. And you stop talking for five minutes.” He picked up his tools and set them on the porch, out of the way.
“I can do two minutes,” I negotiated, following him as he stomped toward the trailhead. “Maybe three if the view is anything worth looking at.” And I didn’t mean the mountains. I meant of him, walking ahead of me.
The trail he started down was more of a suggestion than a path. It was steep, narrow, and littered with loose stones and pine needles. I was doing fine until we reached a particularly sharp incline near the creek. I was so busy watching the way Thorne’s glutes flexed under his jeans—sue me, the view was incredible—that I didn’t see the root sticking out of the ground.
My toe caught. “Whoa—”
The world tilted. My arms flailed for purchase, but there was nothing but air. I closed my eyes, bracing for the impact of the hard, cold ground.
It never came.
Two massive, iron-strong arms wrapped around my waist, yanking me back up with enough force that I was slammed chest-to-wall of solid muscle. My eyes snapped open.
Thorne had me. His legs spread wide for stability, holding me flush against his shirtless body. The contact was electric—a physical shock that traveled from my breasts, which were crushed against him, all the way down to my thighs.
Between my thighs. Holy smokes.
His skin was hot. Boiling. And damp with the sweat of his previous labor. I could feel the thud of his heart—heavy and fast—against my own.
“I got you,” he breathed.
He didn’t let go. His fingers splayed across my lower back, his fingers digging into the soft flesh of my hips. My breathhitched, a small, needy sound escaping me. Up close, his eyes were a storm of green and gold, swirling with a hunger that he wasn’t even trying to hide.
The awkwardness of the fall evaporated, replaced by a thick, suffocating heat. My hands had instinctively landed on his shoulders, my fingers curling into his skin. He felt like he was made of steel and fire.
“You’re... you’re really strong,” I whispered, my voice trembling.
“And you’re really clumsy,” he growled, but there was no bite in it. His gaze dropped to my lips, and for a second, I thought he was going to finish what he’d started at the courthouse. I wanted him to. I wanted him to shove me against that tree and show me exactly how territorial a mountain man could be.
