Page 29 of Mountain Grump Protector

We stay locked that way, her in my arms, her head resting on my shoulder, her body boneless and limp as I hold her and let her recover from the wildest climax of her life.

Slowly, reality seeps back in. The sound of the birds in the trees, the gentle breeze on my back, reminding me we’re up against a tree in my front yard, completely naked, having just fucked out in the open where anyone could see, if anyone bothered coming this far up the mountain.

Even if they did, I wouldn’t care.

I slowly lower her to her feet, waiting until she’s steady before I release her. She leans back against the tree, breathing hard, her lips swollen from my kisses, her hair a tangled mess from my hands. I've never seen anyone more beautiful.

Her eyes are still glazed when she looks up at me, like she can't quite believe what just happened. The look in her eyes hits me harder than the orgasm did because this was never supposed to happen.

I was supposed to keep my distance. I was supposed to get her through this mess with Hatch and then send her safely back down the mountain before either of us got too attached to something that could never be.

Attachment only ever led one place. And it was never good.

Instead, I still have the taste of her on my tongue, her nail marks burning into my shoulders where she gripped me.

I reach out to brush a strand of hair back from her face. “You okay?”

She nods her head. “Yeah.”

But there’s hesitation there, too. An uncertainty that I’ve never seen in her sassy, confident face before, like she’s trying to figure out if this changes anything between us.

It shouldn’t. After all, it was only supposed to be sex. A release.

“Only you.” Her words replay in my mind. “Only yours.”

And then even more damning, my own admission.

“Only. Fucking. Mine.”

That wasn’t supposed to happen. None of it was.

But, standing naked against a damn tree in my front yard, my cock still vibrating from the most satisfying release I’ve ever had, it’s impossible to deny.

This woman has worked her way completely under my skin in only a few days, and that’s a very real problem. Because instead of turning around and walking away from her the way I should, all I want to do is tug her toward me and do it all over.

Chapter Ten

Willow

I wake up aching in all the best places.

It takes me a second to remember why. But then it all comes rushing back.

The way he touched me, like he couldn’t quite believe I was real.

The way he kissed every inch of me as if I were something to be worshiped instead of used and tossed aside.

And the way he fucked me like he’d never be able to get enough.

I stretch my arms over my head and let my body feel every delicious ache and strain in my muscles.

The soreness between my thighs is the perfect reminder of him, and what we did out there against that tree like two people who’d finally had enough and couldn’t hold back anymore.

And that’s exactly what it had been.

Because somewhere between him carrying me into the cabin, patching up my feet, and making me tea every morning like I was someone worth protecting, I’d stopped thinking of this as temporary and started to get comfortable.

That should scare me more than it does. I’ve never been comfortable a day in my life. Not with a man, and definitely not with one I owe. It doesn’t matter how many times Cal tells me I don’t owe him anything; I can’t shake it.