Page 3 of Drawn to the Mountain Man

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COLTON

An angel had been plopped down on Earth in front of me. A naked angel at that.

She wasn’t just an angel, though. She was the woman I’d been looking for all my life.

Crazy that I knew that within seconds of meeting her. I didn’t know anything about her except she was here for some makeup conference, which meant she wasn’t in Rosewood Ridge long term. In fact, next week at this time, she’d be gone. These conferences only lasted a few days—a week at most. That meant I had a limited time to convince her I was worth giving up everything and moving to the mountains.

She gave me permission to move closer with a nod and shrug. She looked back over her shoulder at the waterfall, and that was when I made my move. Well, if “move” could be defined as taking five mud-covered steps toward her. But I left several feet between us, not quite bold enough to make a real move just yet.

“Is this manmade or natural?” she asked, looking back at me.

If she was surprised to find me so much closer, she didn’t show it. I was trying my damnedest to not gawk at her breasts, which I could see faintly outlined underneath the water. The image of her lifting her arms and accidentally showing off a hint of pink nipple would be imprinted in my brain forever.

“Natural,” I said.

Were her breasts natural or enhanced? I was guessing natural, but my only expertise came from the women I’d been with over the years.

“From what I understand, this was one of the first tourist attractions in Rosewood Ridge,” I said. “People would come here, stay at an inn just off the interstate exit, and drive up to the mountain to see it.”

“Oh yeah, I guess the retreat center is the only hotel up in the mountains.”

“There are plenty of vacation rentals, though,” I said. “Most of the cabins up here are rentals.”

“You live in a cabin up here, I assume?”

“My cabin is about midway down the mountain on the main road.”

Why didn’t I just give her directions while I was at it? Actually, that wasn’t such a bad idea, especially if she used those directions to stop by later today. I could show her my bedroom. I could take her all around the world in my bedroom.

“You’re lucky to be surrounded by all this beauty,” she said. “I’m stuck in suburbia.”

“Stuck?” I asked.

“It’s where my family is,” she said. “My friends too. I guess I shouldn’t say stuck. It’s just…my life.”

Without warning, she pushed back, propelling herself until she was in a floating position. Her legs were off the ground, but her chest was still too far under the water.

I was dying to dunk underneath and see if I could catch a glimpse, but that would be a total creeper move. So, I stood still, my hands clenched into fists next to me as I resisted the overwhelming urge to reach out and touch her.

“Why do I stay in Dallas?” Olivia asked, staring up at the sky. She floated precariously close to the waterfall. “I can work from anywhere. I just need customers. I guess this town would be a bad choice for that.”

My chest tightened. “Why?”

What if she decided she had no interest in living here? I’d just discovered the woman of my dreams, and I’d have to leave the best job I’d ever had to be with her. That was unfair as hell.

“You said there weren’t any women in this town,” she said.

I breathed a sigh of relief at her answer. “Eligible women,” I said. “There are a ton of women now. The retreat center has brought some of them here, but it seems like our mountain men keep snatching up the tourists, which is great for the population.”

She stopped floating and rose to her feet. The movement put her breasts teasingly above the water again, although not quite all the way to the nipple. My dick stirred, and I tamped it down.

“How old are these women?” she asked. “The ones who are pairing up with mountain men.”

“I’d say around your age. Mid-twenties?”

I was fishing. I wanted to know exactly how old she was.

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