Page 8 of Rescued By the Lumberjack

“That’s not it,” I assure her as I feel my chest grow tighter. “I promise.”

Her mouth bunches up, unbelieving.

She’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid my eyes on. If this guy wasn’t blind, then he’d know as well. There’s got to be a different reason.

“Piper.” When she looks my way, she bites that lip. “He’s fucking blind, that’s all.”

She blinks those long eyelashes and parts those tortuously plump lips. “You think so?”

I nod, swallowing thickly. “Yeah.”

She should be getting told how beautiful she is every morning and every night. A woman like her has no right to doubt her appeal.

Like she needs to hear it straight from my lips, she leans dangerously close. Those eyes of hers are damning.

I love this mountain, and everything on it. The trees, the grass, even the weeds. Looking in her eyes reminds me too much of what is outside of my cabin.

I don’t realize I’m leaning in until I can feel her warmth radiating off her skin. One inhale is all it takes to make thinking an impossible feat.

She smells like my soap. While I knew she used my product, the thought alone isn’t enough to prepare me for the proof that she smells like me.

When I can think, I have the silliest thought.

What if this woman was mine? I could breathe her in every day, and she can grab whatever citrus stuff she wants whenever she wants to change things up.

Inwardly groaning, I can’t help but already picture the whole thing playing out.

Fuck, I want it.

Piper isn’t pulling away. Sure, she’s a little hesitant about not meeting me completely half-way. Her eyes are lingering on my mouth, and I can bet she’s thinking about it.

I want to kiss her. Sink my fingers into her hair and see if the strands are as soft as they look.

Neither of us moves at first, left in the storm’s silence brewing outside of the cabin and the cackling wood in the fire stove.

I still as she lifts her hand. Hell, I think I forget how to breathe, too. My lungs burn, but I don’t dare risk scaring her away by moving.

I won’t make her flinch, not this time. I’ll be a fucking statue if it means getting to feel her warmth.

Her fingers ghost over my beard, and I wish I could feel her touch directly against my skin. For once, I loathe the beard that helps hide my face.

So close to stealing a kiss I desperately want, the loud boom of thunder directly ahead startles her to the point of jumping and pulling away. She grows pinker by the second, and doesn’t seem in any rush to continue.

I went my entire thirty-eight years of life without knowing what she tastes like, I’ll survive the rest of my life. I have to.

“It’s getting late,” I murmur, “we should get you in bed.”

My bed. However, I won’t join her. I’ll be too tempted to get that kiss and more. Don’t want to risk hurting her more than she already is by gripping her ankles after I’ve made my way between her thighs.

Seeing her sprawled against my sheets will take strength I know I don’t have. Need to get her there before I do something I can’t take back.

Piper isn’t a part of this mountain. Once she can get off, she won’t have a reason to come back.

As she slowly nods, I try not to fool myself by thinking that I can be enough of a reason to stay.

5

Piper

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