Page 1 of Possessive Mountain Man

1

EVE

Ineeded a new group of friends.

My three former sorority sisters, Sammie, Catherine, and Amber, stood huddled together, arms crossed in front of them like it was cold out here.

Catherine and Sammie were actually shaking, but Amber was fiercely stoic, despite the fact that she’d nearly been in tears seconds earlier. They watched as the super-hot rappelling guide turned to me, contraption in hand.

“Ready to suit up?” the guide, who’d introduced himself as Hayden, asked.

Holy hell, was this guy going to actually touch me? I tingled at the thought. But I also felt a little thrill of victory against my friends, who’d turned this adventure into a nightmare.

Things had been going south with our friend group for a while. We’d met during pledge week freshman year and roomed together in the sorority house when we were sophomores. Junior year, we had to get our own apartment, and we’d ended up dropping out of the sorority. We’d gotten the friend group we needed, plus the dues and pageantry had gotten old.

Now, as a graduation celebration for me and Catherine—Amber and Sammie still had at least a year left of school—we’d headed to the mountains. I’d suggested we go for a hike on the first full day here, but Sammie insisted on rappelling.

They all freaked out when they saw what was involved, though. The group ahead of us had been much braver. But hell, we’d come all the way here and waited for a good twenty minutes. One of us was going down, and it looked like it would be me.

“Sure,” I said.

Hayden handed over the contraption, then walked me through putting it on—no touching involved. I was disappointed. Just being close to this guy gave me the tingles all over. It wasn’t only that he was handsome. I’d seen plenty of handsome guys in my time. When he looked at me, I felt beautiful for the first time in my life. I felt like maybe, just maybe, my fear that I’d never be attracted to a guy enough to sleep with him was unfounded.

This guy gave me hope.

“Okay,” he said. “You’re going to spread your legs wide.”

“Spread ’em,” Amber called out.

I glared at her, but she wouldn’t see that behind my sunglasses. We needed to behave like adults here. Mostly, though, they needed to not embarrass me in front of this hunky rappelling guide.

“You’re going to step your way down,” he said. “That’s it. I’ll be right next to you every step of the way.”

He’d be next to me every step of the way. That was the most comforting thing I’d ever heard. He was just talking about going down this mountain, of course. But wouldn’t it be nice to have a big, muscle-bound guy with me through everything scary I did in life? First job. Childbirth. Even walking into a room full of people I didn’t know had me nearly breaking out in hives, yet I wasn’t afraid to go down the side of a mountain. Go figure.

“Don’t forget your helmet!” Sammie called out.

“Oh yeah,” he said. “Sorry.”

He headed over to his gear and grabbed a helmet for me. He already wore one. It didn’t seem like him to forget something so important. I wondered if he found me so beautiful, he’d gotten flustered. Highly doubtful, but a girl could dream, right?

“Ready?” he asked once my helmet was in place.

I nodded and grabbed the rope. Okay, maybe I wasn’t as prepared as I thought. A few steps back and I realized just how steep the drop-off was. This rope was the only thing keeping me from toppling to my death.

I wasn’t ready to die. I had stuff I still wanted to do. Heck, I’d just now felt my first intense physical attraction to someone. I couldn’t die without knowing what it was like to kiss a guy I really, really liked.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and gripped the rope a little tighter. I could do this. I could do this. I could do this.

“You’re doing great,” the guide said. “Just keep going.”

His voice soothed me. I wanted to tell him to keep talking, but I couldn’t speak. It was like my fear had a grip on my vocal cords and wouldn’t let go.

I took slow, deep breaths and tried to tell myself this guy knew what he was doing. He would have tested all the equipment. He was a pro. The woman at the ski lodge where we were staying said as much.

“So, is this your full-time job?” I asked.

Making conversation helped me when I was stressed. I was aware I often chattered to an annoying degree when I was doing something scary, like getting a Pap smear or gearing up to take a major exam in school.

---