Page 5 of Wanted By the Mountain Man

PEPPER

I’d never been all that shy. Even when it came to men.

But Seduction Summit had always had a shortage of people my age. Until recently, anyway. Honestly, it had never even occurred to me to date one of the many hot mountain men in town. They’d started showing up once word spread about the logging jobs.

I normally didn’t keep my eyes open underwater when I swam, but tonight, I had no choice. Luckily, the water was clear enough that I could easily find Rourke. And I moved toward him, making it clear exactly what I had in mind.

He didn’t budge, and it made me doubt whether or not he wanted this, but as I swam closer, he reached for me, our lips meeting as warmth spread through my chilled body. And that was when I wished I could hold my breath underwater longer. One kiss would never be enough.

It wasn’t the sexiest kiss ever—we didn’t even part our lips. It was surprising just how hard it was to kiss while holding your breath. I’d never tried it before, but then, I’d only kissed one guy, and he’d been horrible at it.

We had to break the kiss all too soon, and even though it was little more than a prolonged peck on the lips, it was still the hottest kiss I’d ever had. We broke the surface, taking in gulps of air. But I was gasping like a fish while he calmly inhaled.

He probably could have held his breath longer, as big and in shape as he was. But all my exercise came from rushing around the diner ten hours a day, six days a week.

He looked back over his shoulder in time to see one of the guys swinging an axe through the air. It landed with a loudthwack, and everyone cheered. Had they been doing that all along? I’d tuned it out until now.

He turned back to me. “You know, I bet they’d never notice if we took off.”

My heart leaped at his words. He wanted alone time with me, and I definitely wanted it with him. And that would mean a real kiss. One that was likely to electrify every cell in my body.

I smiled. “Let’s do it.”

That was all he needed to hear. He rushed around me, heading toward the opposite side of the pond from where the group stood. I glanced at them, found they weren’t paying a bit of attention to us, and took off after him.

“Where are we going?” I asked seconds later as I followed Rourke out of the water.

With another glance at the lumberjack competition, he sped up his pace. “You’ll see,” he called back.

I started walking faster too. Obviously, he was worried they might notice us. Maybe they were watching by now. If so, I didn’t mind. In fact, sneaking off with the most jaw-droppingly gorgeous guy I’d ever seen made me proud. I wanted the world to see this.

The big rock outcropping next to the pond had some steps on the side of it. I pictured them chiseled into the rock, but I wasn’tsure. One of the women, Larsen, had told me about it while we were swimming.

I half-expected Rourke to steer us toward those rocks, but he didn’t. Instead, he headed straight into the woods. Not even down a trail—just between trees, blasting his way through with his arms.

We were barefoot and in bathing suits, but it wasn’t too bad. The grass was high, so it tickled my ankles, but the ground was solid and firm, yet soft enough to provide padding for my feet.

He finally slowed when we reached a little clearing wrapped in thick evergreens. In the center was a ring of boulders that looked like they’d been dropped there on purpose. The fading daylight filtered through the canopy, just enough that the area seemed to have a slight glow.

“This is it,” he said, turning to face me. His voice was low, rough. “We’ll hear them coming long before they get close.”

I stepped into the clearing and smiled, looking around. “It’s like a secret hideout.”

“Yep. Our hideout.”

Before I could say anything, he closed the space between us and cupped my face in both hands. This time, there was no rushing. No breath-holding. Just his mouth on mine, hot and sure and so devastatingly good I forgot where we were, who I was, what we’d just left behind.

He kissed me like he was starving. Like he’d been waiting for this moment longer than the few weeks he’d been coming into the diner. And I kissed him back the same way, gripping his shoulders, pulling him closer, letting the heat between us melt whatever hesitation had been lingering.

His hands slid down my back, skimming over the damp fabric of my suit. I shivered—not from the cold, but from the sheer intensity of it all. My body lit up everywhere his fingers touched.

He eased me back against a tree, one hand braced beside my head, the other still tracing lazy paths down my spine.

“Tell me if you want to stop,” he murmured against my mouth.

“I won’t ever want to stop,” I whispered back.

That made him grin, but only for a second. Then his mouth was back on mine, and we stopped pretending this was anything less than inevitable.

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