Page 25 of Fake Date with the Mountain Man

“Now we’re even,” he says with a wink as he passes by me on the way to the bathroom.

I’m buried deep in the covers by the time he re-emerges a few minutes later. He’s still wearing nothing but his boxer shorts as he peels back the covers and slides into the other bed.

Ryan switches off his bedside lamp, leaving nothing but a glimmer of streetlight that creeps through the edges of the curtains. I keep adjusting to find a comfortable spot in the unfamiliar bed, but Ryan is perfectly still. In fact, I think he’s already asleep until he speaks.

“Thank you for coming here with me.”

“You’re welcome,” I reply.

“I had a good time tonight,” he says after a few seconds.

“Me too.”

Silence stretches out in the dark between us for what seems like forever. It’s easier to say things like this to each other in the dark. It would be easy to say all sorts of things into the darkness.

“Goodnight, Marlow.”

“Goodnight.”

Chapter 10

RYAN

I’ve seen all sorts of women naked, and I enjoy all types of bodies. I remember most of them pretty clearly – or at least I did, until now.

Seeing Marlow almost naked must have made some neuron in my brain misfire. Or maybe it made the world tilt on its axis and threw us into some sort of alternate dimension or an episode ofThe Twilight Zone.

And now, it’sallI can think about as I toss and turn in the hotel bed.

She’s long legs and soft curves. Creamy white skin and pale constellations of freckles. Just under her belly button, she has a soft swell of skin that stretches between her hips. Her ass is round and firm, but there are a few glossy, white stretch marks faintly running down the back of her hips.

These are the things that drive me fucking wild as I lay there. It’s the way her lips felt against my thumb, the way they wrapped around my fork. The way she kept her icy blue eyes focused on me through it all. The way she shimmied out of her dress like she didn’t have to think twice about undressing in front of me. And the way that it revealed all these tiny imperfections that no one else gets to see. It’s weird, I know, but it’s also like knowing a secret about her. When everyone else sees Marlow in her little dresses that hug her in just the right spots, she seems likeperfection. Unattainable perfection. An ice queen as frigid and mysterious as the Artic Sea. Knowing she has those little flaws makes her human and attainable. And thinking of Marlow as attainable…well, the idea of that has me fucking rigid under the covers.

It’s an interesting thought…because I had no idea that I was interested in attaining Marlow.

A few feet away, Marlow lets out a single, sharp snort. I smile into the darkness when I realize that she woke herself up with her snoring fit. A soft, delicious moan escapes her lips as she rolls onto her side and drifts back off to sleep.

___

“You snore,” I say as soon as Marlow starts to stir in the morning. I’m already dressed and ready to hit the road.

She opens her eyes just enough to scowl at me before burying her face back in the pillow.

“It was like sleeping next to an asthmatic dinosaur.”

Without looking up, Marlow grabs a spare pillow from her bed and chucks it at my face. I catch it and walk over to the side of the bed, smacking her on the ass with it…or at least my best approximation of where her ass is under the heap of blankets.

“Come on, Snora the Explorer, time to wipe that drool off your face and start the day.”

Marlow finally starts to roll over. Her lips are pursed into a smile she’s trying her best to fight. Her hair is a red pool of curls around her face. I’m searching for an imperfection to squirrel away in my mental lockbox – a fake eyelash stuck to her cheek, a stream of drool running down to her chin – but there’s none. It’s unclear what I’m planning to do with this new list of imperfections. Maybe try to remind myself why we don’tlike each other, or maybe drive myself crazy trying to convince myself that I don’t feel anything but annoyance for this woman.

“Did you just spank me with a pillow?” Her voice is raspy with sleep.

“Yep.”

“You broke the rules then. I said no touching my ass.”

Her eyelashes flutter as she adjusts to the filtered sunlight in the room. She stops trying to fight her smile and her lips curl lazily upward.

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