Page 19 of The Mountain Man's Mail Order Temptation
She smiles at me, winks at Ellie, and picks up one of the bags off the porch, shoving it into my arms. “Now go put some color in that house.” With that, she grabs her knitting, climbs into her Cadillac and drives off.
“Yesterday I was mad at her,” Ellie says, taking the bag from me. “Now that I’ve met her, I think I love her. I can see why Teenage Anson never stood a chance.”
I huff a rusty laugh. “I still don’t.”
We carry the last of the bags in and put the groceries away. I put the flour in the cabinet and turn just in time to see Ellie rub one of her hips.
Fuck. With the Dottie distraction, I haven’t had a chance to check her injury. The rest of this shit can wait.
I take the bag of chocolate chips out of her hand and set it aside. “Show me where it hurts.”
“It’s fine.”
“Not what I asked.” I smooth a hand over her right hip where she hit the railing.
“It’s just a little sore. It will be better tomorrow.”
“Show me.”
She rolls her eyes, then reaches for the button of her jeans. She hesitates and gives me a nervous look.
Because of her body? That ends now.
I sink to my knees, running my hands up her thighs to her waist and back over her lush hips. “I didn’t get to see all this silky skin this morning, sunshine. I only got to feel every delicious curve. When I woke with your body draped over my chest, my hands full of that curvy ass, I was hard as granite.”
“I’m not thin and beautiful. I’m afraid you’ll see my body and…”
“And what? Lose my mind and fuck you on the floor of the kitchen? Because there’s a damn good chance of that happening.”
She smiles a little, her body softening beneath my hands. “You know what I mean. I’m just a big girl.”
“You’re perfect. Let me see where they hurt you. Then I’ll show you what your body does to me.”
Ellie nods and lets me peel her jeans down her legs. She crosses her hands over her tummy. I remove one then the other, kissing the delicate inside of each wrist before placing another kiss on her soft stomach.
I remove her boots, socks, and pants, then skim my hands up her creamy thighs. A bruise is beginning to form on the outside of her right thigh. “This where it hurts, sunshine?”
“Yeah. I didn’t have a chance to catch myself before I hit the rail.”
I place a lingering kiss over the damaged area. I’ll make her some food and give her some pain meds. Heat would help soothe her, which gives me an idea. Old man Stills had a hot tub on the back deck. I fixed it up last week and hadn’t decided if I was going to keep it or sell it.
Looks like I’m keeping it. It will help Ellie feel better. And once I have her wet and warm? No fucking way I’m going to pass up the opportunity to hold her in my arms under the stars.
CHAPTER NINE
ELLIE
The porch isquiet except for the distant hum of crickets and the faint bubbling of the hot tub heating on the deck. The stars overhead are brighter than I’ve ever seen, and the mountain air smells like pine and the cookies I stress-baked earlier while Anson grilled dinner like it was any other night and notthisnight. The one where I’m supposed to bare everything including my nerves, and hope he still looks at me like I’m beautiful.
I don’t have a bathing suit. Just soft skin, thick thighs, and a bright red mark that’s going to be a nasty bruise.
“I wondered if you were gonna come out,” Anson murmurs behind me, his voice low and warm.
I nearly jump out of my skin. He’s barefoot and silent as a ghost, moving like a man trained to be invisible until the moment he wants to be seen. Like now—when he’s standing just close enough for the heat of his body to wrap around mine.
“I don’t have anything to wear,” I admit, still facing the stars.
“You won’t hear me complain,” he says, so soft and reverent it makes my breath catch. He cups my shoulders and draws me back against his chest. Sweeping my long hair aside, he presses a kiss to the junction where my neck and shoulder meet.
