Mountain Man_A Single Dad, Older Man Younger Woman Romance Read online

  He pats his daughter on the head and I just want to hug them both. I’m sitting next to Ellie helping her with her studying. I’m surprised how many books he’s managed to get up here in the cabin. I think if Ellie made her way through all of them she’d have a master’s degree in just about everything.

  “I’ll go with you,” I say.

  “You can stay here,” he says. “Help Ellie with her homework.”

  “I need to get out of the house,” I say.

  He doesn’t say anything. He just turns and walks out the door. I take his silence as a disapproving consent, but a consent nonetheless.

  “I’ll be back,” I say.

  “Okay. I’ll keep studying,” Ellie says. I reach down and run my hands through her hair. She’s so cute! She smiles and then turns quickly back toward her work and continues working away.

  I always thought it was better to wait until I was closer to thirty, or maybe even a bit later, to have kids. I couldn’t have ever imagined having kids at such a young age. I heard my mom had me when she was thirteen, and that sure didn’t work out well. I guess I am old enough now, but still it’s something I never really considered.

  I grab a jacket and hurry out the door catching up with Elijah as he walks swiftly with his ax. I didn’t even know his name the first couple of days. We just talked and talked and talked like people who know each other do. He’s still rough around the edges and kind of a gruff guy, but it’s endearing. At least to me it is.

  We cut through the forest and I start to wonder where he’s got the booby traps he talked about. Have we gone past them or are they much further out? How much of this land does he claim for his own? I guess it’s not really like someone’s going to put up much of a fight to live out here.

  We get to a clearing where I can see quite a few stumps.

  “We’re here,” he says. “I’ve been cutting here the last few weeks. I’ll bring the tree down and then cut it into pieces. If you can carry armfuls back to the house it would really help out,” he says.

  “Great. I need to start helping out more.”

  “You’re already helping out with Ellie. That’s more than enough,” he says.

  “It’s my pleasure,” I say.

  “I know she likes having you around,” he says. It’s kind of like his first compliment, but he’s quickly moved past it as he takes off his coat and hangs it from a branch as he begins swinging that ax at the trunk of another tree.

  The tree is thick and tall. I never would have guessed he’d go after such a big tree.

  A couple minutes into it and he’s got another layer off. It’s a sunny day, probably approaching forty five degrees today. With as hard as he’s working I guess he won’t need much in the way of clothes to keep warm.

  I watch as his back muscles flex and his oblique muscles tighten as he swings the ax up and then down at a forty-five degree angle. Even through his tight shirt I can make out the muscles of his body. Don’t those CrossFit guys swing axes at tires to try and replicate this? This is the real thing. This guy is cutting down a massive, massive tree in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter in a T-shirt.

  He’s chopping harder and faster now and his breath matches his effort. I watch as the steam comes from his mouth and sweat beads from his forehead.

  He reaches down into the snow and grabs a big handful, rubbing it on his face. Some of it sticks to his beard. It’s so feral and so sexy.

  He goes right back to chopping and I go right back to staring.

  “Stand over there,” he motions with his head.

  I move a few feet to my left and about a minute later I hear the tree crack and watch as it falls causing a loud crash as it lands in the clearing.

  I never knew cutting trees could be so darn sexy. Maybe it’s just him.

  He lays the ax against the fallen tree and reaches for the bottom of his shirt.

  No he isn’t!

  Yes he is!

  He grabs the shirt and brings it up and over his head as I watch his abs ripple and his chest explode into the fresh winter air. He tosses the shirt on top of the tree and picks up the ax handle, getting right back to work.

  Now he’s got to break it up into pieces for the fire and I’ve got to try and temper the fire in my midsection. I’m so hot I consider taking off my own jacket.

  I watch as he swings up and back. The intensity in his eyes as he swings that great big ol’ ax. The determination and vigor as he hits the same spot over and over again until it breaks. He never gives up until he gets what he wants. I wonder if he’s like that in more ways than one.

  He rolls the first piece of log away from the tree and onto its end. He swings down hard splitting it into two. He’s his own personal log splitter. He doesn’t even need one of those hydraulic machines. He’s got the strength in his own body. I can just imagine him splitting me open with the same ferociousness.

  “These are ready,” he says. He taps a few logs with his ax.

  He pauses, bending over to scoop up some snow which he shovels into his mouth. I bend over to scoop up the logs and then just as I straighten back up I catch him staring at my ass.

  But he doesn’t seem to care. He doesn’t change his gaze. He just keeps looking. Once I’m standing up straight he goes right back to his work.

  I look down at his midsection and see his ax handle isn’t the only hard wood now.

  I turn and smile and carry them back towards the house.

  “There’s a woodshed out back,” he yells. “You can put them in there.”

  “And you can put your wood in my shed anytime,” I whisper under my breath.

  CHAPTER 8

  Trinity

  Each time I return to him to get another load of wood he’s chopping away as if he’s got never-ending stamina. He’s made quick work of that tree in almost ninety minutes and in doing so he’s made quick work of my panties. I’m soaked through.

  I enter the woodshed and stack in what’s sure to be one of my final loads.

  Suddenly the door swings open. I turn around and there he is. He’s holding that ax in one hand and a load of wood in the other. It must have been the final load. He brought it up himself, even catching up with me as he walked.

  There is steam coming off of him which is only accentuated but the light coming through the door. He’s standing just inside. He’s more like a giant silhouette of muscle and beard.

  I stack the last of my logs quickly.

  He drops the ax and hands me one of the logs from the stack he’s cradling in one arm.

  I stack it quickly and turn back towards him. He takes his time, taking another log from his arms. I squint from the lack of light. I look closer and I can see he’s staring right at me.

  He hands me a log and I stack it, slowly. When I turn back around he’s staring right at my ass.

  He hands me a log and I stack it. When I turn back around this time he’s staring at my chest. I’ve worked up a sweat and I know my shirt is clinging to my body.

  I stack another piece, but when I turn back around this time he’s moved in right behind me.

  He’s standing over the top of me. Now I know what it feels like between the prey and the predator.

  Suddenly I hear the logs from his hand hit the ground and his hands grab me by the waist as his lips come down on mine hard.

  I kiss him back with everything I’ve got, reaching for his belt while he feverishly grabs my shirt and pulls it up.

  I move my hands up high so he can take my shirt off. He’s moving fast, but it’s not fast enough…I want my hands back on that belt of his. I need those pants off and his wood inside me. Mouth or pussy I don’t even care at this point.

  He grabs my breasts pulling my body in closer to his as I continue working his belt.

  His arms wrap around my back. His grasp engulfs me reminding me just how much bigger and stronger he really is.

  He kisses me passionately and hungrily as I feel his beard rub against my face and neck. It’
s unlike any sensation I’ve ever experienced before.

  I release one hand from his belt and grab his beard pulling his kisses in even deeper.

  I must be pulling hard by this point, my need taking over. He doesn’t seem to care that I’m yanking his face by his beard. In fact it only seems to turn him on even more.

  I get his belt freed and I feel his hands push mine away as he drops his pants and then quickly unbuttons mine.

  He grabs my panties and yanks them down mid thigh before suddenly pulling them tight. I hear the fabric rip and then feel his hands grip my ass as he lifts me off the ground and slides my dripping wet pussy right down onto his rod.

  My mouth comes off his, opening wide, as I take in his girth and length. He’s bigger than I could have even imagined and it hurts, but oh so good.

  I never imagined this was going to be the way things would happen for the first time, but it couldn’t be better.

  I feel my back against the side of the shed as he thrusts into me. As he thrusts his hands lift my entire body up and then drop me back down on his rod.

  I hear a deep moan escape him and then something of a growl and I can’t contain myself anymore. I feel a wave rush over me and I empty my juices on his log just as he fills me with his warm fluid.

  My body shakes and I lean into him, putting my head on his shoulder. My arms grasp his back tightly and I try and push myself down onto his dick as far as possible. I want his seed…all of it.

  His load keeps coming and my body soaks up every last drop.

  I’m breathing hard. I’m panting. I’m sweating. I’ve never felt so alive, because I never have been before.

  He leans back with his dick still inside me, just looking at me.

  “I never thought that’s how my first time would be.”

  “Your first time?”

  “It was incredible,” I say.

  “That was your first time?”

  “Yes. And it was perfect.”

  “You’re mine now.”

  “What?”

  “I’ve planted my seed inside you. I’ve claimed you. You’re my woman, never to leave these parts.”

  He sounds half psycho and half possessive, but strangely enough it makes me want him even more. If a man doesn’t want me one hundred percent then he might as well not want me at all. He wants me. All of me. He wants me for his and his alone. No one has ever wanted me so badly nor have I ever felt the same about someone.

  This whole thing is absolutely crazy, but the best part is we’re absolutely crazy for each other.

  I kiss him hard on the lips and he hugs me tight.

  I’m his now. I can feel it in his grip. He’s got me and I know he’ll never, ever let go.

  CHAPTER 9

  Trinity

  Two days later

  I pull out my chair and sit down. I take a sip of my chamomile tea and look off into the distance as the night sets in.

  The last two days have been an absolute fuckfest. When Ellie’s in the cabin we do it outside. When Ellie’s outside we do it in the cabin.

  I can’t believe it’s even possible to do the things we’re doing outside during the winter but we just get each other so hot that it absolutely works. When we sneak in a session inside we have to take logs off the fire or else we’ll overheat. It takes but a second and my body temperature skyrockets.

  The way he comes after me. The way he can’t keep those big, strong hands of his off me. The way he ravishes me. It’s like he’s a hungry, wild animal that’s been starving for years.

  And that might be the case. And as much as I don’t want to think, that maybe I’m just a woman that’s come along at a time when he needed one most, that is a possibility. But when I see the way he is I know he wouldn’t get into something if he wasn’t truly into it with everything he has.

  It’s the way he goes about every part of his life. I mean, even when he just chops down a tree he gives it everything he’s got. When he’s making breakfast he takes it so seriously so he gets it done just perfectly. And when he’s inside me his focus and intensity blow me away.

  I never knew I could be so desirable, and in being so I never knew I could desire someone so much. His hunger has turned into my hunger. He’s opened Pandora’s box. I want him all the time now.

  “Where’s Ellie’s mother?”

  “She’s gone. Hit-and-run,” he says.

  “Is that why you moved up here?”

  “It was the last straw. Yes. I’d had enough of people and wanted to get away from them all. When someone kills another human and doesn’t even have the decency to stop their damn car…well…I can’t even put my anger about that into words.”

  “Do you think—”

  “Shhh!” he says. He raises one finger toward me.

  A coyote howls out in the distance, but he’s not just admiring the sound. His eyes show a different kind of alertness.

  “Mating call?” I ask. I could certainly go another round right about now. Ellie is fast asleep after all so we can be as loud as we want. These thick cabin walls soak up every sound imaginable.

  “Call of danger. It’s a much different pitch and frequency.”

  I hear a twig snap off in the distance and immediately Elijah is out of his chair jumping from the porch and running off into the darkness like Daniel Day-Lewis on the Last of the Mohicans movie poster.

  “Elijah!” I call out to him but it’s already too late.

  Seconds later I hear a scuffle in the distance followed by a loud grunt.

  The wolf howls again. Now I’m really scared.

  What if something happened to him? What will happen to Ellie and I alone out here in the wilderness?

  It’s time to get tough. I grab a shovel and stand in front of the door. I’m not letting that monster get inside the house. He can have me, but not without a fight.

  I hear something dragging through the grass. I bend my knees and prepare for battle.

  This is the way things are out here. It’s only taken me a week and I’ve already gone feral, back to the way humans used to live.

  I squint my eyes and watch as I see a shape in the distance. I tighten my grip on the shovel, my knuckles white.

  And then I see his beard. “Elijah!”

  I release the shovel and run to him. He hugs me tight in one arm as he drags my old boss by the feet with his other hand. He’s got him hogtied.

  “Is this the coward?” he says.

  I look once just to make sure.

  “Yeah, that’s him.”

  “I can drag him out back and tie him to a tree if you want. The bears will have him finished off by morning. I can even cover him in honey to make the process go faster.”

  I can’t believe his words, but then I remember…he’s a mountain man. There’s another kind of justice up here. Nature is the judge and jury, and in this case nature is Elijah. My old boss entered a world he wasn’t prepared for, but Elijah was. And Elijah won.

  And when you lose in this world you lose big.

  The power Elijah has and what he’s willing to do for me are beyond words. I don’t wish harm on anyone, but I do know that if my old boss had got what he wanted he would have been swift and final in his dealing with me. Elijah has saved me…twice. I owe everything to this man, but he never makes me feel that way.

  Everything he does he just shrugs it off like it’s something a real man would do. But I know that’s not the case. Not in 2018. It’s not the kind of times we live in. You can’t even get a man to open the door for you, let alone vanquish your enemies before you.

  “Can we turn him in to the police?”

  “That’s not how things are done up here,” Elijah says. He pauses. “But if that’s what you want then that’s what we’ll do.”

  He’s given me a feeling of control back when I felt I had none. He’s injected a sense of power into me when I was empty.

  “There was a phone in your things when I found you. Does it work?”

  “I’m not s
ure,” I say. I step inside and find it, a remnant of my prior existence. This was me just one week ago. How little I need such things now.

  “Here it is.”

  “Can you see if the battery’s still working?”

  I fire it up. There’s about fifteen percent still left.

  Elijah steps inside and comes out with…my day pass for the mountain?

  He holds out his hand and I hand him the phone.

  He hits the speakerphone button and dials the number to the lodge on the pass.

  “Breckenridge Resort, Jonathan speaking.”

  “Jonathan, there will be a man arriving on a sled in about twenty minutes. He’s tried to kill a woman in the hills. He’s wanted for a whole host of charges.” Elijah reaches inside my boss’ pocket. “He has ID on him so he’ll be easy to identify. The police will be there to get him.”

  “Sir? Is this a prank?”

  “I don’t play games when it comes to life and death and protecting my women. Just be prepared because he’ll be approaching your backdoor on a sled soon.”

  Elijah hangs up and then calls the police, telling them what’s going to happen. He doesn’t ask or make suggestions, he tells them. He gives them the story and I hear the police say they’ve been looking for him and that there’s a reward out for him. Apparently he’s a fugitive now as he skipped his pre-trial hearing. Elijah ignores the reward talk. I guess money doesn’t matter to him anymore. Logs burn better than pieces of paper with dead presidents on them up in these parts.

  Elijah hangs up with the police and goes out back and removes an old toboggan. He ties my old boss up to it tight and shoves him off down the hill.

  “I thought the resort was that way?” I say pointing to my left and not down the hill.

  “It is, but there’s a trail right here that winds around. It’s faster and will run him right by where the wolves hunt. They won’t try and stop him. He’ll be too big and too fast, but it will sure put a scare into him.”

  “You sure put a scare into me when you went off running after him like that,” I say.

  “Never be scared when I’m here. I’m here to protect you. No one can harm you when I’m by your side. Not now and not ever.”