"You good?" he asks gruffly as he quickly lets go of me, as if I’m fire.
"I’m good," I reply, and I consider slipping on another rock just to get him to grab me again. How many times do I have to do it before it starts looking deliberate? I’m willing to find out.
But, before I can think about doing anything else stupid, we arrive at the cabin that I have booked for the next few days. Honestly, I’m truly glad to be here right now; the cool air seems to whip away the cobwebs that have been clinging to me lately, and I am more than happy to let this just unfold the way it wants to.
"Here you are," Cliff remarks, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets once more, as though he knows it’s the only way that he’s going to be able to keep them off me. I can still smell his skin, close to mine, the scent of the fresh mountain air mixed with something masculine. Something him.
"Thanks for bringing me down," I tell him. "And if I need help with anything else, I know where to find you, right?"
"Yeah, sure," he agrees, and he glances around. "Stick to the cabin for a while, though, and keep your eye out for cougars. There’s some wild animals on the mountains right now."
"Hey, that’s no way to talk about me," I joke, and he eyes me for a moment. I feel my stomach drop, and realize how flirty that must have come off.
A wild animal? Me? Yeah, not really.
Not with the whole daughter-of-a-preacher thing. He has to hold back a smirk, and I wonder if he is cringing at how cheesy I am. My toes curl in my shoes.
"I should... uh, get inside," I blurt out, and I hurry in before I can say anything else that’s going to make me look even more of a fool than I already do. I fumble the key into the lock and push the door open, and, when I glance around again, I see Cliff standing there, a grin on his face.
I’m sure he’s just amused to think that my terrible joke would ever have been enough to entertain him. Ugh, why can’t I just keep my mouth shut sometimes? I pull the door to a close behind me and wonder just what he makes of me.
I run my hands through my hair, and take a look around the cabin that Cliff just brought me to.
The rustic one-room cabin is as nice as I’d hoped it would be. There’s a comfortable couch in the corner, a queen-size bed, a simple kitchen with a wood-burning stove.
Would be even nicer with that mountain man to keep me company, but hey, this is meant to be about me, right? Not anyone else.
Not even if I can still feel the imprint of his hands on my shoulders, like a brand that has been pressed against me.
As I make my way around the quaint little log cabin, I wonder how long it has been since I have actually been in contact with a man I don’t know. Back in Cherry Falls, given the job that my father has, it feels impossible to meet someone new.
Everyone is the son of one of my father’s parishioners, the high school boyfriend of one of my old friends – no more than a couple of degrees of separation between all of us, and at a certain point, a girl just needs something new, right?
Exactly why I have come all the way out to the Wild Ridge Mountains to find it. Because back in my real life, I can’t help but feel a little... trapped.
I feel guilty even thinking that word in my head, but it’s true. Ever since Mom died, I have been doing my very best to look after my father, to make sure that he knows that he will always have me there to take care of him, and to be certain that he is back on his feet after he lost her. But I’m starting to get the feeling that he’s getting a little too darn used to having me around these days.
I’m twenty-five years old, for goodness’ sake! I need some space to myself. And while working as a receptionist at The Manor House Hotel has given me a bit of freedom, it’s more than that.
I’m a woman, with needs, and those needs will keep going completely and utterly unmet as long as I am still sleeping in my childhood bedroom with the marks on the walls where my pony posters used to be.
It’s not even that I want a husband, exactly. Though I wouldn’t say no to one if the right guy came long. I just want to finally get rid of my virginity and start my journey to the satisfying sex life that I know I deserve by now.