Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

5. Mac

CHAPTER 5

Mac

G oddamn, this girl knows how to kiss.

But it’s all too brief.

I pull away, shaking my head. “Aren’t we the excitable one?”

“Sorry, I...” She’s redder than a beet, and sweet as one too.

“You know just because I’m being nice to you it doesn’t mean that I want anything in return. Sometimes people are nice for the sake of being nice.”

“It’s not that. Not that at all. I’m just establishing my independence. It’s not something I had before, you know.”

“You’re establishing your independence by kissing a guy you just met?”

She laughs nervously. “It’s not so much that. I’ve never been kissed before. I bet you’re not surprised that my family was the type to obsess over my purity.”

“Nope, not at all. They sound like real pieces of work.”

“I kind of always wanted my first kiss to uh...” Still red, she runs her fingers through her hair. “Well, I wanted my first kiss to be with someone I actually liked. A good, strong, handsome man.”

More laughter, this time from me. “You think I’m handsome?”

“Incredibly handsome,” she replies. “And don’t act like you don’t know it.”

“Handsomeness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Doesn’t matter what I think, as long as my woman thinks I’m handsome.”

She’s so damn cute. And full of fire too. It’s just what I like in a girl. I really don’t want her to think she owes me anything. She’s a woman in a tough spot, yes, but that doesn't mean I should be some sort of predator looking to get my dick wet. My brothers would kick my fucking ass if I did anything that even resembled that.

Still, if she’s game and I’m game, there shouldn’t be anything stopping us. So maybe we need to test the waters a little more.

Maybe literally.

“Come with me, Merit. Let me show you something.”

I head out the back and throw some logs under the tub, then flick some lighter fluid and a match into it. The fire starts to spread.

“That’s... an awfully weird-looking pot,” Merit observes. “And awfully big too. What is this for, making the world’s biggest batch of chicken noodle soup?”

“It’s a hot tub. A wood-fired one. I’m getting it ready.”

“Seriously? You have a hot tub at your hunting cabin?”

“We aren’t fancy, us Roughs, but we’re not lying to ourselves either, Merit. This is a bit of a vacation spot. So we enjoy ourselves here.”

“Just you and the guys, huh?”

“I’m secure enough in my masculinity to chill beside my brothers in a hot tub after a long day.”

She laughs. “Well, you enjoy yourself. I can’t join you... I didn’t exactly bolt away from the compound with my bathing suit in tow.”

She pauses.

“Not that I had one. Bathing suits were one of the things destroying the fabric of society according to my father.”

“Sounds like a fun guy.” I shake my head. “You don’t need one, Merit. I don’t have one with me either.”

“What, are you going to get in wearing just your underwear?”

“And have wet underwear? That seems uncomfortable.”

“Then what are you...” The realization slowly dawns on her.

I smile her way. “All we need is what nature gives us to enjoy this. I won’t look, I promise. You want in?”

“You can’t be... you...” She stammers, overwhelmed by the situation, looking back and forth. Then, she takes a deep breath. “Sure. I’m in. If my father knew what I was doing, he’d be having an aneurysm, and right now I’d be pretty happy if he did.”

“Enjoying the hot tub with me out of spite is as good a reason as any.”

“Maybe I have other reasons too.” Her smile was intoxicating. I wanted to see a whole lot more of it, and only could hope she’d keep blessing me with it.

It takes a bit to get the water warm, but soon it’s a nice temperature – it’s enjoyable, and not going to turn us into the stock for human soup.

I peel my shirt, shoes, and jeans off in a flash, showing no shame because I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. If Merit doesn’t want to see, she’ll look away – like she said earlier, she’s figuring out her independence. But she watches me with awe as I hop right into the water and let the warmth overcome me, submerging myself, including my more intimate parts.

I look Merit’s way, keeping my cocky smile on. I’m sure she got a good look at something that not a lot of people have seen. It’s got a bit of a chub at the moment, and honestly, it’s all her fault.

“Coming in?” I say. She said she would, but I wouldn’t blame her if she has second thoughts. We are moving pretty fast, and I wouldn’t want her to do anything she’s not comfortable with.

Right when I expect her to chicken out, she grabs the hem of her t-shirt and pulls it up and over her head. Her hair falling out of her shirt mesmerizes me a bit, but she quickly steals my attention back as she rolls her jeans down her legs and steps out of the pile. Standing there in her underwear, my eyes are locked on her, scanning her up and down, taking in every bit of her wonderful curves and her luscious tits. She’s an absolute beauty, and it’s a damn shame that her family apparently wanted to keep her locked up and shielded from the world.

I promised not to look, but I’m having a hard time tearing my eyes away. She doesn’t ask me to, though, her eyes locked right back on mine, daring me to watch her.

She unhooks her bra, and lets it fall to the side, her cheeks turning a pretty shade of red I’m getting real used to. She lets me get a full view of her naked tits, and goddamn, nothing about the bra lied about what was underneath. The panties follow, and she timidly does cover that part of herself up with her hands.

With how everything is going though, I’m guessing that timidness won’t last for much longer.

She climbs into the tub, with a little helping hand from myself. She sits down somewhat far from me, the water covering her up to her neck. That nervousness she had which seemed to be receeding jumps right back up now – I can see it in her eyes and all I want to do is put her at ease.

“Gonna be honest with you, Merit,” I say, reclining in the tub. “You’re fucking gorgeous. The hottest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. That I found someone like you squatting in my family’s hunting cabin is something amazing. I want to kiss you again, and this time I don’t want to let go. I want to do more than kiss you, even, if you get where I’m going with this.”

“I’m not that naive,” she replies, her voice soft.

“Above all that, I don’t want to scare you. You’ve had a lot of shit to scare you already and I don’t want to add to that.”

“Nothing about you scares me, Mac. Quite the opposite.”

“Then why are you sitting so far away?”

“Twenty-something years of conditioning is all. But I’m a grown woman. I’m a free woman. I can do what I want. And I want to make choices now that I’ve wanted to make for a long time. And more importantly, I want to make choices that involve you, Mac. I’m a grown-ass woman, and I know what I want.”

“You don’t know how sexy it is to hear you say that, Merit.”

She nibbles her lips and then shakes her head. “I want you to be my first, Mac.”

I laugh. “Girl, with how you’re making me feel about you right now? I want to be your first, last and only.”