My Mountain Man’s Desire (Rock Creek #1)

Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

Sophie

T he moment he puts a bowl of warm chilli in my hands, I realize how hungry I actually am. I scoop up a spoonful and blow on it before putting it to my lips. “Oh wow.” It’s delicious. “This is so good, Griff. You made this?”

A sexy mountain man living in a log cabin he’d built himself who also happens to be a single dad who can cook? Who is this man?

Griffin shakes his head with a chuckle. “I wish I could take credit for that.” He grabs his own bowl and takes the chair across from me, pulling it closer. “That’s all Ma. She’s so worried that William is eating right, she regularly stocks my freezer. I guess a mom has gotta mom.”

I smile a little but look back down at my dinner. “I wouldn’t really know,” I say after moment, surprising myself by opening up. I never speak about my mom. “My mom died when I was eight.” It doesn’t hurt as much as it used to when I say it out loud. “My dad remarried a few years back, but I wouldn’t call Lynn a mom. Not to me, anyway. Her son, Seth can do no wrong.” I shrug a little. “That’s the asshole I was camping with. Seth and his loser friends. Dad asked me to go with them to make sure they didn’t get into any trouble. But it turns out, Lynn told Seth to take me because they felt sorry for me because all I do is study. Correction,” I add quickly. “That’s all I used to do.”

I look Griffin in the eyes, and for the first time say it out loud. “I dropped out of law school. No one knows yet.”

“That feels like a pretty big deal.”

“It’s all they ever wanted me to do.” I put another bite of the delicious chilli in my mouth. “But it was never what I wanted.”

“Then I’m glad you quit. Now you can do what you want to do.”

He made it sound so simple. The problem is, all I’d ever wanted in my life was to be a wife and mother. To give my children the upbringing I was robbed of. But there’s no way I can tell that to a perfect stranger. Especially not a gorgeous single dad who I’m ridiculously attracted to. Not without him thinking I’m into him for all the wrong reasons.

“Tell me about William.” I genuinely want to know about Griff’s son so it was an easy shift in conversation. His smile lights up when he starts talking about his boy and it’s easy to see how much love he has for him.

“Has it always been just the two of you?”

“And my family.” Griff nods. “I don’t think I could have done it without them all. When Cressa showed up out of the blue with a baby, I didn’t know what to think. Let alone what I was supposed to do with him.”

“So, Cressa…”

His eyes lock on mine. “Was a one night stand. I hardly knew her and I had no plans on ever seeing her again.” He looks away. “Still don’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“She didn’t want a kid. She showed up on my doorstep, handed me William and walked away. That was it.”

“What?” A flare of anger for a woman I’ve never met flashes through me. “How could she?—”

“There’s no point asking the question,” he stops me. “There’s no answer good enough.” Griff looked up again and lifts his glass of wine to his lips. I can’t take my eyes off them. His tongue darts out and licks away a stray drop and instantly my thoughts flash to what it would feel like to have his tongue on me, between my legs, licking and tasting me where I’ve never been touched before.

My cheeks burn hot and I try to cover it by picking up my own glass of wine.

“Is everything okay, sweetheart? It’s not your ankle, is it?”

“No. I’m fine. I was just thinking…never mind. Tell me more about your family.”

Griffin

I know exactly what she’s thinking because I’m thinking it, too.

Still, I force myself to move slowly. I’ll be dammed if I’m going to scare her away. Now that I’ve found my girl, I’ll do everything in my power to keep her. And if that means controlling every single one of my physical urges to take her to bed, make love to her until she cries out my name and claim her as my woman, I’ll do it.

For now.

I top up her wine glass and resettle myself into the chair before telling her about my family and life on the mountain. Born and raised in Rock Creek, life in a remote mountain town was all I knew, and all I ever want to know. I hoped like hell I wasn’t making it sound too wild or feral. I desperately want her to love it here.

“It sounds amazing.” She shifts on the couch and the flannel she’s wearing creeps a little higher up her thigh. My fingers itch to walk up that sensitive skin and find the sweetness beyond.

Instead, I clear my throat. “It is, mostly.”

“It’s so beautiful here and peaceful. The perfect place to raise a child. Why do you say, mostly?”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tell her that the only thing that would make my life better was to have her in it permanently. Waking up with her sweet warm body in my arms, and kissing those lips every day while I watched her soft belly grow with the child I put in her, would be the one thing to make life perfect.

But there’s no way I can say that. Bad ankle or not, she’d run screaming out of here. I’m not going to risk it.

“Tell me what you want to do now that you’ve quit school?” I ask instead.

For a moment I think she’ll challenge the way I avoided her question. But to my surprise, she takes a sip of wine and says, “All I’ve ever wanted was to be a wife and mother.”

I almost choke. “What?”

She blushes hard, her cheeks turning a bright red. “I know, it sounds so old fashioned and anti feminist and all that. I wasn’t even going to tell you.”

“There’s nothing you can’t tell me, sweetheart.”

Her smile is shy and sweet. “You know what’s even crazier?”

Nothing about what she’s said so far was crazy. In fact, it all sounds pretty fucking good to me. I tell her as much.

“I’ve never even…” she shrugs and ducks her head.

“Never, what?”

“I’ve never had a boyfriend,” Sophie admits. “I was always so busy studying, there was never time. And I guess…well…I’m not really the type of girl boys fight over.”

“Maybe not boys, sweetheart.” My voice is low, only barely controlled. “But this man would go to war for you.”

She sucks in a breath and looks away.

Shit. I went too far.

I’m good at a lot of things. Chopping wood, building houses, and even raising a son, but I’d be damned if I knew how to properly talk to a woman. Not when it mattered. And this woman definitely matters.

Instead of sticking my foot even further into my mouth, I jump up from my chair and move into the kitchen. “Ready for dessert?”

Sophie

The chilli was amazing, but when Griff hands me a warm gooey cinnamon bun, I think maybe I’ve died and gone to heaven. I close my eyes with every single bite and let the sweet sensation of the sugary goodness wash through me.

“I don’t think I can be held responsible for my actions if you keep eating like that.”

I snap my eyes open to see Griff holding himself perfectly still across from me. His knuckles are white from gripping the arms of the chair, his strong forearms flex with the effort. His blue eyes bore into me and send a shiver racing through me directly to my core.

Never mind the fact that he’s just said he’d go to war for me.

Oh. My. God.

Maybe this is what’s been missing all this time? I’d been entertaining the idea of a boy. When what I really needed was a man.

I needed Griffin.

With a boldness I didn’t know I possessed, I pull another piece of bun off and slowly stick it on my tongue before pulling it into my mouth with a low moan. I slip my finger between my lips and lick the icing from it with a wicked glint.

“Sweetheart.” His voice holds a warning I have no interest in heeding.

This man makes me want to do things I’ve hardly even dreamed about.

With a growl, Griff pushes back from his chair, grabs my empty bowl of chilli and stalks toward the kitchen. Shame and embarrassment wash through me. Maybe I read the situation wrong.

Very wrong. After all, I don’t know the first thing about men or how to behave around them. Obviously, I’d come on too strong.

Hot tears prick at my eyes and that only makes me mad. Why do I even care? I don’t know this man. He’s helping me out of a bad situation. That doesn’t mean I need to throw myself at him. I’m so stupid.

I swipe at my tears and discard the rest of the cinnamon bun onto the plate, my appetite gone.

In the morning I’ll go to town and forget all about him.

Why does that thought make me so sad?

“Sweetheart?” Griffin kneels in front of me and grabs my hands in his. His massive fingers close over mine, making me feel impossibly tiny in his grip. “Look at me.” He squeezes gently until I look him in the eye.

“I need you to understand that when I look at you, the urge to throw you over my shoulder, carry you to the bedroom, toss you onto the bed where I will strip you naked and kiss every part of you until you are quivering and screaming out my name, is so strong that it’s taking every single ounce of self control to behave myself. So when you tease me that way, it makes it so I can’t even think straight let alone control myself in your presence.”

I swallow hard as the picture he’s just painted in my mind takes shape.

“Do you understand?”

I nod, but I’m not completely sure I do. I suck my bottom lip in between my teeth and drop my gaze.

“What is is, sweetheart?” His thumb strokes circles on the top of my hand.

His genuine concern give me the courage I need to say. “Why don’t you?”

“Why don’t I what?”

This is the moment. I could look away and pretend I hadn’t said anything. Just go back to eating the cinnamon bun and ignoring the growing feelings of need and want inside me. Or I could take a chance and finally do something I wanted to for once.

And oh my, did I ever want to do this.

“Why don’t you throw me over your shoulder, carry me into the bedroom so you can strip me naked and kiss every bit of me until I scream out your name?”

His eyes are black pools of desire, his nostrils flare and I’m pretty sure I hear a growl slip from his throat. But I don’t have a moment to think about it because the next thing I know, I’m hanging upside down over his broad, muscled shoulder. He has one massive hand spread over my ass holding me still—as if I was going to go anywhere!

Moisture pools between my legs at the promise of what’s about to happen. Unable to control myself, I squirm against his shoulder desperate to relive the friction between my legs.

“Needy little girl, aren’t you?” His large hand comes down in a gentle slap on my panty clad ass cheeks. I yelp but his swat only has the effect of making me even wetter.

“Griff..I…”

My words are lost when he easily flips me back so I land with a soft plop on the mattress.

Griff looks as if he’s still working hard to control himself but I can see the huge bulge in his pants that proves his control only goes so far. My eyes wide, I swallow hard at the size of the bulge. I’ve never seen a naked man before, let alone a man the size of Griff. I don’t know what to expect, but I know it’s going to be impressive.

“You want this, sweetheart?”

My tongue slips from my mouth and wets my bottom lip as I nod. Finally, I force myself to look away from his crotch and up to his waiting hot, hungry gaze. “So much,” I say. “I want all of it.”