Mountain Man's Bride

by Lauren Wood

  “A lot of us live up here to get away from the rest of the world. Why did you want to come up here Ayla?”

  She was silent for a minute and she wasn’t sure how to answer that question. Shrugging she told me that she guessed that was her reason as well. “I guess getting away from everything and everyone sounded good at the time. I guess I didn’t really think about how desolate it was going to be. Silly huh?”

  “There are more people here then you know. Stay a while and you will see there is a community here. Not too many of us mind you, but we are quite a few, more than you can see in one night.”

  “I planned on staying, but I don’t know how I’m going to be able to now.”

  I waved her off and told her that it was going to be okay. She was already thinking about leaving and that didn’t sit well with me. I was going to have to show her the Alaskan hospitality that I knew was here and make her stay. If she didn’t, I was going to be saddened. A night or two with her wasn’t going to cut it. I was going to need more time and since I didn’t have much to do for the next couple of weeks, I decided then and there that I was going to make helping her a priority.

  For now though, I wanted to get her comfortable so that she could see that it wasn’t so bad. I had never been one to take that much time in comfort, part of the reason that I was here, but at the same time, women were more delicate and I didn’t want to scare her off so soon. There was a lot to be nervous about her and I knew that I was going to have to figure something out to make her want to stay.

  “Trust me Ayla; it’s going to be fine. I’ll help you get it worked out at the cabin. It’s not as bad as it looks. It just needs a little work.”

  “I don’t really have enough money to do all of the fixing that the cabin needs. I sold everything to move out here, but I wasn’t prepared to spend so much in the beginning. I was thinking I would need it for food and supplies for the winter.”

  I could tell she was overwhelmed and I made her sit down at the table and take a coat or two off.

  “I got some stew that I made earlier. Get something in your stomach and a good night’s sleep and everything will be better in the morning, I promise.”

  She smiled at me and I tried not to look too hard at the round breasts that revealed themselves in her T-shirt. She wasn’t dressed at all for the elements, but that helped me a little because her nipples were rock hard and begging for attention. It was going to be harder than I thought to ignore her.

  The cabin was a one room style so while it was pretty big for just me; it was rather small in the grand scheme of things. I could see her looking around and when her eyes stayed on the bed for a little too long; I knew that she was thinking about sleeping arrangements and how that was going to work. I didn’t bring it up. I wanted her mind to go where it would and I wondered to myself if she was going to lay with me or insist that I sleep on the couch. Either way was fine, but I was practically hard just thinking about her lying beside me. I made a mental note to not load up the wood stove so much tonight. If I couldn’t get her in my bed as quickly as I wanted, I had a feeling that the cold in the cabin would do it for me.

  We talked a little bit over stew and I tried to get to know her. She had been driving for a couple of days and it as clear that she was tired. It was also clear by the sideways glances that she kept giving to the single bed in the corner that she was worried about where she was going to sleep tonight. Finally she asked and I left it up to her.

  “You can sleep there or on the couch. It’s going to be cold tonight and it’s always better to have a bed partner, but it’s up to you. You can have the bed if you want.”

  “Can you even fit on that couch?”

  I hadn’t slept there before save for a couple of times that I was reading and had fallen asleep, so I wasn’t so sure that I was going to fit, but I told her that it was fine. I was still hoping that she would relent, but instead she insisted that she not take my bed and she would sleep on the couch. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was insistent and I wasn’t going to push the issue. It was clear to me that there was something holding her back and if I was going to help her get the cabin together, I rationalized that I would have plenty of time to get into her panties, which was all I could think about at the moment.

  “Not a problem. I’ve got extra blankets for you in the linen closet that I can get out. You look tired, are you ready to go to bed now?”

  She shook her head that she was and I knew that it was as far as I was going to get at the moment. I knew that there was a part of me that wanted to push the issue, but I was a patient man, I had to be to live here.

  “That’s okay. I’m ready too I think. Do you want something to sleep in?”

  I could already see her in one of my big T-shirts and I liked the idea of it, but she said she was fine with her thin shirt and leggings. My only hope was that it wasn’t enough and I woke up to her crawling into bed with me at some point tonight. I was going to let it get cold in the cabin, really cold, to see if I could convince her to do what I wanted.

  Chapter 3

  Ayla

  I woke up freezing. I was underneath two blankets and I still had my outfit on, but I woke up with my teeth chattering. The stove looked like it was out and I had to fight the urge to wake the man up. It was hard to imagine how I had gotten here. It took a minute when I first woke up to even remember where I was and when it all flooded back in, I was a little embarrassed. Here I had thought that I had done so well being prepared for the trip, but in less than one night, I realized that I was in way over my head.

  Sitting up, I heard Bill breathing and I thought about what luck I had that he had come by when he did. I was in a cabin and under blankets and I was still so cold. How bad would it have been to spend another night in that van, stuck in a snow pile on the side of the road? I knew that I was lucky, but at the moment I couldn’t get warm and it was hard to concentrate when all I could think about was getting warm.

  I looked over at the bed and seriously thought about getting into bed with Bill. He was a hulk of a man and handsome in a rugged sort of way. I had never heard the term mountain men before, but he would have been what I’d imagined if I did. His beard covered up most of his face, but nothing was able to cover up how big and hard he was. When he had taken his coat off, his bright blue eyes had twinkled at me and the shirt he was wearing underneath was rather tight on his huge biceps and it was hard to keep my eyes away. I had a feeling that he was looking at me in the same way and it was startling what thoughts came to my mind. I wanted him, I knew I did and it wasn’t something that I had counted on happening. I mean, I was here to get away from men and the first one that I met had me thinking about how long it had been since I had been touched by one.

  Finally I made a decision to get into bed with him. He had offered and it felt like the only way I was going to warm up. I needed his body heat for that, as well as some sort of reassurance that it was all going to be okay. He was my savior at the moment and it was hard to feel any other way about it. I shivered inside to think of what could have happened if I hadn’t wrecked my van and met him. If I would have went to the cabin in the dark, in the state it was in. Would I have been any better off? I kept hearing a resounding no in my head.

  I made my way to the bed and tried to be as quiet as possible. He looked like he was in a deep sleep and that was just as well as far I was concerned. I didn’t want him to wake up and make it any more awkward. I was already getting into bed with a complete stranger. It doesn’t get any worse than that as far as I was concerned. He was nice and had given me a wide berth, but lying in bed next to such a large man was still a bit hard to grasp, especially when I had such thoughts in my head that I couldn’t silence. It really had been too long.

  With all of the thoughts running through my head, I almost backed out and went back to the couch to freeze, but I didn’t want to stay there and be cold the rest of the night. I didn’t see a clock, but it didn’t seem like it had been all that long
since I had lain down to go to sleep.

  I moved the covers over a little bit and lay down as far as I could on the edge, but Bill was a big guy and he took up a lot of the bed. It was hard to lie down and not touch him. It was almost impossible really and I knew that it was going to be impossible not to touch him. Finally I settled in and I was immediately warmed by the heat that was radiating from his body. I moved closer to the warmth and it was then that I realized he wasn’t wearing all that much clothing. I could feel his hard chest on me and then he turned enough to pull me into an embrace. His breath was still even so I knew he was sleeping, but it did nothing to deal with the fact that he was driving me crazy with the contact.

  As I snuggled in deeper and he pulled me closer, part of him was nestled against my ass and I could feel the hard length. I didn’t know if he had on any boxers, but it didn’t feel like it because I could feel ever single inch of him pressing against me. It was a distraction to say the very least and the more he moved in to settle against me, the more troublesome I realized it was going to be. I was horny and turned on to no end and his hardness pressed against me in the most intimate way. I could feel my face getting red with the touch and it was all I could do not to get up and run. It felt big and I wiggled a little bit against it, only to find that it grew a little bit more to my chagrin.

  The whole situation was mind boggling to me. This man, though he had helped me out of a jam that could have cost me more than I could have imagined, was actually a complete stranger and part of me wanted to forget that. I don’t know if it was because I felt like he wasn’t awake and I could do it without his knowing, but I wanted to feel him. His body was hard and hot behind me and it felt good to be with a man again, even if he didn’t know it.

  I had been alone for a while and I had been physically alone for even longer than that. Those few moments with Bill in the middle of the night set something inside of me on fire and I realized how much I missed not only sex, but the intimacy as well. It was something that everyone needed and I was no different. It felt good to be touched or to touch someone else which was the case at the moment.

  My face was burning up and I was ashamed to say that I was turned on to no end. It felt wrong to be feeling him up in such a way, but his arm was wrapped around me and there was nowhere for me to go. I tried wiggling around to give us some space in between us, but it wasn’t helping and when I heard his rough voice in my ear, I stopped dead in my tracks.

  “If you keep moving around like that Ayla, I’m not going to be able to keep it together.”

  I stopped and felt like I was going to die right then and there. It was hard to imagine that he was awake the whole time and I had a feeling that he knew what I was doing. Did he know that I had been rubbing against him to get him harder? I was mortified to say the least and I did my best to lie as perfectly still as possible. I was barely breathing and that seemed to amuse him because he chuckled in my ear.

  I tried to go to sleep. I was warm now, really warm, and almost to the point of being hot, but it didn’t do anything for how he felt behind me. It didn’t help that I was now wet and if I would have checked, I would have been squishy. I can’t believe that I had done this and I hoped that he was only half awake and that he wouldn’t remember this in the morning. I was certainly going to. I was going to remember the feel of his body next to mine and the way he smelled like smoked wood chips and tobacco.

  This wasn’t something I was ever going to be able to forget. It was the first time I had shared a bed with a mountain man and I can’t say that it was the worst thing that I had ever experienced. Was he right that Alaska was filled with men like him? I had a feeling that no one was going to be like Bill.

  Somehow I finally got to sleep, though I can’t tell you how it really happened. It was impossible when I was lying there, but I was exhausted and the heat from his body must have done the trick. Because it wasn’t long before I was waking up again and this time I wasn’t quite as cold as I was before, but the hot man that radiated heat was no longer next to me.

  He was gone from the bed, but there was still lingering heat from where he had been. I thought of how I had felt being held last night and there was a twinge of regret that I hadn’t awoken in his arms.

  I opened my eyes and closed them back up to the brightness of the sun coming through the several windows that faced the sun. It was hard to see, but the sun felt good and I was able to look around my surroundings for a few minutes without having Bill there to see me.

  When he came in, he had a handful of wood in his arms and our eyes met for a moment. Did he remember the night before and how I had acted? His blue eyes sparkled at mine and it took a lot of self will to not hide my head from his view. I think he remembered and I was embarrassed all over again.

  “Sorry the stove went out. I forgot to fill it up before bed. It must have been freezing when you woke up last night. Not that I am complaining mind you. I think I rather liked waking up with you snuggled up against me. A man could get used to situations like that.”

  I agreed, but didn’t meet his gaze again because I was so embarrassed of how I had behaved. I didn’t want him to know that I had liked coming to bed with him far more than I thought I would. It was just a weird situation and it was one that I was still trying to get a handle on.

  “Well I’m glad you are up now. Been up a while and I went and talked to a few people off the mountain that has agreed to come down and help with the cabin. It may take us a few days, but it won’t be too hard to get you all taken care of.”

  I was shocked by his words and a little surprised that he had went out of his way for me. This man didn’t really have to help me but he was in so many ways. I hadn’t expected the offer, but I was worried because I didn’t have a whole lot of money and I worried that I wouldn’t have enough for the things that were needed, not to account for the cost to pay all of the people that were going to help me. I was nervous and I tried to tell him about my concerns, but he just told me not to worry about it.

  “People around here owe me so we will have you fixed up in a week or so.”

  I didn’t know how to thank him, but I knew I was going to have to think of a way. It wasn’t hard to think of one way right off of the bat, but then of course that just made me blush some more and I tried to push it from my mind. This was really going to get complicated if I couldn’t keep my mind out of the gutter. What was this man doing to me to make me act this way?

  “When do you think I will be able to stay in the cabin? Do you really think it can be done in a week?” It just didn’t seem like that was possible from what I had seen the night before. That place was trashed and I felt like it was going to take months to make it habitable.

  I was still worried about where I was going to stay and I knew that there weren’t any places likes hotels this far north and I didn’t want to assume that I could stay with him, nor did I think I would be able to. It was hard to deny how good he had felt behind me when we slept together, but his words were still clear in my mind.

  “You can stay here with me if you want. I wouldn’t mind the company. I don’t get a lot of it during this season because most people are out working. Besides, you are very easy on the eyes and a good sleeping buddy.”

  I didn’t know how to thank him and when I got up I gave him a hug. I immediately rethought the touch because all of the feelings and desires were coming back and I had to pull away before I did something that I was going to regret later.

  “You’re like an angel Bill. I don’t know what to say. I hate to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t found me last night. I owe you my life.”

  He looked uncomfortable with me calling him an angel, but it was how I felt. I didn’t like to think about what it would have been like if someone else had found me. Or worse yet, if no one would have come at all.

  “Trust me when I say that anyone else would have done it. Seeing a beautiful girl like you on the side of the road was a blessing. No hot-blooded man
would have passed you up.”

  Chapter 4

  Bill

  “Fuck you weren’t lying when you said she was smoking hot, Bill.”

  Charles was looking at Ayla with a gleam that I didn’t like at all. I wanted to claim her even though it wasn’t my place. Soon I would have her next to me. After feeling her curved body next to me last night, rubbing against my cock, it was hard to think of her as anything else but mine. I didn’t like the way he was looking at her at all, but I knew that every man there was going to look at her that way. Like I had thought before, Ayla wasn’t the normal type of woman that lived up here and she was like a special treat to all of us.

  “I told you that she was hot.”

  “Well I was thinking she was going to be like Gina hot, you know compared to all of the other women up here, but damn she is smoking hot. Those big titties of hers look like they belong in a magazine or something.”

  It was one of the first things that I had noticed when she had taken off her coat last night, but no one else was supposed to notice that. It was all supposed to be for my eyes only and the more he glared at her, the more I wanted to slam his face into the snow to cool him off. Charles was one of the only men that would give me any competition. The other guys were too young or too old, too fat and I didn’t find that a problem. Charles could be, but I would be damned if I was going to let it go much further than a look.

  “So she stayed with you last night you say?”

  I knew where he was going with it and I smiled. I didn’t mind him thinking that I had gotten further than I had. Maybe then he would back off and leave her be. I had seen the way he had approached her like he was going to be her new best friend and I can’t say that I liked it all that much.

  “Yeah and let me tell you what, she has a hot little body underneath it all.”