by Lia Lee
I heard sounds on the other side of the door, the sound of crockery. He was busy in the kitchen. I had to go out and face him at some point, I couldn’t hide out in the room all day. I had to get back to the lodge eventually.
When I opened the door, the Mountain Man looked at me, and a grin spread across his face.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning,” I replied, feeling nervous. I had no idea what to expect.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I answered and realized he might have been asking about my ankle. Which, honestly, I wasn’t even feeling anymore. Sex was the best therapy.
He was dressed now, but that didn’t make him any less attractive than when he had been naked. He wore a flannel shirt over a T-shirt and even though it would look like a dad-shirt on any other person, it looked good on him.
“Coffee?” he asked.
“I don’t drink coffee,” I said.
“Cutting down on caffeine?”
“Don’t like the taste.”
He nodded, and where our silence had been loaded before, it was strained, now.
“Well,” he said, putting down his cup. “I’m ready to head back down the mountain if you are.”
Thank God, he wasn’t expecting a romantic breakfast together. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do that. I was already struggling to open up and make conversation as it was, never mind keeping this up for another hour or two. Yesterday I had been the confident vixen, set on getting what I wanted. But that wasn’t who I really was, and the magic had faded to leave drab little old me behind.
Is was a new twist on the walk of shame, but at least I had a hell of a story to tell Jamie. And I had done it. I had done something adventurous and a little dangerous, and there was no boring in sight, here. Not me, I was interesting and fun and had fucked a wild mountain man.
Maybe not wild, but it was by my standards.
We left the cabin, and he locked up. I climbed onto the back of the four-wheeler. This time, I held onto the grid behind me as he had initially suggested. I couldn’t find it in me to be as seductive as I had been last night.
The scenery was beautiful on the way down. At one point, we looked out over the entire valley and I could see the lodge at the foot of the mountain, the cars all the size of toy cars driving around on the property, people moving like ants.
We were back in the trees after that, the sun coming through the leaves making dapples on the ground and it was like a storybook. We drove the way down the mountain without speaking, the roar of the engine drowning out the awkward silence.
Before we broke free from the trees and headed onto the main road that led to the lodge, he pulled off the road and cut the engine. What was he doing?
He turned in his seat so he could see me.
“I thought it would be better to say goodbye here in the trees. Save us both some embarrassment,” he said.
I already felt embarrassed, but I nodded.
“Thank you for a fun night. I had a good time.”
“Me too,” I said and smiled.
He grinned and offered a hand, twisting even more so I could take it.
“I’m Laird.”
Oh, God. I blushed. I hadn’t even thought about asking his name. Thinking of him as the Viking had been more than enough for me. It fit with his image. But I should probably have asked his name. Realizing that I hadn’t done it only made everything we’d done seem that much dirtier.
“Fiona,” I said taking his hand. It was the second time I touched his hand when the rest of our bodies had been pushed up against each other all night. It felt strangely distant.
“It was nice having you.”
I blushed again. “Thank you,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
Laird didn’t seem to want anything more out of the conversation. He turned back to the front of the four-wheeler, started it up again, and we pulled out of the trees and drove on to the main road that led toward the lodge.
When we parked in front of the lodge, I climbed off the four-wheeler, and I felt pain in my ankle. I wasn’t nearly as sore as I had thought I would be when I’d first injured myself, but while Laird and I had been at it, I hadn’t thought about my ankle at all. Now that the magic had faded, the pain was returning.
Jamie walked through the front doors as Laird started the four-wheeler. He waved at her before he turned the vehicle around and took off. I watched him leave. When I turned to Jamie, she was looking at me.
“What?” I asked, laughing.
“You get whisked away by a Mountain Man until morning, and you want to ask me what?” she said.
“Laird,” I said. “His name is Laird.”
“And exactly how long have you known that for?” she asked.
I blushed. “Like, two minutes.”
Jamie laughed. “That tells me everything I need to know about your night.”
“That doesn’t tell you anything,” I said.
“It does. It tells me that you were too busy to ask his name. Which meant you weren’t talking. And there’s only one other thing I can think of you doing while you’re stranded with a man that looks like him on the mountain that doesn’t involve talking.”
I laughed. Jamie was being a pain in the ass, but I loved the attention. And she was right, of course. I had been too busy to find out what his name was. There had been other aspects of him that had drawn my attention.
“So, where were you?” Jamie asked as we turned to walk into the lodge. I limped a little.
“His cabin.”
“Romantic.”
“It wasn’t. It was sexy.”
Jamie laughed. “Well, you definitely proved Randy wrong. That was pretty ballsy of you. He could have been a killer.”
I sighed. “With the size of his dick, I would have died happy.”
Jamie laughed, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
I laughed, too. I had pushed my own limits. I had surprised myself and I felt good about it. I had had sex with a stranger, but I didn’t feel dirty or slutty. I felt liberated.
“You have to tell me everything,” Jamie said once we were in our shared room.
“Are you crazy? I'm not telling you the details of the hot, nasty sex I had with the Viking.”
Jamie laughed. “Is that how you labeled him?”
I blushed and nodded.
“It works,” she said. “Tell me what he looks like with his shirt off.”
I gave her details without getting to the hot parts, and Jamie listened, curious and eager. She shook her head when I was done.
“That’s hilarious,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because you stepped out of your comfort zone so much. You even surprised me.”
“Didn’t you think I could do it?” I asked. I was shocked that Jamie hadn’t believed in me.
“I didn’t think you would want to,” she said carefully. “There’s nothing wrong with being who you are only because someone else doesn’t like it. Randy was an asshole for what he said to you. But you’re coping with the breakup, which is great.”
Jamie wasn’t making sense. Sometimes, I didn’t understand the way she tried to make me feel better. But I thought about the Viking – Laird – how fantastic last night had been and ignored my friend’s weird way of supporting me.
I had come on the trip to prove a point, and I had proven it. I could go home knowing that it had been mission accomplished.
Chapter 6
Laird
Sunday was my day off, but I was on call in case something went wrong. Jackson and I were the only two tour guides with ATVs, so it was up to us to head out and find the people who were injured or needed help when they were stuck.
I spent the time lounging in my cabin. Fiona was on my mind, the woman who had waltzed into my life and given me a night to remember. And just like that, she had waltzed out of it again. I’d had one-night stands before, but it had been different wi
th Fiona. Intense, luscious, amazing. And even though she hadn’t been anything more than a quick fuck – two quick fucks, in fact – I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I didn’t know what it was.
The thoughts of her were all raunchy, naked bodies colliding and orgasms I could still feel at my core, so I didn’t mind at all that she was on my mind.
My walkie-talkie went off and I grabbed it.
“We have a hiker down, over,” Jackson said.
“Can you give me a location? Over.”
Jackson gave me a rough idea where it was.
“I’m on it, over,” I said and hooked the walkie-talkie onto my belt. These damn clients didn’t know what they were doing half the time. Lately, we’d been getting about as many injuries as clients, and I was getting tired of having to pick them out of ditches or untangle them from roots. Fiona had been the smallest injury I’d had in months.
What if it was Fiona again? I wouldn’t mind seeing her again. But I knew it wouldn’t be her. It couldn’t be. The coincidence would be too great.
I climbed onto the four-wheeler and started the engine. I headed in the direction Jackson had explained to me. I followed the trail I knew Charlie took with the clients and looked for signs. But where Fiona had had a friend wait with her, no one hung around the area Jackson had explained to me. I switched off the four-wheeler and walked the trail, looking for any sign of struggle. I found tracks a short distance up the trail and discovered my invalid in a ditch.
“Hello?” I called, making my way down. It was a man wearing a bright green jacket, and it was only thanks to that jacket I had seen him at all.
“I’m down here,” he called. I was grateful the guy was conscious. If he were out cold, it would have made things infinitely harder.
“I’m on my way,” I said, picking out the safest way down. The ground was loose and twice when I put my foot down, it gave way and rained down on the invalid. I could see why he had ended up down there.
When I reached him, I knew right away his leg was broken. It sat at an angle no one’s leg would naturally be, and his face was twisted in a horrible mask of pain.
“We’re going to get out of this together,” I said, already taking my walkie-talkie out. I radioed for an ambulance before I helped him up. We made it out of the ditch and onto the four-wheeler without a hitch. I was lucky the guy wasn’t the type to panic. It got harder when they were losing their shit. When I was sure he was secure, I started the four-wheeler and we headed back down the mountain toward the lodge. It wasn’t a long trip – he hadn’t made it far up the mountain before he’d fallen.
The ambulance waited for us when we arrived, and the paramedics took over, stabilizing the leg and taking care of him. I shook his hand. Instead of heading back to the cabin, I decided to pop into the bar at the lodge instead. I could do with a drink after the last two days I’d had, and considering that Fiona stayed at the lodge, I wouldn’t hate bumping into her.
Which was a ridiculous thing to be thinking about. She wasn’t anyone special. She was a girl I had fucked. I had a few of those on my list, and I hadn’t given a shit about the others.
The bar wasn’t very full with it being a Sunday, and I walked to the bar and sat down. Hilda – a cute blonde with blue eyes and lips that were permanently pouted – shimmied to me with a smile.
“What will it be, honey?” she asked.
Hilda and I had fucked a couple of times. We had an arrangement, and it worked. We had both agreed we would never be more, but sometimes companionship was welcome.
“Whiskey, please. You know how I like it.”
“Oh, I do,” she said and winked at me. I laughed, and she turned to find a bottle of her best whiskey, the kind she only kept around for VIP clients and for me because I had special privileges with her. She put the glass down in front of me with ice and poured three fingers of whiskey for me.
“Rough weekend?” she asked.
I nodded, thinking about Fiona again. “About as rough as it gets.”
“Jackson said there were a lot of injuries.”
“I don’t know why they can’t seem to climb a damn hill anymore,” I said and sipped my whiskey.
We made small talk for a while, commenting on the quirky customers she had served and what I had seen. Since we dealt with people, we always had funny stories to share. There were all kinds of people that came to the lodge.
“What’s on your mind?” Hilda asked after a while.
“Who says anything is on my mind?”
“We may not be dating, honey, but I can tell when you’re lost in thought.”
I shrugged. Hilda wasn’t a bad listener when it came down to it. “I don’t know. I have a woman on my mind that I can’t seem to shake. How am I supposed to handle that?”
Hilda laughed as if what I had said was funny. She shook her head.
“Oh, Laird. You men are all the same. You seem to think that sex and love aren’t connected.”
“They aren’t,” I said. “Look at us.”
She shrugged. “It doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes, someone just wiggles their way in there, you know?”
“You sound like you’re talking from experience.”
Hilda shrugged and glanced toward a man sitting at the end of the bar with a bottle of scotch in front of him. He winked at her and Hilda blushed. I had never seen her like this. I was starting to get the picture.
“I’m glad you found someone,” Hilda said to me.
“I didn’t find someone. I was just asking.”
“For a friend?” Hilda chuckled. “That’s another thing men seem to do; deny your feelings for someone. I say go for it. If she’s stuck in your head, there’s a reason.”
I threw back the last of my whiskey and stood, putting cash on the bar for my drink.
“Thanks, Hilda,” I said. “You’re a star.”
Hilda smiled at me. “Anytime, honey. You need something you know where to find me.”
She took my empty glass and wiped the bar where I had sat before she turned away from me. Maybe it was time for me to head back to the cabin. It would be better for me if I did some manual labor. Maybe that would help me forget.
I had wood to chop and a cabin to clean out. The lodge cleaning staff didn’t trek halfway up the mountain so the few of us that lived up there were on our own.
Maybe it would be a good idea to do some laundry, too. I usually washed my sheets once a week, and they had been done on Wednesday. But if I washed them again and got rid of the scent of Fiona, maybe I would stop thinking about her.
That was it. It was her perfume that was all over my pillows that kept her in my mind. It couldn’t be anything else. As soon as I washed my sheets, everything would go back to normal. She would be like any other client that stayed at the lodge for a short while.
A client I happened to have fucked.
Chapter 7
Fiona
Friday, two weeks after my hike, I was at work when my secretary told me I had a two o’clock.
“I don’t remember having a client,” I said to Louise.
“Well, he’s coming up anyway,” she said and hung up the phone.
He? There was only one person it could be. I sighed, my stomach sinking. I hadn’t seen him in a while because he had been away, and it had been the most peaceful three weeks of my life. We had broken up, but Randy still insisted on seeing me, telling me he wanted to be friends.
I would have been able to handle our breakup a lot better if we’d made a clean break so I could move forward. I didn’t want to see the asshole ever again. But he knew where I lived, and he knew where I worked, and he was much too nice for a restraining order. Unless I moved and found a new job, I wasn’t going to get rid of him.
“How are you doing, babes?” Randy asked, walking into my office.
I sighed. “Don’t call me that. We’re not together.”
“Sorry. Fiona. Old habits die hard.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I want to tell you about my trip.”
I nodded, groaning inwardly. I didn’t want to hear about his trip, about how much fun he’d had without me. I didn’t want to know anything about his life, now. I wanted to get over him. He was making it hard for me by pretending like nothing was wrong, like a relationship of three years hadn’t just come to an end.
“You should have been there, babes. A sea, bluer than you can imagine, cocktails on the beach every day and those dancing ladies at night at those parties, what do you call them?” He snapped his fingers, trying to find the word.
“Luau,” I said. “And don’t call me babes.”
“That’s the one. Fiona. Sorry. It was heaven.”
I tuned out listening to Randy go on and on about his vacation. I wasn’t interested in hearing him talk about himself. It was all he ever talked about. Why had it taken me so long to realize it? As long as I gasped in the right places, he would go on without knowing I wasn’t paying attention. That I knew that showed that I had slipped into a rut with him. I indulged him, I gave him what he wanted. Maybe that was why he thought I was boring. It was what I had thought he wanted.
Instead of listening to Randy, I thought about the Viking. Laird. Blonde hair, a thick beard and those dark eyes that stared right into my soul. My stomach tightened when I thought about his naked body, how good it had felt to be with him. He had been gifted with his mouth, giving me an orgasm with his tongue and his finger. Damn, I got wet just thinking about it. It had been two weeks ago, and I still shivered when I thought about him. Which happened often. What I wouldn’t give to have another go at it. I wanted to look into those eyes again and feel his body on top of mine again. It was ridiculous, but I wanted to be with him again.
“Fiona,” Randy said, snapping his fingers. I was immediately irritated. At least he hadn’t called me babes.
“What?”
“You’re not even listening to me. What are you smiling about?”
I pulled up my shoulder. “I was thinking about the hike I went on.”
“What hike?”
“I told you I was going on a hike with Jamie before you left. It was a lot of fun.”
