The Woodsman

by Blake North

  When I moved to climb out of the truck, I quickly realized I was sore.

  He was at the passenger door, lifting me out. “Sore?” he asked with a smile.

  I glared at him. “Not funny. I think I found muscles I didn't know existed. I need a soak in a hot tub and a massage.”

  He wrapped his arm around me, pulled me into his side, and kissed the top of my head before saying, “I will give you a very thorough massage, and we can enjoy a hot soak in the tub together.”

  “That sounds very good.”

  We walked into the empty coffee shop. A man popped his head up from where he was cleaning a machine. “Chase!”

  “Hank! How you doing, man?”

  Hank came out from behind the counter, extending his hand.

  “I'm doing real good. You?”

  Chase nodded. “Good, good. This is Madison. She's here visiting from Florida.”

  “Ohhh, this is the girl I've been hearing all about. You two are quite the talk of the town,” he said, repeating what Chase's aunt had said earlier.

  If Chase's dating life was the talk of the town, I surmised the people of the town needed to get hobbies. He was one man in a town of a couple thousand. Didn't they have anyone else they could talk about?

  “Yes, this is her, the out-of-towner. We've been skiing all day and could really use a warmup,” Chase said.

  “Sure, sit. I'll get you fixed up. What'll it be? You drink one of those fancy coffee things?” Hank asked me.

  “Actually, I really just want some hot chocolate if that's doable?”

  He laughed. “It sure is. I'll be right back.”

  Chase and I sat. Our cheeks were pink and windburned. We had used sunscreen, but the wind and the cold had left their marks on our cheeks.

  When Hank came back, he was carrying three cups. “Mind if I join you? As you probably noticed, it isn't exactly hopping in here.”

  “Please, sit down,” I gestured to one of the empty chairs.

  He sat, and Chase gave me a little background on who Hank was.

  “Hank and my mom were best friends. I always thought they would marry one day, but it never happened.”

  Hank smiled and looked wistful. “Your mom was too good for me. I loved her dearly as a friend.”

  It was very sweet. I wished I had gotten the chance to meet Chase's mom. She sounded like a lovely lady.

  “I think she kept me around because she needed help with this one,” he said, using his thumb to gesture to Chase.

  “Oh, really?” I said, suddenly intrigued.

  “Now, Hank, don't be telling her a bunch of stories about things that happened a long time ago.” He looked at me. “Don't believe anything he says.

  Hank slapped his hand on the table and shook his head. “Chase was a wild child. If there was trouble, he would find it. He was constantly finding new ways to make his mother's hair turn gray. He tended to be a bit of a daredevil.”

  I smiled. Chase seemed so tame now. He must have gotten all those wild oats out of his system in his younger years. Either that or he had been living the life of a monk in some monastery. I scoffed at that idea. There was no way Chase could ever be a monk. It would be a crime were he never to have had sex. He was very gifted. That wasn't something you could take away from the world.

  ank continued to regale us with one story after another. I could see Chase enjoyed walking down memory lane. I enjoyed hearing about the boy who grew up to be the man in front of me today. It was all very sweet and endearing. Chase had been a handful, but he had also been very loving and caring by the sounds of it, and he’d had a penchant for bringing home every stray animal he found. It was only after the third story, I realized all of the stories had happened before Chase was twenty-three or so. Then, all the stories stopped. It was as if the man had been sealed in a box and only now taken down off the shelf after several years.

  My mind drifted, and I thought about his aunt Liza's stories as well. She had said the cabin sat empty for a while. It seemed like Chase's life here stopped almost seven years ago and had only recently picked up again. If the house had been empty after his mother's death, where had Chase been? I wondered if he had been in the military. No. They would have been very proud of that and shouted that from the rooftops. He would have been hailed a hometown hero.

  Maybe he'd been in the CIA or some other super-secret job. I shook myself out of my musing and focused on Hank again.

  I would ask Chase about his past when we got back to the cabin. I couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't quite as it seemed.

  When we got back to the cabin, I waited until we had both changed into our sweats and were curled up on the couch under a blanket.

  “Chase, why doesn't anyone talk about the past few years of your life? They all seem to gloss over it or make it sound like you weren't here.”

  I felt him stiffen under me. “We don't talk about the past because that's when my mom died. It's a difficult subject, one that none of us want to talk about. Maybe one day we will, but for now, we don't.”

  “Were you in the military?”

  “No. What makes you think that?”

  I shrugged. “I don't know. It's like there is this gap in your life where you were absent. Hank had plenty of stories about things you did before you were twenty-three, and then it just stops.”

  “I don't know. It's nothing,” he said, a little too defensively.

  “Okay.”

  I relaxed against him, not wanting to push any further. I knew he wasn't being completely honest. He was hiding something, but I didn't know what. I knew I should let it go. It didn't change him or how I felt when I was with him.

  The past was in the past, and that's where he wanted to leave it. I didn't want to open old wounds. It was obvious he had been close to his mother, and I imagined it would be difficult to talk about her death and the circumstances that led to it. I wasn't here to cause him pain.

  “Chase?” I murmured.

  He sighed. “Yes?”

  “Are you tired?” I asked.

  “A little. Why?”

  I rolled over, my breasts smashed against his chest. “Are you sore?”

  He grinned. “A little? Are you?”

  I stared into his eyes. “A little but not from skiing.” I ground my hips against his. “I think the best treatment would be a massage.”

  “You need a massage,” he asked in low, gravelly voice.

  “Just one part of me needs a massage,” I said before sliding up his body to kiss him.

  I grabbed his hand and put it between my legs. The thin yoga pants allowed me to feel him as if I had nothing on.

  “Chase,” I said, kissing him gently on the lips.

  “Yes, Madison?”

  “I didn't bother putting on any panties.”

  His hand pushed against my pussy, his palm hard and hot against me.

  “Well?” I asked again, kissing him on the chin before running my tongue around his earlobe.

  His breath was coming fast. “Well, what?” he asked in frustration.

  “Can you give me that massage? If you're tired, you can focus on the part that aches the most. You only need to use one hand.”

  He jerked away, practically throwing me off him.

  “Fuck yeah, I can do that. Take off your clothes and lay in front of the fire so I can massage you, Madison. I am going to work out every kink in your body. Every muscle is going to be stretched and worked as I deeply massage you.”

  His words were making hot and wet and very aroused. I quickly nodded, very eager for his hands to touch me all over.

  “If you're good, I'll massage you,” I promised, moving to the rug in front of the fireplace.

  “I'm good. I'm very good, but by the time I'm done with you, you won't have the strength to reciprocate. Tomorrow. Tomorrow you can massage me,” he promised.

  We both quietly undressed. All thoughts and concerns about what he was or wasn't hiding from me vanished. I would worry about all
of that later. Right now, I wanted the man to fuck me until I didn't care if he was the son of Charles Manson.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Chase

  I left Madison sound asleep in bed again. She wasn't used to the early mornings, which was fine. This was my time to think and reflect. I loved the brisk mornings when it was still dark and everything in the forest was perfectly still. It was a great time to think about life, which was exactly what I had been doing.

  I was thinking about my life and Madison. I liked her. More than I wanted to. I knew it didn't seem logical, but I felt myself falling for her. She was a beautiful woman. I wanted her to stay in Colorado. I could have a studio built for her to work in. She didn't need to go back to Florida. I could take care of her.

  I trekked back and forth from the woodshed to the porch, carrying armloads of firewood. I didn't want to go back to being all alone. It startled me a bit to realize that, but it was the truth. Having Madison around had been nice. I loved being able to talk to her, share things with her and hang out. It did tend to get a bit lonely up here.

  Once I stacked enough wood to get us through for a bit, I stomped off my boots and headed back inside. I would make her breakfast, again. I needed to show her how great it was living here. Today, I would work on convincing her to stay.

  When I walked in, I saw her perfect butt high up in the air. She was on her knees, bent over and digging through a bottom drawer in the kitchen. It was the drawer I put bills and other paperwork.

  “Are you looking for anything in particular?” I asked in a deep voice.

  She nearly jumped three feet in the air. She spun around, shock and guilt on her face.

  “You scared me,” she said, smiling but not a real smile. It was one of guilt.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, stepping out of my boots and walking toward her.

  At first, she looked intimidated, but then, she put her shoulders back and leveled her gaze at me, “I want to know what you're hiding from me.”

  I rolled my eyes. “What makes you think I'm hiding anything from you?”

  “I know you are. There's something you aren't telling me. I'm not stupid. I'm pretty good at reading people, and I know you’re holding something back. What is this big secret you have that you don't want me to find out about?”

  I stood in front of her. “I am who and what I say I am. I don't know what more you’re expecting me to say.”

  She shook her head. “Just tell me the truth. Do you think so little of me that you have to keep lying to me?”

  “Madison, I'm not lying. It's in your head. You're being paranoid,” I told her, putting my hands on her shoulders. “What can I do to convince you?”

  She stared back at me for several long seconds. I felt as if I was in front of a jury, waiting to hear my guilty or innocent verdict—again.

  “Fine. I'm sorry. That was really rude of me. I have no business digging through your stuff,” she said, looking down at her bare feet.

  “It's fine. I understand not trusting people. I like you, Madison. I want you to trust me.”

  She looked up and smiled. “I like you, which is why I want you to know you can tell me anything.”

  I sighed. “Really?”

  She giggled. “Okay, okay, fine. I won't say another word.”

  “Good. Do you want some breakfast?”

  “I'm good with some toast. I don't need bacon and eggs every day. I probably shouldn't have bacon every day,” she joked.

  “Okay, toast it is. Coffee is on the stove,” I pointed out.

  She grabbed a cup, and I opened the cupboard to grab the bread. I breathed a sigh of relief. I had dodged another bullet, but it was only a matter of time. She was going to find out now. I knew I was making it worse by continuing to tell her there was nothing. I didn't know what else to do. I couldn't tell her everything, not yet. I needed to convince her I was a good guy who cared for her and would never hurt her.

  I made her toast, and we sat together, drinking our coffee and eating.

  “I need to run into town. I have a few errands to run. Did you want to go?” I asked her, secretly hoping she would say no. I wanted to talk to Jayden. He had a way of helping me work through things, even if we didn't always agree on the solution to my many problems.

  “Actually, if you don't mind, can I kind of hang out here?”

  “Of course,” I said a little too quickly, causing her to look at me with a questioning look on her face. “I mean, this is your vacation. I want you to sit back and relax. Take a walk around the cabin, but don't go into the forest until I get back. I wouldn't want you getting lost out there.”

  She smiled. “I had no intention of going out there. I was thinking of reading the book I brought with me. I haven't had time to sit and read in ages. Maybe I'll take a hot bath. Just do nothing.”

  The thought of her in a bubble bath created all kinds of erotic images in my head.

  She giggled. “Now, now. The bath is me—alone. Just a bath, big boy.”

  I laughed. “Let me have my fantasy.”

  “Oh, you can have any fantasy you like. How long do you think you'll be gone?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe two hours or so.”

  “Perfect,” she grinned, showing off a flawless smile.

  “Do you want me to pick up anything for you? Bubble bath?” I said waggling my eyebrows.

  “I have bubble bath but maybe pick some more up. You never know when we may get dirty and need to bathe.”

  I groaned. “You're killing me. I better get going, or I'm never going to leave.”

  I leaned down and kissed her before throwing a flannel on and a pair of boots. I liked that she was comfortable alone in my house. I wanted her to feel comfortable like she was welcome and belonged.

  I went to Jayden's house and found him rolling out of bed for the day.

  “Damn, you look rough,” I said when he opened the door.

  He blinked a few times, looking at me before rubbing his bare chest. I was glad he had at least put on a pair of sweats before he opened the door. His hair was sticking up in the back, and his eyes were puffy from lack of sleep.

  “Thanks. What do you want?” he grumbled.

  “Tell me you're off today and not just sleeping in.”

  “I work tonight. Graveyards this week. If you didn't know I was home, why did you come here?” he shot back.

  I shrugged. “Took a chance.”

  “What's up? Everything cool?”

  “I don't know. I think I have a very big problem on my hands. I need advice,” I admitted, which wasn't easy for me to do.

  Jayden grinned. “You've come to the right guy. Sit. I need some coffee. Want anything?”

  I shook my head, plopped down on his worn sofa and waited for him to return. I felt like I was on a freight train headed for a brick wall. I had to do something before this whole thing blew up in my face.

  Jayden came back in. “Okay, tell me everything,” he said in a high-pitched voice. It was meant to be funny. I wasn't laughing.

  “I'm falling for her. Hard,” I blurted out.

  “You're just figuring that out?” he said sarcasm heavy in his tone. “The whole town knows.”

  I shook my head. “No, they don't. They think she’s just some girl. This is the girl. I can feel it.”

  “But you haven't told her, have you?”

  I looked away, slightly embarrassed by my cowardice.

  “Chase, if she finds out before you tell her and explain what happened, she’s going to dump your ass. She’s going to leave here, and she isn't going to look back,” he said with seriousness.

  “I know.”

  “If you know, then you better do something about it.”

  “Like?”

  “Tell her. She seems like a reasonable woman. It's obvious she's into you. Give her the chance to form her own opinions about you and what happened a long time ago. Don't let her Google your name and find out. I guarantee she will hit the road and leave
your ass in the dust.”

  “I should have changed my name,” I muttered.

  “What?”

  “Then she couldn't Google me or look me up. I would be a guy with no past.”

  Jayden looked at me as if I had lost my mind. “That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Quit being a coward. Man up and tell her.”

  I groaned. “Dammit. What a fucking mess.”

  “I won't say I told you so, but hell, we all told you so. We warned you back then, you were making a huge mistake. Now, you’re going to be paying for it for the rest of your life.”

  “Don't start. I'll figure it out. I can't lose her.”

  He got very serious. “I hope for your sake she will understand. I like her. Mom likes her. She's good for you. Try and explain it. If she truly likes you or has fallen in love with you, she won't care. It's all in the past.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Where is she, anyway?” he asked as if he had just realized she wasn't here.

  “At the cabin. I told her I had some errands to run.”

  “Oh. Well, get your ass back there and take care of this before it gets any worse. The longer you wait to tell her, the madder she’s going to be when she finds out, and she will find out.”

  “I know, I know. Thanks, man. I'll see you later,” I said, standing and heading for the door.

  My mind was made up. I would go home and sit her down and explain everything the best I could. I couldn't force her to stay. That wasn’t a relationship I wanted. Not to mention, I think that was called kidnapping. Not interested in wearing an orange jumpsuit again. Never again.

  As I made my way home, the nerves in my stomach increased with every mile closer I got to the cabin. I played out a million different scenarios about how I would tell her and what her possible reaction may be.

  When I pulled in front of the cabin, I shut off my truck and sat inside for a few minutes, taking long, deep breaths. I could do this. If she left and vowed to never speak to me again, I would be okay. It wasn't the end of the world.

  When I walked inside, it was very quiet.

  “Madison?” I called out, fearing she had packed up and left while I was gone.