Lumberjacked : A Holiday Mountain Man Lumberjack Romance

by K. C. Crowne

  “Come,” I said. “Before the sun goes down.”

  “Not that it’s out now,” she commented dryly, eliciting a quiet chuckle from me. She laughed aloud and teased, “Oh he can laugh!”

  I grunted. “I can laugh…if something is funny.”

  She sniffed haughtily, a big grin on her beautiful face. “I’ll have to try harder to be funny, then.”

  We stepped outside, and I felt lighter than I had in years. My Angel brought it out, the positive, the joy. She almost made me forget the negative, the ugliness that had been my life.

  I glanced at her as we walked outside. “The sky will be grey and overcast for a while still. When it rains like this, the sun doesn’t show for days on end sometimes.”

  “How gloomy.”

  “It’s still light enough to hunt by, and that’s all we need,” I said.

  She nodded and followed me off the porch. I scanned the area, looking for something, someone, between the trees that shouldn’t be there, just in case. But the forest was quiet save for the light drizzle that pattered against the leaves above. A fine mist reached us, the leaves blocking most of the rain.

  The animals that had sought shelter during the two days’ storm would all be out now, looking for food while the rain let up. I took the gun I kept inside the door with me.

  “Where did you get that?” Angela asked, glancing at the gun.

  “I always have one in the cabin. For hunting.”

  “I haven’t seen it,” she said.

  “I don’t leave it lying around.”

  She nodded, looking unsure. She wasn’t comfortable around guns, that was clear. To me, guns were like an extension of my own arm, a safety precaution a man could always rely on, if he took care of them.

  Precaution…the thought sent a jolt through me. I hadn’t once asked Angela if she was on birth control. And she hadn’t insisted on a condom once. Shit. I really was a son of a bitch. Selfish as fuck, not even thinking about the long run.

  “You’re on birth control, right?” I asked.

  Angela laughed. “A bit late to be asking, isn’t it?”

  I grunted a response, feeling a little awkward.

  “I get the shot, thank goodness,” she told me. “It lasts three months, so no pills to be missed this week. Don’t worry about it. Unless you’re stressed about STD’s. In which case…” She cleared her throat and looked down, a silly expression on her face.

  I chuckled and grabbed her, kissing her. “That’s right. Virgin.”

  “Not anymore,” she whispered with a smile.

  “No, Malen kiy. Not anymore.” I couldn’t help but grin with pride. There was something about taking a woman, about being her first. And the fact that no one had been there before me made my cock punch out for another round. I wasn’t going to let anyone else close to her after me, either.

  We walked into the forest. I moved through the trees, keeping my eyes and ears open for something to shoot. Behind me, Angela stepped on twigs, on leaves as if she were looking for the loudest possible path.

  I turned around and glanced at her feet. “You must be quiet, Angel,” I cautioned. “You’ll scare the animals away.”

  “Sorry,” she whispered, wincing apologetically. “I just don’t know how you do it.”

  I pointed to the ground. “You avoid anything that’s not pure soil or mulch. Dried leaves, even when they’re wet. Twigs. And avoid rocks and pebbles. You can slip on those if you’re not careful.”

  Angela nodded and walked where I walked, staring at the ground. After a few minutes, she asked quietly, “How do you know where to find the animals?”

  “Tracks,” I said. “Look.” I pointed out bird tracks in the mud. “This is pheasant or grouse. And here, we have a squirrel or rat, something small. A fawn passed through here, but it was a while ago.”

  “How do you know?” She studied the prints, a confused and adorable look on her face.

  “They’re smudged. The mud has slipped and shifted since it passed through. The rain hasn’t fallen on the tracks directly because of the leaves, but it was too long ago for us to follow and find something.”

  Angela nodded. “This is actually pretty cool.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess it is.”

  “Sink or swim, huh?” she asked, referring to my analogy.

  “Exactly.”

  As we walked, I explained to her what to look for, how to follow tracks, and how to keep the cabin at our back at all times so we knew how to get home. She was quick to learn, absorbing the information like a sponge.

  And holy fuck, if that didn’t give me a raging hard on, I didn’t know what would. She was so fucking hot when she was interested in hearing what I had to say, and eager to learn. I hated when women acted dumb. I hated when they didn’t want to learn. As much as I loved being the one to protect Angela and look after her, I loved an independent woman, someone who could stand on her own two feet. There was nothing more of a turn off than a needy woman.

  I heard a twig snap, but it wasn’t me or Angela. It was a little ways through the trees, and I lifted a finger to my lips, indicating for Angela to be quiet. Silently, I crept through the trees, and a moment later, I saw it. A small deer tugged at low hanging leaves, chewing.

  I lifted the gun to my shoulder, took a breath, let it out again. The gun was trained on the deer. The deer lifted its head a little higher, hearing something, but I stood downwind so it wouldn’t smell me.

  A moment later, on the exhale, I squeezed the trigger. The gun clapped loudly, recoiling in my hand a little, and the deer dropped dead.

  “Oh, my God,” Angela cried out behind me, hands clasped over her mouth. “You killed it.”

  I stood. “We won’t have to track it down.” I walked to the deer and studied it. It would last us a while.

  “Viktor, it’s dead,” she mumbled.

  I glanced up at her. Angela had a strange look on her face, a combination of horror and awe. “We can’t eat it alive. Do you have a problem with hunting for food?”

  “No,” Angela said carefully. “I’ve just never seen it.”

  I stood, ready to hoist the deer onto my shoulder so I could take it to the cabin to be dressed. I would insist she go inside while I dressed the animal; her squeamishness would become full-on sickness if she watched.

  “Can you teach me?” she asked.

  I blinked at her. “You want me to teach you how to shoot?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  “Of course.” I was surprised she wanted to. I’d thought she had a serious aversion to guns with how she’d reacted after the shot. “Let’s get back to the cabin, handle the deer, and then I’ll show you on a target.”

  “What do you mean handle the deer?”

  “I have to dress it,” I answered, holding up a hand before she could ask. “You don’t want to know. While I do that, you can go inside, and I’ll come get you for shooting lessons.”

  She frowned, watching as I lifted the deer over my shoulders in a fireman’s hold. I turned to her and said, “Lead the way back.”

  Eyes wide, she said, “Me?”

  “Yes. Though I don’t want you walking out here alone, if you do, you need to be able to get back.”

  Angela nodded and turned to survey the surrounding area. For a brief moment, I thought she’d pick the wrong direction, but she didn’t. I was impressed by the way she told me what she was looking for and how she found the way back.

  At the cabin, I hung the deer from a high tree branch and properly dressed it while she was inside. I walked out into the rain when I was finished, noting the rain was coming down harder and the light of day shrinking fast. We still had a bit of time for shooting lessons. I called to her, and she came out a moment later, a spring in her step, and joy filled me again, just like it did every time she appeared.

  She’s dangerous, I thought, but I wanted her danger in my life, I realized. How would I let her go when it was time for her to leave?

  “We�
��ll aim for this,” I said, setting up a log a few feet away. I walked back to her and put the gun into her hands, wrapping my arms around her and standing behind her. “Okay, you need to know that this is a killing machine. You have to respect it. Never point it at someone or something unless you intend to shoot it. If you’re holding it, point it down.”

  She nodded and shifted. “It’s heavy.”

  “For you, we should look at a smaller caliber. But this is okay for now.” We lifted the gun together. “You lift it face height and look down the barrel,” I explained. “Keep both eyes open. Aim at the target and take a breath. On the exhale, you squeeze the trigger. Just a nudge.”

  “Shouldn’t I cock it or something?” she asked.

  I shook my head. “Just point and shoot.”

  She nodded and aimed. I let go of her hands and stepped back, watching her as she aimed down sight, the barrel pointed at the log. She exhaled as I’d said and pulled the trigger. The gun popped up with the recoil and Angela yelped.

  “What the hell was that?” she yelped.

  “It’s the recoil. They all do that to a degree. But that was good. Look, you hit it.”

  Angela hurried to the log and inspected the hole. “Oh, my God,” she squealed, looking at me with bright eyes. “I got it!”

  I laughed and nodded. “It’s not too complicated. There are a few things you can learn still, and you’ll need practice. But that was good.”

  Give a woman a gun and she was a walking orgasm. Unless the gun was aimed at me. I liked that Angela wanted to learn about guns and shooting. Even if she never ended up hunting in her life, it was good that she knew how to use one. If it came down to it, she could protect herself. I wasn’t planning on letting her get into a situation where she needed to shoot a gun, but it never hurt.

  Finally, the rain started falling too hard, and daylight disappeared, leaving darkness in its wake.

  “Let’s get inside, Malen kiy,” I said, putting my hand on her shoulder.

  She nodded, handed me the gun sideways, and shivered. “It’s cold.”

  “Let’s get you inside and dry.”

  We stepped into the cabin together. I dried the gun off, tucking it into its case behind a cabinet by the door, and walked to the little bathroom to get towels.

  Angela

  Every time I thought I had Viktor somewhat figured out, he surprised me. He was damn hot with a gun in his hands and watching him hunt had been a turn on. But he’d been so excited about teaching me to shoot, and his excitement had been handsome in a whole different way.

  The more I got to know him, the more I saw something in him that was light and bright and full of life. When I’d first met him, he’d looked gruff all the time, his brows knit, a scowl on his face. The handsome, rugged, mountain version of a Resting Bitch Face. But the more time we spent together, the more I saw him smile, and he chuckled a lot more. He never really laughed, but the deep rumble in his chest when he found something amusing was becoming something I would miss when I left.

  Thinking about leaving made my stomach turn. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to have to say goodbye. I wanted to see more of him. I wanted to see him all the time.

  Would that be so hard? Would I be able to date this guy who hid away in the woods while I lived in Grizzly Falls?

  Dammit, I was leaving soon. I was going far away. And he wouldn’t be right around the corner.

  I couldn’t ask him to come with me, either. He wouldn’t want to live in Chicago. There were no mountains to disappear into there. And I couldn’t imagine him living in the city, wearing a suit, going to an office job.

  What did he do for work now, I wondered? I hadn’t thought about that, but he must have money somewhere.

  “Here,” Viktor said, coming into the room with towels.

  I was soaked to the bone. The rain hadn’t been heavy but spending so much time in even a drizzle was enough to wet anyone through. I had already kicked off my soggy shoes and peeled off my wet jacket.

  Viktor passed me a towel, and I started drying my hair. Viktor rubbed the towel through his own hair and then his beard before he pulled off his shirt. His skin was shiny with wetness, accentuating his muscles.

  He caught me staring, and I blushed, feeling silly. “Sorry.”

  Viktor shook his head and took a step closer. “Don’t be.” He kissed me, and my hands stilled with the towel in my hair. I couldn’t think about anything when he kissed me like that. He cupped my cheeks and pushed his hips forward, grinding his erection against me.

  When he broke the kiss, I was out of breath.

  “Here,” he said. “Let me.”

  He took the towel from me and pressed it gently against my neck. His eyes connected with mine for a moment before they drifted slowly down. He pressed the towel against my chest. Before continuing, he pulled up the wet shirt I was wearing. He pulled at it, and it clung to my body before releasing. He pulled it over my head, dropping it on the floor with a wet plop.

  Viktor continued pressing the towel against my chest, gently drying the skin on the swells of my breasts. I reached behind my back and undid the clasp of my bra. When the wet bra came away from my skin, my nipples were tight and erect from both the cold and the fact that I was so turned on.

  Viktor ran his hand over the clammy skin, rolling my nipple between his fingers, running the towel carefully over my other breast. He worked slowly, meticulously, drying every inch of me, touching me as he went on.

  I ran my hands over his slippery abs, and he clenched his muscles, showing off his spectacular six pack. When I ran my hands down his stomach to the waistband of his jeans, my fingers skimmed his V-line.

  Viktor kissed me, my erect nipples brushing against his chest.

  Slowly, he worked my wet pants over my ass and down my legs. He kneeled in front of me, peeling my pants off my legs one by one, pulling the wet socks along with them. When the pants were gone, I stood in front of him in only my panties.

  Viktor ran the towel over my legs, moving slowly. He worked his way up from my ankle, and even though he was using a towel, it was so damn sensual, I could feel myself getting wet. When he reached my thigh, he moved slowly up to my crotch. He lightly danced his fingers over my panties, and I widened my stance. Viktor moved the towel to the other ankle and started working his way up. I gasped and moaned, frustrated at how he was dragging it out, though loving it at the same time.

  Again, when he reached the top of my thigh, he danced his hands lightly over my panties. He dropped the towel and reached around, cupping my ass in his hands. He squeezed and massaged my flesh, pulling me closer to him, and pressed his lips against my crotch. He breathed in my scent and growled at the back of his throat.

  Viktor opened his mouth and nudged my clit with his lips, moving them, sticking out his tongue and licking me through the cotton material of the sensible panties I’d bought in town. God, I wished I’d found something more lingerie-like. But I didn’t need to worry. Viktor didn’t seem turned off by my underwear at all.

  He licked and sucked me through my panties, and I moaned, my fingers in his hair. I focused on the sensation of his tongue through the material on my clit, rough yet gentle.

  Viktor hooked his fingers in the waistband of my panties and slowly pulled them down. So slowly, it was almost torture, like he was unwrapping something special, moving carefully.

  When my panties were off, he closed his mouth around my bare sex and stuck his tongue against it, licking me. I cried out as electricity shot into my body. His tongue was slick and warm, and I collapsed backward on the bed, my legs open, giving him full access.

  Viktor moved to follow me and chuckled against my pussy when I opened my thighs for him. The sound vibrated against me and I moaned. He stuck his tongue into my entrance and wiggled it, and I gasped. He licked a line from my entrance to my clit and sucked on it again.

  I moved my hips against his mouth, matching his rhythm. Already, I was getting closer and closer to orgasm.
When he pushed his fingers into my entrance, I moaned, the orgasm suddenly right there. I gasped when he slowly pumped his fingers in and out of me, curling them in a come-hither motion over my G-spot.

  I sucked in quickly and reached for my breasts, rubbing them, playing my fingers over my nipples.

  “That’s it, Angel,” Viktor murmured, his lips against my folds. “Touch yourself.”

  He pumped his fingers faster and faster as he sucked on me. I pinched my nipples, rolling them between my fingers, moving my hips to match his fingers.

  The orgasm built inside me, growing. My skin became hot and I shivered and trembled. I let out a cry as it washed over me, starting slow and warming up, different than before. I tipped my head back, arched my back, lifting my legs a little.

  “Fuck, Angel,” Viktor said. “You’re so fucking hot when you come for me.”

  I cried out as the orgasm lasted. When I came down from it, Viktor pulled me closer, so that my ass was against his chest. He kissed my breasts, sucking on each nipple, before he moved up, kissing my neck, my jaw, my mouth.

  While he kissed me, I reached between us and undid his jeans. The damn things were always in the way. I reached into his pants and pulled his cock out, running my fingers up and down his shaft.

  “Tell me what you want, Viktor,” I said, copying what he always said to me.

  He kissed me, and he smiled against my mouth, groaning softly.

  “Tell me how much you want my mouth on your cock, my lips wrapped around your head, looking up at you.”

  His eyes were dark and filled with lust. “I want you to suck my cock, kitn,” Viktor said with a growl. “There’s nothing I want more right now than to fuck your pretty mouth.”

  Eager, I smiled at him. He stood, and his cock was face height, pushed up against his stomach by his jeans, his size so large that a great deal of it was showing. I ran my thumb over the slick head, a teaser, before I pulled his pants down. I leaned in and nuzzled his cock. His scent was overpowering, intoxication.