Mountain Man's Secret Baby

by Lauren Wood

  “It’s going to be okay Molly. You get your restaurant back and we get some security or cameras, I don’t know and we make it work. You can’t let them dictate what you do. If you want to serve out of owners, then so be it.”

  “That’s rich coming from someone that did more than serve one coffee.”

  I grinned but waved it off like it wasn’t a big deal.

  “I didn’t have much choice with the selection going here.”

  Molly agreed. She wasn’t feeling very generous towards Nome at the moment, but I knew that would change.

  Chapter 14

  Ethan

  “We need to finish this conversation Denise.”

  “Is that so? You came all the way up here to tell me that? You scared me to death Ethan. Seriously, what are you doing up here?”

  “You told me that you came up here sometimes and when I couldn’t find you, I decided to check up here before I started asking around. I think there is enough being said about us because of last night.”

  I had already heard the rumors. I was told by a person that didn’t know that I was the other person in the tawdry little tale. I knew that she didn’t like people talking about her, but they were, so I might as well not pretend that it isn’t happening. I was going to assume that she had heard some of the same things that I’d heard and it wasn’t too bad, but to her it probably was. I was still under the impression that embarrassment was what was really at fault here.

  “Well here I am. I don’t know why you are looking for me. I think we said everything that needs to be said, don’t you?”

  It wasn’t the sort of conversation that I liked to have. When a woman didn’t want to argue about something, it seemed rather stupid to argue that with her and make her want to argue more. I should be happy that she just wanted to let it go, but I couldn’t. I didn’t want her to let it go because if she did, I had a bad feeling that she was going to be letting me go all at the same time.

  “No, I don’t think that we’ve said much of anything to each other. Certainly not enough because you’re acting this way and not answering your phone.”

  “I was hoping that you would get the hint.”

  I had to smile at her answer because once Denise gave her opinion; she didn’t like to mince words about it. It was like she couldn’t and the more she said, the more I was able to see that she was not going to relent as easily as I thought she should.

  “I have seen the hint, but that doesn’t mean that I agree with it. I was hoping that you’d come to your senses by now. No?”

  She didn’t like the answer and her brow shot up. “Back to my senses, huh?”

  I sighed loudly and shook my head. “You’re really not going to make this easy on me, are you?”

  Denise grinned for just a second and shook her head that she wasn’t going to make it easy at all. If I wanted her, I was going to have to work for it. I didn’t mind one bit.

  “I can work with that. I can think of a couple of ways to make you change your mind. I’m going to be here for several months and I want to spend it with you Denise. What could be wrong with that?”

  “What happens afterwards? That’s what is wrong with that. You’re going to be on to your next big job and where does that leave us?”

  I didn’t know the answer to that, but I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking about how it was going to feel to have her back in my arms. I could already feel the twitching heat that would surround me as soon as I plowed in. That’s what ran through my mind as I looked down at her questioning face.

  “I don’t know Denise, but that’s a long time away. Why would you want to deny us pleasure because of what may happen or may not happen later on down the road?”

  It didn’t make sense to me, especially when we hadn’t been able to see how good it could really be. It bothered me, this stance she had taken, but I was given a little hope with her answer.

  “Because I don’t want to be hurt Ethan.”

  “That’s the last thing that I want to happen. You know what it is between us and we are both going into this with our eyes wide open. What could be wrong with that?”

  She bit her lip and I could tell that I was starting to make some sense to her. It was hard to really know what was going on in her mind, but I was hopeful that she was at least hearing me out.

  “I don’t know Ethan. I just don’t think it’s a very good idea.”

  She was clinging to something and I wasn’t sure what it was, but it didn’t matter. She was caving in as we spoke and soon I was going to be able to have her in all of the ways that I wanted her.

  I took a step closer, desperately wanting that part of the make up to hurry up. I wanted her in my arms and I wanted to be back inside of her again. It had felt too good and there was no way that I was willing to give that up without a fight. I was going to make her see things my way.

  “What are you doing?” She sounded nervous as I got closer and I wondered what was going through her head. Did she really want me to say it out loud?

  “I’m going to kiss you Denise and then I’m going to lay you down on this ground and make you scream my name.”

  Denise shivered visibly and I pulled her to me. She didn’t resist and when I kissed her, she went to her tiptoes and kissed me back. I hadn’t known if my description was going to work, but I was thankful that it had and my body was already feeling the results of her being so close.

  When I pulled away after a few moments, she had a dazed look in her eyes that told me I was getting to where I wanted her to be. I wanted her turned on and needy. It looked like she was both. Her mind wasn’t working and she wasn’t going to tell me that I couldn’t have her.

  Denise was exactly where I wanted her to be.

  Chapter 15

  Denise

  I really don’t know what happened more than to know that Ethan got to me. I tried to stay away from him, but he wasn’t going for it and before I knew it, I was in his arms and he was kissing the worry away from me. It felt like he knew exactly where to touch me and exactly what to say for me to lose myself with him. I don’t know what kind of spell he had on me, but I found it impossible to tell the man no. Worse yet, I didn’t want to. I wanted what he was doing to me. I wanted to feel alive again and with Ethan, it all felt new and fresh.

  Molly decided to rebuild the restaurant and even though she had people working around the clock, no spared expense, there was still almost a month that I didn’t have a job. My job became pleasure when I saw Ethan every night. He moved from the hotel and stayed with me in the tiny house that I know he hated so much. He barely fit anywhere in there, but he never complained. Ethan said before that he would rather be stuffed in the house with me, then without me anywhere else.

  He always said the sweetest things to me. Ethan was one of those men that made a woman feel like they were the only one in the world that mattered. I liked that feeling. I liked feeling special and if I didn’t know any better, I would have thought that I was falling for Ethan.

  As the restaurant was being built, the harbor on the other side of town was as well. The locals were not at all happy about it and I worried that something bad was going to happen. There was talk of sabotage and though I didn’t want to be in the middle of it, I felt like I had to tell Ethan about it. I was afraid that something was going to happen and then he was going to get hurt and I couldn’t stand the idea of that happening.

  The problem was that I didn’t know many details. Everyone in town knew that I was with Ethan and that hadn’t went over all that well. Maybe it was because I picked an outsider over a local, but there really was nothing with any of the other guys. I didn’t feel bad about it. It was my life and I could be who I wanted to be with.

  This is what I told myself when I felt the stares and the faces made behind my back. Sometimes I would walk into a room and the place went quiet. I never knew if it was a plan against the harbor that I was walking into or just an ordinary gossip station. Either way, it happened a lot
and Nome was quickly losing its charm.

  I told Ethan what I’d heard that day when he came back to the house. He was tired and I almost didn’t bring it up, but I knew that I had to. I would never forgive myself if something happened and I could have warned him. Even a warning in the back of the mind was better than nothing at all.

  He didn’t take it the way that I thought he would. “I’ve heard the same thing Denise. It’s just talk. It wouldn’t be like burning down a small restaurant. The harbor project is so much bigger than that and it already has security.”

  “Yeah, but you guys hired local. Who’s to say that the ones that are on detail aren’t with those that want it to fall?”

  Why couldn’t he see that he was in danger? It was all I could think about and Ethan acted like he had this happen every day and it was no big deal. It was a big deal. It was a huge deal and even if these had happened before, the people of Nome were known for action more than just talk. They liked to talk, but it played off of what they really wanted done and they would do it. It only got them going and that was what it looked like.

  “I’m not going to worry about it Denise and you shouldn’t either. Let them talk. I’m not going to stress out about it. They will see in time that it is a good thing and they will settle down. Just wait and see.”

  He was so sure, but I wasn’t. It wasn’t going to just go away. I knew that much for sure. It was only going to get worse from here on out. That much was a given and I wish that Ethan would listen to me. I knew the men that came into Molly’s every morning and very few were good at idle threats.

  Chapter 16

  Ethan

  My eyes were open a few seconds before the alarm went off and I leaned over Denise to get to it before she did. She liked to sleep in a little bit longer than I did and I could tell that she was tired from the night before. She was worried and that meant that she was up most of the night reading and thinking to try and get her mind off of what ailed her. I knew that it was threats to the harbor, but I was confident that it would be fine. It felt like it was going to be okay and I was just going to go with my gut on it.

  I’ve been threatened many times before, which is strange in my line of work. But Alaskans were hard to push and they wanted to keep every inch of their state the same. It was impossible to do when there was just as big of a force, with money behind it that wanted to modernize. Some came to the state to get away from it all, while some wanted to bring the world to their door step. I didn’t have an opinion on it either way because it would never happen where I live. No one in their right mind wants to go up there for a vacation.

  Sighing to myself, I laid my head back on the pillow and looked up at the ceiling. It wasn’t but a few feet from my face and I slid off the bed. It was too small for me, but she had convinced me that it was going to be fine. I had believed her or rather I’d wanted more of what she was selling and I’d crawled up there to take her one more time.

  I thought about doing it now, but I had too much going on today and sometimes she was a bigger distraction than I was able to deal with. I wanted to get ready before she woke up and was successful at making me go back to bed with her. Denise learned fast and she knew that if she presented it in a certain way, I was unable to resist. She’d made me late more than once or twice.

  Taking a shower always brought back memories of our first time and that was just as bad to my senses as her messing with me. It wasn’t long before I was hard and thinking about going back up to the loft without any prodding from her.

  “Are you in here?”

  Her voice cut through the silence and I groaned inwardly because I knew what was going to happen next. I was about to be very late.

  Denise opened the curtain to find the answer I wasn’t giving her. “There you are.”

  Her eyes fell down my body, landing on the hard-on that was pointed right towards her. As soon as she let the door open a little wider to step in, I knew I was as good as late. She had a smile on her face that I knew all too well and that meant that not only was I going to be late, but extremely late. I should have made a call before I got in the shower, but how could a man plan for things like this? There was no planning for Denise.

  “I have to get to work on time today Denise.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Her hand moved to the hard length that I was trying to keep away from her, but the damn shower was ridiculously small and there was nowhere to go. The only way I was going to get away from her straying hand was to physically get out of the bathroom all together.

  There was no fighting it after she started to touch me and gently stroked me in her small hands. She had a way of twist and pulling all at the same time that really did it for me and like everything else, once she learned that it had that sort of effect on me, she used it to her advantage every chance she got. This was one of those times.

  “Why didn’t you wake me up Ethan? You know that I like to see you in the morning before you leave.”

  “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  She started to pull a little faster with a harder squeeze in her hand. I didn’t worry that she would be rough, but I did worry that she was going to excite me too much. Her hand and palm always felt amazing and this was no different than any other time. She still felt too damn good.

  I wasn’t going to get out of the shower without coming once or twice, so I pushed her hand away and pulled her to me to lift her up. She eagerly grabbed my neck and her legs wrapped around my waist. This wasn’t our first rodeo and she knew exactly what to do.

  Denise gasped when I entered her and it was almost as good as the wet, soft, heat that surrounded my cock suddenly. I gritted my teeth to both things and started to move inside of her slowly.

  It wasn’t long before she was biting my shoulder and whimpering my name in my ear. The sounds were too much, they always were and even when she tried to hold it in, it was just as damaging as ever. Denise was hard to handle on all accounts and I was still thinking about why I was late, as I made my way to the harbor.

  It was going to be a damn good day.

  Chapter 17

  Denise

  It was the first day back at Molly’s grand reopening and I was running late because of finding Ethan in the shower in the state he was in. It was hard to turn him away, but it was literally impossible when he had his hard length out like he did and there was nothing I could do but stare. That had led to wanting more and then the next thing I knew, I was in the shower with him and both of us were late. It was hard to keep track of the time when I was coming over and over again.

  I should have had some guilt about it all, but I really didn’t have not even a drop. Molly was going to be there before opening, so when I strolled in an hour late, I wasn’t too worried about it. I had given her a heads up that I was only just now leaving for the restaurant, so it wasn’t like she didn’t know.

  “What kept you?”

  I just shrugged and didn’t answer, but she looked at the state of me and told me that she knew already and I didn’t have to tell her. I didn’t like the idea of that, but it didn’t matter. Ethan made love to me in such a way that nothing else mattered for quite some time afterwards. It was like he had fucked the care out of me and at this point I didn’t care at all. I wanted to be with him all day long and part of me knew that she was lucky that I came in at all. All I wanted to do was stay home with Ethan and see how many ways we could please each other. It was still a thought that crossed my mind most days of how I could make that happen and never leave the house.

  “Sorry Molly. I just took a longer shower than usual.”

  Molly’s face bore out into this grin and I knew where her mind was going. She was thinking about the first time when we’d been discovered by everyone and now I was too. If she didn’t stop talking, I might want to go down to the harbor and find Ethan to have another go at each other. It was tempting and I don’t know why I felt this way, but I did. It was kind of refreshing because for a while I was unsure if I c
ould feel these types of feelings at all. Now I knew I could with the right person. Now I knew that I could love just as vastly deep as everyone else could.

  “Shower huh? Yeah I have an idea of why that shower took you so long.”

  I didn’t agree or disagree because there was really no point to it. She was going to think what she wanted to think and since she was technically right and I was a bad liar, I wasn’t going to try and say that it wasn’t exactly that way. Molly just knew me too well for me to try and pull something over on her.

  “So how are you? Are you nervous about something, because you look strange?”

  I was still worried about something happening at the harbor, but also where I was now as well. The same locals that had done it before were still here living in Nome and I didn’t know if they were going to let Molly have it again for whatever reason they saw fit to make an example out of her. I’d told her that it would be fine, but I questioned that reality myself. I didn’t know if it was going to be fine or not. How was I supposed to know that when everything felt so up in the air today? It felt like something was going to happen, but I didn’t know what it was, so there was no way for me to prepare for it.

  “No, not really. I guess I just got to hope that people want somewhere to get some coffee and breakfast before they go to work, more than they want to prove a point. There is cameras and security, but if it is going to happen, it’s going to happen. You know how people are around here. You can’t change their minds once that got something in their head. We’ll just have to wait and see what the day brings. I’m not going to worry about it too much. There really is no point because the place is here now and while I hope there is no more fires, I know that it could happen.”

  I couldn’t be so calm about it, but I agreed with it all just so that she would feel better. If she was going to be positive, who was I to be negative about it either way? Whatever was going to happen, was going to happen. I might have nodded my head in agreement to what Molly said, but I wasn’t near as unbothered by it all than Molly was. I wanted to know what was going on and I wanted assurances that it was going to all blow up in my face. It was scary to think of how much worse the last time could have been.