Stranded: A Mountain Man Romance

by Piper Sullivan

  “This is damn good,” I told her after I finished half of bowl number one.

  “It’s just stew.”

  “Damn good stew is never just anything. It’s better than mine and I eat it twice a week, sometimes more. Thank you for this.”

  “Gotta earn my keep, right?” With a small smile that was ten thousand percent fake, she dug back into her own bowl, dismissing me as soundly as if she’d slammed a door in my face.

  Earn her keep, that’s really what she thought? I guess I’d done a better job than I thought of keeping my distance over the years, except for those hours between dusk and dawn.

  “No, you don’t. But I’m happy to be on the receiving end of your skills.” I flashed a smile, but it was wasted because her head was down as though the stew was the most interesting thing in the whole world. “So, Lena, what’s new with you?”

  “Not much, Rex. How about you?”

  I grinned at her transparent efforts to be civil. Polite. “Business is great. I just sold a big ass dining set for twenty. Took a long time to finish, but the client was pleased with the outcome.”

  “That’s good,” she said. “Congratulations.” When my mom first met her dad, she’d been fascinated by my work, always hanging around and asking a million questions. Back then I’d only sold pieces at craft fairs and for local theaters, but Lena acted like I was some world famous artist. At least she had when my workshop had been one of the smaller cottage houses at Cody House, before I moved to the mountain. She’d been so inquisitive back then. So eager to know more about me. Such a sharp contrast to now.

  “Thanks. How are you keeping busy now that you’re back?”

  “I’ve been back for some time and I’m looking for work,” she answered shortly. “Marcus and Lulu seem to be having a good time on their cruise,” she added in another transparent effort to change the topic.

  “Any place where mom can spend most of the daylight hours sun tanning, she’s happy.” Despite their divorce, I had a sneaking suspicion that Marcus and Lulu actually enjoyed spending time together. And I wondered what Lena thought about it. “Are you okay with them dating again?”

  She shrugged. “I don’t really care. I like Lulu and Dad seems happy with her.”

  Damn it was like pulling teeth to start a conversation with her. “But you’re not happy about it?”

  She sighed, and I swear those green eyes attempted to slice me open. “I don’t care, Rex. Dad is a grown man and can do what he wants. At least I know Lulu genuinely likes him.”

  She seemed to mean it, and I couldn’t say anything in response to that. “When are they coming back?”

  She sighed when it became clear that I wouldn’t let the meal continue in silence. “A couple months. They touched down in Australia a couple days ago and they’ll be there until April. Lulu said they’ll be back in Cody by Spring.”

  That surprised me. “What do you plan to do while they’re gone?”

  She dropped her spoon into the bowl and stood. “I don’t need you to worry about me, Rex. I’m not your sister or your problem.”

  Shit. I’d done such a damn good job of keeping my distance and now we were stuck together until the storm was over. And late winter storms could be gone in a few hours or a few days. A few years ago the storm had me trapped for a week. We might kill each other in a week.

  “Teach me how to cook something.” I dropped down on the other end of the sofa and waited for Lena to respond.

  She laughed, never even taking her gaze from the e-reader. “Sure, Rex. I’ll teach you how to cook.”

  “I’m serious.”

  She looked up, exploring the expression on my face until she was satisfied I was being honest. “Fine, what would you like to cook?”

  She didn’t sound happy about the distraction, but I was done caring. Three days snowed inside was too much, and her silent treatment was starting to get on my nerves.

  “I don’t know. Something easy but delicious, that I can always make if I get a craving.” I didn’t really give a damn what she wanted to teach me to make, as long as it wiped that sad look from her face. And distracted me from spreading her out on the counter and fucking her until my cock was completely drained.

  “Fine. Let’s see what you have.” She closed the e-reader and set it gently on the table, giving me a great view of her ass as she walked into the kitchen.

  I found her in the pantry, bent over to look at the bottom shelf, giving me a front row seat to the way her ass curved in those jeans.

  “Anything?”

  “How about lasagna? Guys always love lasagna and it’s easy if time-consuming. Or we could do a French style stuffed chicken, I remember seeing a whole chicken in the freezer.”

  “Let’s go with lasagna because I can eat it for a few days, which would make it worth the time.” I flashed a grin, but she seemed unaware as she piled lasagna noodles, stewed tomatoes and plenty of dry herbs into my arms.

  While I put the ingredients on the counter, she bent over the freezer and I couldn’t resist walking past and brushing up against her. That little gasp she made told me she was still as affected by me as she ever was, she’d just gotten better at hiding it. I couldn’t say why that made me feel better, other than the fact that I’m a cocky bastard, but it did. When she stood, her arms were full and she didn’t acknowledge my touch, but her cheeks still flushed a beautiful shade of pink.

  “Okay, let’s get started.”

  I watched Lena, a small smile on my face as her own was lit with animation as she explained about seasoning the ricotta, sautéing vegetables for the tomato sauce and the meat. “It seems like a lot of work but we’ll knock it out fairly easily, not that we have much else to do,” she said with a pointed gaze out the window where the snow still fell in sheets and the wind howled like an angry wolf. “You want me to put this in there, raw?”

  “Use the garlic press so it’s fine pieces, but during cooking it’ll soften out the flavor.”

  Damn, but Lena had turned into a knockout. Gone was the gangly little girl who was all arms and legs and big bifocal glasses. She had all the right parts in all the right places, but when she talked food, her face lit up in an unforgettable way that had me hooked. I had to have her, which meant I would have her. Living in the mountains made people think I was a recluse, but the truth was that people fucking sucked and I liked living somewhere they weren’t likely to drop by unannounced. “Won’t the meat get cold?”

  “No, we have to drain the excess grease and then we’ll add it to some of the sauce.”

  “Some?” I frowned. “I like my lasagna saucy.”

  “Well that’s strange because you asked me to show you how to cook something and now you’re telling me how to do it.” Arms crossed, she tried for fierce but her lips curled at the corners gave her away. “Slice the olives so we can start putting this bad boy together. Ten minutes later it was ready to go in the oven and Lena set the timer for fifty-five minutes. “Now, we wait.”

  For a fucking hour. “Whatever will we do?” Flirting with her was probably a bad damn idea, considering what was between us at the moment, but it came naturally. And I was dying to fuck her.

  The look she gave me said she was thinking the same thing, but I doubted she would act on it. For all her bravado, Lena was sheltered, and she didn’t know as much about the world as she thought she did. So, I would have to make the first move. “I have an idea, actually.”

  “Yeah? Building a snowman? Making snow angels? Monopoly?”

  She glared at the smug smile I wore. “No, I was thinking more of an indoor activity.” That green glare turned into an alluring smile that made my body react strangely. “It involves my lips and your body.”

  I swallowed hard. “Fuck.”

  She laughed and took a step closer, laughing harder at my clear shock. “I haven’t taken that off the table. Not yet, anyway.”

  “What are you saying, Lena?” I didn’t understand it, couldn’t make sense of it. “Don’t pl
ay games with me.”

  She nodded. “You’re the only one allowed to play with people?” Lena smacked her lips in admonishment. “Too bad,” she said, taking another step closer and slipping her hand down my sweatpants.

  “Lena,” I growled to make her stop, and then I wondered what the fuck was wrong with me. This was what I wanted, to lose myself in a hot, willing woman for a few hours, and the fact that it was Lena only made me want it more.

  “What?” She looked at me for a long moment, waiting for me to say something. Anything. But I couldn’t, and with a shrug she knelt down in front of me and tugged on the waistband until my cock sprang free. “Wow. You’re a big boy.”

  My head dropped back and a low groan escaped at the feel of her soft, small hands wrapped around my cock. She squeezed it just right, tugging it until all my thoughts settled onto her. Her soft scent that was somehow still detectable over my body wash, the way her hands felt on my body and the breathy sounds of pleasure she made when she touched me. It was too much, and not enough. And then she slicked a tentative tongue across my cock head. “Oh, fuck Lena.”

  “Interesting.” One hand continued to stroke my cock in fast, up and down movements as her soft, hot mouth enveloped me completely. She was tentative at first, small flicks of her tongue until she grew bolder, grabbing me harder and licking, sucking with more energy, more enthusiasm until my hips began to move on their own, thrusting deeper into her mouth. “Oh wow,” she said around my cock, gripping my thighs and letting her mouth open more to receive me.

  “Lena,” I growled, thrusting harder, daring her to accept more of me and she met the challenge with delight. It felt so damn good, my balls began to tighten and sweat beaded along my hairline. I stepped back until my cock was cold and lonely without her mouth.

  “What?” she asked, cheeks flushed with desire, lips pink and swollen.

  “I want you Lena. So fucking bad I can practically taste you.” My chest heaved and my nostrils flared with the effort to keep from taking her like an animal.

  She looked up at me, freckled face flushed and those eyes looking greener than ever as she still gripped my cock. “Okay,” she said finally and it was the sweetest fucking word I’d ever heard.

  Lena

  I can’t believe I just agreed to have sex with Rex McGregor, the star of all of my girlish fantasies. Of course back when I first met him the only fantasy I had was him kissing me senseless. But later, after Lulu and my dad had split, those fantasies had grown into those of a woman and I’d always pictured him as the guy who would show me how sex was supposed to be.

  “Okay,” I said again, because he still stood staring down at me with his chest heaving.

  “Thank fucking god,” he groaned and scooped me into his arms, climbing the steps to his bedroom two at a time while I licked and nibbled his ear, loving the way his big hands felt cupping my ass.

  I wanted him more than I wanted anything in this moment, even the restaurant that had, over the past few days, returned to the realm of an out of reach dream. Even knowing that this wasn’t real, I threw myself into it, knowing it was my only chance.

  It had to be.

  He dropped me on the bed, staring down at me like he wanted to devour me whole. And dammit, I wanted to let him. I would let him. “Lena.” He grabbed my legs and yanked me closer, his big nimble fingers making quick work of my button and zipper. I helped as much as I could but he worked fast, striping me down to nothing in seconds. “Fuck, Lena. You’re gorgeous.”

  I knew I wasn’t, but in the moment, listening to Rex say it, I wanted to believe it. I almost did believe it. “Rex,” I moaned, reaching out to him because I didn’t know what women said in situations like this. I wanted to be cool and casual, but he would know it was a lie the moment he slid into my body. “Please.” I should tell him, but I wouldn’t. He would stop and I’d feel humiliated.

  “Please? Tell me what you want.”

  “You, Rex. I want you.” I watched as his blue eyes darkened and he motioned for me to move up on the bed. I obliged, only for him to slide between my thighs until his breath made my pussy pulse.

  He pushed my thighs apart with his shoulders and leaned forward until his tongue touched me there and my hips sprang up off the bed. It was the single greatest sensation of my life and when he did it again, and again, I moved in uncontrollable starts and stops as his tongue brought me the greatest ecstasy I’d ever known. His tongue was warm and rough, moving with expert precision until my body bucked off the bed and shattered into a million little pieces. “Damn Lena, you taste like vanilla and honey.”

  I shivered at his words, the dark look as he said them. I struggled for breath as he crawled up and settled between my thighs. The corded muscles on his shoulders and arms were tight as he reached for a condom in the nightstand. Watching him roll the condom down his, quite honestly huge, cock, was the most erotic thing I’d ever seen in real life. “Holy shit.”

  He chuckled, fisting himself in one hand and grasping my hip with the other. “Thanks, darlin’ but you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  And when he slid into me, so slow I thought my body would burst into flames before he was fully seated. But then I began to feel full. So full I thought I might never feel normal again. Until…, “Ow!”

  He froze at the same time and stared down at me, all traces of humor and sex appeal vanished. “Lena.”

  “Its my business, Rex. Please.” I didn’t want to talk about it and I didn’t want him to change his mind. “I’m not reading more into this and I know what I’m doing.” He didn’t move so I recalled an article I read in a magazine once, about keeping your downstairs tight for your man.

  He groaned. “Dammit, Lena. This isn’t a joke.”

  “Witness me laughing,” I said deadpan.

  I did it again and his jaws clenched. “We’ll talk about this later.”

  We wouldn’t, and that was fine by me so I smiled and nodded, tightening my legs around his hips and urging him to move. When he did, I thought I would die. The pain had faded, replaced by an intense overwhelming pleasure that I couldn’t describe. The more his hips moved against me, the more my body tightened and that feeling intensified. My skin puckered as a chill washed over me, my nipples hardened and his cock seemed to swell inside me. “Rex.” His name fell out of me on a long, low moan.

  He looked down at me and all I saw was raw, unrestrained hunger. His brows furrowed dangerously and his hips moved with a speed that made blinding light shoot off behind my eyes. His thumb trailed from my bottom lip, down between my breasts and down my belly button, stopping at my clit. He rubbed furious circles as his body moved inside mine, on a mission to find the pleasure that was just out of our collective reach.

  Then both of us were nothing more than a pile of want and need, desire and hunger. Longing and ecstasy. His thrust hard and fast, not happy until our bodies were so entwined I didn’t think we’d ever be whole again. And then liquid fire shot through my veins and I felt the waves crashing over me, pulling me out to sea, lost forever as my body pulsed.

  “Lena,” he roared as his own release rushed from him and into me with the force of a hundred horses.

  It felt amazing that he was the one to give me a chance to experience this kind of pleasure. That Rex was the one to show me how good sex could be. Regardless of feelings. “That was amazing. Thank you.”

  He said nothing, simply gave me a strange look and separated our bodies so he could go handle the condom.

  I turned over and faced the window. Snow continued to fall outside, thoughts of Rex on my mind as I drifted off to sleep.

  Rex

  I was positive there was nothing in the world better than waking up already buried balls deep inside Lena’s hot, wet, pulsing pussy. Her hips moved in a gentle rocking motion to meet my thrusts. Her soft sleepy moans told me she was in that blessed twilight state where you weren’t quite awake but not asleep either, and those moans made my cock harden. My thrusts deepened and her hips be
gan to rock faster to meet me, but fuck, I wasn’t ready for it to be over. Not yet. She felt too good, her pussy clenched around me tight like a fist, massaging the length of me as I pounded slow and sensual.

  “Yes,” she moaned in that half-drunk voice and arched her back, which let me slide deeper than ever.

  I groaned and closed my eyes, palming one of her plump tits and pinching the nipple. That little gasp, pushed me closer to the edge and my own hips pistoned faster into her. “Fuck.” In the distance I heard the low rumble of an engine and I knew what that meant. The snow had finally stopped, and now the plows, as they usually did, tackled Shadow Mountain first. If I hadn’t been so consumed with Lena all night, I might have noticed.

  But I hadn’t, and right now I was far too gone to stop. Too close to the edge, and Lena was too judging by the increase in her sounds of pleasure and the motion of her hips. Soon, she was coming all over my cock. Her body shook and vibrated, squeezed and milked me dry as her orgasm rushed out of her. I fit my lips to her neck, kissing and licking the soft spot between her neck and shoulder and she groaned again, but this groan was more aware.

  She was fully awake as her body continued to shake off the pleasure and satisfaction from her orgasm. My hips still moved and then I felt it, a rush of liquid between us, making her pussy even slicker. “Ah, fuck.” It sent me right over the edge, my cock pumped into her slick heat and nothing had ever felt better. So hot. So goddamn wet. So fucking… “Ah, shit!” I couldn’t stop the force of the orgasm as it tore out of me and caused a series of small aftershocks in Lena, making it impossible to separate our bodies.