Run to Me: A Mountain Man Romance (Clarke Brothers Series Book 3)

by Lilian Monroe

  Chapter 17 - Zoe

  I try to focus on what Bryan tells me, but my mind keeps drifting to Ethan. I think he’s giving me a history of the area, or maybe of the townspeople. The truck revs and bounces up the slope of the mountain until the narrow trail levels off. Bryan stops the engine and grins at me.

  “This is called Lover’s Lookout.”

  He wiggles his eyebrows and I laugh, shaking my head. “Don’t make me regret coming up here.”

  Bryan laughs, opening his door. “Come on, you’ll get a better view from up here.”

  I follow him down a short, narrow pathway until the trees suddenly stop and a rickety-looking, rusty handrail separates us from a long, steep fall. My chest immediately feels hollow and I stop well back from the handrail. Bryan turns back to me and grins.

  “Come on, Randall,” he says. “You afraid of heights?”

  “I didn’t think I was, but my heart feels like it just fell into my stomach. This is supposed to be romantic?”

  I inch my way forward and peer over the edge, testing the handrail with two fingers. It doesn’t move. I grab it with my hand and try to shake it, surprised to find it solidly anchored into the stone below. Bryan looks at me with an eyebrow raised.

  “Satisfied?”

  “For now,” I laugh. He points to the mountains, naming them all for me. He points out the rangers’ station and the site of the fire, the McCoy hotel, and any other landmarks that I might know.

  It’s breathtaking. Lush, green forests crawl up the mountains. Scraggly, rocky peaks poke out the top of their green blankets, with clouds hugging the jagged peaks. The town of Lang Creek looks like a sleepy bunch of houses, with a river winding gently through the bottom of the valley where the town was built. Smoke curls from two or three chimneys.

  The only mar on the landscape is the site of the fire. Even a year later, the charred remains of the construction site are clearly visible. My mind drifts back to my conversation with Katie, which was interrupted just as she started telling me about the Clarke brothers and the mess of rumors that surround their family.

  I nod my chin to the fire site. “So why does everyone think the Clarke brothers did that?” I try to sound as casual as possible, and I think I succeed until I see Bryan tense. He might not be as forthcoming as Katie.

  Bryan keeps his eyes on the charred mark across from us and shrugs. His voice is even when he speaks.

  “There’s always rumors about those boys,” he says, waving his hand lazily. “When Dominic married Mara, it was the biggest thing since Brangelina.”

  I snort, and wonder how long it takes for celebrity news to make it to this little town in the mountains.

  “Why was it such a big deal?”

  Bryan chuckles, almost to himself, and then whistles as he turns around, leaning on the rusty railing. My eyes widen and my heart does that jump again, and I try to step away from the railing. He sees my nervousness and chuckles, leaning a little bit more into the rail.

  “Why don’t you step away from the rail,” I say, trying to hide the nervousness in my voice.

  “What, this railing?” He asks, shaking it with his hand.

  My heart leaps. “You’re insane,” I say.

  My heart is racing as I watch him so close to the edge. Finally he shakes his head and pushes himself off, clapping me on the shoulder and laughing.

  “You’re alright, Randall. I wasn’t sure about you at first, but I like you.”

  I roll my eyes. “Gee, thanks.”

  Bryan grins and I can’t help but smile back. It almost feels like I’ve made a friend. He turns around and takes one last look at the view before heading back up the wooded path to our truck.

  “The McCoys and the Clarkes have been feuding ever since Old Man Clarke died,” he says, turning his head so I can hear him over his shoulder. “It would have been, oh, I guess about a decade ago.”

  I make a noise, trying to hide the intense curiosity that’s erupted in my stomach. Bryan doesn’t seem to notice. We get to the truck and he pauses, turning to me and lowering his voice as he leans against the vehicle.

  “It all came to a head when the new hotel was being built. It came to light,” he says, glancing around the forest as if there might be someone listening in this secluded corner of the mountains. “That the McCoys had part ownership of the new hotel. Well,” he whistles. “That didn’t sit right with anyone.”

  “So why does everyone assume the Clarkes did it?”

  Bryan looks at me and frowns, as if he hadn’t even considered the possibility that it wasn’t the brothers.

  “Who else would do it?” He laughs. “You’ve met Dominic, right?” I nod. He shrugs as if to say ‘there you go.’

  “Right, but was there any actual evidence? Seems to me like it fits nicely into this whole feud narrative.”

  Bryan grunts and heads over to the driver’s side of the truck. We get in and he turns it on. Before putting the car in gear, he pauses. He looks over at me and seems to consider something.

  “After the hotel burned down, Mara McCoy came back. Her and Dominic shacked up, and Mrs. McCoy–Mara’s mother–left town in a hurry.”

  I wait, because I don’t know what to tell him. What does Mara McCoy leaving have anything to do with any of this?

  “No one’s heard from her. Left her husband, her businesses, her daughter. Everything.” Bryan puts the car in gear and starts driving. He stares out the windscreen, his eyes narrowing as he navigates on the narrow, overgrown logging roads. “Now you tell me that it’s not suspicious. If you ask me, she found out what her daughter’s new boyfriend did, and couldn’t face the idea of accepting him into her family.”

  “Mara and Dominic seemed happy when I saw them. Wouldn’t that tear them apart if it were true?”

  “Maybe,” Bryan replies.

  “Wouldn’t it be more logical that Mrs. McCoy did it, and she ran away afterwards? Did she get an insurance payout? She could be living it up in Mexico or something!”

  “Maybe,” Bryan repeats. He doesn’t look over at me, and I chew my lip. There has to be some other explanation. Surely Ethan wouldn’t be capable of arson?! And then for the two families to be united in marriage? It just doesn’t make sense.

  He told me he didn’t do it.

  Or maybe I just don’t want it to make sense. I want to find something–anything–that will distance Ethan from this crime.

  He told me he didn’t do it, and I have to believe him. Every time I’m near him, my stomach does backflips and my heart starts thumping. The thought of him lying to me makes me want to roll down the window and throw up as we drive back towards the Ranger’s office.

  Bryan is quiet for most of the drive back, and I’m grateful for it. When we pull up to the station, he turns to me.

  “So are you investigating this fire?”

  “What? I… no. Not really. I’m mostly just auditing your safety procedures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

  “You’re not trying to find who did it?”

  “I mean, that would help in the whole procedures. If I know how it happened, then we can work on having it not happen again.”

  “Do you want my advice?” His eyes soften, and his voice drops as he speaks. My throat starts to tighten and I no longer trust my voice, so I just nod.

  “Don’t ask too many questions. People think a certain way here, and you coming in here causing a commotion isn’t going to change anything. Don’t worry about the fire. Just write your reports and forget about the whole thing.”

  My heart is thumping, and I consider his words. He holds my gaze for a few more moments, and then his face lightens.

  “But what do I know? I’m just an adrenaline junkie with an affinity for rusty old handrails,” he laughs. “Come on, Sherry’ll kill me if you’re late for the meeting this afternoon.”

  I grin at him, but my mind is still spinning circles around me. When I go back inside, I glance at Ethan’s desk and surprise myself when I feel
a sense of relief at his empty chair. I need to think, and it’s impossible to do that when his perfect body is anywhere near me.

  Chapter 18 - Ethan

  Dusk is settling into night as I throw another pebble into the river. I’m here to meet Zoe and I’m a little early, but even the serenity of the forest and the flow of the river has failed to calm me down. My heart is thumping, and every sound makes me turn towards the path where Zoe will walk to meet me.

  Finally, after an eternity, I hear light footsteps and her graceful figure comes into view. She raises a hand towards me and I step into the path. I open my arms and she gives me a hug, resting her head on my chest and sighing.

  “Long day?” I ask.

  “I think little Hailey’s birth may have tired me out more than I thought,” she replies, resting her chin against my chest and staring at me with her sparkling sapphire eyes.

  “I hear you. I had to go do an extra round to the campsites this afternoon and then I was falling asleep at my desk. I have a feeling it wasn’t Hailey’s birth that tired me out, though.”

  Zoe blushes and smacks my chest lightly. She disengages from me and takes a deep breath, staring at the river beside us.

  “How was your drive up to the lookout with Bryan?”

  She tilts her head to the side, not taking her eyes off the river.

  “Informative,” she answers.

  I snort. “That doesn’t sound like Bryan. Was he telling you about the legend of the Lang Creek ghost?”

  She glances at me and her eyes glimmer. Her lip curls up in a grin. “Is he the one who burned down the hotel?”

  My heart skips a beat and my mouth goes dry, but I cover my discomfort with a laugh. I hate that I lied to her. “Maybe he did,” I answer.

  She slips her hand into mine and we start walking down the path towards the town. We don’t say a word to each other, but it feels almost electric between us. Her fingers are intertwined in mine, and I can feel her arm brushing against mine. My whole body feels drawn to her, and all I want to do is wrap my arms around her and crush my lips against hers.

  She squeezes my hand as if she’s reading my mind. I do some quick mental calculations to see how quickly I can get her back to my place and do all the things I’ve been dreaming about for the past twenty-four hours. She looks up at me just as I’m imagining what her body looks like when it’s on top of mine.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “The way you look when you orgasm,” I answer without thinking. She lets out a laugh and elbows me.

  “Ethan!”

  “What!” I laugh. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.”

  She looks at me again, this time frowning. She opens her mouth as if she’s about to say something, and then changes her mind. We walk in silence, and then Zoe stops. I turn to face her, my eyebrows inching together. I’m about to ask her why she stopped when she puts her hand on my chest and slides it up to my neck. She presses her chest against mine and heat floods my veins.

  Her tongue darts out to lick her lips and a vibration passes through me. The golden light of evening makes her eyes shine and her lips glisten. I slide my arm around to her lower back and pull her a bit closer.

  “What are we doing, Ethan?” She whispers.

  “Who cares,” I answer, dropping my chin and crushing my lips against hers. Her hand slides around my neck and pulls my nape down towards her.

  It’s more than a kiss. Where yesterday was explosive desire, tonight her kiss tastes like the fire of pure passion. Every time she moves her hand over my body it leaves a trail of scorched skin in its path. She runs her fingers through my hair and pulls me closer as I squeeze her waist with my arms. My hands drop to her ass and a moan escapes her lips.

  I can’t wait any longer. I hook my arms around her thighs and lift her up over my shoulder. She yelps and laughs, drumming her hands on my ass.

  “What are you doing!” She exclaims, laughing.

  “I’m taking you back to my place and I’m giving you the best orgasm of your life,” I grunt. My cock is heavy and my whole body feels like it’s on edge. It’s like my skin is suddenly ten times as sensitive as usual, and every cell in my body is focused on Zoe.

  “Ethan,” she says, her voice muffled in my back. I pause, setting her down gently and running my hands up her sides until they rest on her waist. She runs her fingers up my arms and hooks her hands around my neck. I search her face and then touch my forehead to hers.

  “Unless you’d rather go home?”

  “The last thing I want to do right now is go home,” she breathes. “But we work together, and…”

  She stops talking when my lips cover hers, and I feel her melt into me. When I pull away, we’re both panting. “We’re not at work,” I growl. “No one has to know.”

  Zoe grins. “I’ve only been here a couple days, but I can tell you that everyone will know.”

  I laugh, and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. My finger drifts down her cheek and I use it to tilt her head up towards me.

  “You want to know a secret?”

  She nods.

  “I don’t care what they say. I don’t care that we work together. I don’t care that you have a daughter and a life in Seattle. I don’t care about any of that, because all I can think about is getting you back to my place and doing a thousand things to make you scream.”

  I tilt my head closer to her and brush my lips against the soft skin behind her ear. “I want to see that face again,” I growl. “That face you make when you let go, and the orgasm ripples through your body.”

  She whimpers, and I lay a soft kiss on her neck. “I want to feel your legs shake and I want to hear your screaming my name.”

  Her hand tightens on my neck as her fingernails dig into me.

  “You drive me wild, Zoe,” I say, breathing in the smell of her. When I pull away, her eyes are shining and her lips are parted. Her chest is heaving up and down, and she looks at me with a fiery, burning passion in her eyes.

  Zoe drops her hand to my crotch, feeling my hard length through the thick denim of my jeans. I groan, watching her through half-closed eyes. She runs her hand back and forth, and finally shivers, hooking her fingers into my waistband.

  “I want you so damn much, Ethan Clarke,” she says with a husky voice that sends another shiver through my body. “Take me home.”

  Chapter 19 - Zoe

  I don’t know what it is about him, but when I’m near Ethan I feel an almost magnetic pull toward him. After my talk with Bryan, I almost told Ethan that I needed the night to myself, but as my fingers hovered over my phone’s keyboard, I couldn’t type out the message.

  Instead, I’m walking–well, jogging, scrambling, stumbling–hand-in-hand with Ethan back to his house. My heart is banging against my ribcage, and my veins are filled with fiery desire. There’s an epicenter of heat in the pit of my stomach, and it urges me closer to Ethan.

  He pauses when we get to his door, hooking his fingers around my neck and pulling me in for a passionate kiss. When we finally fall apart, my chest is heaving and it takes me a few moments to catch my breath. I watch Ethan fumble with his keys, and then move behind him and run my hands around his waist. I rest my cheek on his back and take a deep breath.

  When he gets the door open, he twists in my arms and tilts my chin up with his fingers, laying a soft kiss on my lips.

  “Welcome to my house.”

  “Thanks,” I breathe as he takes my hand and guides me in. My eyes swing around the small room, taking in the comfortable furnishings and simple decor. It looks like a clean, log-cabin themed bachelor pad. There are thick curtains and rugs lining all available surfaces, and all the furniture looks handmade from local wood. I drop my purse on the floor next to the door as Ethan kicks his shoes off.

  “There’s beer in the fridge if you want one. I’m going to light this fire.”

  I wander over to the small kitchen at the back of the house, glancing thro
ugh an open door to see Ethan’s bedroom.

  He makes his bed, I note as I glance inside. I find the beer and grab two, heading back to Ethan. He’s blowing gently into the fireplace as a flame is flickering to life. Within minutes, the logs are crackling and Ethan sits back on his heels.

  We watch the fire in silence for a few moments, and I watch him. The firelight flickers over his face, and a strand of dark hair falls across his forehead. He wraps his arms around his knees, and I watch the muscles of his arms and shoulders bunch and stretch as he moves.

  I sit back on the sofa and smile as he turns towards me.

  “Fire has always fascinated me,” he says, sitting next to me. “On a basic level, it makes it possible for us to live and cook and socialize, but at the same time it’s one of the most dangerous forces there is.”

  He puts his arm around my shoulders and takes the beer I offer him. We both stare into the fire and I consider his words.

  “You know, I read that humans started evolving into what we are now when we started cooking our food. Our bodies didn’t need so much energy to break down the food we were eating, so our brains were able to develop with all the extra energy.”

  “Is that right?” He muses, turning his head to look at me. He nuzzles his nose into my neck and I chuckle.

  “Something like that. Don’t quote me on it. You’re tickling me,” I laugh, pulling away from him. He takes my beer and sets it on the coffee table, crawling over me until he’s resting on top of me. I hook my arms around his neck and smile. He touches his nose to mine and I feel a growl rumble through his chest. It sends a thrill down my spine and I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with his scent.

  “How are you so sexy?” He asks, and I wonder if I’m supposed to answer.

  “I work out,” I grin.

  “I’ll work you out,” he says, pushing his hips down onto me. I laugh, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissing his lips.

  “I’m not sure you can handle me,” I grin.

  “We’ll just have to see about that, won’t we?”