Page 21 of Tragic (Lark Cove 3)

The air in the camper was too thick, so I stepped into some tennis shoes, not bothering with socks, and rushed for the door. The minute I burst outside, my lungs filled with the May mountain air and my legs took off.

I took the trail to the ridge at a near sprint but slowed to a jog as my thighs protested the steep incline. About halfway up, my throat was on fire and I tasted blood. But I refused to give in to the pain and pushed on, hiking faster and higher. I tripped on an errant rock and again on a fallen branch, but I didn’t stop.

I climbed until the trees broke and the world opened.

And then, I walked to the same place in the meadow where Kaine had once sat and dropped to my knees.

Then I let it all go.

“What the fuck was I thinking?” I muttered to myself, not for the first time since I’d come home from Piper’s camper.

I ran a hand through my hair. It was still damp from my second cold shower, but with the way my dick was filling out my boxer briefs, I’d be due for another in five minutes.

I’d gone years without the desire for a woman. My hand and I had gotten along just fine. But now that my dick remembered how it felt to be inside a woman, I couldn’t get the damn thing to soften. Piper’s face popped into my mind every few minutes, and each time, blood would rush to my cock.

“Goddamn it.” I made an adjustment. “Knock it the fuck off already.”

I really had lost my damn mind. I’d been talking to my cock for the last hour like it was a person. Not that it was listening.

Since the showers hadn’t worked to cool me down, I walked out of my bedroom and toward the front door. Maybe a hike and some fresh air would burn off my pent-up energy and help me regain control of my body. My arms felt restless and my legs itched for some exertion, so I went outside, refusing to glance at Piper’s camper as my long strides took me up the mountain trail.

What the fuck was I thinking?

Instead of saying my piece and leaving my new neighbor alone like any sane man would do, I’d kissed her. I’d turned into some kind of hormone-driven maniac, attacking her with my mouth and tongue. Then I’d fucked her, hard and fast, without so much as a thank-you on my way out the door.

The son my mother had raised was truly gone. She’d be appalled to learn how I’d treated a woman. Though I was sure my actions had been appalling Mom for the last three years, so maybe today’s actions wouldn’t be as shocking as they seemed.

Guilt settled heavy in my gut. I was ashamed of the way I’d run out of Piper’s camper like a coward, but oddly enough, I didn’t regret being with her.

Sex with Piper had been phenomenal. The best I’d ever had, edging out the one time in my early twenties when I’d hooked up with a couple of girls who’d been eager to experiment. Just thinking about the way she’d clenched around me as she’d come had me rock-hard again.

I picked up the pace on the trail, chasing away the images of her beautiful face. By the time I hit the junction where her trail and mine merged into one, I’d broken a sweat and my body felt more like my own.

Had Piper ever come up this trail? I’d been the only one to hike up this ridge for so long, I considered it my own. Would we run into each other in the woods? As long as it wasn’t soon, I’d deal with the company. I needed at least a few weeks, maybe months, until I was ready to see her again.

The image of her face seemed to be permanently stuck in my brain as it was.

Her construction crew could make all the noise they wanted. She could light that house of hers on fire and I’d steer clear. No matter what happened on her side of the property line, I’d be staying on the other.

After today’s hike, I’d be sticking close to home, where it was safe.

The air was chilly beneath the trees and cooled the drops of sweat as they beaded on my temples. I preferred hiking in the spring when the grasses were neon green and the wildflowers were in bloom. During the summer months, I tended to cut back on expeditions, especially since the last couple we’d been plagued with smoke from forest fires.

But when the weather turned, the autumn breeze would beckon me outdoors to watch the leaves change and the animals prepare for winter.

In the time I’d lived here, I’d hiked all over this area, exploring my own property as well as the national park land at my far border. Walking through these woods, breathing in the mountain air and listening to nature’s symphony had become a coping mechanism to deal with stress and pain. That, and working in my shop.

Three years ago, I’d traded family for towering evergreens. I didn’t need friends when I had the raw earth to keep me company.

So I’d thought.

I was questioning my choices now that I seemed to have forgotten the norms of social conduct. Normal men didn’t kiss their sexy neighbor just because she gave them sass. Normal men didn’t haul a stranger into a tricked-out Airstream to fuck her on the couch. Normal men didn’t run away from a woman ten seconds after coming inside her body.

“Fuck.” My curse bounced off the nearby trees.

I looked down to the bulge behind my zipper. This is all your fault.