Chapter 5
Fiona
When I woke up on Saturday morning, I had no idea where I was. The place was like a log cabin with wooden furniture and the bed I was in had big fluffy blankets.
I felt sore between my legs, but the good kind of sore that spoke of a fun night, and it all rushed back to me. I was in that Viking’s bed. Naked.
I scrambled for my clothes, feeling shy. I had been confident yesterday, set on doing something crazy and I had pulled it off. The Mountain Man had fallen for my seduction. He’d fucked me like I’d wanted him to. And it had been a hell of a ride. Damn, it had been good.
But now, in the light of a new day, I was shy and unsure of myself and terrified that he would come in before I was fully dressed. I couldn’t believe I had suggested I stay over, that I had fallen asleep in the arms of a stranger and slept in bed with him all night.
Naked.
Who the fuck was boring now, Randy?
When I was dressed, I found a mirror and finger combed my hair which looked tousled and sexed. Sex hair.
I heard sounds on the other side of the door, the sound of crockery. He was busy in the kitchen. I had to go out and face him at some point, I couldn’t hide out in the room all day. I had to get back to the lodge eventually.
When I opened the door, the Mountain Man looked at me, and a grin spread across his face.
“Morning,” he said.
“Morning,” I replied, feeling nervous. I had no idea what to expect.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I answered and realized he might have been asking about my ankle. Which, honestly, I wasn’t even feeling anymore. Sex was the best therapy.
He was dressed now, but that didn’t make him any less attractive than when he had been naked. He wore a flannel shirt over a T-shirt and even though it would look like a dad-shirt on any other person, it looked good on him.
“Coffee?” he asked.
“I don’t drink coffee,” I said.
“Cutting down on caffeine?”
“Don’t like the taste.”
He nodded, and where our silence had been loaded before, it was strained, now.
“Well,” he said, putting down his cup. “I’m ready to head back down the mountain if you are.”
Thank God, he wasn’t expecting a romantic breakfast together. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do that. I was already struggling to open up and make conversation as it was, never mind keeping this up for another hour or two. Yesterday I had been the confident vixen, set on getting what I wanted. But that wasn’t who I really was, and the magic had faded to leave drab little old me behind.
Is was a new twist on the walk of shame, but at least I had a hell of a story to tell Jamie. And I had done it. I had done something adventurous and a little dangerous, and there was no boring in sight, here. Not me, I was interesting and fun and had fucked a wild mountain man.
Maybe not wild, but it was by my standards.
We left the cabin, and he locked up. I climbed onto the back of the four-wheeler. This time, I held onto the grid behind me as he had initially suggested. I couldn’t find it in me to be as seductive as I had been last night.
The scenery was beautiful on the way down. At one point, we looked out over the entire valley and I could see the lodge at the foot of the mountain, the cars all the size of toy cars driving around on the property, people moving like ants.
We were back in the trees after that, the sun coming through the leaves making dapples on the ground and it was like a storybook. We drove the way down the mountain without speaking, the roar of the engine drowning out the awkward silence.
Before we broke free from the trees and headed onto the main road that led to the lodge, he pulled off the road and cut the engine. What was he doing?
He turned in his seat so he could see me.
“I thought it would be better to say goodbye here in the trees. Save us both some embarrassment,” he said.
I already felt embarrassed, but I nodded.
“Thank you for a fun night. I had a good time.”
“Me too,” I said and smiled.
He grinned and offered a hand, twisting even more so I could take it.
“I’m Laird.”
Oh, God. I blushed. I hadn’t even thought about asking his name. Thinking of him as the Viking had been more than enough for me. It fit with his image. But I should probably have asked his name. Realizing that I hadn’t done it only made everything we’d done seem that much dirtier.
“Fiona,” I said taking his hand. It was the second time I touched his hand when the rest of our bodies had been pushed up against each other all night. It felt strangely distant.
“It was nice having you.”
I blushed again. “Thank you,” I said, not knowing what else to say.
Laird didn’t seem to want anything more out of the conversation. He turned back to the front of the four-wheeler, started it up again, and we pulled out of the trees and drove on to the main road that led toward the lodge.
When we parked in front of the lodge, I climbed off the four-wheeler, and I felt pain in my ankle. I wasn’t nearly as sore as I had thought I would be when I’d first injured myself, but while Laird and I had been at it, I hadn’t thought about my ankle at all. Now that the magic had faded, the pain was returning.
Jamie walked through the front doors as Laird started the four-wheeler. He waved at her before he turned the vehicle around and took off. I watched him leave. When I turned to Jamie, she was looking at me.
“What?” I asked, laughing.
“You get whisked away by a Mountain Man until morning, and you want to ask me what?” she said.
“Laird,” I said. “His name is Laird.”
“And exactly how long have you known that for?” she asked.
I blushed. “Like, two minutes.”
Jamie laughed. “That tells me everything I need to know about your night.”
“That doesn’t tell you anything,” I said.
“It does. It tells me that you were too busy to ask his name. Which meant you weren’t talking. And there’s only one other thing I can think of you doing while you’re stranded with a man that looks like him on the mountain that doesn’t involve talking.”
I laughed. Jamie was being a pain in the ass, but I loved the attention. And she was right, of course. I had been too busy to find out what his name was. There had been other aspects of him that had drawn my attention.
“So, where were you?” Jamie asked as we turned to walk into the lodge. I limped a little.
“His cabin.”
“Romantic.”
“It wasn’t. It was sexy.”
Jamie laughed. “Well, you definitely proved Randy wrong. That was pretty ballsy of you. He could have been a killer.”
I sighed. “With the size of his dick, I would have died happy.”
Jamie laughed, shaking her head. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
I laughed, too. I had pushed my own limits. I had surprised myself and I felt good about it. I had had sex with a stranger, but I didn’t feel dirty or slutty. I felt liberated.
“You have to tell me everything,” Jamie said once we were in our shared room.
“Are you crazy? I'm not telling you the details of the hot, nasty sex I had with the Viking.”
Jamie laughed. “Is that how you labeled him?”
I blushed and nodded.
“It works,” she said. “Tell me what he looks like with his shirt off.”
I gave her details without getting to the hot parts, and Jamie listened, curious and eager. She shook her head when I was done.
“That’s hilarious,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because you stepped out of your comfort zone so much. You even surprised me.”
“Didn’t you think I could do it?” I asked. I was shocked that Jamie hadn’t believed in me.
“I didn’t think you would want to,” she said carefully. “There’s nothing wrong with being who you are only because someone else doesn’t like it. Randy was an asshole for what he said to you. But you’re coping with the breakup, which is great.”
Jamie wasn’t making sense. Sometimes, I didn’t understand the way she tried to make me feel better. But I thought about the Viking – Laird – how fantastic last night had been and ignored my friend’s weird way of supporting me.
I had come on the trip to prove a point, and I had proven it. I could go home knowing that it had been mission accomplished.