Hot or not, if Justin apologized to me one more time I was going to scream. Shit—did he really have to be so nice? I wanted to be pissed off at the guy who’d pretty much ruined my plans for camping and hiking up that gorgeous trail I’d spotted on the side of the river when he’d hollered out and made me stumble, but Justin was just so damned polite that I couldn’t find it in me to be angry with him.

“Yeah, it’s not broken—but it’s definitely sprained. I’m just so damn sorry that I startled you the way I did,” Justin leaned back on his heels and looked up at me as he reached up to scratch the back of his head.

“Tell you what, if you’ll quit apologizing—I’ll promise not to hold it against you. Besides, I have to say that I’m pretty impressed that you carried not only me but also my heavy backpack… And all the way up that steep hill, too! I’m not exactly the scrawniest of omegas, you know? Hell, we’re practically the same size, if you think about it.”

Justin shrugged. “You aren’t that heavy, and I’m an alpha. Besides, it was my fault that you were injured in the first place, eh?”

I huffed out a laugh. “Did I or did I not just say that you’d be forgiven if you’d only quit apologizing?”

A beautiful smile broke out over Justin’s face, with a hint of a dimple winking at me from the corner of his mouth. Yeah, I’d love to investigate that dimple a little further. It took me a moment before I realized that Justin was talking while I’d been fantasizing about licking that dimple.

“I’m just saying, why sacrifice your safety for a phone. What were you filming anyway? Surely it couldn’t have been more important than the pain you’re currently dealing with, eh?”

“Actually, it kinda is though. That’s my job. I have a YouTube channel where I film my outdoor adventures. I was filming a vlog of my hike along the Rat River. On some shoots, I film and edit before I upload, but when I’m just doing a vlog entry, I do it live. Gee, I hope you’re not upset that I put you in there. I totally should’ve asked you first, I wasn’t thinking.”

“Apparently I’ve already been mentioned though, unless my ears deceived me? I believe you mentioned something about me being the hot alpha mountie that you’d mentioned in your last post?”

My cheeks burned as I blushed. I looked down at my lap and rubbed my fingers along the stitching on the side of my wet pant leg.

“You heard that part, huh? Yeah, I may or may not have mentioned seeing you in town this weekend.”

Justin’s dry chuckle made me feel slightly better as he stood and clapped me on the shoulder. “No worries. But listen, we need to get you out of those wet clothes and then I’m going to help you get that leg elevated and grab you an ice pack. We need to get that swelling down on your ankle.”

I tried not to be embarrassed when Justin insisted on helping me change into a loose fitting pair of his sweats and a thick sweater, especially when he was so matter-of-fact about the whole thing. All of the clothes in my backpack were as soaked as the ones I’d been wearing, so I was grateful he’d had some to share.

I’m not sure whether I was impressed or offended that he didn’t at least try to sneak a peek while helping me change before he thoughtfully hung all of my wet clothes around the cabin to dry.

Yeah, I was a little bit embarrassed to see my wet underwear hanging near the wood stove, but I couldn’t deny that I kinda liked the idea of the sexy alpha having handled my drawers.

While he adjusted my leg onto another chair with a pillow under my ankle, I clenched my jaw and tried not to scream from the pain. Once I was settled, he moved over to the kitchen area and efficiently began making an ice pack.

As my eyes wandered down the trim, firm lines of his body I was suddenly mortified when I realized what I’d been doing when he startled me.

“So, about the apologies. I think it’s my turn to give one,” I said shyly as he came back over and carefully put the ice pack over my swollen ankle. “I’m mortified that I didn’t realize the natural-looking dam I was walking across was a beaver dam. I should’ve known better and I know that I could’ve totally damaged the local ecology if I’d broken it. The river looks pretty high and swollen on the other side from the snow melt, so breaking it would’ve been all bad.”

Justin pulled over another dining room chair from the set of four around the round wooden table I was sitting beside. He flipped it around and straddled it backwards, resting his forearms on the back of the chair as he settled in to chat.

“Honestly, it’s hard to spot some of the older dams if you don’t know where to look for them. And to be fair, I doubt you’d have done it much damage unless you’d stuck a stick of dynamite in there or something. I just got a little worried, but it was undoubtedly a pointless concern.”

I shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know about that. I mean, don’t the beavers live inside those dams? Besides, after Martha—the lady I was staying with in town at the B&B—told me the story of Amik, I feel like it was especially bad to be doing that with a beaver dam.”

Justin’s wide grin appeared again, his white teeth sparkling as he threw his head back to laugh. “Oh, Martha, bless her heart. I can’t believe she’s filling people up with those tales. I’ve never had a chance to talk to her, but I bet she’s a hoot. Listen, I’ve lived here for several years and I’ve yet to see any albino beavers.”

I grinned right back at him. “Just because you haven’t seen him yet, doesn’t mean he isn’t out there. Trust me, I’ve seen and heard enough weird things in the town I live in back in the states to completely believe the story of Amik.”

A big yawn hit me just then and I was suddenly weary from the events of the day after the long hike I’d taken. Justin immediately stood and pushed his chair back to the table.

“Here, let me help you over to the bed. You can take a nap while I go take care of dinner. I need to retrieve my fishing gear anyway; I left it down by the river earlier. You never know, maybe I’ll be lucky enough to catch us a nice fat fish for our evening meal, eh?”

When I tried to stand, I landed right back on my ass in the chair from a lancing pain that shot up my leg from the swollen ankle. Justin merely shook his head and slid his arms around my waist and under my knees as he easily lifted me and carried me over to the bed. Once I was settled, he brought the ice pack over and carefully positioned it over my ankle again before covering me with a quilt

“All right now, you get some rest and I’ll be back in a jiffy—hopefully. After all, a lot of it will depend on whether the fish are running and if my luck is holding.”

My eyes were already drifting shut when I heard the door to the cabin close. When I opened them again, the delicious aromas of Justin’s cooking greeted me. I sat up and pulled the quilt back to retrieve the now melted bag of ice water. After I set it on the nightstand, I took a deep breath and convinced myself that I could stand on my own.

I needed to take a piss something fierce, but I really didn’t want to bother Justin while he was cooking—not to mention the fact that it was more than a little bit embarrassing to ask for help with something so personal.

Taking another deep breath, I braced my hands on my knees and pushed to my feet. I didn’t make it to a full stance before I fell on my ass with a loud thump.

Justin immediately rushed over. “What are you doing? I hope you didn’t hurt yourself further by not calling for help when I was right here the whole time.”

“Yeah, but you’re cooking and I just wanted to take a leak. I didn’t think I needed to bother you for that.”

“Nonsense, if you need help then all you have to do is ask. I can spare a minute to give you a hand; it’s ridiculous to risk furthering an injury out of pride.”

He helped me to the bathroom and this time I was mercifully able to walk with his help rather than be carried, so that was progress. Justin fussed at me the whole way, and I was trying to figure out whether it turned me on or irritated me by how bossy he was with the way he seemed to fuss over me.

While I took care of business, Justin stood in the doorway with his back to me to allot me a modicum of privacy. Once I was done, I leaned heavily on the sink as I pulled my way over to wash my hands. Justin’s eyes met mine in the mirror as he shook his head with an almost irritated smirk.

“Is it always this hard for you to allow people to help you?”

I dried my hands on the hand towel that hung by the sink, and reached for his arm so that I could go back into the main room. “I don’t know, maybe? You’d have to ask my friends or my brother.”

Once I was settled at the table again, Justin got my leg elevated and put a fresh ice pack on my ankle before returning to the food he’d been cooking.

The rest of the evening went by in a pleasant blur as we enjoyed a nice meal together and then spent the rest of the evening playing cards while the fire popped and crackled inside the old iron potbelly stove that was set up near the table.

Things didn’t get awkward again until bedtime when Justin helped me to the bed and then began tossing spare blankets onto the floor that he’d pulled out of a cedar chest. We’d both pulled off our sweaters in the toasty cabin, and I couldn’t keep my eyes off his chest with the light dusting of hair that spanned its breadth.

“What are you doing?” I asked suddenly as I realized that there was nowhere else for Justin to sleep in this utilitarian cabin—unless we slept together in the bed. Swallowing the lump that suddenly formed in my throat, I continued.

“Listen, you don’t need to sleep on that hard floor. I mean, we’re both adults, right? It’s cool. Let’s just share this bed; it’s big enough.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Justin put the blankets back away and turned off the lights before joining me in the bed. It was a little tense when he and I both immediately rolled into a dip that I hadn’t noticed before in the middle of the bed.

He mumbled sorry, and moved away—but then we both rolled back and fell into each other again. After several times of us falling into each other and Justin immediately apologizing, I finally said screw it and decided to allow myself to enjoy the natural aroma of Justin’s musky vanilla scent rubbing up against me.

“Don’t worry about it, Justin. This mattress is probably older than either of us; just get some sleep. Like I said before, it’s cool.”

After a few seconds of silence, Justin answered in a husky voice.

“All right, then. Good night, Scott.”

“Night, Justin,” I murmured as I drifted off to sleep.

I woke sometime in the early light of dawn to find myself spooned against Justin’s chest with his strong alpha arms wrapped around me—and an impressively large piece of morning wood pressed between my ass cheeks.

I leaned back into him with a happy sigh, then almost groaned when I heard Justin grunt sorry into my ear. I wished this damn Canadian would quit being so polite. On that note, I turned around carefully, mindful of my sore ankle so that I could look him in the eye.

I ran a hand over Justin’s muscular chest and abs, my fingers dancing down his abs and skimming along the pleasure trail of dark hair that led from his navel to the waistband of his pajama pants. I’d have to remember to thank him later for not sleeping in a shirt.

Without breaking eye contact, I leaned in and carefully kissed his firm lips while I finally closed my hand over that thick bulge hidden in his pajama pants. We kissed for a minute—or an hour, who knows? I blinked when I realized that Justin had taken over, and was poised over me with his hands at my waistband as he looked into my eyes with a silent question.

“If you’re waiting for me to say yes—then by all means allow me to scream it out loud and proud.”

Justin grinned.

“Yep, that definitely sounded like consent to me. Hold on while I grab a condom though…”

While he stretched over to the nightstand to retrieve a condom and a packet of lube from his wallet, I pushed my pajama pants down to my knees. Justin pulled them the rest of the way off and tossed them over his shoulder before he settled back between my legs.

After taking a moment to slide the condom on and slick his fingers and cock with lube, he leaned over and took my dick into his mouth.

When I felt his cock brush against my inner leg, I briefly wondered when he’d removed his own pajama pants. That train of thought quickly got derailed as fireworks flitted across my closed eyelids when he increased his suction.

His tongue danced along my length with each bob of the head. I groaned long and low, then sucked in a breath when I felt a finger brush over my taint and circle my hole before gently prodding it with his fingertip.

Justin released my dick and leaned forward to kiss me again while working me open with his slick fingers. By the time he was three fingers in, I was already rocking my hips desperate for more. Justin chuckled against my lips as he broke our kiss and leaned back onto his knees, pulling his fingers free as he stroked his cock and stared at me through hooded eyes.

“Seems to me like someone’s looking for a little bit more, eh?”

Jerking my hips upward in invitation, I ran my fingers over my taut nipples and let out a needy moan. Lowering himself onto one hand, Justin pressed the head of his cock against my relaxed hole and began to gently push into my body.

Once he was fully seated, Justin tried to pause but I wrapped my legs around his waist and gripped his shoulders as I pushed upward, taking him deeper. Wrapping his arms around my back, Justin held me tight as he leaned forward and kissed me without missing a beat as his hips rocked and thrust against my body.

With each movement of his hips, my dick rubbed against his tight abs—and I knew this wasn’t going to last very long for me. Breaking our kiss, Justin licked along the line of my neck where I’d already broken out in a sweat.

I gritted my teeth and hissed out a breath at the contradictory sensations of his hard cock pounding into my body while his soft, moist tongue licked along my overheated flesh.

“Justin,” I gasped. “I can’t… I’m gonna… Nngh!” All the muscles in my body clenched as I jerked forward when my balls pulled tight and I blew my load between us, coating us with ribbons of cum.

“Scotty,” Justin moaned as he amped up his thrusts and pounded into my body, riding me through my orgasm until he came with a loud shout of his own and I felt the heat of his cum filling my channel. After his hips stopped rocking, Justin braced himself on his elbows and rested his forehead against mine as we panted together and caught our breath.

It wasn’t until he’d carefully pulled out and sat up suddenly to stare at his cock in horror that I realized what I’d felt. I lifted up onto my elbows to see what was going on, and saw that the condom had not only ripped, but the entire head of his cock was poking out from the thin latex coating his shaft.

“Scotty, I’m so sorr—”

I reached up and covered his lips with two fingers. “I don’t care how fucking polite you are, if you apologize right now I will probably deck you. Now listen, this isn’t the end of the world. Things happen and condoms break, you know? That’s why they invented the morning after pill. I just need to get into town and take one within the next seventy-two hours.”

Justin bit his lip as he stared at me thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. “Good point, but your ankle needs at least another day to rest, if not two. I’ll drive you into town before we have to worry about time running out, I promise.”