overlooking a valley and a river snaking through it. A few miles down, at the very belly of the vale, sat a small log cabin. Missy swallowed drily, eyeing the building and the obvious signs of life around it. The sunlight glinted off of her fiery locks of hair and brushed her reddened cheeks, her ample bosom rising and falling with short, swift breaths. Finally, she smiled, and her teeth bit into her lower lip in excitement.
Maybe I’ve found him! she thought, hope twisting her guts. The day was coming to an end and she didn’t have much sunlight left. Missy didn’t waste any more time, starting her descent into the valley immediately.
CHAPTER TWO
When she finally reached the little house by the bubbling river, the sun had almost set. Missy was breathless and her clothes were soaked in sweat from rushing down the hillside as fast as she had, constantly on the verge of falling over her own feet and tumbling the rest of the way down. She inhaled deeply a bit away from the front porch of the cabin, trying to catch her breath. Last thing she wanted was to upset or frighten someone living there with the sight of a disheveled, out of breath woman, who looked a bit worse for wear. Missy unclasped the latch that held her heavy backclan over her chest and allowed it to slide off her shoulders and onto the ground slowly. She groaned deeply as she finally managed to straighten up to her full height and stretch – by far the best part of a hiking day was when the bag came off at the end of it.
She had just extended her arms over her head and reached for the sky, when the door to the house flung open. Startled, Missy froze in place, her blue eyes going wide as the owner stepped out, his heavy boots thudding against the smooth wood of the deck. When she recognized who it was, she lowered her hands and smiled widely. Caleb stood before her, looking a lot less dumbfounded than she had expected him to. Her eyes rowed over his big body, his broad chest and the plaid shirt thrown over it making him look like the most delicious lumberjack she had ever seen. His jeans were worn and clung to him just right, his broad palms thrust into his pockets. The gaze of his brown eyes upon her made her stutter and choke on her words again, Missy not managing to find the sentences she had been trying to construct for the past several days.
Caleb didn’t say a word as he walked off of the porch and covered the distance between himself and Missy with a few long strides, barreling down upon her like a demon was chasing him. Before she could react, he had drawn her into his warm embrace and kissed her deeply on the lips, his hot tongue dipping into her mouth. Missy’s mind went blank as she felt him push her against him, holding her there securely and lifting her up on her tip-toes to kiss her better. Her eyes closed and her mouth responded to his need, tasting his leathery taste. His musky scent filled her nostrils, making her head spin even more than it already was. She grabbed him by the arms hungrily, disappearing into his grasp. Missy felt insignificantly small in his embrace, as if she was just a little girl next to him at her 5’10’’ height.
The kiss seemed to last forever and when the man eventually pulled away from her, she felt that it ended much too soon. Her chest was rising and falling heavily, her cheeks lit with a blush that was more than just exertion from the climbing. His hands still grasped her firmly, locking on the small of her back and keeping her against his chiseled chest and abs without room to wriggle free. Not that she would have wanted to. His brown eyes were even more mesmerizing from that close, making her mind immediately fall to ease. She could spend hours just looking at his rugged features and running her hands through his sandy hair. The silence lingered between them until she felt that it was really time to say something, lest she never say a word to him.
“Hi,” she managed, her
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