Ten Mountain Men's Baby (Love by Numbers 9)

“As far as renting a place, I can definitely sort you out with that. I’ve got a place in a town near my work. We’ve also got a cottage in the mountains. Smaller than the cabin, but it’s nice. You’re welcome to stay at either. And your family in Massachusetts, they’re welcome here, too.”

He paused, and a somber silence fell over the conversation.

I couldn’t contain myself anymore. “And me?” I blurted out.

Will chuckled and glanced at me from over his shoulder. “You’re welcome here, too.” He waited for a beat, then added, “You’ve probably noticed, this area is in bad need of a good dentist. You are most certainly welcome here.”

I had noticed, and I did feel welcome there. Ryker looked back at me and smiled. In addition to feeling welcome, I also felt wanted; and, beyond that, I felt needed. It was a good feeling, a very good feeling.

I wondered how this turn in events would play in my blog. People were donating to “Medicine on the Trail” in part because I was showing them the need the Appalachian people had and also because I was showing them the commitment I had by hiking the trail. How would it go over if I shifted my commitment from the trail to one specific region? Not very well, I presumed.

At least for a few days, I decided I could give a more in-depth account of Franklin. There was the added benefit that Franklin sat on the border of Tennessee and Georgia, so in one day, I could report from three different states.

However, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stay—at least not immediately. I couldn’t treat this place like a base of operations. Sooner or later, I would have to go back to the mountains and finish what I had started.18RykerIn less than two weeks since arriving in Appalachia, I’d discovered that I had nine brothers; however, in the exchange, I also discovered that my birth parents had passed away over a decade ago. They were young lovers who’d run away from their oppressive parents. They’d sought sanctuary in the seclusion of the mountains, and there they’d raised a large family.

My adoptive parents were anything but oppressive, yet despite my mother’s objections to my going off to the mountains, here I was in a secluded cabin in the mountains with my lover, Holly. I still hadn’t figured out how I was going to break the news to them. I’d written to them, told them about some of the interesting aspects of the trail and about my charity work in remote communities, but nothing about my birth family; however, I did tell them that I’d met a girl, one I was crazy about. When I told them that she was from California, their response had been, “California, that’s so far away.”

Holly spent her days either with Dr. Hicks, accompanying her in her rounds to the isolated communities in Tennessee, Georgia, and North Carolina, or at the Angel Clinic. It was interesting to follow her blog, though my brothers and I did notice, despite it heavily leaning on the biographical aspect of her journey, there was no mention of us.

Will put me in touch with a few hospital administrators regarding a residency. I even had one interview in nearby Sylva. But the process was slow, and my future was still undecided.

It had been a little over a week since we had arrived in Franklin, and I could sense Holly getting restless.

In our secluded cabin in the mountains, warmed by a fire, I prepared a lentil soup while Holly typed up her latest blog entry.

“Smells good,” she said. She entered the kitchen, wrapped her arms around me, and kissed me gently on the back of my neck.

“Hope you’re hungry,” I said.

“Yeah, I am.” She kissed me again and slid her hand down my chest and to my crotch where, from just her nearness and her gentle touch, I was getting an erection.

She murmured, her breath tickling the back of my neck, “I see I’m not the only one getting hungry.”

I pushed her away playfully. “Don’t disturb the chef. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes.”

She put her hands on my hips; she then slid them around and down my legs and up to my groin. “Mmm, twenty minutes. What could we possibly do for twenty minutes?”

There was no point in resisting her advances. Holly got what she wanted, and I was more than happy to give it to her. I turned around. I took her by the back of the head, grabbed her ass, then lifted her leg and wrapped it around my waist. I pulled her to me and kissed her long and hard. With my stiff cock pressed tightly against her crotch, I ground in rhythm to my exploring tongue.

She drew back, grabbed me by the collar with clenched fists, and pulled me out of the kitchen and into the living area.