Fake Fiancee (For Now) (Big Men of Blue Mountain 1)

This group of women isn’t the first bachelorette party that I’ve taken rafting. They’re actually more reserved than others I’ve encountered. It’s definitely not the first time a group has managed to put their single friend into a boat with me. And it’s certainly not the first time I’ve felt sheer lust coming off a guest when they look at me.

But today is a first, in that it’s the first time that I’ve ever actually considered acting on it.

Diana is a goddess—sex walking on two gorgeous, toned legs. I consider it a good thing that the river is right here and freezing cold, because I might need the equivalent of a cold shower if I’m going to keep my dick in check. It was hard enough doing that when I was buckling her into the life jacket.

She was so close that I could have felt her. I didn’t. Not just because it would be stupid and creepy to do that without permission—even though she was looking at me like I was a chocolate bar that she wanted to eat.

Fuck, her curves are in exactly the right places, and her pale skin blushed so easily, my mind was going crazy with how she might blush while doing other, more intimate things. Like riding my cock.

But the other reason I couldn’t was that if I started sleeping with guests, it would be the beginning of the end for us. Blue Mountain Wilderness Lodge is still brand new, and a fledgling business in the hospitality and guiding industry. We’ve been lucky it’s been so successful so far, and I’m grateful. It makes the plans for expanding next year possible.

But we don’t even own the land that the lodge sits on. That’s still coming. We—my best friends and I—still have two large payments on the property before we get the deed, and that’s really just the tip of the iceberg. You have to spend money to make money, and that’s more apparent than ever with this business. It’s working, we just have to stay the course.

Which is why I can’t start sleeping with the guests. Even if those guests are wearing skintight athletic wear that shows off every single curve and have thick brown hair that I want to twist my fingers into.

My mind takes off into a fantasy, imagining that I’m doing just that. As soon as my hands are in her hair, I want to hear the gasp that she would make when I kiss her hard. See just how warm and soft her body is as I take her back to my place for more.

But that won’t happen. Nope. And I shouldn’t even be indulging those fantasies.

She hasn’t said anything to me since we started paddling, just chatting with her friends, but I can feel her where she sits in front of me like a flame. Completely aware of her presence and movement. Being able to watch her like this is delicious torture—the glimpses of her face that I get when she turns to say something, the way she moves as she helps me paddle.

Diana had been worried about this, and she’s right that she isn’t contributing much to the guiding of the canoe, but that’s okay. I know this river like the back of my hand, and I’ve gone through the rapids solo more times than I can count. Everything will be fine.

The river is higher than normal because of the spring melt, but I took this route a few days ago in preparation, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A little more intense, maybe, but that will only make it more fun for them.

In the past, on these trips, I tried to stay in my own headspace and not infringe on the group’s privacy, but right now I’m listening. Even if nothing can happen, I find myself desperate for scraps of information about Diana. Other than what I already know: she is beautiful and single.

This group is entertaining. I gather that Emily is the one who is getting married, Diana is the maid of honor, and it had been a feat worthy of the gods getting her to go on a trip like this. That makes me chuckle.

With a body like hers, I would have pegged her for loving the outdoors and climbing up mountains with her bare hands. I would like her to climb me with those hands.

Jesus, Leo. Stop it.

I slam the thoughts down under a giant rock and try to focus. If I let my thoughts run wild, I will definitely get a hard on in front of this group, and frankly that might be almost as bad as giving in and sleeping with her.

Well…maybe not. But it’s still a bad idea.

The time passes quickly, and because the river is higher and moving faster, we arrive at the large rapids a lot faster than normal.