The Mountain Man's Kitten Read online

  I’ve imagined her walking around my cabin. Adding her little touches that make it a home. Imagining her moving around, her womanly curves on display for my pleasure, letting her know in a thousand ways she is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever set my eyes on and if I can’t have her...no one will. I’m a bit of an asshole like that.

  At least when it comes to my kitten.

  Fuck.

  If she ever finds out I’ve followed her almost every day. Snapped pictures of her when she couldn’t see. I even wait for her to go into the laundry room at her apartment. When she leaves?

  Yes, I stole her panties. More than once. Every time I did it, I told myself it would be the last. Like an addict making promises he knew he could never keep.

  Doyle’s words ring in my ears. Don’t waste more time. Tomorrow is never promised.

  I’m ten paces from her. She’s turned away, thank fuck, because if she was watching me approach, I’d probably freeze. I stuff my hands down into the pockets of my canvas work pants and adjust myself, praying she won’t notice the erection that has her name branded all over it already.

  Five paces. I think I can smell her. I can hear her laughter and I start to feel dizzy.

  This is it. If I don’t do this now, if I don’t believe we can be everything I dream of every night, how is she supposed to?

  Two steps and I’m at the edge of the tent with the blue Thickwood Shelter banner draped under the edge.

  One step. I could reach out and touch her.

  I open my mouth, but I freeze. She’s so close, her back still to me, but my eyes latch onto her ass and my balls twitch thinking of taking her like a dirty fuck that I am. Making all of her mine, pussy, ass, mouth—

  “Hi.” She turns and I’m reminded that I don’t have a chance in hell with a girl like her. She’s perfect.

  I need to be perfect for her and I know I’m not.

  Her eyes are a golden brown, skin like fine porcelain, cheeks rosy and a smile that would topple kingdoms.

  My mouth hangs agape as she steps forward from the space between the tables full of brochures and clipboards, her arms outstretched toward me, and I can’t breathe.

  “You want to hold her?”

  It takes me a second to connect the dots. In her hands there’s a fuzz ball, two blue eyes staring out from creamy fur. Twisting and meowing, looking scared, and before I can stop myself, I put out my hands, cupping them as she places the tiny kitten in my palms.

  “Wow.” She smiles and I’m staring at her in stunned silence as she pats the head of the tiny animal. “That’s the first time today she’s stopped crying.”

  I glance down, my enormous hands curling around the soft silky fluff as it turns in a circle, then lays down, and a second later I feel something.

  “It’s buzzing.” I grunt out, making Katarina giggle as her eyes sparkle, and I want to kiss her more than I want to live.

  “She’s not buzzing, silly. She’s purring. She hasn’t done that for anyone else. I guess we finally found the right person for her. You’ll take her, won’t you?” Katarina’s eyes lock on mine. She looks so hopeful and I’d give her the world if it was mine to give.

  My throat is tight, but before I can stop myself, I nod. “Yes. I’ll take her.”

  Only, she’s talking about the kitten.

  Chapter Three

  Katarina

  I GRIP THE STEERING wheel hard and give myself a little talk before I open my car door and walk up to his cabin.

  “Just business. He’s got a problem; you’re going to help him fix it. That’s all this is.” The words swim in my ears but in my heart a whole other tune is playing.

  It’s just after eight o’clock, and an hour ago as I was settling the twins in at the shelter after we got all the animals that didn’t find homes today back into their cages and kennels. Then my phone rang.

  When I answered, the male voice on the other end immediately had my heart racing and my belly tumbling. When Miller came to the adoption booth at the fair, I could barely get a word out, so I did the first thing that came to mind and handed him the kitten.

  Next thing I know, I’ve got him cleared for the adoption, I’ve gone through the paperwork with him, he bought out everything I suggested that he might need and wrote my number on the paperwork, letting him know if he had any problems, to give me a call.

  Well, when I answered my phone, he sounded desperate, and the noises coming from the background sounded like a kraken had been released.

  Apparently, our little kitten has bi-polar, and the sweet, soft, quiet side of her has an equally wild opposite side.

  The sun is just going down, it’s summer and it doesn’t get completely dark these days until after nine-thirty. His cabin is not huge, but not the wild, outback, overgrown hovel that my father described to me.

  He and Miller have had several encounters, or meetings, however you’d like to describe it over the three years we’ve been here, and a couple of them happened right here at Miller’s home.

  I make my way to the door. The path from the crushed stone driveway is made from blue slate, and the front of the cabin is river stone and pine beams with what look like hand forged wrought iron lamps on either side of an enormous carved wooden front door.

  And it’s then that I hear it.

  “No...” I don’t think I’ve ever heard Miller’s voice so high-pitched and unsure of himself. “No, for the love of god, that’s—” Smash. Short pause. “—an antique. Jesus, fucking Christ, when is Katarina going to get here.”

  My stomach does this little tumble as I hear him say my name. I can’t help the dirty thoughts that spring into my head. His hand pressed hard against my pussy, pinning me against the wall as his lips come down to take mine.

  I force myself to take a deep breath, hoping the dampness between my legs isn’t too obvious as I knock hard on the large wooden door.

  It opens an instant later, and Miller looks terrified.

  “Teething problems?” I ask as I try to look around him at the room behind. And when I say try I mean because his enormous body pretty much fills the doorway of the cabin like some illustration in a children’s fairy tale book.

  And the unsuspecting girl arrived at the mountain man’s cabin...

  “Please tell me you can fix this,” he says, backing away to let me in. “I don’t know what to do with her.”

  I glance around the interior of the cabin, and stifle a belly laugh as I observe the devastation. I’m guessing Miller doesn’t live like this all the time. It’s like a tiny hurricane upended the room, tearing up the sofa, the rug, leaving scratch marks on the leg of the table, and leaving bits of what I’m assuming used to be an antique vase spread over the floor like a particularly difficult jigsaw puzzle.

  “Little Miss Muffet did all this?” I finally ask.

  Miller nods. “I told her ‘no’. She’s not a good listener.”

  I can’t help the laugh that falls from my lips. “Yes, I was outside, I heard the whole thing. You were very commanding.”

  A little growl rumbles his chest, connecting straight to my lady parts, and I’m now certain there’s no hiding what’s happening to me.

  He may not be commanding with Miss Muffet, but I’m pretty sure I’d do just about anything he asked.

  I draw a quick breath, feeling my face heating. “Where is she?”

  “Seeing what she can break in the kitchen I think.”

  “Through here?”

  He nods as I head that way, with him following, grunting with each step behind, and find the kitten on the marble countertop, momentarily distracted by her own reflection in the polished surface as she wiggles her little fluffy bottom, readying to pounce on a cookie jar.

  “Miss Muffett.” I chastise in my best impression of a schoolmistress, and she turns my way bright eyed and I can only assume she remembers me.

  She glances from me to Miller, and then I see the mischief light in her blue eyes. A moment later, she’s head butting t
he cookie and it smashes to the floor and she jumps down into the chaos, sniffing at the sugary mess.

  “She’s acting up for attention, but we can’t let her have those,” I say to Miller. “She’ll make herself sick. Or worse. You go that way, I’ll go around the table and we’ll cut her off. One of us grabs her, and we can hold her until she calms down. Deal?”

  I look at him, and he nods, and we put the plan into action.

  It’s a good plan. Miss Muffet is walking back and forth over the broken cookies, enjoying the way they crumble under her feet and not really interested in trying to eat them yet.

  I take the long way around, creeping around the large wooden table as Miller approaches from the other side.

  “Now!” I shout.

  And as I spring forward, I watch with horror as Miss Muffet runs under the table. Unable to stop my forward momentum, I crash headlong into the wall of muscle that is Miller’s chest, and he catches me firmly in his arms.

  “Hey, I’ve got you. You okay?” His voice rumbles through me, and I shiver as I bite down into my bottom lip.

  “Uh, yeah,” I manage. “At least she didn’t eat any of the cookies...” I pull myself away from where I’m buried in his arms, turning my head but not wanting to break the connection.

  Miss Muffet is watching us from by the door, looking like butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

  “She’s a furry fury,” Miller whispers, and I start to giggle.

  “She’s just being a kitten. She’s playful, she’s in a strange new place and she wants attention.” I extricate myself from his grasp, and immediately feel the loss. For a moment there, it felt like he was cuddling me, and while I know it’s all in my head, and he was just catching me from falling, I can’t help that I liked it. “New plan,” I announce. “We act like there’s nothing strange going on here. She knows me from the shelter, so we just let her think this is a new part of her home.”

  Miller nods. “And that will calm her down, right?”

  I meet his eyes and pull my lips to the side. “It can’t make her any worse?”

  We both start to laugh then as I get to my feet and look around the kitchen. It’s a lot nicer than a kitchen in a cabin in the woods ought to be. It’s spotlessly clean—apart from the cookies now all over the floor—and there are modern looking appliances and all the utensils you could ever need.

  Besides the kitten destruction, the place is immaculate. I can see beyond the chaos and it looks like Miller keeps the place perfect.

  “Do you have a dustpan and brush?” I ask.

  Miller clicks his tongue in his mouth. “I’ll clean up. You have a seat. You’re not vegetarian, are you?”

  “Sorry?”

  He shrugs. “If we’re going to act like this is home, you’re staying for dinner.”

  Chapter Four

  Miller

  TWO HOURS LATER, AND it’s like everything has changed. We’ve eaten; Katarina said it was the best meal she’s ever tasted, but I have plenty others I could show her. She asked me what it was, and I had to come up with a name on the spot, called it a Trapper’s Breakfast, which she seemed happy with. Mostly it’s just venison, eggs, mushrooms and potatoes, all cooked up together in a single pot, but my own special blend of spices is the secret ingredient.

  But what’s really changed is Miss Muffet.

  She’s now curled up beside Katarina’s hand, purring as she has her belly stroked, and for a second, I imagine this would be what it’d be like if the three of us were a proper family.

  I can’t help sneaking glances at Kat while she savors another bite of the roast. The way her eyes close a little as she lets the flavor spread over her tongue, the way she wriggles in her seat as she chews, the way her nipples cut out through her t-shirt...my cock grows another inch, which is impressive since it’s already lifting my end of the table.

  She lets out a little sigh, mixed with a mewl, and I feel drops of pre-cum spilling from the head of my dick. “You’re an amazing cook.” She almost whispers the words, then turns those sapphire eyes on me. “You should do this professionally.”

  I grunt, shrugging my shoulders. “Just food. Nothing fancy.”

  She watches me for a moment, as if expecting me to say something else. But when I don’t, she nods. “Still, it’s good.” She puts her knife and fork on top of the plate, even though she hasn’t finished. “I...couldn’t eat another bite. Got to watch my weight.” A little nervous giggle escapes her lips as she pats her stomach, and I growl in response.

  “No, you don’t.”

  I stand up, pushing my chair back as I collect her plate, and Miss Muffet turns her eyes up to me, letting out a little kitten meow. Reluctantly, I reach out a hand, and to my surprise she nuzzles her head against my calloused fingers.

  “Well look at that, I think she’s starting to like you.”

  I shake my head as I lift the plates and turn to the sink. The whole time while we ate, Katarina talked. She told me about the craziness with her mom, and although she was obviously sad that her parents’ marriage didn’t work out, there was happiness there too. I don’t get the impression that there’s any resentment. When the conversation turned to her father, well, I imagine she noticed the dark look that came into my eyes. I don’t think that man and I will see eye to eye anytime soon. But I have to admit, it’s pretty obvious that he loves Katarina, and I guess that’s something we have in common.

  She tried to get me to talk, asking questions, but talking really isn’t my thing. What do I have to talk about that would interest someone like her? I’ve lived out here in the woods my whole life. I built this one-bedroom cabin right in the same spot my own father’s cabin was built, after he died and it became clear to me that there was no fixing the old place. My mom, god rest her soul, died in childbirth, so I can’t even share old family memories. I’m nothing, and Katarina? She’s everything.

  She’s smart, too. And hard working. Helping out at the animal shelter, on top of her job at the NICU, is a lot to take on. Shirley’s a good person, and she won’t take advantage, but she’s lucky to have someone like Kat on her side.

  “So, I guess I’d better get going,” she says, distracted as she musses the kitten’s fur. “That meal was something else, but I don’t want to intrude.”

  I ignore her, taking two bowls out of the cupboard and a dessert from the fridge. When I bring the bowls to the table and set one down in front of Katarina, her eyes light up. It’s a meringue and cream concoction of my own design, with a raspberry drizzle and chocolate sprinkles. She looks so excited by what’s on the table, and I feel my heart swell a little with pride. But then she shakes her head, trying to avoid my gaze.

  “I...didn’t expect anything else. Like I said, I’m really full.” She turns an embarrassed smile on me, but I shake my head.

  “No, you didn’t.”

  “Uh...sorry, you’ve gone to all this trouble—”

  “What you said was that you have to watch your weight. And you don’t. What you have to do is enjoy this dessert, eat as much as you like, and forget what anyone else thinks. You’re beautiful, and the only consequence of eating exactly as much as you like, of exactly whatever you want, is that you will get more beautiful. Happiness is beautiful.”

  Her mouth drops open, and she just stares at me for a moment, eyes wide. Then she draws a deep breath. “Wow.”

  “What?”

  “That’s the most you’ve said to me all evening.” She grins as she picks up her spoon, and I watch her hand as she cuts through meringue and cream, then lifts it to her lips. Once again, as the cream goes into her mouth, my cock gains another inch at the thought of those lips wrapped around my shaft, of my hands in her hair, pulling her forward as she takes every inch of me. “Oh, god...that’s soooo good...” She moans, and I cum in my pants.

  Chapter Five

  Miller

  FUCK.

  I’m a grade A loser.

  Two days ago, I had Katarina right here, in my hous
e. I can still smell her perfume, a combination of cherries and honey, and every time I get a hint of that smell it makes me harder than I already am.

  Seriously, I’ve been walking around for two days with a hard-on that would frighten a gorilla, and I’m beginning to wonder if it’s ever going to go back down.

  Probably not. Because the only solution I can think of is to get it inside her, and since she’s no longer here that doesn’t seem to be an option.

  Like I said: grade A loser.

  I had her here, and I let her go, and I didn’t even say what I wanted to say. Not any of the words I wanted to say. She probably thinks my vocabulary runs to occasional grunts and one-syllable words.

  Miss Muffet didn’t take any more easily to Katarina being gone than I did, to tell the truth. She was calm while Katarina was here, while we were together, then the moment she left the claws came back out. Literally. The furniture that hadn’t been ruined already didn’t last long, and I still have teeth marks in my nose from where she decided to take a long, hard bite.

  And I worry about her too. Can you believe that? A big, gruff man like me worrying about the safety of a kitten? She’s mine now. I have to protect her, even if she ends up destroying my house and giving me scars. Because I protect what’s mine.

  So, between the kitten and missing Kat, I’ve barely slept a wink. I’ve taken to getting up in the middle of the night, grabbing Miss Muffet—who seems to never sleep—climbing into my truck and going for a drive into town.

  And that invariably leads me to the little house I bought over the road from Katarina’s place. Me and the kitten go inside, sit in the dark, and I watch the window across from mine.

  It’s not the best place for Katarina. That’s what I noticed the first time I went there. Just a small apartment with a single room that serves as bedroom, living room and kitchen. It has a little bathroom with a shower, but that’s it. Crazy for her to be living there, when her father owns half the town, but from what I’ve seen he’d like to give her more, but she’s all for her independence.