Striking Out In The Mountains (Greene Mountain Boys)

Five Years Later

I close my eyes and smile in the gentle breeze as our canoe drifts lazily across the lake. It’s late in the beautiful summer day and with the sun glinting on the calm water, sparkling like diamonds, everything just feels so perfect. Graham is in the back of the canoe, steering us with ease, his broad shoulders looking as good as ever. He’s shirtless and tanned after a long summer of great weather. He’s pure mountain man perfection.

Our four-year-old son Ethan is sitting between us with his miniature fishing pole clutched tightly in his hands. His brown eyes—the same shade as his dad’s—are scanning the water, hoping for a bite.

His pole jerks and he sits up, suddenly alert. “Mommy, look! I caught a fish!” Ethan squeals, his voice ringing out across the lake as his pole jerks again.

Graham smiles warmly as he leans forward to help. “Reel it in nice and slow,” he says in an encouraging tone. “Just like I showed you.”

Ethan’s tongue is sticking out in concentration as he follows his dad’s instructions. I watch them both, my heart so full it feels like it might burst. Graham is so patient and gentle with Ethan, even as our son’s excited energy threatens to tip the canoe. Graham widens his strong muscular legs, keeping the canoe steady.

“I got it! I got it!” Ethan shouts triumphantly as a small, wiggling fish pops out of the water.

Graham grabs the line, unhooks the fish, and shows Ethan his prize in one smooth motion.

This mountain man is so good in the outdoors. It shocks me how proficient he is in nature. Meanwhile, I sprint back and forth from the garbage can at night because I’m terrified of raccoons.

“That’s a big one,” Graham says, rubbing Ethan’s back. “You did really good.”

Ethan beams as he stares at the wiggling fish with pride. “I’m gonna catch a bigger one next time!”

“Do you want to keep it for dinner?” Graham asks.

Ethan’s smile melts away as he stares at the fish in his tiny hands.

“I want him to stay alive,” he says sadly. He tosses him back into the lake and leans over the canoe to watch him swim away.

He’s so sweet. I know where he gets that big heart from. It has his dad written all over it.

By the time we paddle back to shore, Ethan is chattering non-stop about the fish he caught and all the ones he plans to catch next time. Graham pulls the canoe onto the bank like it weighs nothing, then grabs the fishing gear while I catch frogs with Ethan on the shoreline.

Graham didn’t throw back the large fish he caught and we’re going to grill it up for dinner.

He carries it up to the house as Ethan follows, looking up at his dad like he’s some kind of superhero. And honestly? He kind of is.

He’s a pillar of the community, running the fire station and giving the young men around town someone to look up to. He’s always lending everyone a helping hand and whenever we go into town, we always have people stopping us to chat. Everyone adores him, and I can’t blame them. He’s an incredible man. He makes me feel like the most cherished woman in the world every single day.

I still can’t believe he’s mine.

Graham turns when he arrives at the steps that lead up to our dream house and looks at me. His face is flushed from the sun and his hair is a little wild from the breeze. “You okay?” he asks, his voice low and warm.

“I’m just perfect,” I say, smiling back at him. And I mean it. Everything about this life we’ve built feels like a dream—a slow-paced, peaceful dream filled with love, laughter, and moments like this.

Ethan sprints up the wooden steps and runs into the house. It’s a gorgeous log cabin with a sprawling deck that overlooks the nicest lake in the Greene Mountains. When I first saw it, I fell instantly in love—just like when I first saw Graham.

There was a bidding war and we couldn’t come close to matching the highest bids, but the previous owner loved Graham and wanted to reward our commitment to serving the Greene Mountains community, so he let us have it at a cheaper price.noveldrama

Graham always says that being good does pay, and in that moment, I believed him.

It’s so peaceful out here surrounded by trees and wildlife. Some mornings, I see deer grazing in the yard, loons gliding along the clear lake, or a hawk circling overhead. It’s perfect.

Graham builds a campfire with the kind of practiced ease that makes me wonder if he was born with a hatchet in his hand. Ethan watches, wide-eyed, as Graham shows him how to stack the wood just right and ignite the flames with a single match. Soon, the fire crackles and dances, and the smell of fresh fish grilling over the flames fills the air.

I sit back and watch them—my two favorite people in the world. Graham is so good at this—at all of it. Being a dad, being a husband, being the kind of man who makes everyone around him feel safe and cared for. Especially me. He still makes me feel beautiful. He makes me feel like the most cherished woman in the entire world.

Ethan crashes after dinner and Graham carries him upstairs in his big warm arms, cradling him like he’s still a baby. My heart swells as I follow them, knowing we’re going to have another addition to the family by next summer.

I hold my flat pregnant stomach as I kiss Ethan’s forehead, knowing a little brother or sister has just started growing inside my womb. It’s smaller than a pea, but it’s there.

I still haven’t told Graham yet, but I know he’s going to be thrilled.

We grab some drinks—him a beer and me some iced tea—and sit outside on the deck, watching the sun slowly dip behind the mountains. It’s one of those perfect evenings where everything feels so right it can bring a tear to your eye.

“I love this life,” I say softly, leaning against him on our double seater. Sometimes I think about what my life would look like if I hadn’t made the move out here and it always makes me cringe. I could have missed all this.

Graham kisses my temple. “Me too. I love our little family.”

“What if it wasn’t so little?”

He takes a sip of beer as he looks out at the lake, clueless. “I’d love that too.”

I breathe in his comforting scent and smile. This man even smells like the mountains.

I reach for his big hand and press it against my stomach. “Good, because we’re having another baby.”

For a moment, he just stares at me and I can see the wheels turning in his head. Then, his face lights up in that heart-stopping smile and he shakes his head, his dark eyes watering.

“Well, hot damn. Just when I thought life couldn’t get any more perfect.”

He cradles my face like I’m the most precious thing in the world and gazes into my watery eyes. “You’re amazing, Cara,” he whispers in a deep raspy voice. “Every day, I feel like the luckiest man alive with you by my side.”

He kisses me long and deep and then picks me up with his strong sturdy arms, carrying me straight to our bedroom.

“I love you,” he whispers as he lowers me onto our bed. “You really are my dream girl.”

I moan as he kisses a trail down my neck, not stopping until his insatiable mouth is between my legs, making my back arch and making me whimper.

This whole chapter of my life has felt like a dream.

And I know it’s only going to get better…

Graham

Twenty Years Later

The axe slices through the log with a loud satisfying crack. I love that sound.

I toss the split pieces aside and roll my big broad shoulders as I grab another log from the pile. It’s a cool fall day and I’m getting my firewood ready for the winter. The sun is on my back, but there’s a chill in the air—just how I like it.

I glance over at the twin pine trees and grin when I see Cara lounging in the hammock with a book in her hands. She’s pretending to read, but I know better. Every few minutes, her eyes drift over my way and I can feel her checking me out.

I bring the axe down hard, flexing my chest and arms a little more than necessary, just to give her something to get that heart pumping. When I glance her way, her head quickly dips back to her book, but not before I catch the faintest blush of pink on her cheeks.

“Looking at something?” I call out, grinning.

“Nope,” she says, her voice a little too high-pitched like she’s caught in a lie and knows that I know.

“Oh really?” I say as I place another log on the chopping block. I chuckle as I lift the axe over my head and slam it down, splitting the log in two. If my sexy wife wants a show, I’ll give her one that will stop her little heart in its tracks.

I slam the axe into the chopping block with a thud and stride down to the lake, kicking off my boots and pulling down my jeans and boxer briefs as I go. When I glance over my shoulder, buck naked, I see Cara watching me, the book completely forgotten now. She’s not even trying to hide it. I grin as I dive into the lake and glide through the cool water.

When I’m nice and refreshed, I walk out as naked as the day I was born, smoothing my hair back as I grin at my gawking wife.

This woman is the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I thank the universe for her every day.

After twenty-five years, three kids, and too many wonderful memories to count, I’m still obsessed with my Cara.

She buries her face in her book as I walk up to her, dripping wet and hardening up. She’s still pretending to read, but I know better.

“Caught you looking,” I say as I stand over her with a grin.

Those sexy eyes can’t help themselves. They roam down my chest that’s still strong and sturdy, but has more gray hair than I’d like, all the way down to my cock that’s still long and thick despite the cold water in the lake.

“I was not,” she says with her cheeks flaming hot.

I scoop her right out of the hammock and she squeals, laughing as I cradle her to my big chest and carry her to the house.

“You’re impossible,” she says, though her smile says she doesn’t mind it one bit.

The firewood can wait. I’m going to take care of my girl first.

My girl is always up for some fun with her big strong mountain man.

I may have struck out the first three times I saw her, but I haven’t struck out since.