Mountain Men II: Primal Hunger (2 page)

"You would have to talk to management about
that."

His nostrils flared as he took a
deep breath in, his pupils dilated, and he cocked his head to the
side just a bit. Before she could puzzle much over that reaction,
he cleared his throat and excused himself so she could settle
in.

Maura resisted the urge to peek out
the window and watch his smooth gaited walk carry him down the
path. Her attention turned to the task of exploring and unpacking.
She hung up the few clothes that required hangers and turned to the
more daunting task of tucking all her workout clothes in the
craftsman style dresser. When those were put away she had
toiletries to unpack and turned to find the bathroom.

What looked initially like a rock
wall was, in fact, a pass through fireplace that separated the main
area of the cabin from the bathroom. It also heated the small space
more efficiently in the winter months. In the mountains in the late
summers, like now, the days might stay hot enough to work up a
sweat and swim but the nights could get cold. Evenings would be
nice, relaxing in a bath with a fireplace going. She looked forward
to the little luxuries for the days ahead.

* * * *

Bain closed the door to Maura's
cabin and had to take a moment to steady himself. His brain had a
lot to wrap around at the moment. A few moments ago he had been
sitting in the main house going over paperwork when he’d caught a
whiff of something delectable. He'd opened the door and ran right
into it! Rather, it had ran right into him. She smelled like
vanilla, honey, and a scent that was hers alone. The sweet-toothed
bear in him rumbled happily.

She smelled delicious.

He had to agree with his bear.
Maura Brooks was definitely edible from her curly brown hair, down
those lush curves, to the bottom of her wee feet. Speaking of
bottom, seeing her rounded backside framed in those shorts as she
bent over to inspect the carving had just about been his undoing.
Just thinking about it again caused a stirring in his pants. He
wanted to give her a reason to grip that headboard she so
admired.

Bain was taken aback by the
intensity of the pull he had toward her. He both feared and hoped
for what that might mean. He knew his first stop would be to the
office to look with a new eye into the background file of one Maura
Brooks. Whatever he could find out from those would be a good start
on figuring everything out. His bear just wanted to go back to
Maura's cabin so he could run his fingers through those rich
chestnut curls and make those startlingly bright blue eyes roll
back in her head.

Usually, because of his size, women
were intimidated by him or wanted him as a trophy fuck. Back in his
fighting days it was constant, but not so much anymore and for that
he was glad. Most men just wanted to pit their own strength and
size against his. Little Maura had crashed into him and apologized
because she thought
he
might have been hurt. Bain did a quick search in his memory
and no one, save Gavin, had ever apologized for hurting him. He
couldn't believe she even thought she could, little as she was. She
didn't even reach the bottom of his chin!

Bain was still shaking his head in
disbelief when he opened the door to the office he and his brother
Gavin shared. Gavin sat behind the cedar desk with his feet propped
up on the gleaming surface. His mane of tawny blond hair was tied
back in his typical casually-thrown-back ponytail. When loose, his
hair reached just past his shoulders and, while Bain couldn’t for
the life of him figure out why, women seemed to be obsessed with
it. Gavin was clad in his trademark look: khaki cargo shorts,
t-shirt (this one had a Buddha on the front), and Chaco sandals.
Gavin looked up from the papers he’d been perusing.

“
Hey man. I see the guests have
begun to roll in.”

“
Yeah. Maura Brooks is here. Do
you have her file out?”

Gavin tossed a file folder toward
Bain with a flick of his wrist and launched the file toward him.
Bain snatched it from midair and eyeballed it for a moment before
opening it. There were whole pages full of information about his
woman contained in this. He felt the stirring of an erection begin
and was somewhat startled at the instant reaction he had just
thinking about her. It was … disconcerting.

He sank into his big leather office
chair and turned the file over in his hands before opening it and
there she was. Maura’s picture was pinned to the inside cover of
the file. Her dark curls framed her soft face. She had a light
dusting of freckles across her nose and sweet, full lips. Her eyes
were a robin’s egg blue, but her smile didn’t really reach her
eyes. They had sadness in their depths.

“
See something you like?” Gavin
teased from his desk across the room.

Bain just grunted a bit and
redirected his attention right back to Maura’s file. It said she
lived about two hours away and worked as a medical coding and
billing specialist and apparently wasn’t just some desk jockey. She
had redesigned the system of coding and filing both on paper and
electronically in the office where she worked in order for it to
run more efficiently. She was smart
and
efficient. He liked
that.

Six months ago Maura had moved out
of an apartment which had a male’s name on the lease and into a
place with a lease with her name alone. Bain found himself agitated
at the knowledge that she had lived with someone and some man had
provided for her. At least he hoped it was in the past and she
wasn’t seeing him now. He felt itchy at the thought and scratched
the stubble on one cheek.

Why does it matter?

Bain snapped the file shut and
placed it on the desk. He walked over to his mini fridge and got a
bottle of water. After upending it and drinking it all, Bain's eye
strayed inevitably back to the seemingly innocuous file on his
desk. None of what was in that file should've affected him as
profoundly as it so obviously had.

Unless.

Instead of exploring that ‘unless’
any further, Bain settled back in his chair and delved further back
in the Brooks file. She had first moved out at the age of eighteen
into an apartment building and eventually graduated college. Her
doctor's physical was clear, nothing to inhibit exhaustive physical
activities, especially some of the exhaustive physical activities
he wanted to do with her.

A mental image of Maura bent over
the headboard, like she was earlier, popped into Bain's head,
except this time she was naked. He felt his canines lengthen and
his pants got even tighter. The reaction this woman elicited from
him was disturbing.

The guests began to arrive at a
steady pace and saved Bain from having to delve too deeply into
that emotional quagmire, but it continued to haunt him most of the
night.

* * * *

Everyone gathered for breakfast the
next morning. The kitchen was fully stocked and open to guests
almost always but served up three palate pleasing meals a day.
Guests were expected to maintain a healthy caloric intake to fuel
themselves, especially on outings that required lots of exertion.
They were encouraged to eat when they were hungry, as long as they
made sure it was healthy, nutrient filled food. Individual cabins
didn't have kitchens for this very reason. The food selection was
specially designed for premium fuel intake and minimal caloric
impact. Chips and soda weren't among the selections
here.

Almost all of the food was supplied
by a small self sustaining farm set on the property but situated
somewhat away from the main fitness compound. Fresh fruits and
vegetables abounded. The farm was yet another reason the resort
opted to stay small and exclusive. Keeping the guests size minimal
allowed the small farm to supply the resort with the excess crops
they grew and keep food costs to nearly nothing.

It was genius really.

The exclusivity of the place kept
the demand for its services very high. The wait list to come here
had, at times, been months in advance. Maura had no doubt the
waitlist would soon extend to years. The timber cut to clear the
area for the club house had been repurposed into the housing
material or raw materials to make the furniture. They employed
solar water heaters which often came in handy during hard mountain
winters when losing electricity during snow storms was more common
than not. The clever design of the fireplaces in guests’ cabins
gave off maximum heat with minimum energy waste. The expenses for
this resort were next to nil, the carbon footprint very little, and
it was an excellent model for a sustainable eco friendly
resort.

Genius.

After breakfast, each guest was
given their individual itinerary for the fitness assessments.
Everyone would participate in a yoga lesson everyday but
proficiency level of each student would be determined before
grouping into classes of similar skill sets.

Maura had included yoga in her
classes at the gym. She jiggled less in those workouts, but still
was very much a beginner. Apparently most of the yoga classes were
set near the river bank, which ought to be a tranquil
setting.

There were a variety of methods of
exercise the resort used to whip its guests into shape. Maura
couldn't help but feel a surge of both anticipation and dread flash
through her.
Suck it up buttercup.
This was what she had come for, the discipline
needed to seriously shed pounds. Two men came to the front of the
room to welcome everyone. Maura was temporarily dumbstruck by their
contrasting coloring and resulting
hotness.

Each man's coloring complemented
the other perfectly. Bain's coloring was dark, having those dark
chocolate eyes and hair, and he stood tall and broad, heavily
muscled like a boxer. The man next to him stood almost as tall but
with tawny gold hair, sky blue eyes, and a more leanly muscled
frame, more like a swimmer or martial artist. Maura wouldn't mind
being the meat in that man sandwich. Heat flooded her body and
pooled in her panties. Bain chose that moment to meet her assessing
gaze. Her face flamed and she looked away, sure that her thoughts
were written all over her face.

You must quit lusting over every
man you encounter here.

That problem was solved easily
when, after the greeting and brief orientation from hot and hotter,
guests broke for an opportunity to meet the people they would be
sweating with over the next couple weeks. She actively avoided
looking at Bain, embarrassed at being caught undressing him with
her eyes and concentrated on meeting the other guests. The men
mostly dismissed her after a handshake and perfunctory name swap
then gravitated toward the more delicately formed members of the
women's group. The women were mostly nice. She supposed she posed
no threat for male attention and that made making female friends
easier.

* * * *

Bain watched, trying not to glare
at the men touching Maura. It was simply handshakes, but his bear
was decidedly unhappy about the situation. This completely
conflicted with the incredulity he felt at the men's immediate
dismissal of what was so obviously a luscious, beautiful woman. How
could they miss what a desirable, delectable woman was right in
front of them? Not that he wanted men to hit on her. Hell, he
didn't know what he was thinking anymore.

Bain couldn't keep his eyes off the
way she flitted amongst the guests. Her smile dimming ever so
slightly every time she was summarily dismissed after each
greeting. He saw a quickly disguised flash of pain in her eyes
every time. It made his bear very grumpy. Bear wanted to go to her,
comfort her, and cause pain in those that put sadness in her eyes.
He was having to put effort in restraining his beast from doing
bodily harm to his guests.

Gavin could feel the tension
rolling off of Bain in waves. He could see the woman Bain was
growling over and was immediately captivated by her sweet face and
figure. She was generously curved and in all the best places. Her
breasts were full, hung pleasantly over a soft waist and nicely
flared hip. When she turned to greet another camper, Gavin got an
eyeful of her backside and felt a rush of blood to his
groin.

Juicy.

Overwhelmed suddenly by the urge to
sink his teeth in that behind like it was a rare steak, he felt a
bigger rush of blood to his groin and had to adjust himself. His
lion purred in agreement. There was something unique about this
woman. The curious feline in him perked at the hint of a riddle to
be solved.

What is it about that
woman?

This was going to be a very, very
interesting couple of weeks.

Gavin couldn't wait to assess her
physical fitness. Hell, he had already assessed her physically
anyway. Luckily, he didn't have to wait for long. Her last name
began with B and was toward the top of his list. Gavin was also not
surprised that her's was the name on the file that Bain asked for
the day before. She was wearing yoga pants that molded her shapely
legs in mouth watering detail. She had paired that with a larger
t-shirt that hit her mid-thigh. It offered only a tantalizing peek
at the amazing ass that hid underneath it. It also planted the
image of what she would look like padding around wearing nothing
but a shirt.