Mountain Man's Bed

KAEL:

I came to Chicago for one reason—to deliver a custom bed to my buddy Jake. What I didn't expect was his sister Holly opening the door, all soft curves and whiskey-colored eyes that see straight through my carefully built walls.

She's sunshine and order, tending her plants in a cozy apartment that smells like earth and possibility. I'm sawdust and solitude, more comfortable with wood grain than small talk. We're from different worlds—hers filled with city lights and growing things, mine carved from mountain stone and silence.

But when that flimsy guest bed collapses under my weight, leaving us no choice but to share her space, the air between us crackles with an electricity I've never felt before. Every stolen glance, every accidental touch, builds a fire that threatens to consume us both.

One night changes everything. Her innocence meets my hunger, and suddenly I'm mapping territory I never knew existed. She's wild beneath my hands, responsive in ways that drive me to the edge of control.

Now I have three days to finish Jake's bed and get back to my mountain. Three days to convince myself that what's burning between us is just temporary madness. Three days to pretend I don't already know she's ruined me for anyone else.

Some things are worth breaking your own rules for. Holly might just be everything.

HOLLY:

My life is perfectly ordered—thriving plant nursery, cozy apartment filled with green growing things, a routine that keeps me grounded in the chaos of Chicago. Then my brother's mountain man friend shows up at my door, and suddenly perfect feels like a prison I never knew I'd built.

Kael is everything I'm not—rough where I'm soft, silent where I chatter, all contained power and intense blue eyes that seem to see secrets I don't even know I'm keeping. He's supposed to be a quiet houseguest for three days while he finishes assembling Jake's custom bed.

But when the guest bed breaks under his considerable frame, leaving us no choice but to share mine, the careful walls around my predictable life start crumbling. Every night beside him is a lesson in wanting things I've never dared imagine.

He touches me like I'm something precious and wild at the same time, awakening a hunger I didn't know existed. In his arms, I discover a version of myself that's fearless, passionate, completely alive. He makes me feel beautiful, desired, necessary in ways that terrify and thrill me.

Three days. That's all we have before he disappears back to his mountain workshop and I return to my safe, small world. Three days to explore this consuming fire between us. Three days to pretend I won't be forever changed by the way he whispers my name in the dark.

Some connections can't be planted or pruned or carefully tended. Sometimes love grows wild, taking root where you least expect it.