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Mountain Man One Night Stand

(Standalone Novella)

by S. E. Riley

Copyright © 2024 S. E. Riley; All rights reserved.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Epilogue

{1

Prologue: Naomi

I saw him from across the club as soon as he walked in. He didn’t look like the other men surrounding me. There was something self-assured about how he carried himself that had heat rushing to my core immediately. His gray eyes scanned the room before he made his way to the bar.

“He’s gorgeous,” Leslie said, leaning closer to me with a mischievous smile. “You should go see if he wants to have a little fun.”

My cheeks warmed as I rolled my eyes and kept swaying my hips to the beat of the music. Tonight was about forgetting the horrible afternoon I had had. Dropping Zach off at rehab never got any easier. My baby brother would always promise me that this would be the last trip, and then three months later, he would relapse.

I understood that he was struggling with addiction, but sometimes I wished I wasn’t the only one fighting for his sobriety.

“You should go after him,” Caroline said as she slithered her body along Leslie’s, drawing the attention of a few different men in the club.

“I’m good here,” I said.

There were more than a few reasons why a one night stand with a stranger was a bad idea. There was too much going on in my life. I didn’t need to risk another potential complication.

We danced together, laughing and moving to the music until our drinks were empty and sweat coated the back of my neck. I held my empty beer bottle up to my friends before nodding to the bar. They grinned at me before moving back into the middle of the dance floor.

I weaved my way through the crowd to the bar. The bartender was leaning against the other end of the bar, talking to a small group of women. Knowing it would be a long wait, I sighed and climbed onto one of the empty stools.

“Hey,” the man beside me said. I turned to look at him, shocked to be staring into his piercing gray eyes. “I saw you dancing out there. You’re good.”

“Thank you,” I said, offering him a polite smile. “You should come dance with me.”

“Dancing has never really been my thing. I’m better with my hands.”

All thoughts of avoiding a one night stand flew from my mind. Seeing him from a distance had been completely different than seeing him up close. He was clean-shaven with a sharp jaw. Everything about him oozed confidence. He was the kind of man I would stay away from if I met him on the street.

Which was exactly why I started considering one night of fun with him.

The bartender came back over and stopped in front of me. “What will it be?”

I looked at the man beside me. “Shots?”

He grinned. “Tequila.”

The bartender quickly poured the shots and set them in front of us. I downed the shot before setting the glass back on the bar. The man beside me drank his own before handing the bartender a bill.

“Keep the change,” the man said.

“What do you say we get out of here?” I asked, crossing one leg over the other. The hem of my short black dress rose higher, and his gaze immediately dropped to my bare skin.

“One night? The hotel I’m staying at is close by.”

“One night.”

He got up and offered me his hand. Before taking his hand, I sent a quick message to my friends, letting them know where I was going. The man led me through the crowd to a car already waiting by the curb.

A limo? Who is this man?

“What’s your name?” he asked as the door closed behind us. “Eric, my hotel, please. And some privacy.”

“Of course, sir,” Eric, the driver, gave a quick nod before disappearing in front of the divider.

I smirked.

“My name…not important,” I said, moving to straddle his lap.

His hands gripped my hips as his mouth met mine. I could feel his cock hardening beneath me. I pressed down against it, rubbing myself against him through his jeans and moaning at the sensation.

I should have probably waited until it was just the two of us, but I wasn’t really thinking at the moment. I was trying to go with the flow.

Something I hadn’t done in many years.

The man moaned as I tore my mouth from his to start kissing down his neck. His hands slipped below my dress, kneading my ass as he thrust upward. He pulled one hand away from my ass and removed his wallet, finding a condom within a second. Then, he pulled back long enough to reach between us and unzip his jeans, raising his hips high enough to shimmy his clothing down.

I lifted my dress higher as he rolled the condom on. His fingers slipped between my legs, stroking against my clit slowly. I writhed against him, not wanting to wait any longer.

His hand knotted in my hair, tilting my head back as I lowered myself onto his cock. He groaned, kissing the tops of my breasts as I rode him. I could feel the release building, but he quickly flipped us over, pressing my back against the seat.

He kissed down my body, pushing the dress higher. His mouth found my clit, his tongue circling the bundle of nerves until I was bucking against his face. I moaned as his fingers entered me, thrusting deep and fast until my inner walls were clenching around him.

“Come for me,” he said, his voice rough.

He continued to work his tongue over my clit as I came, stars dancing across my vision. Before I could catch a breath, he thrusted his cock deep inside me, and I was chasing another release.

The limo came to a stop as he finished. We were quick to rearrange our clothing before getting out. I avoided looking at Eric, knowing we weren’t exactly silent back there. Thank God the gray-eyed man led me through the hotel, quickly. My heart thumped with excitement.

Our clothing only stayed on long enough for us to get into the hotel room. We fell into bed together, losing ourselves in each other’s bodies.

{1

Chapter 1: Tyler

“I don’t want a damn journalist living in my house and following me around,” I said as I paced back and forth on the dock. Waves lapped at the shore as I paced, rocking the kayak tied to the dock.

“It’s just for four months, Tyler. You said that you wanted to have big publicity for the charity auction. Since you don’t want the world knowing who you really are, this is the next best thing.”

I sighed and ran a hand down my face. Hillary was right, but that didn’t mean I wanted to listen to her. While I was determined to remain anonymous, we had to get creative with marketing if I wanted my paintings to sell. A journalist shadowing my work and writing an article was certainly one way to do that.

“Tyler, she seemed like a nice woman when I met her. She isn’t going to name you in the article or take any pictures of you. She’s signed a contract and NDA.”

“Great,” I said, staring out at the water. “And when exactly am I supposed to go pick her up from town?”

“She gets into Paytin around noon. Bus number three-twelve. You shouldn’t be able to miss her either. Pretty woman. Blonde, wavy hair, brown eyes, a lot of freckles.”

“Pigtails and a sippy cup too?” I asked, my nasty mood turning on Hillary.

“Get over yourself, Tyler. You’re being an ass. Go into town, pick her up, and try to be as nice as possible.”

“I’ll pick her up and bring her here. I make no promises about being nice. You know I don’t like having my privacy invaded.”

“Goodbye, Tyler.”

Hillary ended the call before I could continue arguing with her. Instead of calling her back, I looked back toward my house. It was a large enough house with three different wings. I would put her in the one furthest from me. With any luck, she and I would barely cross paths. She could write her article based on what little she did see while staying with me.

I walked back to the house and took a left down a little path to my studio. It was a freestanding building that was made almost entirely of glass. There was a perfect view of the lake down below that had inspired more than one painting.

The current canvas I was working on was only in the early stages of being designed. I stared at it for a moment, wondering what else I would need to add to it. I had never been able to plan my paintings too far in advance. They changed based on my moods and inspiration. Whenever a new feeling struck me, something was added or taken away. It was how I liked to work. It was completely free and unrestrained. There were no rules governing what I could and couldn’t do.

As much as I wanted to stay and work on the painting, there was no time. It was already eleven, and Paytin town was nearly forty minutes away. I still needed to shower and get coffee.

***

I arrived minutes before the bus pulled into the depot. I kept my baseball hat pulled down low over my eyes, shielding my face in the shadows. People wouldn’t notice me unless they stared for a few seconds too long.

When the bus doors opened, and the blonde journalist stepped off, my jaw nearly hit the ground. She was the last person I had been expecting, yet here she was. The one night stand I hadn’t been able to get out of my head over the course of the last six months.

“Well, I didn’t expect you to be here,” I said as I pushed off the post I was leaning on and walked toward her. “You’re Naomi Avion?”

“And you’re Tyler Garner?” The corners of her mouth turned upward as she shook her head and adjusted the bag draped over her shoulder. “Unbelievable. The story that’s supposed to change everything for me is about the man I fucked in the back of a car before I was ditched in the middle of the night.”

I froze, staring at her. “You can’t publish anything about that. Nothing. Do you understand?”

She scoffed and removed her sunglasses. Then, I noticed the deep, dark circles beneath her eyes. Even though she was as stunning as the night we met, there were hollows in her cheeks, and exhaustion was evident in her manner of carrying herself. Naomi looked like life hadn’t been kind to her in the last few months.

“Why would I ever publish something about the most humiliating night of my life?” she asked, venom in her voice as she walked over to the pile of luggage the bus driver was making.

I followed her, wondering how the hell this could have happened. If she knew who I was, then everything I had been trying to avoid was about to be blown open. A part of me felt a small shred of guilt about the wrong name that she had been given. Tyler was my first name, but the last name that I worked under wasn’t right. It was one of the few ways I had found to protect my identity.

“Look, I don’t care what you think about that night, but let’s get one thing clear,” I said as she picked her suitcase out of the pile. “I have a private life and want it to stay that way. I don’t want you to expose me to the public, and I certainly don’t want details of what I do in the city.”

She rolled her pretty brown eyes and looked around the parking lot. “I signed a contract. I’m not stupid. Your team will approve my article before it ever goes to my editor. Now, can we go wherever we’re staying? I’ve had a long bus trip and an even longer winter. I’m looking forward to spring in the mountains.”

“That one’s mine,” I said, nodding to a black truck parked in the center of the lot. “Do you want me to take your bags?”

Another roll of her eyes. “Don’t go pretending that you have manners now, leaving me in the hotel, no note, nothing…” She whispered the last few words. “I’ll manage fine by myself.”

Naomi marched over to the truck and hefted her suitcase into the bed. There wasn’t one hair out of place as she turned to me with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms as if to prove her point.

This is going to be a long four months, I thought as I unlocked the truck. She got in and tossed her tote bag on the backseat before shutting the passenger door. I stared at the truck, wondering exactly what I had just gotten myself into.

The drive back to my home was long and quiet. Naomi read a book, her legs crossed beneath her, and the seat leaned back. It bothered me that she had made herself comfortable in such a short amount of time. I didn’t know anybody else who seemed so at ease in a foreign environment, or in front of a stranger.

She’s seen me naked. After that, there’s nothing left to feel uncomfortable about, I thought as I turned around a sharp bend in the road.

Other than recognizing me as the man she slept with, she didn’t seem to think anything else of me. There was no instant recognition in her eyes, just as there hadn’t been the first night we met. It was what had drawn me to her when she sat beside me at the bar. She hadn’t known who I was then, and it was refreshing.

Based on how she was acting now, she still didn’t know who I was, and I don’t think she cared to find out either.

When we pulled up to the house, she was out of the truck before the engine was off. I wanted to scold her for jumping out before the truck was completely immobile, but I was pretty sure she would only turn around and kick me in the balls. She didn’t seem like the kind of woman who would take shit from anyone.

With a sigh, I turned off the engine and got out, watching as she climbed into the truck's bed and grabbed her suitcase. She didn’t bother to look at me as she jumped down. Her gaze scanned the property, landing on the house. Her eyebrow raised, but I couldn’t tell if she was impressed or disgusted.

“Where am I staying?”

I scowled and stuffed my hands into the pockets of my jeans. “This way.”

I led her around to the southern wing that faced the forest. There was a separate entrance that she would be able to use, but it also connected to the main wing as well. As long as she stayed in those two wings while I was working, we would be just fine. I’d have to send her a schedule with suitable interview times to keep our interactions at a minimum.

“There’s a kitchen in the main wing that you can use as you’d like. Stay out of the northern wing, as that is my personal space. While you are here invading my privacy, I would appreciate it if you stayed out of my way.”

Naomi looked at the glass walls of the main room and nodded. “Fine. You won’t see me unless it has to do with the story I’m writing.”

Before I could say anything else, she was inside the house, locking the door behind her. It was a clear message that I received loud and clear.

She would stay out of my way, and I would stay out of hers.

{1

Chapter 2: Naomi

I waited until he had walked back toward the main wing before slumping against one of the walls and sinking to the floor. I clutched my knees to my chest, trying to ignore the tightness in my chest. When I agreed to spend four months away from people and write the article of a lifetime on a reclusive artist, I thought I would be staying with an elderly man. I didn’t think I would stay with the man who had given me the best orgasms of my life.

A few articles were written about Tyler in the past, all of which suggested that he was much older than he appeared. None of them said that he was a man in his thirties.

Four months were going to be a lot harder than I thought.

After a few more minutes of trying to collect myself, I got to my feet and walked into the bedroom. There was a massive bed in the middle of the room, and two walls were made entirely of glass. I could see the lake and the forest without ever having to get out of bed.

When I walked into the bathroom, my jaw nearly dropped at the bathtub sunken into the ground. It was seamless against the wall. Where the bathtub stopped, the windows began, overlooking the lake.

It was the kind of place I would never want to leave under normal circumstances.

I returned to the bedroom and put my suitcase on the bed, ready to settle in for the next few months. There was more than enough closet space for the meager amount of clothing I had brought.

When I had put the clothing away and stationed my laptop and camera on the desk, I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the contacts. I debated calling my brother a few times before I hit the call button.

There were several long rings, and for a second, I wondered whether or not my brother was curled up in a bathroom, throwing up whatever substance he had just taken. It wouldn’t be the first time I had caught him in the middle of that particular act.

“Hi, Zach,” I said when the call connected. “How’re you doing?”

“Hey,” he said, sounding as if he was out of breath. “Just got back from a run. Are you in Paytin? How was the bus ride?”

“It was alright. You didn’t answer my question.”

He sighed. On the other end of the line, I heard the sound of a door closing. If I closed my eyes, I could picture my brother walking to the other end of our childhood home, where his bedroom had been since we were children.

“Mom was rushed to the hospital shortly after you left…”

“Wait, what? Why didn’t no one tell me? Where is sh…”

“Hold on, sis. We didn’t want to worry you on your long bus ride to the mountains. Mom’s home now and resting, but the doctors say the cancer is metastasizing. They think she’s got another year left in her at best, but they won’t know until they run more tests.”

The glass walls around me could have shattered, and I wouldn’t have known it at that moment. It felt as if I had left my body and everything around me was just a figment of my imagination.

We had always known that her cancer would come back, and we were unsurprised when it did at the beginning of winter. Mom was a fighter and had been doing chemotherapy and radiation, but now it looked like it wasn’t working like it should. She was getting weaker, but when I told her that I would cancel the trip and stay home, she nearly disowned me.

My mom wasn’t a woman who wanted people hovering around her when she was sick. She wanted her independence, and I knew she didn’t like that I was seeing her fade away in a hospital bed.

“Okay. I’ll book a bus back and be there late tonight. Or maybe I might be able to just take a taxi. Only a four-hour drive from here to the city if I take a taxi, no stops.”

“Naomi, stop. We’re fine. Mom is resting, and I’ll take her to the hospital in the morning to get the tests run. There’s no need to call a taxi and rush back here.”

“Zach, I want this to sound as nice as possible,” I said with a sigh as I stared out at the lake. “You’re in no position to take care of Mom. You’ve only been out of rehab for a few weeks. You’re not supposed to be dealing with this much stress while you’re in recovery.”

Zach was quiet for a while. If I hadn’t been able to hear the sound of his breathing, I would have thought that he had hung up.

“I’m going to say this as nicely as possible,” Zach said, a bitter edge to his voice. “I’m going to be better this time, Naomi. I’m done ruining all of our lives. You’ve been taking care of our family for a long time. It’s my turn now. Stay where you are and work on your story. If she takes a turn for the worst, I’ll call you, but Mom wouldn’t want you to come back home.”

“I know,” I said, wiping away the tears that rolled down my cheeks. “If it gets to be too much for you, call me, and I’ll come home, okay? I can’t lose you again.”

“You won’t. I’m going to get better, Naomi. I promise.”

“I love you, Zach.”

“I love you too, Naomi.”

When the call ended, I sat on the bed and leaned forward, trying to ease the restricting feeling in my chest. I took deep breaths as I tried to focus on where I was and the job rather than at home. Mom wouldn’t want me to come home, but Zach wasn’t strong enough to deal with her cancer. He needed to focus on getting himself better before he could devote time to her.

I had to give him this chance, though. He needed to know that I believed in him, even if I was sure it was only a matter of time before I would have to return home.

When the shaking in my hands finally subsided, I stood and changed into a pair of leggings and an oversized band shirt. My hair went up into a messy pile on top of my head before I grabbed my denim jacket and took off out the door.

If I were going to be here for a few months, it would be a good idea to get to know the property. According to his manager, Tyler owned sixteen acres surrounding his home. The entire lake was secluded in the middle of his property.

The birds were chirping as I walked toward the woods. A small path led through the trees that looked like they had been lined with stones. I followed the path until I came to a small ravine that looked as if it fed into the lake. There was a wooden bridge that crossed the ravine, and on the other side, there was a small clearing.

I crossed the bridge, my curiosity getting the best of me. While I hadn’t brought my camera, I had brought my phone along with me. Before stepping into the clearing, I snapped a few pictures of the ravine and sent them to Caroline and Leslie.

There was a small fire pit lined with wooden chairs and benches. It looked like the perfect entertaining spot that I had difficulty aligning with Tyler. He didn’t seem like the type of person who was close to anyone. I couldn’t imagine him bringing out his friends and having a party, but he could surprise me.

I trailed my fingers along the smooth wood as I walked in a circle around the pit. I took another picture, wondering if it was something I should include in the article.

The reclusive artist keeps a secret area for entertaining.

It wasn’t interesting. If I had read that headline, I wouldn’t read the article. I needed something about him that would grab readers' attention and hold them captive. It had to be something that the other articles hadn’t done before.

An inside look into his life was sure to drum up attention for his upcoming charity show.

As soon as I heard that he was holding a charity show and auctioning off some of his paintings, I knew I wanted to be involved.

The first time I had seen his work was in a small gallery near my house. It had been a showing during the early days of his career nearly twelve years ago. I was only fifteen then, but something about the dark elements he hid in beautiful landscapes and portraits called to me.

I vividly remembered a painting of a woman’s face. She had been beautiful beyond reason, but when you got closer to the painting, you could see a car crash reflected in her eyes.

It was a shocking discovery, but I studied the paintings more closely after that. Each held a tiny secret, some sort of disaster that had happened. Darkness was hidden in every light.

Since then, I had been to galleries showing his work more often than I would admit to him-especially now that I know he was the man from my one night stand.

I looked around the clearing for a while before returning to the house. Tyler was standing beside a barbecue with his hands tucked into the pockets of his flannel jacket.

Even though it was spring, there was still a bite in the air, especially as the sun began to set. I walked over to him, buttoning up my jacket and tucking my own hands into my pockets.

“Hungry?” he asked, opening the barbeque and grabbing the spatula. “Making burgers.”

“Sure. Thank you.”

He nodded and started flipping the burgers before closing the lid again. Tyler said nothing as he grabbed a beer bottle from a little table nearby and took a sip.

“If you want one, there’s more inside the house,” he said, tilting his bottle toward the large porch that spanned the length of the north and main wing of the house.

“Thanks,” I said, heading inside to grab a beer. If I was going to get through the first night without allowing the awkwardness to consume me, I would need something to take off the edge.

When I returned with my beer, he was flipping the burgers off the grill and onto buns. Cheese was melted over on top, and condiments had appeared on the little table beside the barbecue.

Tyler handed me a plate with a burger before dropping into one of the nearby chairs with his dinner. I added ketchup and relish to my burger before taking my beer and dropping into the seat beside him.

“So, why sixteen acres of wilderness?” I asked, looking around. “It seems pretty lonely up here.”