Page 10 of Single-Dad: The Mountain Man

“Good.” I grab my green smoothie and take a sip as we clear out the backyard in companionable silence.

“How about we go for lunch?” Shane says.

“I like the sound of that. Let me just take a shower first,” I say while reaching for my phone to check the time, I notice a message waiting for me on the dating app.

I tense up, finding it impossible to believe I want to put myself through the same ordeal all over again. I know exactly what’ll happen if any man who isn’t Shane touches me intimately. I’ll flinch, he’ll get offended and the date will be ruined.

But what choice do I have? Shane is a totally different person today, he’s acting like nothing happened last night, that nothing can happen again.

I have to move on.

I click it open and see a message when Dylan comes rushing out the back, startling me.

“Grandma’s here!”

I scramble up from the ground, my phone slipping from my grasp like a banana peel and I feel like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

Dylan and Charlotte collide with me, prompting an instinctive embrace from my side. Shane joins in, enveloping them in a warm hug, while I stand nearby, smiling.

When they leave, he turns to me. “You dropped this.”

I flick my gaze down to his outstretched hand—my phone.

Seriously? Of all the dumbass, careless mistakes I could have made, this has topped the list.

“Thanks,” I say before he turns and walks off.

The screen’s locked. Did he see those messages? I doubt it. So, why don’t I feel relieved?

* * *

Shane

She’s mine!

The declaration rumbles deep within my chest, igniting an instinctual desire to claim what is rightfully mine.

Willow.

The need is primal, fervent and I’m fiercely determined to make her my woman. The mundane rules of the world hold no sway any longer.

I unleash a barrage of punches onto the heavy bag and with each blow, I strive to repel the beast.

Keep your filthy hands off that sweet…thud… voluptuous…thud…ass. This is how it’s always been. When I can’t get her out of my head, physical activity is the best remedy. When I was a fighter, I enjoyed the other guy smashing his fist into my head to knock sense into me. Retired up here in Thunderpeak, I am hunting and building things to keep myself occupied. And when that doesn’t work, I’ve set up a small home gym with a heavy bench and kettlebells outside of my cabin. It helps to keep me focused on my goal.

When I picked up her phone, I saw the message. Agonizing pain engulfed me from every direction simultaneously, and I wanted to howl like a wounded animal. But I kept myself in check.

But my Willow-obsessed brain went into overdrive—I have to know who he is. Is he local? Does he live in town? What does he want with my…?

No, not my girl. My best friend’s sister.

I swore to Gage I’d protect her. I still see his eyes in the court when he was sentenced to ten years for manslaughter. He trusted me. I can’t break that trust. No matter how much I want to show her that she’s the most beautiful woman alive, or how badly my body aches to put a baby in her, I could never betray Gage.

I deliver one final punch, almost knocking the bag off the chain. Feeling I’ve done enough to beat back my urges, I grab a towel and head back to the cabin.

The last time I ran my hands along feminine skin was with Paige, Dylan and Charlotte’s mother.

When Gage told me that Willow was going on her first date the news broke me. It was like a piece of my being had been torn away, leaving behind a raw, gaping wound that refused to heal. And I couldn’t make sense of it.

---