Page 10 of Beast of Misty Mountain

“Careful.” I chuckle. “You and I are going to have problems if you tell people that.”

She laughs too, and something clicks into place. This woman is a balm on my soul. Her presence doesn’t feel like an intrusion anymore. It feels like an adjustment I didn’t realize I needed and one I never would have sought out on my own.

I find myself watching the way her hand moves as she talks, how animated she gets when she tells stories. How her eyes flash when she teases. I notice that she listens, really listens, without interrupting or shifting the focus to herself.

I respect the hell out of that.

And I like her.

Not just her face or her body—though I’d have to be dead not to notice—but her. The way she holds herself and doesn’t let anyone give her shit.

The warmth between us is growing, not just desire but ease. The last time I felt this easy companionship with anyone was when my folks and grandparents were still alive.

She glances toward the trees. “It’s quiet out here.”

“Too quiet?”

“No. It’s...good. It’s perfect.”

The silence stretches out again, but this time, it’s soft. Companionable.

Marilee heads inside to get more coffee, and I’m left on the porch, holding a half-full mug, wondering how the hell someone can walk into your life by accident and make you wish for things you never thought you’d have.

CHAPTER 5

MARILEE

Why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost—or like you just got laid by one?”

I’m standing in the middle of the Misty Mountain General Store as Hanna’s voice bursts through my phone speaker the moment I answer. Her face fills the screen, grinning.

I glance around the store that serves as both the hardware and grocery store for Misty Mountain. Thankfully, Jack is at the other end of the store, helping some tourists choose hiking poles. I put my basket down by the door, then step out onto the wooden porch and squint into the sun. “Can you not start a conversation like that while I’m in public?”

“I’m sorry, is this not a safe space?” she says, widening her eyes in mock innocence. “You answered a video call from me. You know how I am.”

“Yeah, I didn’t know you were going to come in hot like that.” I glance back into the store to make sure I didn’t leave my basket in someone’s way. “Give me a second.”

I shift the phone in my hand and lean against one of the porch beams. The wood is warm from the sun, and the scent of pine and baked earth rises off the parking lot. Behind me, someone rings the store’s bell and walks out with a bag of peaches and a six-pack of beer.

Hanna studies me through the screen. I can see she’s sitting on the porch of the cabin she shares with her boyfriend, Jordan, over on Silver Pine Ridge. Seeing King Mountain makes me nostalgic for home, though not enough to tempt me to return.

“You’re flushed,” she says. “I see you blushing.”

“I’m not blushing.”

“You’re definitely blushing.”

“I’m standing in direct sunlight,” I sigh.

She leans forward, adjusting her phone so I get an extreme close-up of her smirking face. “So. What’s going on?”

“Nothing,” I say too quickly.

“Oh, I love it when you lie badly. Spill, Babe.”

I glance through the window at the shelves inside lined with honey jars and local cheese and baskets of slightly bruised apples. I should be getting groceries. I should be grabbing pasta and whatever else I need to pull off tonight’s plan.

But I alsodokind of need to confide in someone who isn’t going to spread gossip like wildfire.

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