Page 3 of Fearless Mountain Man

I almost laughed out loud at that. She probably thought I didn’t know about investments. Just some ex-military hick living up here in the sticks. Maybe she assumed I didn’t even have running water or electricity.

Okay, that was taking it a little too far. I had a pool, after all. It was clear I wasn’t roughing it.

“I don’t work for the money,” I said. “I’ve been investing since I was twelve. My uncle set me up with one of those investing apps, and I’d put a little money in every time I got an allowance or someone paid me to mow their lawn.”

What the fuck? Why was I telling her all this? I should’ve just left her thinking I was a hick.

“But having extra money to invest wouldn’t be a bad thing, would it?” she asked.

This woman was going to try to talk me into doing this. She probably even thought she was good at her job. It was clear she was new to sales, though. She was young, so she was no doubt still learning, trying to master the art of persuasion.

But the thing was, even though she wasn’t selling me, I liked her persistence. It meant she’d have incentive to spend more time around me.

And damn it, despite myself, I liked that. I wanted to spend more time with her.

So I tightened the towel that was starting to loosen and looked at my house before returning my attention to her. It was a subtle move, designed to make her think maybe, just maybe, I was mulling over her offer.

“I was about to head down to the lodge for some dinner,” I said. “If you want to continue this conversation, you can meet me there. Grab a booth in the corner if you can. I’m going to shower and get dressed, and I’ll be there in fifteen minutes or so.”

I gave her a nod and didn’t wait for her to respond. I just turned and headed into the house.

I had two thoughts as I was closing the patio door and moving toward the shower. One was that I was definitely going to do something about this erection. I’d jerk off while imagining removing her blouse and bra and coming on those big, beautiful tits.

And two—if she did agree to meet me for dinner, I’d get to see her without those sunglasses. I’d finally be able to look into those eyes and see what was going on in that gorgeous head of hers.

3

ANA

Why the heck was I here?

Yes, Carter invited me to have dinner with him in his abrupt but oddly charming way of doing things. But that didn’t mean I had to take him up on it. But here I was, sitting alone in a booth at the lodge, waiting for him to show up like some kind of desperate tourist.

What if he didn’t meet me? What if he’d set me up?

That started to occur to me as we reached the twenty-five-minute mark. I’d only been sitting here for fifteen, but it definitely felt weird.

The place wasn’t packed, but a family was seated not too far away—two teenagers and parents. And the bar was stocked with men who looked not too different from the man I’d met this morning. Not as handsome—at least not in my eyes—but they definitely were the mountain man loggers everyone talked about when they discussed Seduction Summit.

Just as I was wondering if he was late on purpose, Carter appeared—barreling past me and plopping down on the padded bench across from me. He looked back over his shoulder before turning his attention to me.

“I usually sit over there,” he said, pointing toward the bar. “I haven’t seen it from this perspective.”

He hitched his thumb toward the slides, but I got what he was talking about. Then he looked down at his menu, not mentioning the fact that he was a little late. Should I bring it up? No, I was here to get something from him. That meant I had to put up with a certain amount of rudeness. If it resulted in me closing this deal, it would all be well, well, well worth it.

“I heard that they started doing all this a few years ago to boost year-round tourism in this town,” I said. “Doesn’t look like it’s going all that well.”

He chuckled. “Well, it’s better than it used to be. That was around the time they were building the shopping center.”

I smiled. “Now that place looks amazing.”

It wasn’t a typical shopping center. It receded from the main strip like a courtyard. The website called it a shopping mall, but it was like no other mall I’d seen before. From what I saw from the traffic light where I was stopped on my way into town, it had the design of an English village with cobblestone streets and Tudor-style architecture. I’d made a note to spend some time there before I left.

“We’re doing better in the fall and around Christmastime,” he said. “They decorate all the streets starting around just before Thanksgiving. People come into town to do all their Christmas shopping and ski.”

I frowned. “But there’s no skiing in the fall. It can’t possibly be cold enough.”

He shook his head. “That’s when we do Fall Fest. The leaves start changing color. People come from all over to see it. So the lodge does a pumpkin patch and haunted ski lift.”

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