Page 7 of Fearless Mountain Man

WasI hitting on him?

No. That would be called flirting, and I didn’t even think I was doing that. But the fact that I second-guessed everything I said or did told me I was definitely into this guy.

“What if we were?” he asked. “What if I told you that boat is basically running on fumes right now?”

“There’s an oar,” I blurted.

What the fuck? If he was spinning a fantasy, I just chopped through it with a butcher knife.

He laughed. “That oar won’t get us all the way back. I mean, it could, but it would take us an hour or longer. May as well stay here until morning and text one of my buddies to bring us over a can of gas.”

I was staring at him now. Gaping, actually. Was he for real?

No. He wasn’t for real. There would be no reason to wait until morning to have someone bring us a can of gas. It wasn’t even nine o’clock yet.

No reason—unless we wanted to be stranded here, where nobody could see us. Where it was the perfect weather outside and neither of us had any reason to rush back. Not a reason that overruled the allure of staying here together, anyway.

“What would we do all night?” he asked.

He’d been looking out at the water, but now he turned to face me. Our eyes met in a long, heat-filled stare.

“You were wearing sunglasses,” he said. “When we first met, I was dying to see what your eyes looked like. I assumed they’d be beautiful, but I had no idea.”

He’d called my eyes beautiful. Did that mean he thought I was beautiful?

It wasn’t like men didn’t tell me that. I was extra curvy, but I’d been that way from a young age, which had led to inappropriate looks and comments from men far too old—even when I was as young as fourteen or fifteen. It always ickified me.

Boys my own age weren’t really interested, though—not the ones I liked. They always went for the girls who could easily shop in the junior section without worrying about the neckline showing cleavage or pants fitting too tight. I got comments about how I must have butt implants, because nobody’s ass was that round and big naturally.

For a while, it definitely made me self-conscious. But my mom had instilled self-confidence in me. I knew how to set boundaries and fend off advances. What I had zero practice with wasnotfending them off.

I’d literally never been interested in a guy who liked me back. Since I first noticed boys when I was twelve, it was always me crushing on some guy who barely acknowledged my existence—or me running from a guy who couldn’t take a hint.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice hoarse.

That seemed too casual. I didn’t mean it that way. My attraction to him had me so tied in knots, I was having a tough time speaking and that was all I could force out.

“So, you didn’t answer my question,” he said.

I frowned. “What question?”

He’d just made a statement about my eyes and sunglasses. Had there been a question attached to it? I couldn’t even remember what he’d said seconds ago, my heart was racing so fast.

“What would we do all night?” he asked again.

Oh, that question. He wanted me to spin some kind of elaborate fantasy. How was it possible I knew the right thing to say when it came to my job, but when interacting with the hottest guy I’d ever seen, I was at a loss for words?

“I could tell you my whole life story,” I said. “That would put you to sleep, though.”

I’d cracked a joke. He didn’t want a joke. That was confirmed when he looked out over the water again. Was I supposed to say something sexy? Maybe suggestive? That definitely wasn’t me, but it brought to mind something I was curious about.

“Why are you still single?” I asked.

His expression changed. He didn’t look at me, but I saw his jaw tense a little and his shoulders square off slightly. His defenses had just gone up.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I was always prepared for deployment when I was in the military. I got out a couple of years ago and moved back home briefly. I guess it brought up a lot of bad memories. I had a serious relationship go bad when I was in high school. Well, as serious as a high school relationship can get. She did a number on my heart. It was just a puppy love sort of thing, but it kind of soured me on relationships.”

“So, you’ve sworn off women altogether?” I asked.

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