Page 8 of Fearless Mountain Man

“I wouldn’t say that exactly.” He paused. “Well, actually, if you asked anyone, that’s exactly what I’ve done. But…”

A silence lingered between us, leaving me wondering what he was thinking about saying.

“I guess meeting you changed my mind on some things,” he finally said.

All the air left my lungs at those words. Like a balloon that had been popped. I wasn’t even sure what to say. Or think. Or feel. The most handsome man I’d ever seen just said meeting me changed some things.

“What about you?” he asked when I didn’t respond to his comment.

His tone had gone back to a neutral one. It didn’t have that edge it had earlier.

“Involuntarily single,” I said.

Now he looked over at me, a puzzled frown on his face. Yeah, he had no idea what that meant. I wasn’t sure I did either.

“I’ve never even had the kind of relationship you’re talking about,” I said. “I wish someone had stomped on my heart when I was sixteen. At least then I’d have some experience with something.”

Now I was just venting. And I was venting to a guy I might be trying to impress—not just for business reasons. That ship had sailed long ago. No, this was personal. I wanted this man to feel the same thing I did when I looked at him.

Going by my history, though, that was unlikely. I’d be into him and he wouldn’t be into me. It could never work out that it went both ways.

“You’re telling me you’ve never had a serious relationship?” he asked.

“I mean, I did go to prom with my best friend’s big brother. But that was far from romantic.”

In that case, I hadn’t even wanted it to be. I just wanted to go to prom. We double-dated, and it was a blast. But it wasn’t the same as going with a guy I really liked.

“My friend said I do it on purpose,” I said with a laugh. “We were in high school at the time. She was already armchair-diagnosing me.”

“Do what on purpose?” he asked.

Oh, yeah. I was thinking out loud. Understandable that he was confused.

“Pick guys who weren’t into me, and run from those who were.”

“You’re speaking in past tense,” he said. “Does that mean you don’t do it anymore?”

I thought about that a long moment. “I don’t know. I’ve been so focused on my career the past couple of years, I haven’t even gone on a date. I haven’t even been interested in a guy until now…”

This time, I was the one letting my voice trail off. I definitely hadn’t meant to blurt that out. But it was the truth. For two years, I’d pretty much numbed myself to anything having to do with relationships. I had plenty going on in my life. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was telling the truth.

“Until you met me,” he said.

There. It was out in the open. I could deny it, but I couldn’t help but flash back to what he’d said earlier about not finding a woman he was interested in until… His voice had drifted off, but he’d been talking about me. I’d been talking about him.

Yes, this feeling was definitely mutual. The question was, what was I going to do about it?

6

CARTER

It was hard to believe this woman had a tough time in the romance department. Just looking at her now, I would think she’d spent half her life fending off unwanted advances.

Okay, maybe she had. But it was surprising to me that she’d ever been interested in someone who didn’t like her back. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful—she was smart and full of personality. Just looking at her made me feel a little lighter. How could any guy see that and not be interested?

Yes, this was exactly the type of woman I’d been looking for my entire life. The problem was, she wasn’t from here.

Not only that—she was here to land a deal and get out of town. Since I was the deal, that put me in a tricky position because there was no way in hell I was selling. And I didn’t want to lose her over it, even though it was inevitable that I’d lose her, anyway.

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