Page 2 of Possessive Mountain Man

“I wish.” He laughed. “I’m a logger by day.”

It was daytime right now, but since it was a Saturday, I assumed he meant weekdays. As someone who hadn’t evenstarted my career yet, I was fascinated by the careers other people had chosen.

“This can’t be a full-time gig?” I asked.

He didn’t answer right away. It occurred to me that what we were doing was pretty intense. Maybe I shouldn’t be distracting him. But really, right now, the goal was to distract myself so I didn’t freak the fuck out.

“I suppose if someone wanted to travel around, it could be,” Hayden said.

“Or maybe combine it with other things. A zipline would work great here.”

Please tell me there wasn’t already one of those. That would be the next thing Sammie suggested we do only to back out at the last minute. To her credit, she had gone down the slides they put on the ski slopes, so she was up for some types of adventure.

It was weird staying at a ski lodge in June, but we’d graduated a month ago, and it was the first time all four of us could work out our schedules to take a trip together. One by one, we ruled out cities, beaches, and cruise ships until we’d settled on a long weekend in the mountains of North Carolina.

“I thought about it,” he said. “But the logging work I’m doing here pays well, and I get to work alongside other vets.”

My eyebrows instantly shot up. “You’re a veteran?”

That didn’t surprise me. He looked like someone who would be in the military. Not just in the military, but special forces. Something straight out of one of those action movies I’d watched growing up.

“Most of the guys around here are,” he said. “This town has given us that sense of community we had on base. Many of the vets are married with kids now, but that wasn’t the case when they came here.”

“They met women here?” I asked.

They must be tourists. Aside from a few people working at the lodge, I hadn’t seen that many women. At least not women who would be young enough to marry one of these lumberjacks.

“So you’re the last single guy in town?”

That was forward. Who knew I had that side of me? I usually waited around for a man to show interest in me first.

But I realized now it was because of my interest in him. When something didn’t matter, you couldn’t really be bothered to work for it. This guy was definitely worth some hard work.

“Seems like it sometimes,” he said. “My buddy Axel moved here a year ago and brought along Ryder, another friend of ours. They both found women right away, and now they’re married. But another buddy of mine is joining us. Okay, stay right there. I’ll get you all unhooked.”

I didn’t even realize what he was talking about at first. But then my feet hit the ground. I was already at the bottom. How had that happened? And why wasn’t I more excited to have the earth beneath my feet?

I didn’t want this to end. I wanted to continue hanging out with him, even if that meant being suspended hundreds of feet above the ground. Yes, I liked talking to him so much, I was willing to risk my life to do so.

“Where are you and your friends staying?” he asked as he came toward me.

He was close. So close. His hand even brushed mine as he moved to do something with the rope. Something I didn’t understand.

Suddenly, his movements stilled, and I wondered if that was because he felt the same thing I had. Electricity shooting from my fingers through my body.

Oh God, this was it. This was the “sparks” people had talked about. That instant connection that you knew was going to lead somewhere. Maybe just sex. Maybe forever. There was no way toknow for sure until you either had a ring on your finger or your heart smashed into bits.

The problem was, the attraction had found me here in this town that was a five-hour flight from where I’d lived all my life. The area where all my friends were. The area where I went to elementary, junior, middle, and high school, and then college. The area where I planned to work once I sent out my resumes.

No, this couldn’t be anything, even if I wanted it to be.

“We’re staying at the ski lodge,” I said. “Just down the mountain from here.”

One side of his mouth twitched a little, and I knew he was battling a smile. Of course, he knew where the ski lodge was. It was the main attraction in this town, even with everything else that had been built around it in recent years. People came to Seduction Summit to ski in the winter—or, like us, to do weird girls’ weekends where we got lost on trails and drank every night.

“I hang out there at the bar,” he said. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”

“I hope so. We’ll be there tonight. Probably around six for dinner.”

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