Page 7 of My Grumpy Mountain Man

“Just this dinner. It’s the one time I’m with other people outside of doing errands. I prefer to be alone.”

“Is it annoying for you, having me here? I can be by myself until the end of the weekend.”

“No.” There’s a harshness that wasn’t there before in his tone.

I get back slightly.

“Sorry. I… I don’t know how to say this properly. Without sounding weird.”

“Just tell me.”

“I’d like to spend time with you.”

My chest expands, butterflies flutter all over my body, with the way he looks at me, it’s honest, just like his words. I know there’s not a drop of lie in them. My cheeks betray me, feeling hot, too hot to hide them. I’m ridiculous, feeling this connected with a man I don’t even know. But his sincere words are making me catch feelings for a man I know will never want a woman like me. He’s quiet and I’m the opposite of that.

I’d be the concert in his backyard every single day. And I don’t want to stop singing.

I utter a very rushed ‘I like to spend time with you too’ and stand up. “Can we go for a swim in the lake?”

Chapter 6 - Marcus

I made her uncomfortable with my confession. I knew it was weird, but I didn’t know how else to phrase it. And now she wants to swim in the lake. I don’t want that but I’ll show her why I refuse the access. She’ll understand and then she’ll move on. Probably leave before the end of the bet. I don’t want her to go. But as soon as she deems the lake unsafe, there’s nothing else that binds us. It’s probably for the best.

And freezing water sounds nice when it’s this hot out. I nod in agreement.

“I’m going to get changed,” she says, like she feels safe with me, closing herself in the tent, dressing down right next to me. I can’t handle it. I can’t think of her naked without losing my mind. I want her. There’s no question. I want her so much, and in a way I never wanted anyone else. She’s this pool of positivity that I want to plunge into. And sink into if the tightness of my jeans is anything to go by.

She’s humming a song I don’t know and I hear the fabric of her dress tumbling to the plastic floor of the tent. I look down, urging my cock to not react this viscerally to hearing someone undress next to me. I’m not a boy. Fuck. I want to touch myselfright here and make sure she hears what she does to me, make sure she understands how powerless I’m around her, that I’ll do anything for her.

But what I want most is go back in time and make an effort learning how to talk to people properly, so she could be mine. But no, I’m just the guy who’s standing between her and her goal.

I rush to my cottage before I do something crazy I’ll regret and completely drive her away. If I can at least spend this weekend with her, I tell myself, that will be enough to last for the rest of my life.

When I reach the hill, feeling a bit more myself and less like a lusting lunatic, she’s wearing the cutest swimsuit, pink, full of frills and ruffles, looks like straight out of a vintage shop. I bet they’ve lots of those in the city, not just the few that exist here on Pepys Island. It suits her; it hugs her generous waist in a way that completely kills my already very weak resolution to keep my distance. Her hair is in a high ponytail now that I want to undo.

I’m back to being a lusting lunatic. Fuck.

She waves at me like she’s excited to see me. It ruins me. Her smile. It’s so pure, so brilliant.

She turns towards the lake, not waiting for me to get to her. I speed up my pace. I don't want her to get in without me. It's not common for fear to hit me up like this.

“Be careful!” I shout. She stops and I exhale. Good, she's going to wait for me.

She drops her beach towel right by the margin, or is it a blanket, I can’t figure it out, maybe the best way to describe it would be a bedsheet. But she doesn't wait for me. She gets to thewater. Halfway in, she turns,“You’re very protective, aren’t you?” she shouts back, The smile on her face is taunting, almost like she wants me to admit something. But I don’t want to admit to anything.

“It’s colder than I expected.”

“Just be careful! I’m serious, there’s a big–”

One second I’m seeing her, the next I’m not. I run and jump in the lake, finding her waist and pulling her towards me and the shallowest part of the lake.

“Are you okay?”

“There’s a big drop there. I couldn’t tell,” she says, shakering. “But I know how to swim. It was just unexpected. It was too sudden.”

“You don’t have to play strong for me. You can tell me you were scared.”

Her eyes lock onto mine, cloudy, her lips tremble, she looks lost. “I was.”

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