Page 2 of My Wild Mountain Man

“Yup,” I clipped, pushing off the wall.

“Man,” he sighed, stopping me from exiting and hiding in the small office we shared. “You gotta get a hold of this.”

“Hold of what?” I dared him to call me out on it. To tell me to stop crushing on our friend’s little sister like some perv. Jesus, our age difference alone was enough reason not to go there. To keep my hands to myself.

“You really think I don’t see what’s going on?”

“I don’t know what?—“

“That’s Onyx’ little sister, man.”

“Which one?” I pretended to act stupid, but by the way Austin stared back at me, I wasn’t fooling anyone. I sighed and swallowed. My Adam’s apple bobbed heavily as everything I felt for her stuck to me, clung tightly.

I tried to avoid her after that day, and it had hurt her feelings.

She had even skipped the New Year’s party we had thrown, claiming she was sick, but I had seen her that morning in the woods, in the spot where she liked to go sit and read. She had been fine. She had skipped it because she had come by earlier that day to drop off something for her brother. Raven was gorgeous, but subtle wasn’t one of her strong suits.

I saw the way she watched me. Looked at me with interest in her eyes. Like I could be one of the men in the books she liked to read. So, I’d stupidly flirted with the photographer right in front of her. It was bad enough how much I wanted my tempting little morsel! Knowing she wanted me back, I’d reacted stupidly. Afraid that she would make some kind of move, one I’d known I wouldn’t be able to resist, I’d needed to do something, and I had.

But it backfired on me.

Now she hardly looked at me when she came in, and it made me feel like hell. I missed the way she would seek me out to talk here and there about shit she knew I liked.

I miss her.

“Earth to Bash,” Austin clipped. “Get your shit together and come back when that”—he pointed down at my crotch—“isn’t waving hello like a goddamn Walmart greeter.”

“Fuck you,” I clipped, shaking my head.

“Look, man.” He ran his fingers through his light hair. “I don’t want to come off like a dick?—“

“Then maybe you shouldn’t say whatever has you looking like that.”

“We’re all partners here.” He wasn’t going to take my advice, and I was stuck having to hear his. “If you go there and mess around with his sister? That could mess it up if it ends badly. You get what I’m saying?”

“Yeah, man,” I rasped, clearing my throat. “You don’t shit where you eat,” I clarified, and he nodded. It wasn’t something I hadn’t thought about.

“Yeah… exactly. Look, I’m glad the little general is up and working again, but don’t go there. Not unless you know it’s for real.”

“Unless I know it’s…” I chuckled and shook my head. “That shocks the shit out of me coming from you and spending how many years listening to you spew all that cursed in love shit.”

“I’m a Hart,” he reminded me, and I rolled my eyes.

“Curses aren’t real, Austin.” I groaned. I had no idea how many times I had to say that, but it felt like it would never get through his thick skull.

“I don’t know, man… You’ve seen the men in my family. All of them cursed as fuck.” I rolled my eyes because no matter how much I tried to tell him that shit didn’t exist, he wasn’t going to listen to me.

“Just get your shit together, man. Okay? Keep your hands off little sisters.” He pointed at me, and I made a face.

“Man,” I groaned, “don’t make it sound like that!” I grimaced, and the asshole laughed.

“I’m just saying?—“

“Say less. Just give me a minute. I’ll be right out there.”

“How about Wednesday, we go a couple towns over to Serendipity and find us some women we can have some fun with now that the general is up and saluting again? Which again, congrats.” He grinned. We were close, so they’d known about my situation after being discharged.

“Austin,” I warned, but the shit-eating grin on his face told me it wasn’t going to be that easy to make him drop it.

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