Page 3 of My Mountain Man Stalker
Because heknowsI won’t.
I move like I’m sleepwalking, grabbing the Glock and stuffing it into the waistband of my jeans. My hands shake as I yank open the cabin door and step onto the porch. The morning air bites hard, cold and damp, but I barely feel it.
He still hasn’t moved.
“What do you want?” I call, voice cracking.
A beat of silence.
Then, he speaks.
“You need to come with me.”
It’s the first time I’ve ever heard his voice, and it hits like thunder. Low, rough, deep enough to make my knees go loose for half a second. He sounds like someone who doesn’t talk much. Like it hurts.
I blink. “Excuse me?”
“They’re coming. You know that.”
A shiver rides down my spine. “You’ve been following me foryears, and now you want to play hero?”
His head tilts slightly. “I’ve been protecting you.”
“From what? Youarethe threat. You stalked me. Left bones on my porch.”
“That wasn’t a threat,” he says, stepping forward. “That was a warning.”
The breath catches in my throat. I take a step back.
One more step and he’s at the foot of the porch. I finally see his face—at least part of it. Sharp cheekbones. A scar running down his right temple, disappearing into his beard. Eyes like dark storm clouds.
“You don’t understand what you took,” he says. “They won’t stop until they have it. Or you’re dead.”
I swallow hard. “Why doyoucare?”
Another pause.
Then, quieter, like it’s a secret:
“Because you’re mine.”
The word hits like a slap and a kiss at the same time.
I should tell him to fuck off. I should point the gun at his face and tell him to leave me alone, forever. But I don’t.
Because something in his voice makes the part of me that’s always screaming finally go still.
“Do you work for them?” I whisper.
His jaw tightens. “I worked for worse.”
“And now?”
“I work for myself. And I’ve made it my job to keepyoualive.”
I don’t want to believe him. I really, really don’t. But deep down, under the fear, under the rage, under the voice of reason yelling at me to run back inside and lock the door—I feel something else.
I feelsafe.
