Page 1 of Drawn to the Mountain Man

1

OLIVIA

Iwas lost. Well and truly lost.

I stood midway up the mountain on the hiking trail, looking in one direction, then the other. At first, it seemed like there was no way to get lost. There was one path leading up and down this part of the mountain, after all. But I took a side path, then looped back around to what I thought was the main trail, only to find out I was on a different trail. When I started going in the direction I thought would take me back, I ended up somewhere else completely.

And now, here I stood next to a waterfall—a freakin’ waterfall in the middle of nowhere. Who even knew this was out here?

I yanked my phone out of my pajama bottom pocket and stared at the screen. Still no bars. Worse than no bars—I had an SOS. I was in the middle of the mountains, lost, in my pajamas and tennis shoes. I hadn’t even had coffee yet.

“Fuck,” I said, then paused and added, “Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.”

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and yelled, “Help” at the top of my lungs.

It was no use. The waterfall would drown out any noise I made. I needed to get back to the main trail.

Sighing, I shoved my phone back in my pocket and started walking, but three steps later, I stopped. I was hot. I’d been walking around up here for at least forty-five minutes. The other women from the conference were bound to come looking for me sooner or later. The last thing I wanted was for them to see I’d been up here stressing out.

No, it would serve them right to see me living my best life—maybe even taking a skinny dip in the gigantic pond to my right. They said I didn’t take chances. They said I wasn’t confident enough to be successful.

“Fuck them,” I muttered.

I’d show them I was confident enough to do anything I wanted, including making my way to the top as a Glamor Diva Cosmetics rep. A smile began spreading over my face at the thought of those prissy soccer moms condescending to me just because I was the youngest. They didn’t even know I’d made forty thousand dollars so far this year. And it was only July.

But they’d know during tonight’s dinner. That was when my successes would be announced. I’d better freaking get back in time to attend.

Until then, I’d live my best life skinny-dipping under a waterfall.

Only once I was completely naked did I start to question just how private this gigantic pond with a waterfall actually was. What if somebody came along, scanned the area, and caught me wearing absolutely nothing?

But with the waterfall being so loud, my spidey senses were thrown off. It felt secure, especially with all the trees surrounding me. But someone could easily come walking up the path that led here, and I wouldn’t know until it was too late. That thought gave me the push I needed to get my bare ass in the water.

The water was cold—subzero, it felt like. But I’d been hauling myself up and down steep inclines for the better part of an hour, so I was more than overheated. To get myself a little more used to the temperature, I dunked my entire body. It felt so good, I stayed under for as long as I could hold my breath. Then I surfaced and turned over on my back, floating with my eyes closed.

I imagined myself as the most successful Glamour Diva Cosmetics rep in the country. I’d have enough money to pay off my parents’ camper van, and I’d send my little sister to college so she could pursue her dream of becoming an interior decorator rather than working as a receptionist at a cabinetry shop for the rest of her life.

My eyes popped open when a weird feeling drifted over me—a feeling that I was being watched. I looked straight ahead and saw a bird in a tree above me.

I giggled at myself. Stalker birds weren’t really a thing.

Still shaking my head, I forced myself upright. My toes sank into the mud at the bottom of the pond—it was kind of yucky, but if I told myself this was like a mud bath, I could make it relaxing, right? Mind over matter.

My heart stopped when something caught my eye. A man was standing at the edge of the pond, arms crossed over his chest, his expression holding a semi-smile. I stared at him for a long moment, feeling like I was in one of those nightmares where you knew you needed to scream but couldn’t seem to mobilize your vocal cords.

But there was something else. Yes, he might technically qualify as a stalker, but damn, he was hot. He had dark hair and bulging biceps. His body looked menacing, but there was something kind in that face.

Maybe it was the eyes. Even from here, I could see warmth in them. This guy was a protector, not a danger.

That might be the case, but that didn’t change the fact that I was as naked as the day I was born.

“What…?” I finally managed to force out. “Who are you? Why?—?”

I couldn’t finish the question. There wasn’t much use in talking, anyway. It was almost impossible to hear over the roaring waterfall behind me.

“We’re looking for you,” the man said in a booming voice that cut through the noise around us. “You’re Olivia, right?”

“Yes,” I said, eyes wide. “Who’s looking for me?”

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