Page 5 of Surrendered to the Mountain Man

Iwas not a relationship guy. Never had been. And before today, I’d have said I never would be.

But as I stared at Tori in the aftermath of her question, I could no longer say that. Because the last thing I could do was walk away from this woman and never see her again.

“Relationship,” I said. “I want a relationship. But only with the right woman.”

Only with you.

I couldn’t say that out loud, of course. She’d run for the hills if she knew what was going through my mind. The two of us, raising a kid in my cabin. I already had the extra bedroom. We’d be partners, running our household and loving each other and the family we’d created.

“Now it’s your turn,” I said. “Are you looking for a relationship or…?”

She might be looking for neither. I had to prepare for that. Hell, she could tell me she was already in a relationship or even married. No wedding ring, but sometimes people didn’t wear those.

“Both,” she said. She patted her mouth with her napkin, then tossed it on top of her now-empty plate. “I’ve been thinking about sex nonstop since walking in here, but I’m not the one-night-stand type.”

She’d been thinking about sex nonstop since she got here. My spirits soared. That had to be about me, right?

I’d had plenty of one-night stands in my younger years, but those days were gone now. I didn’t even want to look at another woman at this point. It was hard to believe I’d ever been attracted to anyone else, actually.

“One time with you would never be enough,” I said.

Did that sound like a pickup line? I was supposed to avoid scaring her off. Instead, I was jumping in with both feet.

But if I let her walk out of here tonight, I’d regret it. She had to at least know that meeting her had made a big impact on me in ways I couldn’t explain yet.

“Prove it,” Tori said.

That response was far from what I had expected. “Prove it?” I asked.

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, turning in her seat to angle her body toward mine.

“Prove that one time with you would never be enough for me,” she said. “I want to see what you’ve got.”

I looked around. “Here?”

She looked around too. “You could come to my room.”

That was a bad idea for multiple reasons. She might change her mind before we got there. Plus, if I was seen heading upstairs with a guest, that might look bad.

“I have a better idea,” I said.

I hopped off the barstool. I briefly considered snatching up our plates and taking them to the kitchen, but I didn’t want to call attention to us. The staff might have forgotten we were out here eating. If not, and they came out, they’d just assume we’d left.

I led her to a storage closet next to the bar. It held all the mixers and extra bottles of liquor, along with a bunch of bar supplies. The kitchen manager had walked me through there when I showed up. I’d marginally paid attention. I figured I wouldn’t be restocking anything tonight.

But as I opened the door and stepped back to usher her inside, I was glad I’d gotten this part of the tour. The storage closet was perfect for getting a little alone time with the woman of my dreams.

“Did you ever play the game Seven Minutes in Heaven?” she whispered as I stepped in and closed the door behind me.

The closet was at least ten feet long, but on either side were shelves, giving us very little room to work with—vertically, anyway. But I could do her standing up. It just wouldn’t be as romantic as getting her into bed.

Maybe I should’ve taken her up on the offer to go to her room.

“Never heard of it,” I said.

“Really?” She crossed her arms over her chest again, giving me a smile that said she was up to no good. “We played it in seventh grade at a friend’s house. You spin a bottle?—”

“I played Spin the Bottle,” I said.

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