Page 4 of Waiting for the Mountain Man

I didn’t have time for that. I had some tarps to pick up.

3

CASSIE

“Is this your personal truck or your work truck?” I asked as we took the on-ramp to the interstate.

“A little bit of both,” the hottie, who’d introduced himself as Denver, said. “My boss has us use our personal vehicles. He reimburses us for our mileage at a rate high enough to cover maintenance and stuff like that.”

“So you like living here?” I asked.

I wasn’t sure why I’d even asked that question. My friends, family, and the job I loved were all in Chattanooga. I couldn’t see myself ever moving away. But maybe I could convince a guy like this to move for me.

And that was why it was ridiculous. I was just supposed to sleep with whatever guy I met here. Not fall in love, marry, and live happily ever after with him. That was absurd.

That was my problem. I had a tough time separating love and sex. It’s why I’d never had it. I’d been determined to wait until marriage, but the boyfriend I’d had from eighth grade through senior year slept with a girl his first week at college. He called to dump me immediately after, while confessing the whole thing.

That had been five years ago, and I still hadn’t recovered. But I was ready to take charge of my life. To be the type of woman who had sex for pleasure, not love.

I could have fun. I had friends. I had a full life. And it was a life that a man would only complicate.

“It’s all right,” he said. “When I got out of the military, I wanted to be somewhere quiet. I could never live in a big city. I grew up in a small town. One of my buddies told me about this place, and here I am. Hungry?”

The word came at the end of that long statement. I was still thinking through his words, so it took me a second to process the question.

I started to say no, I was fine, but then I shifted my attention to my stomach. I wasn’t normally a breakfast person, but we’d hit the road at the crack of dawn to get here, which meant I’d been running on an iced coffee and bottled water for a good couple of hours.

“I actually am,” I said. “Know of any good breakfast places?”

As it turned out, the best breakfast place was near the courthouse, which had suffered tornado damage. The diner seemed perfectly fine at first glance, but as we approached the front door, I noticed a pile of debris on the ground next to the restaurant. Some downed limbs and debris didn’t get in the way of the Good Times Diner serving up breakfast for the masses, though.

I waited for people to call out to Denver as we entered. Wasn’t that normal in a small town? But that didn’t happen. The server who seated us was friendly, but it was clear we were both strangers to her. After she took our order and left us sitting alone, I remembered we were actually strangers to each other, and I wanted to change that.

“So are you married?” I asked, doing my best to make it sound like I was just making conversation.

“Nope.”

“Girlfriend? Kids? Pets? Anything?”

He continued to shake his head, and that brought a frown to my face. The guy was single. That was good news. But to not even have pets…

“I moved up here to be alone,” Denver said. “I don’t want the responsibility of a dog.”

Why did I have the feeling the words “or a wife” could be tacked onto the end of that? Maybe he didn’t want to be rude. Whatever the case, any hope I had that this might become more than a one-night stand flew out the window at that very second.

That was for the best, right? I shouldn’t feel disappointed. I was here to lose my virginity to the hottest man I could find, then go back to my old life as an experienced woman of the world.

Doing that would prove that I wasn’t some boring prude. In fact, my ex had missed out on the best thing he’d ever had…and all because he couldn’t keep it in his pants.

“So what’s your story?” he asked.

The question pulled me out of my thoughts. I hesitated while the server set down our drinks—coffee and orange juice for him, water for me.

“I’m a pharmaceutical sales rep in Chattanooga,” I said once we were alone again. “I just started last year, but I got lucky and landed one of the hottest drugs right now. All the medical offices want it, so I stay pretty busy.”

And I made good money, but I didn’t add that part. Talking about money wasn’t very classy. Or so my mom had taught me.

“Husband?” he asked. “Boyfriend? Kids? Dog?”

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