Page 25 of Protected By the Mountain Man

It was somewhat of a game now—she would leave money for me, I would return it to her in whatever clever way I could find. I’d put a stash of money in the junk drawer in the kitchen, or I would put it in her purse. Sometimes I placed it in her bathroom…or I gave it to Livy, who “promised she’d give it back.” I wasn’t sure if that was true, but it didn’t matter.

I wasn’t going to let her pay me.

No matter how much sass she gave me, I owed her.

For the most part, we avoided each other outside of work. I woke up early, she stayed up late. I took my dinner alone; she ate with Livy. Every so often I came out to spend time with Livy and Bandit, but if Kat was home, there was no way in hell.

Except today.

I stepped out of Ben's room, the morning sun already climbing a bit too high for my liking. I'd overslept—a rare slip from my usual military precision—and I felt off-kilter. With any luck, Kat would still be asleep and I’d find Livy drawing at the kitchen table as usual…

But there they both were.

Livy facing me, Kat with her back to me, Bandit staring me down with his tail going a mile a minute.

“Damn,” I muttered under my breath, intending to make a quiet escape back to my room. But as I turned on my heel, Livy spotted me.

“Hey, Gabe! Want some waffles?”

I winced.

Yeah, I could go for waffles…but I didn’t think Kat wanted me there.

We hadn’t talked about what had happened while we were working with Shadow, that near-kiss enough to ruin whatever we’d built between us. I didn’t want to push her; she didn’t want to get to know me. I could help her even if she didn’t like me.

But sharing the same air as her was still a special kind of torture.

“Sure,” I called back, not wanting to disappoint the kid. I braced myself as I entered the kitchen.

Kat was there, her attention fixed on her phone as she half-heartedly forked at her breakfast. She glanced up just long enough to shoot me a look that could've curdled milk before returning to whatever was so fascinating on her screen.

I didn’t know what I’d done, but it certainly didn’t feel fair. We’d been doing okay…we’d almost kissed, and ever since then, she’d transformed into the ice queen.

Maybe that was why.

She couldn’t stand the idea of kissing a man like me.

I slid into a seat as far away from her as possible and Bandit came bounding over, his tail wagging a mile a minute. He shoved his wet snout against my knee, searching for affection. I reached down and gave him a good scratch behind the ears.

“Need breakfast, buddy?” I asked, looking around for his bowl.

Kat didn't bother lifting her head from her phone as she answered crisply, “He's been fed, thank you very much.”

“Right,” I said, retracting my hand from Bandit's head.

I risked a glance over at Kat. She was still scrolling through her phone, oblivious to my observation—or so I thought. The morning light caught in her hair, strands of gold flickering like fire. Despite everything, despite the bickering and the tension, I couldn't help but notice—she was beautiful.

Then her eyes darted up toward mine, more amber than brown.

I froze.

“Something wrong with you?” Her voice, sharp and sudden, snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Nothing,” I shot back defensively, feeling caught. “I'm just not hungry.” I pushed back from the table, blanching slightly when I heard the toaster pop. “I'm heading out to work.”

Livy looked disappointed, but she didn't protest. Kat, on the other hand, didn't even acknowledge my departure.

She just kept scrolling through her damn phone.

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