Page 29 of Saved By the Mountain Man

“Sooner I can leave,” I finished for him.

“—the sooner I can relax and know you’re okay,” he corrected me, saying what he’d meant to say.

My stomach twisted, and my cheeks burned.

“I’m not all bad, you know,” he added.

I didn’t answer him. Iknewthat, but he’d left me. I couldn’t forget that part. No matter how great he was being, how comfortable it had become to be here with him, playing house like in the old days… he’d left me.

I sipped the coffee, watching him as he moved around the cabin. He seemed restless, like he didn’t quite know what to do with himself. There was a softness in his eyes when he thought I wasn’t looking, a vulnerability that he tried to hide behind his gruff demeanor, but when he turned to me, his mask was in place, muscles tense, as if he was ready to fight at any moment.

With my ankle the way it was, sparring would be a long way away. Why was he so ready to fight all the time?

It was getting harder and harder to stay mad at him, especially when he was so clearly trying to make amends. Being in the cabin together felt strangely intimate, like we were rediscovering each other all over again.

After bringing his own mug, he sat down across from me

“This is pretty good coffee, considering,” I said.

“Considering I live in the woods?”

“I thought maybe you’d make tea from tree bark or something.”

He chuckled. “You know there’s a town within walking distance and a general store that stocks normal stuff, right?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I know. You just don’t look like someone who…” My voice trailed off.

“Who what?”

I shrugged. “Who can be normal.”

I’d wanted to saywho can be the way we were before, but I had to stop bringing up the past.

He laughed instead of getting mad.

“If you go to the land of normal, no one will be there, sweetheart.”

The term of endearment wasn’t sarcastic. It was genuine, and butterflies erupted in my stomach.

“I guess you’re not wrong.”

“Picked up a thing or two along the way. The quicker you realize what people really are, the less disappointed you’ll be.”

“Mm,” I agreed. “Isn’t that the truth.”

We looked at each other, and the atmosphere shifted when we both thought about him leaving, about how he’d disappointed me.

“So, tell me about life in the mountains,” I said, breaking the silence and changing the topic to something safer. “What’s it like living out here?”

Tanner leaned back, his eyes thoughtful. “It’s hard work, but it’s peaceful. There’s something about being out here, away from everything, that makes you feel alive. I spend most of my days hunting, chopping wood, and taking care of the cabin. It’s simple, but it’s enough.”

I nodded, imagining the solitude and the sense of purpose that came with living off the land. “It sounds nice. Different, but nice.”

“It is,” he agreed. “But it can get lonely sometimes.”

“Isn’t being alone why you’re here?”

He frowned at me. “I didn’tchoosesolitude.”

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