Page 34 of Saved By the Mountain Man

The question caught me off guard, and I took a moment to gather my thoughts.

“No,” I said softly.

“I don’t believe that,” she said, a smirk playing around her mouth. “A handsome, capable man like you…” There was something underneath her joking tone. A real question.Did you replace me?

“I was too busy trying to survive,” I said. “There’s a lot to do out here that has nothing to do with love.”

“Mm.” I didn’t know what she was thinking. “That seems like a very lonely life.”

“Not by choice.”

She watched me for a while, not saying anything. What was going on in that head of hers?

“I think we all have a choice, Tanner.”

That was easier said than done. There were certain things that couldn’t be helped.

Like the fact she might have died if I hadn’t run that night. That she might have fallen out of love with me if she’d learned what I’d done.

That she wouldn’t be here now, looking at me like I wasn’t a monster, when in fact, I was.

We sat in silence, the fire crackling softly in the background. The weight of unspoken words hung between us, the things we hadn’t yet dared to say. Rae’s presence was a balm to my soul, but it also brought back the pain of everything I’d left behind.

“What about you?” I asked finally. “Did you find someone else?”

She hesitated, her eyes flickering with an emotion I couldn’t quite read before she shrugged to shake it off. “I had a few flings.” Her eyes turned to me, challenging me to tell her she was wrong. Jealousy twisted in my chest, but I couldn’t fault her for trying to move on.

When I didn’t say anything, she shook her head. “It was never anything serious, nothing really worth my time.”

She swirled the cocoa left in her cup, watching it nearly lap over the edge.

“Until?”

“Until nothing,” she said tightly.

Which meant therehadbeen someone serious.

The jealousy was suddenly a live beast inside me. I wanted to know who the fuck he was and where I could find him so I could show him just who was boss, so I could claim Rae as mine.

But she wasn’t mine.

I’d given up the right to defend her, to protect her, to call her mine when I’d left without an explanation.

“Is he the guy who’s after you?” My tone was hard.

“It’s not really any of your business, is it?” Her voice was hard in response, her eyes challenging me again.

“It is if you’re running. What did he do?”

Rae shook her head and stood, walking to the kitchen. I watched her moving comfortably on her ankle. She was fine.

As if she was thinking the same thing, she turned to me. “I think I’ll leave in the morning.”

“If it doesn’t storm again.”

“You should be so lucky.”

I grunted. I was pissed off that she didn’t want to talk to me, upset that some guy had had her… and then fucked up badly enough that she was on the run from him.

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