Page 40 of Ten Mountain Men

That was, in fact, the last time any of us went after a woman, period.

I sigh.

“She said she would love to go fishing with you, Lynx.” Luke is shooting me all kinds of pointed looks. He might as well have said,Would you hurry up and get her ass out of here, already?

“I thought you wanted me to stay off my foot?” Goldie asks Luke. “You know, rest up? So I can leave later today?”

“Well, actually I wanted you gone by sunrise, so I was hoping after fishing, you might decide the great outdoors isn’t your thing after all and beg Lynx to escort you directly to your car,” Luke says. “But he can carry you to the river and that will keep you off your foot.”

The thought of her in my arms…

“Um, did you and Buck, uh, get romantic last night?” I ask, thankful the furious blushing I’m doing is hidden beneath my beard. My face feels like it’s on fire.

“No!” Now Goldie is the one blushing and I feel bad.

“Why the hell would you ask her that?” Luke demands. “Sometimes, you can all be such idiots. I can’t believe you’re delusional enough to believe someone likethiswould actually let one of us fuck her. Is that why you all were so hell-bent on bringing her here? Because you actually thought you were gonna get lucky?”

He gestures at Goldie and then at me. Then he shakes his head as if I’m a lost cause, his lip curling in disgust. “I’ll be out back.”

Well, that wasn’t embarrassing at all.

A second later, the back door slams.

“I didn’t mean to offend, ma’am. For the record, we didn’t bring you here because we thought, um, you know. What Luke said. We brought you here exactly why we said we did—because you got hurt and we caused it. But it’s just, you know, while you’re here, if it’s a fact that you like Buck and Buck likes you back, I don’t want to step on any toes.”

She smiles and damn, that smile. “Well, that’s good. About you not wanting to step on any toes, because your feet are big and my ankle is already trashed so I don’t really need any broken toes, and in my head that was all witty and quippy and it just kind of…didn’t land. So. Fishing?” she asks. The question is…hopeful?

“Fishing,” I agree with a nod.

“Okay. I’ll go get dressed.” She gives me another smile, this time a sly little grin. “You probably should get dressed too, huh?”

Her eyes travel down my body…right down to my underwear. The only thing I’ve been wearing this whole time. It doesn’t leave much to the imagination.

She turns and heads toward the bathroom, hips swaying, musical laughter trailing behind her.

Half an hour later, we’re headed down to the river. Goldie suggested a piggyback ride, to free up my hands so I could carry our gear, and her body pressed against my back, her legs wrapped around me from behind, is nothing short of heaven. It only sucks that I can’t see her.

She surprises me by asking, “What are we trying to catch? Rainbow trout? Brown trout?”

“You know fishing?”

It’s a cool, brisk morning, but not what I’d call cold. I don’t know why Ash thought it would snow. Even if it had, it would’ve melted before it hit the ground.

Fuckin’ weird.

“I know a little,” she says. Then she adds, “A very, very little.”

I laugh.

“One of my mom’s husbands—”

“Your mom has more than one husband?” I interrupt even though it’s rude because…her mom has more than one husband?

Now she laughs.

“She’s had a bunch, but only one at a time. Anyway, one of them took me fishing a couple times. I liked it. But the marriage didn’t last long, so…” Her voice trails off with a sigh. “That was a long, long time ago.”

Then she adds, “By the way, I do like Buck. But I like you all.”

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