Page 43 of Ten Mountain Men

“But you were wrong?”

“You owe me about seven answers by now, according to my count,” I tell her.

“Okay,” she replies.

“The thing about being in love is…someone has to be in it with you. Otherwise, it’s just…infatuation,” I say in a rush, then ask, “Have you? Ever been in love?”

She shakes her head. “Not even close. I really, really, really don’t like messy.”

I nod, understanding what she’s saying. She doesn’t like messy. Me and my brothers are messy as hell. And that means that as soon as she’s able to, she’ll be running, not walking, all the hell away from us. Her ankle must be hurting more than she’s letting on, since she’s still choosing to hang around.

Luke’s right. Thinking she’d want one of us is delusional.

It makes me sadder than it should, since when I woke up yesterday morning, I didn’t even know she existed. But now that I do…I kind of can’t imagine not missing her something fierce when she’s gone.

Chapter 12

Goldie

This man is fascinating. This man and all of his brothers are fascinating, and I’m gripped with a mad curiosity. I have to know everything there is to know about Lynx Björnsson and his brothers.

Not that this is going to keep me from doing what I came to the mountain to do. I will find the Sasquatch that saved me. I will make my documentary. I will fulfill my life’s destiny.

Out of all the things humans are tasked with keeping in order, a tidy list of priorities is perhaps the most crucial.Someone named Van Von Vaughn said that. But they also supposedly said,You must never become so singularly focused on the peak of the mountain, you neglect to pay homage to the mountain itself.

So…a little detour never hurt anyone, right?

I mean, I’m on a literal mountain. How better to pay homage to it than by getting to know these men who call it home?

Besides, I’m building up such a rapport with Lynx and the conversation is going swimmingly. There’s a genuine connection! The back-and-forth feels natural and I’m getting him to open up to me.

Then all of a sudden, something shifts and he goes quiet.

“Probably need to concentrate,” he says, ducking his head, and that’s that. He focuses on fishing, catching one, then two, then three brown and gray spotted, slimy fish in quick succession, without any fanfare.

I do a mental rewind through our conversation, trying to pinpoint what I said to shut him down.

We were talking about love. Yipes. I told him I don’t like messiness. Did he think I was talking about the way he and his brothers live? He’s probably so insulted. But I wasn’t. At all. Yeah, it’s atrocious, but most messes can be cleaned up and all is well. Messes created by hearts are a whole different story.

I wonder about what college Lynx went to and why he didn’t see it through. He was accepted to his top choice, he said. But he didn’t even finish the first week. Could it have been a matter of him simply being homesick?

No, there’s more to it than that. There’s got to be.

He reels in, casts the line again, but he barely gives me a glance. A muscle works in his jaw.

“Lynx, if I said something that upset you—”

“You didn’t,” he says. I don’t think he’s telling the truth, but his tone of voice doesn’t give me much to go on. It’s matter-of-fact. But as soon as the words are out, his jaw is clenched, working.

I have to get us back on track and I don’t know how, other than to get physically close to him again.

I walk over to the spare pole, careful not to put all my weight down on my bad foot, and grab it.

“Can you show me how to hold it again?” I ask coquettishly, batting my eyelashes.If all else fails, it doesn’t hurt to flirt.—my mother. “I don’t have it all figured out just yet.”

“I’d be happy to show you how to hold it,” a voice rumbles, and I glance back to see Nash ambling toward us. There’s as much innuendo in his words as there was in mine, if not more.

I swear Lynx growls. Unless there’s a bear hiding behind a nearby tree. I hope it isn’t a bear, for multiple reasons, including 1) I don’t want to be mauled by a bear and 2) I think that growl made me ovulate. So I hope the sound was made by a human.

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