Page 2 of Hiding with the Mountain Man

I’d been holding my breath, but now I let it out. Knoxville was less than a couple of hours away. Easily doable. But I’d drive eight hours to take this woman to dinner if I had to.

“My first couple of books were cowboy romances, but that wasn’t really my thing,” she said. “Surprisingly, they sold well. I pitched the idea of firefighters, and my agent loved it. So here we are.”

She gestured to indicate the room, then, smiling, looked down at her laptop screen. For a second, it seemed like she was lost in what she saw there, but when she lifted her gaze and looked at me, it was clear her attention was focused on me.

“I assume you didn’t come all the way here just for our volunteer fire department,” I said with a chuckle.

Not to downplay Rosewood Ridge’s volunteer firefighters. We were a strong and growing team, made up mostly of former Navy SEALs who worked construction during the day and took turns being on call for the little things that went wrong in this town.

“It’s a good place to hide out,” she said.

Those words caught my attention. It was almost as if she knew I was hiding here, but when I looked at her, she was staring straight ahead with a dazed expression.

She was the one hiding out, and I had a feeling it wasn’t just for the peace and quiet of it. Was she running from someone? Maybe her life was even more exciting than what she put on the page.

Yes, this woman had a story, and I couldn’t wait to learn exactly what it was.

2

MINA

Iwas safe. I was seated in the Rosewood Ridge fire hall with a guy so big and strong, he could take on an entire football team. He could easily restrain a scrawny, deranged male fan.

There was no need for me to be so worried. My friend had rented the cabin where I was staying in her name, so there wasn’t even a paper trail showing where I was.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He could find me. He’d find a way. He’d tracked me down to my parents’ house where I’d been staying for three months, desperately trying to finish this book that was due in three weeks.

Finally, I’d given up and gone into hiding. But even here in this small town, every noise outside my window terrified me. When I looked into doing some research at the fire department, I saw they were offering a citizen’s academy. It was the perfect way to hide out.

I wanted to hide out. I wanted to feel safe, if only for an hour a week.

“This is the uniform we’re assigned when we sign up to be volunteers,” the super-hot fireman, whose name was Wyatt, said.

I had to focus. My mind kept drifting to fantasies of kissing him. Feeling his arms around me. Getting him naked and doing things I’d never done before.

I kept wondering if he’d help me with my steamy scene research. I needed more help with that than the details of being a firefighter. But already, he had my mind going, and that was a good thing.

“You can change into it if you’d like,” the fireman said. “You know, get the full experience.”

That was so unexpected I didn’t respond at first. I just stared at him, probably making him uncomfortable.

But if he was uncomfortable, he didn’t show it. Instead, he held my stare in a way that made my heart beat a little faster. Okay, a lot faster. This guy was making my insides all jittery.

I started toward him. “Where do you want me to change?”

His mouth fell open a little and he didn’t speak. It made me wonder if he hadn’t expected me to jump at his offer. Maybe I struck him as someone who wasn’t adventurous.

He wouldn’t be wrong about that. I’d lived a very sheltered life and new situations terrified me. But they didn’t terrify me as much as a guy named Bruce Andrews. A guy who’d shown up on my doorstep not once, not twice, but at least ten times, claiming to be my biggest fan. My doorbell camera caught every single one of them.

“There’s a bathroom that way,” Wyatt said, pointing toward the door.

I paused. “You might need to be a little more specific.”

We were standing just a couple of feet from each other, and I smelled a hint of pine. Someone had taken a shower recently, and the scent was drawing me toward him.

“It’s just outside.” He nodded toward the door. “You can’t miss it.”

He still didn’t break our stare. Was he feeling this? There was a heat between us, like he was seconds from dropping the bundle of clothes in his hand and reaching out for me.

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