Page 3 of Flirting with the Mountain Man

Anger surged through me again and I had to keep it in check. Not at her, but at the fact that this could have gone horribly wrong.

“Where’s my dad?” she asked, her gaze landing on me. “I couldn’t leave my dad,” she said. “I had to know he was okay.”

She was no longer groggy. In fact, her eyes seemed to be shooting daggers at me.

“Your dad wanted to know you were okay,” I said.

Her eyes widened. “Why are you talking about him in past tense?”

Fuck. The last thing I wanted to do was worry her. But that was exactly what I was about to do.

“Your dad’s okay,” I said. “He had an…incident. I think he was just dehydrated, or maybe it was smoke inhalation. Either way, he’s on his way to Memorial.”

Rosewood Ridge had no medical facility. Not even an urgent care. Hell, we didn’t even have a medical practice in town. I had to drive thirty minutes to get my teeth cleaned and my eyes checked.

That was why the work of the volunteer firefighters was so important. We had fully trained paramedics who could handle most medical emergencies—at least until an ambulance got here.

“I have to go,” Bianca said, sprinting into action. “Where’s my purse?”

She was rushing around the living room now, searching frantically. I wanted to help, but I hadn’t been given permission to enter. So I just stood on the front porch, looking through the open door at her, trying not to gape at those delicious curves. Even in a sweatshirt and sweatpants, this woman was hot as hell.

“I’ll be right back,” she said without even looking in my direction.

I breathed a sigh of relief once she was out of sight. I needed a second to gather my thoughts. I looked back over my shoulder at the structure we’d spent hours trying to save and was surprised to find the sky had that faint pink hue that signaled sunrise.

We’d been at this all night. Not a surprise, but no wonder I was so exhausted.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Bianca said.

She walked straight toward me but veered to the left at the last minute and slipped her feet into a pair of tennis shoes without even untying them. Then she stopped in front of me.

“You don’t have to—” she began.

I’d stepped back to let her out, expecting her to breeze on through, but her gaze had landed on the cabin across the street. Or what was left of it.

“Holy fucking balls,” she said.

My eyebrows rose. That was an interesting collection of words.

Her gaze snapped back to me. “Does the guy who lives there know his house burned down?”

Did she know Ian Ivey? He was kind of a legend in this town. His family had once run the Christmas tree farm, but something happened and now the farm was being run by Ian’s sister and a bunch of part-time employees she hired every year.

I nodded. “He’s out of town. Someone let his sister know. Is he a friend of yours?”

For a tense moment, I was sure she was going to say they were dating or something. Or maybe she just had a thing for him. But no, that didn’t make sense. She would’ve been concerned about him long before now if that were the case.

“I never met him.” She shrugged. “I guess he likes to stay to himself. That’s what I heard anyway.”

“Yeah, not unusual in this town,” I said. “We seem to attract dudes who want to stay to themselves.”

“Thank you for telling me about my dad,” she said. “I’m going to go on. I’m sure you need to get home to your wife or whatever.”

I frowned at her. The words were so out of place, it took me a second to formulate a response. But I had to stop and enjoy it for a few seconds.

Was she fishing to find out if I was available? Did that mean she was interested?

I was surprised to find myself lighting up at the possibility. I had no interest in getting involved with a woman. I had the perfect life here in Rosewood Ridge, working and enjoying my peace and quiet.

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