Page 5 of The Mountain Man's Flame

She shoots me a glare when I tell her that she likes me. “I feel responsible for you since I saved your life. That’s all.”

“You attacked me with a book. I think that nullifies any points you may have earned. But don’t worry. This will be a great story to share at our wedding.” I wink at her, and the simple gesture only makes the blush move down her face to the creamy skin of her neck. I plan to learn all the different ways I can make this woman blush.

She frowns. “That was a really bad head injury. You just said we’re getting married and that isnothappening.”

I set the empty cup of macaroni at my feet. “Not until this snowstorm clears up and I can get you a real ring. Do you like outdoor proposals?”

“It doesn’t matter because we’re not doing this,” she answers. Her frustration is turning me on. I never realized how muchfun it could be to find my soulmate or how much I would enjoy spending time with her.

“Well, not now. There’s no priest here.” I can’t resist teasing her a little bit more. It’s something else I plan to do for the rest of my life.

She blows out a breath. “I’ll get them to scan your head when we’re out of here.”

I grin as I open the bag of Skittles and offer them to her first. She accepts it and digs through the candies, picking out a few of the reds and purples.

“Favorite flavors, I take it?” I make a mental note of this. Since we’ll be spending the rest of our lives together, I need to start learning what she likes and dislikes now.

She wrinkles her nose. “The other ones are gross.”

I pick out the flavors she didn’t want and pop them into my mouth. “So, what were your plans for this snowstorm before you got trapped with the devilishly handsome rogue?”

“Devilishly handsome rogue,” she repeats, a grin playing at her lips. She doesn’t let the smile come though and I love that she’s going to make me work to get one from her. “Are you suddenly the hero in a historical romance?”

“If breeches turn you on, baby, just say the word. I can look dashing in anything.”

She chuckles then. It’s a small sound, but I still feel like I did the night I threw the winning touchdown in high school. Invincible. “I was going to spend it reading books and watching my favorite movie of all time,The Princess Bride.”

I’ve seen that movie enough that I can quote it. It’s my favorite too. “Hear this now: I will always come for you.”

Her eyes light up. “I watched that movie a million times, the year…” Her voice trails off and she shakes her head before amending, “The year I was in third grade.”

The sadness in her tone makes my chest tighten. Something bad happened when she was a little girl. I want to know what it was. I want to know all of her secrets. But trust takes time to build. It’s not something I can rush her into.

She clears her throat. “So, what about you? What did you have planned for the snowstorm, cuddling with a member of your fan club?”

Since I’ve arrived in Mount Bliss, there has been no shortage of single women showing up at the firehouse. They’ve offered me just about every kind of baked good or dessert I could imagine.

The note of jealousy in Nova’s voice has me smiling though. I love the idea that she feels possessive over me. But that doesn’t mean I want her thinking that I have plans to sleep with anyone in this tiny town except for her. “I was planning to ride out the storm solo. Lucky for me, I stumbled into an angel along the way.”

She rolls her eyes. “I taped up your head. That hardly makes me Florence Nightingale.” She accepts the last two red candies from the bag. “Can I ask you something? What do you do when you’re not running into burning buildings and helping little old ladies with their groceries?”

She’s been reading about me. I was featured on the front page of the newspaper for helping one of the senior residents of Mount Bliss unload her groceries. My picture was there and everything. It was a good deed but in a tiny town where nothing happens, anything you do has the potential to make the front page.

The guys at the station were merciless and the extra publicity only increased the number of baked goods that my “fan club”, as Nova called it, brought by.

“I’m an electrician on my days off. I’ve seen a lot of fires that were due to faulty wiring and could have been prevented easily, so that’s what I do now.” I don’t mention the fact that I took amassive pay cut to work in Mount Bliss and have to supplement my income with the extra work.

I live simply but I’ve been saving up for when I find my dream woman. I’ve found her now and I want to give Nova everything her heart desires. “Now, it’s my turn for a question. What made you decide to become a librarian?”

“A love of books and learning. When I was growing up, my parents fought a lot. This library was my safe haven. I want to make sure other kids have that.”

The sadness in her voice breaks my heart. I reach for her hand and squeeze it, needing to give her comfort. Now that I’ve met my angel, she’ll never know pain or sadness again. Not as long as I’m around.

The lights flicker off and we’re suddenly plunged into darkness with only the light coming in from the window. The sudden silence without the hum of electronic devices sounds loud.

“A powerline nearby must have gone down,” I say. The library is surrounded by a thick forest filled with pine trees. If one of them fell in the storm, it could have easily tangled in a powerline.

“Maybe not.” She pushes to her feet and grabs her phone, turning on the flashlight. “I’m going to the basement. The circuit breaker in this place is nuts. It’s always tripping lately.”

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