Page 6 of Savage Mountain Man

Would I ever stop making a fool out of myself in front of this guy?

“Sorry.” I shook my head. “I was just thinking about family.”

It was the truth, but I didn’t really want to elaborate. Talking about my life in Charlotte would just bum the guy out and bring the entire mood down.

“Do you live near Seduction Summit?” Brandon asked.

We had to pause the conversation briefly because a server approached to take our drink orders. We both ordered our food too—turkey wrap for me and a grilled cheese and bacon sandwich for him—and I waited for her to rush off before I spoke.

“Charlotte,” I said. “But I love this place. If I could find a job, I could totally see becoming a mountain woman.”

That brought a strange look. “Mountain woman?”

“You know, you guys live all alone in your cabins without running water or indoor plumbing and grow long beards and don’t bathe.”

His eyes grew wider with each word. Finally, he held up a hand, looking down as he seemed to suppress a laugh.

“I live alone in a cabin, yes,” he said. “But it definitely has all the amenities I’m sure you have in your…apartment?”

“Condo,” I said. “It’s a rental.”

Why I told him that, I wasn’t sure. It was definitely a detail he didn’t need.

“And I bathe,” he said. “Shower, actually. Every day. So I guess I don’t qualify as a mountain man.”

“Do you know any?”

“Any what?”

“Mountain men. Do you know any?”

He hesitated a long moment. Maybe I’d insulted him and his friends. I really knew nothing about the men who lived in this town, aside from seeing them at the bar sometimes. This was theonly place to get alcohol this side of the city line, so they tended to take up all the stools at the bar. They set themselves apart from guests with their long beards and lumberjack flannel shirts.

“I don’t know anyone who doesn’t have electric and plumbing,” he said. “But most of the locals here live at the base of the mountain, in the houses scattered around the city limits.”

“Is that where you grew up?” I asked, eager to learn more about this guy.

“We lived in a mobile home not too far from here,” he said. “My mom loved the fresh mountain air. But most of my friends were in the area I mentioned.”

“You never left?” I asked.

“I left. Was in the military for a while. When I came out, I took a job an hour or so from here. I just moved back a few months ago.”

“To be closer to family?”

He shook his head. “I never knew my dad.” He laughed. “My mom didn’t even know him that well, and she died while I was overseas. Had to get emergency leave to come back for her funeral.”

“I’m sorry.”

This guy had been through so much. I couldn’t imagine. It only made me admire him more.

“I got a job here when I was fifteen,” he said. “The owner, the father of the guy who runs the place now, was the closest thing to a father I ever had. That’s why it was so important for me to mend fences with Alex. He’s the guy who owns this place now. That was his dad. Apparently, he had some resentments that his father and I got so close. Now he understands how valuable that was to me.”

“Yeah, you weren’t out to steal his dad,” I said.

“Not at all.” He took a deep breath and let it out. “Anyway, that’s my sad story. What do you say we hit the slopes afterlunch? I have a pair of skis in my truck that I haven’t gotten to use this season yet.”

I smiled. I should say no. I should get in my car and head home. I’d slowed down my job search over the holidays and I really needed to prepare to hit the ground running in a few days.

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