Page 9 of Brooding Mountain Man

Her question tore my gaze away from my marshmallow. I was sure she’d be all puckered up and ready for a kiss with that question. But no, she wasn’t offering a kiss. Instead, she held up a complete s’more, marshmallow and chocolate perfectly melted together along the edges.

“You’re really good at this,” I said. “That looks like something you’d see in an ad for s’mores.”

She shrugged. “It doesn’t really matter how it looks. It’s all about the taste. I’m sure yours tastes just as good as mine.”

I held in a “ha!” at that comment. Mine had definitely included some char, which took away from the sweetness. Curious, I leaned forward and took a bite. That put my mouth in close contact with her fingers, but that wasn’t the only reason the action seemed oddly…sexual. It was also the eye contact we made as I took the bite.

And then the flavors hit my tastebuds. It was similar to what I made, but without the charcoal-like bitterness mixed in. Perfect.

“You’re smoking.”

I was still chewing when she said those words. Her gaze hadn’t shifted from my face, so it took me a second to realize she was talking about my marshmallow. I jerked my attention back to what I was doing and saw that, indeed, smoke was pouring from my marshmallow.

I might be a fail at this,” I said. “No s’more-making badge for me.”

When I glanced at her while pulling my marshmallow from the fire, she wore a confused expression. I reviewed what I’d said and realized where I might’ve gotten a little too much in my own head.

“One of my foster parents had kids who were Scouts,” I said, wiping the goopy, charred marshmallow from the skewer with a napkin. “They were always doing projects to earn badges and I’d help.”

I crumpled up the napkin and set it on the ground next to me, then reached for another marshmallow. I’d get this if it took me all night.

“You were a foster child?” Georgia asked.

The question stopped me in the middle of marshmallow-skewering. I closed my eyes, suddenly realizing what I’d let slip out. It was only a matter of time before I told her, especially if this continued, but it definitely wasn’t something I’d say when I was trying to romance a woman.

“My entire childhood,” I said. “My mom abandoned me as a baby. I finally tracked her down in my twenties…and visited her grave. She died of a drug overdose just a few years after having me. No idea who my dad is.”

“What about aunts? Uncles? Grandparents?”

“I’ve thought about looking into them, but…”

My voice trailed off there. Why hadn’t I looked into it? I’d certainly thought about it, but in the end, I couldn’t see thepoint. I’d convinced myself that I liked my lonely life where I worked hard and kept to myself. Yeah, holidays were tough, and it did get lonely, but not enough that it made me want to do something about it.

Over the past twelve hours or so, my mindset had shifted. My life seemed so empty as it was. Why hadn’t I tried to fill it with…something? Something like this.

Because I didn’t know something like this existed until now. That was why.

“I’m sorry,” Georgia said. “You deserved so much more as a kid.”

I shrugged. “There were good times. A few foster families were great.”

The majority weren’t, though, and I didn’t want to talk about those. I chose to focus on the good memories and shut out the bad. For me, it was survival.

“We should do all the things you missed out on when you were a kid,” Georgia said.

Her words snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked over at her with a frown.

“Like what?”

She glanced at the fire. “Roasting marshmallows, going sledding, jump rope, hide-and-seek. All the fun things.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “You’re offering to play hide-and-seek with me?”

A smile played at the corners of her lips. “And whatever other fun games you missed as a child.”

I was thinking of a few games I wanted to play with her, but they had nothing to do with a lost childhood. It was just what I needed to pull my thoughts away from the dark side.

“Well, from what we’ve already established, I suck at roasting marshmallows,” I said.

---