Page 3 of Forbidden Mountain Man

“We just came to ski for the day,” the woman said. “I thought the snow would be a good thing.”

“We didn’t account for the roads getting here.”

I led the foursome to the same table near the window where the cold couple had been sitting a few minutes ago. If they noticed the temperature, they didn’t complain. But I was already planning to head over to the bar to ask the bartender if she knew what was going on out there. I nearly tripped over my own feet when I got a better look at the guy seated on the stool on the far right.

Yes, that was definitely Lucas.

I froze, my footsteps abruptly halting just feet from the hostess stand. He’d turned his face to the left slightly to look at the TV that hung above the bar, silent but with captions turned on, and I could clearly make out his profile. He’d slipped past the hostess stand while I was moving the cold family.

My stomach fluttered as my heart skipped into double time. Just the sight of him had me all flustered. Yes, I definitely had it bad. I hadn’t been like this over a guy since sophomore year, when I crushed on a senior who had no idea I even existed.

I glanced at the hostess stand. Deserted. No one visible as far as the eye could see. So I took a deep breath to summon courage and forced my feet in the direction of the guy at the bar. The guy who’d gotten me excited about something for the first time in years.

3

LUCAS

This had been a stupid idea. I should’ve stayed at my cabin, where I’d been working all day after learning the state was talking about blocking off this road. I’d rather be snowed in at my cabin than at the show home that doubled as my office these days.

But no matter how hard I tried to focus on my work, I couldn’t stop thinking about a certain woman. And eventually, I’d hopped into my truck and headed this way. After climbing onto this barstool and watching the hostess take a group of four to a booth, I turned my back to her, trying to plan my next move.

“Hi.”

The voice behind me jerked me from my thoughts. A female voice. The voice that belonged to the angel who’d been on my mind since that morning.

Darby was her name. During the four-minute drive from the crash site to the lodge, I’d learned that much. That had given us very little time to get to know each other, and it didn’t help that I sucked at making conversation. She’d said very little too, probably because she was so stressed about the crumpled-up fender on Betty White.

I looked over my shoulder at her and a weird sensation flooded my body. It was an unfamiliar feeling. It felt like…

Home.

“Hi,” I said. “Thought I’d stop by for a beer since the road’s closed.”

What the heck did that mean? She’d probably assume I was saying I couldn’t tackle the drive across the city line to get alcohol, making this my only choice. Beer had nothing to do with why I was sitting here right now, though.

“Your friend called about my car,” she said. “I tried to call back, but I didn’t get an answer.”

Oh yeah. She probably thought I was here to update her on her vehicle. No, I said I was here for the beer. Maybe she was hoping I had some news. Or she could be making conversation.

Christ. How was it possible I sucked so much at interacting with women? I’d had my fair share of one-night stands back in the day and had even made a semi-relationship last for a few months here and there. It wasn’t like I was completely new to it.

“He lives above his shop,” I blurted. “So the snow won’t stop him from working on it.”

Working on it? I was no expert, but I had serious doubts Brock could get her white sedan back on the road again. The front end looked like a soda can after a fistfight with a trash compactor.

She chewed her lip thoughtfully as she stared straight ahead. “Worried” was the best way to describe her expression. Her features weren’t relaxed at all, and those beautiful big eyes were narrowed as she seemed to think through her situation.

“How am I going to get back and forth to work in the meantime?” she asked.

I glanced toward the far end of the restaurant—to the big plate-glass windows that lined that wall. The sun had set a goodhour ago, but thanks to the lights on the inn’s roofline, I could clearly see how heavy the snow had gotten.

“Have you looked outside lately?” I asked.

I nodded toward the window. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her looking in that direction. By the time I fully shifted my gaze to her face, her eyes had widened as she took in the scene.

The snow was coming down pretty hard. Big, white, fluffy flakes. Luckily for most of the diners in this restaurant, it wouldn’t matter. The majority were staying in this lodge for tonight, I assumed. And the locals seated to my left knew how to get up the mountain in snow. We had vehicles equipped for it.

But even we could get hosed up when the weather got really bad. If not for this need I had to see Darby again, I’d be seated on my couch in front of my giant fireplace right this very second.

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