Page 7 of Grumpy Mountain Man

“It’s not going to be baking,” she said. She took a deep breath and looked around. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to interrupt your work. What are you doing for dinner?”

She shifted her face back toward me, and I wished more than anything I could see her eyes. My heart was racing and adrenaline rushed through my body, even as tired as I was.

She wanted to know what I was doing for dinner. Was she asking me on a date? I was supposed to be the one to ask her out. But hell if I’d turn her down.

“I was going to stop by the bar and grill inside the ski lodge and see if I could happen to run into you,” I said.

Honesty. That was the best policy. But this sure felt like flirting, and it had been a long time since I’d flirted with a woman. I missed it. I normally didn’t have time for that sort of thing, but this woman was well worth making time for.

“Can we go somewhere else?” she asked. “Anywhere but the restaurant in the ski lodge. I kind of want to get away from all the bakers.”

I smiled. “I like the way you think.”

I told her to meet me in front of the lodge at six, then watched as she hopped in her SUV and headed back toward the lodge. Once she was gone, I had second thoughts. What the hell was I doing? I’d already said I wasn’t going to get involved with someone who was leaving town in a matter of days. Yet here I was, getting involved.

Maybe it was already too late, though. Maybe the second I’d seen her, standing outside that tent—hands on hips, fury in her eyes—I’d been a goner. I’d just have to find a way to pick up the pieces of my broken heart once she was gone.

5

DAKOTA

Iwatched the pickup enter the lodge parking lot and stepped toward the edge of the sidewalk. Yes, it was cold as heck out here, but it beat standing in the lobby, watching baking competition contestants rushing in and out.

The truck had barely come to a stop when I pulled on the door handle and climbed in on the passenger side. Chaz’s truck was nice and toasty, but that wasn’t why I felt so cozy as I belted myself into the passenger seat.

No, that feeling came as I looked over at the man in the driver’s seat. Maybe it was the chaos of the past twelve hours, but I didn’t think so.

There was just something about Chaz that made me feel safe. Grounded me. Grounding was exactly what I needed if I wanted to be the best version of me possible.

It was all too much to work out right now, so I shoved the thought aside and smiled at him. “Where are you taking me?”

“There aren’t any fancy restaurants in Seduction Summit, so I’m taking you to a place near my house. It’s in the next town over, Adairsville.”

My eyebrows arched. Adairsville was where I lived. I’d lived there all my life. Chaz lived there too. That was good news.

“It’s more suburban than this area.” He laughed. “That’s not saying much. It’s my dream to live up here in the mountains—maybe with a waterfront view. But that’s not very realistic for what I want for my future.”

I’d been prepared to break the news that I lived in Adairsville too, but what he just said pushed my mind in a different direction. “What do you want for your future?”

“A couple of rug rats. A wife. You know…the American dream.”

He said the words in such a gruff tone, it took me a second to let it all sink in. This muscled guy, with the harsh features and the gruff voice, wanted kids and a wife.

It was absurd that I’d even question it. Gruff, muscled guys had kids all the time. Maybe it was because I’d first seen him wielding a chainsaw and knocking over a tree, but he struck me as the type who’d be happy living up in a cabin all alone until the day he died. No need for a wife or kids.

He was a family guy. I liked that.

“I never had that growing up,” he said. “Not to bum you out or anything. This is a date.”

I shook my head. “No, I want to learn more about you.”

“That’s what dates are all about, right?”

This was a date. Of course, it was. Him saying the word just made it more official.

“How many?” I asked.

He’d flipped on the turn signal to pull out of the parking lot onto the main road, but now he looked over at me. “How many what?”

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