Page 6 of Rugged Mountain Man

It was more than that, though. This guy was someone I wanted to see again after tonight. And yeah, that made little sense, considering my home was four hours away. What did I expect to happen here?

“Oh, they wanted to get you into bed,” he said. “They just had no game.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at that. He was right. The guys on the football and basketball teams would have made every effort to get a girl alone. It would’ve been a priority.

The few guys I went out with barely held my hand. They’d let a friend know they were interested, and when I was interested back, I’d let them know. But only awkwardness ensued if we did go out. They seemed scared of their own shadows.

In the end, that just wasn’t appealing to me. I wanted a guy who grabbed me and kissed me because he couldn’t stop himself.

“Maybe I went for dorky guys because I had more of a chance with them,” I said, thinking out loud.

I immediately second-guessed revealing that to him. I was supposed to be trying to impress him. Was I saying I didn’t think I could get a hot guy like the one in front of me?

“I’d say you had a chance with anybody you wanted,” he fired back. “Any guy with two eyes and some common sense in his head, anyway.”

Gosh, the compliments kept coming. I felt my face growing warm under all the attention. I wasn’t used to this at all, and I couldn’t say I liked it. Well, I did, but I was completely unsure of how to respond.

What I wanted to do was lunge forward and kiss him. He’d probably kiss me back, but I wanted him to make the first move. He was no doubt hesitant to make the first move because I’d told him I’d never had sex before.

Yeah, that was my problem. I overthought this stuff way too much. It was exhausting.

“Thank you,” I said. “I always figured I’d get the last laugh by the time I was forty, while everyone else I went to school with was stuck in mediocre-paying jobs they hated. But that’s not necessarily the case. And now I think I might be stuck in a job I don’t like.”

“But you’ll be a six-figure bakery owner,” he said.

I liked the way he thought. If I could get a thriving business going with franchises, that might actually be possible. But food-based businesses were tough.

“You didn’t answer my question,” I finally said, eager to get the focus off me. “Do you have a house up here in the mountains?”

“Yep. A bunch of us are building on the water. There’s a pretty big chunk of property available on one of the ponds up here. A guy is building custom cabins. Well, he calls them custom, but you basically choose from just a few options for everything.”

“I saw the sign in front of the model cabin as I came into town,” I said. “It would be so cool to have a log cabin built up here. I’m sure it’s expensive.”

He picked up his drink and prepared to take another sip from his straw. “Nope. Far cheaper than other places. I’m sure that’s about to change, though. It’s already more expensive than when I bought.”

I smiled. “Sounds like I’d better get in soon.”

Our eyes met in a long stare. He still held his drink. He’d taken a long sip from it and made a face. I had a feeling he preferred his beer, and I felt bad about taking him away from the bar.

We couldn’t go back, either. I was scared to even try to sneak back to my room. I’d surely run into someone in the lobby who’d want to know why I wasn’t at dinner.

“You know what I could go for right now?” Liam asked.

“Dessert?” I guessed.

He looked surprised. That wasn’t what he could go for. Maybe he was thinking about something more physical. No, I’d made it clear I wasn’t one for one-night stands. Unless this guy wanted a relationship…

Oh God, I wanted a relationship with him, didn’t I? When did that happen? The thought of him having sex with me and never speaking to me again made me a little sick to my stomach.

Great move, Willow. You finally meet a guy who makes you tingle all over and you’re ready to marry him and settle down. Whatever happened to just having a fling?

“I was going to suggest a cup of coffee in front of the fire,” he said. “But I can take care of dessert. Let’s head to my cabin.”

I opened my mouth to protest. He knew my situation. I didn’t want to go through the lobby, and that would be necessary to get to the parking lot so we could go to his cabin. We were hiding out here.

“They’re at dinner,” he said, obviously noting my panicked expression. “Anybody who spots you is skipping out on dinner too. Besides, I’ll be a lookout. I’ll take a quick peek at the lobby and make sure nobody’s around. Follow me.”

I didn’t realize until I was trailing him out of the room and toward the lobby that it wasn’t just about hiding out in the gym. I enjoyed being tucked away in that small room, just the two of us. The rest of the world may as well not have existed.

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