Page 15 of Fierce Mountain Man

“What do you think?” she asked.

She was watching me, gauging my reaction. Of course, she cared what I thought.

This time, though, I waited until my mouth wasn’t full to give praise. “This is the best cheesecake I’ve ever had.”

And it wasn’t a lie. I’d never even been all that excited about cheesecake. But if this was what it was supposed to taste like, I was on board.

“I’ll make you one next time you go to your sister’s. You can take it and show her. See what she thinks of it.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure it would survive the flight. But next time they come to town, you definitely have to make one of these for them.”

That was a lot to ask of her. I could buy one from the bakery, of course. But that wasn’t what I was thinking. I was thinking that the next time my sister came to town, Emmy would be partof the whole scene. She’d be sitting at my table as my sister’s family joined us for dinner. She’d be cooking alongside my sister in the kitchen while my brother-in-law and I kept the kids out of the way…

The more I thought about it, the more it warmed my heart. I didn’t know how it was possible, but in just twenty-four hours, this woman had changed my thinking on everything.

“I’ll make a strawberry puree to go over it,” she said, oblivious to the thoughts running through my head. “I’ll run by the store and get the ingredients for tomorrow.”

I shook my head. “No.”

She stopped chewing and looked at me, her eyebrows rising. Then she took on a quizzical expression.

“Tomorrow night, I take care of dinner,” I said. “I’ll stop by the store on my way home and pick up the items. You focus on getting your business up and running.”

That was the best I could do to take care of her right now. Well, that and offering her a place to stay. She had a dream, and I’d do everything I could to make that dream come true. It was more important to me than anything else right now.

7

EMMY

Iwas eating cheesecake on a couch with a guy wearing nothing but jeans, underwear, socks, and one shoe.

I had no idea what had happened to me. The old Emmy would have said no to the idea of a strip card game. I wouldn’t have had to say no, actually. I could have just laughed it off, and Tobias would have written the suggestion off as a joke.

But this was a new Emmy. One who wanted to break all her own rules. I was ready to start a business and lose my virginity to this guy seated on the sofa with me.

I nearly choked on my cheesecake at that thought. I was ready to lose my virginity? When did that happen? Sometime around the moment he lifted me off the ground at the construction site, I was pretty sure.

“Do you bring women back here very often?” I asked.

The question seemed to take him off guard. It was barely noticeable, but I saw the way he sucked in a breath. “You’re the first woman who’s been in this cabin who’s not related to me.”

His sister. He’d mentioned her visiting with her family and staying in a nearby hotel. Or was that while he was on base?

“I guess there aren’t many women around unless you hang out at the lodge looking for conquests,” I said.

Conquests. That was a weird word for it. It was the one that popped into my head, though.

“No,” he said. “I prefer to troll construction sites after hours looking for women with injuries.”

He wore a hint of a smile as he looked back down at his bowl. I was having a hard time not gawking at him. Without his shirt, he was even sexier. I wondered what it would be like to run my hands over those muscles, to press my naked body against his…

Oh yeah. I was definitely ready to lose my virginity.

“What about you?” he asked. “Do you usually go back to guys’ houses after you get injured?”

I shook my head. “Never before, injured or otherwise.”

“You’ve never gone back to a guy’s house?”

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