Page 14 of Merciless Mountain Man

No, I wouldn’t get pregnant. And I hoped he was okay with that, because I definitely wanted to see him again.

“Oh, fuck,” he whispered, as finally, we both stilled.

I opened my eyes and looked down at him to find him smiling. Smiling. That wasn’t something I’d seen him do very much. It meant he was happy. I’d made him happy.

“Ho!” a male voice called out.

Dane’s smile abruptly turned to a frown, as did mine. I looked over my shoulder. No one was in sight, but that voice didn’t sound all that far away.

Without saying a word, I jumped off Dane and scrambled to get dressed. The last thing I wanted to do was be caught out here, naked, having sex on a rock. That could put my job in jeopardy somehow. At the very least, I’d become the topic of local gossip, and I definitely didn’t want that.

Only as I snatched up my cup and started back toward the lodge, hand in hand with Dane, did it hit me what I’d done. I’d lost my virginity on a rock. This wasn’t like me at all. What if Dane got what he wanted and never asked to see me again? I’d be mortified and devastated at the same time.

But what if it went in the opposite direction? What if he wanted to marry me and have babies with me? I was nowhere near ready for that. Even with the most gorgeous guy I’d ever met.

Panic set in. I wasn’t ready for this. I wasn’t ready for any of it. I needed time. I needed to think. I had to get out of here.

“I have to go,” I said as we went around the building to the front.

He’d already taken a right turn, indicating he was planning to head back into the lodge. But I was eyeing my car, the keys still in my right jacket pocket, while my phone was in the other.

“Wait,” he said. “You can’t just leave. I don’t have your number.”

I continued on my path, turning and walking backward as I called out my phone number. I barely gave him time to process it before I flipped around and beelined for my SUV.

All I knew was I couldn’t breathe, and I probably wouldn’t be able to breathe until I got some distance. I might very well regret walking away. But it wouldn’t be worse than if I didn’t walk away and he dumped me or pressured me to change my life.

None of it made sense. I needed time to think. And the only way I could do that was to get out of here and back to the safety of my apartment in Adairsville.

8

DANE

“You alone tonight?” the bartender asked.

Those were the first words he spoke to me as he walked up to take my order. I wanted to bark at him to fuck off, but it wasn’t his fault that I’d finally gotten interested in a woman, only to find she wanted nothing more to do with me. At least, that was what I could assume from the fact that Cassady practically ran from me, then ignored the text messages I sent both last night and this afternoon.

“Yep.”

“Cool,” the bartender said. “What can I get you to drink?”

“Sweet tea. And I’ll take a basket of wings and fries.”

The bartender rushed off to fill my order, leaving me staring blankly at the TV above him. Golf was on the screen. I had no interest in golf.

“Okay, one sweet tea,” the bartender said, plopping it down in front of me. Then he headed off to the other end of the bar to take care of a customer who’d called for him.

I’d barely taken my first sip when the voice next to me pulled me out of my thoughts. “Okay, now I really know something’s wrong.”

I nearly choked on the swallow I’d just taken. Memphis, a guy on my crew, climbed onto the barstool next to me. He and I weren’t best buddies, but we’d worked together long enough to become decent enough friends.

“Hey,” I said.

“Sweet tea?” he asked, shaking his head.

I scooted the menu that the bartender had set in front of me toward him. Then I looked up at the TV like I was actually interested.

“You’ve been quiet all day, and now you’re drinking the soft stuff. Must have to do with a chick.”

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