Page 7 of Forgotten Mountain Man

Or turn and hide the behemoth’s arms at my back. Either round of security would do just fine.

“Fuck,” Walker cursed softly at my back. “The sun's gone. Solar power’s run out for the night. We didn’t have a lot of sunlight today. I’ll fill the jenny up and give you more light.”

My brain kicked into gear. “The generator isn’t near the house, is it?”

I didn’t recall seeing anything on this side when I arrived earlier, though I'd only had a snapshot of his rustic living area before the clouds swept around the mountainside that appeared to have been hiding from me for my three hour crawl across Red Hart land and up Walker’s mountain.

“No, it’s around the other side, near the shed.” His finger trailed across my temple. I nearly jumped at the contract, then relaxed as I realized he offered me comfort with the touch, leaning into his hand. He stilled, but didn’t pull away.

“Don’t go out there. It’s only darkness. The weather is filthy. I’ll survive.” I kept my voice light like the lights going out was no big deal.

Utter bullshit. The moment he left I would be lucky I didn’t climb on the bed and run in circles, screaming my lungs out like a three year old. At least, in my head.

Lie.I’d absolutely be under the covers, screaming silently into my cupped hands until my breath ran out to the memory of my car sliding off the side of the hill and hitting everything on the way down, wondering if the house would be the next to fall into oblivion taking us with it.

It’s survived for at least fifteen years up here. It will survive one more night.

And the next that I stayed here. And the one after that.

However long I had to remain in Walker Roan’s home. Away from everyone and everything.

He never did answer that question on tech. Had I asked one? Or just blundered in with an offer, as per usual, and hoped he would deluge me with information? I got the impression that Walker wasn’t the free information sharing type of guy.

Jude and Travis had spoiled me for country cowboys forever. But Walker Roan wasn’t a cowboy, was he? He was a mountain man personified, and he would be lucky, I guessed, to see one or two people a season, if not in a whole year. His social circle probably included a few squirrels, the Red Hart boys and a bear or two.

“Bears. You have a whole wall missing. One entire side of yourhouseis open. How do you keep out wild animals?” I turned on my heel and gaped at him.

Not that I could see his face, but the touch of his hand didn't drop away, curving around my cheek instead. The touch was intimate, warm and grounding. His fingers were rough and calloused, his palm gentle and oversized where he cupped my face.

Walker could crush me all too easily, I knew with strength like his, muscle popping out everywhere and not the useless gym based city sort. His was the real deal, work hardened.

But he stepped into me, I knew by the increased warmth of him alone. My hands rose to press against his chest or his stomach, discovering hard planes of muscle I suspected wore as much ink as the trails that decorated his neck and forearms.

“Cliff face, remember? The house is built right to the edge. Jude, Trav and I designed it that way. The squirrels can get in. Maybe a few rodents, though they don’t bother me. Once a snake, but it ended up as my dinner that night.” I could hear the smile in his voice as I let out the shudder he intended me to give, and he laughed softly, drawing me a little closer.

I didn’t object.

“No bears or wolves?” I didn’t want to share my bed with that sort of carnivore. A different type, maybe…

“None, Faith,” Walker reassured me, his voice deepening. “You’re safe here. I promise.”

I nodded into his touch, letting my eyes drift shut as I rested my cheek into his palm.

His breath stalled as I gave him my trust willingly. A second later he leaned down, and his lips brushed my temple. “Sleep,” he whispered, pulling my blanket tight around my shoulders. “I’m right here if you need me.”

Then he was gone, and I stood alone in my doorway. The only light I could see was the faint reflected flicker from the fire further along the hallway that showed my own personal bear of a man disappearing into the room straight across from me. Walker hesitated before his door closed, not quite all the way. From the noise outside, the storm has resumed as my company for the night.

But I wasn’t afraid of what I couldn't see in the dark anymore.

CHAPTER FOUR

WALKER

My new housemate was a dancer as well as a lawyer—a hurdle I knew she wouldn’t let me dodge, though for now I satisfied myself in watching her hips bounce around inside my borrowed clothes.

Faith danced when she made the bed in my spare room. I knew, because she hadn’t shut the door the night before. I swore my old Army sweats never looked so good, even with the cuffs rolled up a half dozen times.

She danced in the kitchen too, a reduced version of what she did in the bedroom, bopping her hips about as she drank her first coffee of the day. The rate she imbibed that stuff gave me the impression I’d need to get her down to Red Hart sooner than I expected or she’d drink me dry.

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