Page 7 of Claimed By the Mountain Man

“Thank you, Cooper. I appreciate that. I really do.” I squeezed his hand back, then removed mine. I didn’t want him thinking this was developing into some sort of relationship between us. Because it couldn’t. Cooper deserved better than me.

He stared for a long moment at his now-empty hand before he finally drew it back to him. Clearing his throat awkwardly, he asked, “So, how did you end up here doing custom woodworking? “

I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about Jonah and Claire, or even about my mother right then, so I told him a half-truth. I hated lying to him at all, but this was the best I could do for now. Even so, I physically leaned my body away from his a bit, trying to literally distance myself from this intoxicating man before he coaxed all of my secrets out of me. “I followed my father’s career plan for me and became a trial lawyer. He made me the youngest partner at his law firm. I was a defense attorney. I defended some of the worst criminals in the country.” My words sounded stilted and robotic even to my own ears. “My father didn’t care if they were guilty or not, only that they could pay our exorbitant fees. I hated it there. Absolutely detested it. A couple of years ago, I’d just finally had enough. I packed up my shit and left. I left everything I knew—my job, my father, my friends, and my home. I haven’t spoken with him since, and I’ve never been back to Chicago.”

“That’s so sad. What about your mother? Do you get along with her?”

He couldn’t possibly know what a hornet’s nest he had just kicked with that question. So, again, I told him part of the truth. “I loved my mother very much, and she loved me. She was always my most fervent supporter. But she unfortunately passed away about four years ago. She had ALS. She’d been suffering from it for years, and she was in really bad shape by then. She was just a shell of her former self, unable to communicate or care for herself—which I know she would have absolutely hated. She was always so strong and independent. She could barely take a breath on her own by that point, so her passing was actually a blessing. At least I know that in my head, but my heart’s not quite on board. I still miss her every single day.” To my horror, I realized I was crying. I wiped at my eyes and tried to look away, but Cooper gently grasped my chin and turned me toward him. When he released my face, he wiped a tear away and looked me straight in the eyes as he spoke.

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Gage. My heart aches for you. I lost both of my parents in a car crash when I was ten. My grandparents raised me, and I loved them both dearly. They stepped up when I had no one else, and I’m forever grateful to them. I couldn’t have asked for better guardians. We lost my grandmother about three years ago. Pop and I still grieve for her. So, I can understand a little of what you’re going through. And I’m truly sorry you’ve had to endure that.”

This man…I swear, if I wasn’t careful, he was going to break me. Or I would break him. And I couldn’t let that happen. I would not let that happen. Even if it killed what little bit of my heart still remained open.

I chuckled awkwardly, desperately wanting to leave the topic of my past life behind us. “I sure know how to bring a mood down, don’t I?”

Cooper opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by Mark, one of the bar’s regular customers. “Hey, CJ? Can you close me out? Looks like this storm is supposed to get a lot worse, and I don’t want to be here when it does. There’s a little break in the weather right now between storm systems, and I want to take advantage of it to get myself home before the really bad shit gets here. The rest of you might want to think about skedaddling your little butts home too. If you live fairly close and leave now, you can make it home before this thing spins up again.”

“Sure thing, Mark. I’ll be right there.” Cooper jumped up from the booth and jogged over to the bar to close out Mark’s tab. All his other customers followed suit, and before I knew it, we were the only people left in the bar. I can’t believe we were so engrossed in conversation that we didn’t even notice it had stopped storming.

With a reluctant look on his face, Cooper said, “I think I might go ahead and shut this place up a little early tonight. You want me to close you out too, Gage? See if you can make it home before it gets bad again?”

I met his eyes easily then, no longer feeling quite so emotionally raw. “Sure, I’ll go ahead and pay you so you can close out the bar. We both know I wouldn’t have ordered another drink anyway. As for heading home, I think I’ll stay for a while, if that’s ok with you. I checked my weather app while you were cashing everyone out, and there’s no way I’ll be able to make it home before that next storm cell descends upon us. It looks to be pretty gnarly—much worse than the one that just passed through—and the last place I want to be is on the road when it hits. Ok with you if I wait it out here?”

Cooper’s face lit up with happiness. “Sure thing. Stay as long as you like. I’d much rather have you here and safe than out there at the mercy of this storm.”

I smiled back and quietly uttered my thanks to him. “Thanks, Cooper. I appreciate it. How about I help you clean this place up for closing?”

“That would be great. Thanks. I’m certainly not going to turn down the offer of help with the closing duties. It shouldn’t take us too long since we only had a few customers. And we never opened up the kitchen tonight, so it should still be good from the cleanup earlier today. I’ll check it to be sure, but I bet we’re golden on that front.”

“Sounds good. How about I gather up the empties for the trash and wash the dirty glasses while you close out the register and deal with the closing paperwork? Oh, here,” I said, trying to hand him a twenty. “I almost forgot to pay you for my drink.”

He shoved my hand away, refusing to take the money. “Don’t worry about it. You’re helping me clean this place up. I think the least I can do is comp your drink.”

I put my cash away and nodded my thanks as he grabbed the cash register drawer and headed back to the office. I really hoped my staying here didn’t give Cooper the wrong idea, but the thought of being in the car driving in the middle of a bad storm like this shot my anxiety through the roof. It brought all the memories to the forefront of my mind again, brutal memories of another stormy night. And this close to the anniversary of the day I lost everything that mattered to me, I just couldn’t handle that drive. And if I were being honest, even if I actually had the time to make it home before the storm hit, I’m not sure I’d have done it. Because the thought of being all alone in my house withnothing but my memories and my guilt and my shame while the storm raged around me was more than I thought I could reasonably handle right then. Loathe as I was to admit it, I needed Cooper’s company.God help me, but I craved it!

SIX

COOPER

I finished up the paperwork in the office and headed back out to the bar area just as the storm started ramping up again. It was worsening very quickly too, it seemed. The noise of the rain and howling wind was almost deafening on its own, but when you added in the loud claps of thunder—which seemed to be right on top of one another—it was complete auditory chaos. And it was honestly really starting to impact me. I felt like jumping out of my skin, I was so anxious, but I had to hold it together. I was pretty sure Gage wouldn’t judge me for being scared of a little thunderstorm, though. Hadn’t he said he didn’t like them either?

But this was not the kind of first impression I wanted to make on him. Although I knew this was technically not afirstimpression since we’d met before, this was the first time we’d really talked. It felt almost like we were on a first date, even though there hadn’t even been a hint of romance. We were only just now really getting to know each other. And this was not the kind of thing I wanted him to know about me. Not yet.

I quickly double-checked the state of the kitchen before continuing on to the bar area. As I suspected, the kitchen was still in perfect order from the work the previous shift did on it. When I rounded the end of the bar, Gage was just finishing wiping everything down behind it. He looked up and smiled at me, and he was so beautiful, it nearly stopped me in my tracks.

“All finished up back there?” I asked him.

“Just about. Trashed the empty beer bottles, washed and dried the glasses, and I’m just giving everything a final wipe down now,” he replied. “What’s next on the closing list?”

“There’s not much left. Just need to stack the chairs on the tables so we can push the dust mop through here, and that’s it. Unfortunately, I think we’re going to be done with all the closing duties well before this storm has blown through.”

“Which means one less thing to distract us from the tsunami outside our door?”

“Got it in one. I knew you were more than just a pretty face,” I teased him.

“Thanks,” he deadpanned.

Without prompting, we both began stacking the chairs onto the tables in surprisingly comfortable silence. But barely a few minutes into the task, a streak of blinding light shone through the front window followed by an ear-splitting boom that shook the ground. I was immediately thrown into battle mode, and I was back in that desert hellscape. I screamed at Gage to get down and dove under the nearest table. I was positive we would be hit by the next blast any second. I was in full-on fight-or-flight mode at that point.

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