Page 17 of Tormented Mountain Man

Her door opened at the same time mine did. I climbed out, resisting the urge to run to her like a goofy child. But I had a hard time holding back the gigantic smile that wanted to spread across my face. Nope, had to play it cool.

Maybe she came back to officially dump me. As ridiculous as that sounded, I couldn’t make assumptions.

She was dressed casually in sweatpants and a long T-shirt, probably wanting to be comfortable for the drive. It had been two full days since I’d seen her last, but it seemed like a lifetime. If it was possible, she’d gotten even more beautiful.

“I’m back,” she said.

She made that announcement with a big smile on her face. But as I approached her, that smile fell a little, and it broke my heart.

She thought I wasn’t happy to see her. My guarded exterior was hiding my real feelings. I’d have to work on letting that guard down. I needed to work on a lot of things to become the man Joely deserved.

“You’re back,” I said, stopping just a few feet in front of her. “Did you forget something?”

It was meant as a joke—a teasing way to break the ice. But it was immediately clear that it didn’t land as a joke. Something briefly flitted over her face. Hurt? Fear? Whatever it was, I wanted to erase it. I would do anything to bring that smile back.

“I forgot everything.” She took a breath. “If I were going to be a total geek, I’d say I left my heart here.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. A protective move. But in this case, I saw it more as her challenging me to say something back. Maybe something equally as romantic. I was not the cheesy type.

“Well, I, for one, am happy to see you,” I said. “Beyond happy. I’ve been miserable since you left.”

That was about as romantic as I got. The God’s-honest truth.

“I’ve been pretty miserable too,” she said. “And I figured out something. I belong here. Even if it means finding another job. I turned in my resignation this morning. I said I had to leave town, and if they wanted me to keep working for two weeks, they’d have to let me do it remotely.”

“You can work remotely?” was all I could manage to say.

“My company doesn’t believe in remote work.” She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and held it up. “Just before I pulled in, I got a message that my services would no longer be needed and my final paycheck would be in my bank account at the end of the pay period.”

“Fuck, that’s rough,” I said.

She shrugged. “It just confirmed that I’m making the right decision. My boss and everyone I worked with will barely even miss me. They’re just fine without me.Youmissed me.”

“I missed you,” I said. “This town missed you. But yes, nobody missed you more than I did.”

It went deeper than that, but I knew it was too early to say the L-word. That would happen soon enough, though. For now, we just needed to work out the logistics of her being in town.

“You can stay with me,” I said. “Unless you think you need space until we get to know each other.”

“I don’t need any space from you.”

I smiled. “Me, either.”

And that was also the God’s-honest truth. In fact, I wanted as little space between us as possible. But we’d just met. She might want time to get to know me.

“Mallorie’s hooking me up with the deal she had—cabin-sitting for a property manager,” Joely said. “But I’m sure I’ll be spending a lot of time with my mountain man.”

She gave a smile at that. And the smile went straight to my heart.

It was hard to believe I’d shut people out for so long. But there was only one person who could soften my hardened heart, and that person was standing directly in front of me.

I took a step closer, and she uncrossed her arms, letting her hands fall to her sides. One step closer to her putting those hands on me.

I wasn’t shy, though. I took another step and put both hands on her shoulders.

“We’ll figure it all out,” I said. “Together.”

Relief spread over her face. She’d been stressing about this, and I couldn’t blame her. Quitting a job and moving all at once was a huge step, especially since she was leaving her friends behind.

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