Page 4 of Tormented Mountain Man

I couldn’t help but notice the two couples who’d been standing to leave had stopped everything to look at us. Nosy fuckers.

I gave Dane a look, and he seemed to get the message. He put his hand on Cassady’s arm and off they went, followed by the bride and groom. On his way out, Memphis tossed me a “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do” look.

“So, are you and Memphis good friends?” she asked.

That was a question I wasn’t really prepared to answer. Obviously, she and the bride went back a long way. That wasn’t the case at all with me and the groom.

“We’ve worked together on the logging crew for a while.” I paused and thought about it for a second. “Yeah, I guess we’ve gotten close over the past year or so.”

“How long have you lived here?”

“A couple of years,” I said. “Like most of the guys in town, I moved here for the job opportunities and low cost of living. Where else can you get a cabin like this?”

Her eyes widened. “You have a cabin like this? Is this yours?”

I laughed. “Not even close.”

I found myself wishing this were my cabin, if only to impress her. Which was crazy, because I wouldn’t want her to like me just for my money.

“A cabin like this would cost at least a million somewhere else,” I said. “Probably multimillions in a touristy mountain town. But I’m sure the cost of living here will keep going up as it becomes more popular, which is good news for those of us who own property here.”

“Buy low, sell high,” she said.

I smiled. “Exactly. What about you? Plan to stay in Nashville forever?”

She settled back onto the couch and took a long sip of her wine. “I don’t think so. I love what I do, but city life wears on you.”

“I wouldn’t know. But you’re an urban planner. Does that mean you have to live in a big city?”

She laughed. “I guess the name sounds that way, but urban planners are needed in lots of places, and there are remote opportunities. I just need to get experience first.”

That was good news. Wait, why was it good news? What was I hoping? She’d fall madly in love with me and move back here?

No.

Yes.

No.

I was so confused.

“So you could see yourself someday moving back to, say, Seduction Summit?”

I held my breath as I waited for her answer. What if she said she’d never live here again? It wasn’t that I was set on Seduction Summit, but I loved it here. I didn’t really want to move elsewhere.

Why was I even thinking about moving? I specifically relocated to Seduction Summit because of its lack of female residents. It was perfect for the bachelor lifestyle I planned to live. Not just today, not just tomorrow, but for the rest of my life. I had good friends, fresh mountain air, and a job I enjoyed. What more could I want out of life?

The answer to that was supposed to be nothing. But I was having serious doubts all of a sudden. And it was all because I’d met a woman who intrigued me. A woman I couldn’t take my eyes off of. A woman who’d stepped right out of my fantasies.

“I always said I’d never raise my kids here,” she said. “Too small a town. Did you know there were twenty-seven people in my graduating class?”

“Mallorie was one of them?” I asked.

She nodded. “We’ve been friends since kindergarten.

“I guess most people left because there weren’t that many men around,” I said. “We fixed that problem. Now there aren’t enough women.”

Not that I was complaining. Did that make it sound like I was complaining? Truth be told, I barely paid attention to the women around this town. Whether it was the ski bunnies at the lodge or the women working at the few businesses in town, it took a lot to get me interested in a woman. In fact, Joely was the first who’d caught my attention in a long, long time.

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