Page 19 of Snowed In with Three Mountain Men

“Don’t get me started,” she warns me. “I won’t be able to stop. I have a huge appetite, I could eat a house if you put enough frosting on it.”

I laugh again. She has a sharp, sparky sense of humor—whatever happened between her and Callum before, I can see why he liked her so much. Now that she’s beginning to get a little more energy, she’s opening up, and the side of her I’m getting to know is sincerely intriguing.

“Sorry, am I keeping you from dinner?” she asks me, peering past me toward the door.

I shake my head. “I have to eat with those assholes every night,” I chuckle. “It’s nice to have something different in the way of company for a change.”

“Well, glad I could be a help instead of a hindrance for a change…”

“What do you mean?”

She falls silent and then glances up at me, eyebrows raised. “You really think I don’t notice how much Dax hates having me around?”

I shift slightly. I wish I could tell her it’s not that serious, but Dax has been digging his heels in about this whole thing since she arrived. She’s not stupid, she knows when someone doesn’t like her, and he’s hardly trying to cover up his irritation at her presence here.

“Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s got his own shit going on.”

“Yeah, and it seems like I’m only adding to it,” she remarks, picking at a loose thread on the covers in front of her. The corners of her mouth have turned down, and it looks like she’s having a hard time containing her hurt.

I wonder, for a second, who has made it so that she’s so sensitive to the emotions of the people around her. The guy she’s running from, if I had to guess, but I don’t know anything about him. I have no clue what he put her through, how he treated her, but clearly she’s on edge knowing that someone in this house isn’t happy she’s here. I don’t know much about this girl, but I don’t want her to let Dax’s bullshit get under her skin, especially when I know he doesn’t really mean it.

“Yeah, sure, Dax has his issues,” I admit finally. “But that doesn’t mean we’re going to kick you out, Charli.”

She lifts her gaze, her eyes scanning mine as she tries to get a read on me. I feel a pang in my chest as she looks back at me. There’s fear in her eyes, a tension in her jaw, her shoulders hunched up protectively to her chin—whatever’s going through her head, it’s not exactly comforting.

“Why are you doing this?” she whispers to me.

I pause. Truth be told, aside from the fact that Callum has made it clear he’s not letting us kick her out, I’m not sure exactly what it is that’s keeping me onside with all of this.

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” I reply simply. “I know what happens when people don’t get the support they need. Our dad?—”

I cut myself off quickly. She doesn’t need to hear about that. Shit, it’s not as though we talk about it often—I don’t know why I felt like she might be willing to hear it.

I glance away from her, but I can feel her eyes on me, curious. She seems to sense that it’s not the time to push for more, though, and returns her attention to the bowl in front of her.

“This is really good,” she remarks as she takes another bite. “How do you get fresh vegetables out here? Not exactly like you can just head down to the store and grab them…”

“I grow them myself.”

Her eyebrows shoot up, and she lets out a slight laugh.

I furrow my brow at her. “What’s funny?”

“Nothing,” she assures me, shaking her head. “I just…I didn’t expect you to be out here gardening. Do you have a special hat for it? One of those straw boaters…?”

I chuckle.

“I don’t,” I concede. “But I can show you my garden, if you like, when the weather gets a little better. Callum and Dax don’t know what they’re doing there, so I could always use someone else who’s willing to help out.”

She smiles slightly, her teeth resting on her bottom lip for a moment.

“You know, I’d really like that.”

“Me too.”

For a moment we just sit there in the comfortable quiet—and I realize that, whatever it was that brought this girl to our door, I don’t want her to go anywhere anytime soon.

9

---