Page 19 of A Very Grumpy Mountain Man

I duck out around mid-morning and head inside, claiming I need to take a call.

Which is only partially a lie.

I grab my phone and sink onto the couch in the living room, staring at the screen for a minute before hittingCamden’snumber.

He answers on the second ring. “Yo.”

“You busy?”

“Nope. Lymric’s got me painting our bedroom, and I’ve been standing here for ten minutes trying to figure out which shade of white is less white.”

I huff a quiet laugh. “Sounds brutal.”

He chuckles. “You okay, man? You sound like you’re about to punch a hole through something.”

I stare at the floor for a second, running a hand over my jaw. “I think I screwed up.”

“What happened?”

I tell him everything. About spending the night with Sienna. About my offer for her to move in and how she said no because I’m her boss. She sees this thing between us as temporary, a risk, something she has to protect herself from.

Camden is quiet for a few seconds. “Kye, you’ve been alone for a long time. But you can’t expect her to be all in immediately becauseyouare.”

“I’m not mad at her,” I mutter. “I just… I thought we were on the same page.”

“Maybe you are. Maybe she’s scared. Hell, I was scared out of my damn mind when I met Lymric. It took me a few days to admit how I felt, even to myself.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t have a few days. I can’t keep playing it cool when I feel like this.”

“Then stop playing it cool,” he says. “Talk to her. Lay it all out. Tell her what this means to you.”

“And what if it pushes her away?”

“What if it doesn’t?”

I close my eyes. “I don’t know if I can take the chance.”

“Youhaveto. If you care about her like I think you do, you owe her the truth. Don’t let your silence be the reason you lose her.”

I sit there long after we hang up, staring out the window toward the studio.

I don’t move even when Meyer, my longtime friend, calls, responding to a text I sent earlier. He just moved back to town and has been busy settling into his new place. I’ve been meaning to go see him, but then I met Sienna and became… distracted.

Meyer doesn’t know all the details, but he knows enough. When I tell him what happened, his advice is almost identical to Camden’s.

“You’re a good man, Kye,” he says. “But you overthink everything. That girl’s not like the rest. She’s sunshine wrapped in a second chance. Don’t waste it.”

Sunshine wrapped in a second chance.

Yeah.

That’s exactly what she is.

I glance toward the studio and spot her through the open doors, crouched beside the rocking chair, running her fingers along the grooves in the wood.

She’s probably humming again. She always hums when she’s focused, like it helps keep her grounded.

And me?

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