Page 22 of Hunted By the Mountain Man

“I’ll call in a request to the Paradise Inn.”

“But I told you last night, they’re booked out.”

“Trust me,” he says quietly.

“And I don’t have the money.”

“I have it covered. Just promise me you won’t leave Murrieta. Not like this. Not until we talk things out calmly.”

“I can’t promise you anything,” I say, feeling my heart melt inside my chest.

“Okay,” he scowls. “I would never force you to be where you don’t want to be. But you gave me your virginity, and I gave you my heart, Brynn. Whether or not you want to hear it right now, we have to find a way to work this out.” He steps forward, palming my cheeks before I can pull away and swiping away my tears with his thumbs.

Resting his forehead on mine for a long time, he closes his eyes. Despite the anger still flaring inside me, I can’t deny the intensity of the chemistry incinerating the space between us. “I’ll give you your time and space. But please,” he says, his voice raw. “Don’t make me wait too long.”

Every part of me longs to wrap my arms around him and kiss away the sorrow etched in his features. But I need time to think even more.

Voice trembling and stomach knotted, I whisper, “Please, Beau. I need to go.”

“Let me put my number in your phone first. So that when you’re ready, you know how to reach me.”

“Okay,” I answer, my voice sounding distant and far away as my mind continues to race.

Beau scowls, furrowing his brows. “Maybe your dad went about things the wrong way. But he wants to make sure you’re safe, Brynn. That’s all.”

“He wants to control me,” I counter coldly.

“Maybe. But I also know he’s a law enforcement man, and some of these crime scenes we work.” Beau shakes his head, looking down at his bare feet. “I, for one, would do any fucking thing to protect you from that kind of fate. Even sell my soul. So, try not to be too hard on the old man.” He presses his lips firmly together, but his eyes pierce me as if he’s silently asking me not to be too hard on him, either.

I nod, looking down before my anger gives way completely, and I stay with my mountain man stalker. A question hits me out of nowhere. One I have to know the answer to before I leave. “Were you working for my dad this entire week?” I knit my brows, hoping somehow he’ll give me an answer I feel better about.

Swallowing hard, he replies in flat tones. “I worked for your father until the lake.”

“And so finding me in the 4Runner… Making me come here?”

He clenches his jaw, staring past me. “That was all me.”

* * *

“Welcome to Murrieta, home of the Southern Heart Ridge Trail Portal!” Ten miles past Beau’s house, the civic sign for Murrieta greets me, and I second-guess every decision I’ve made since seeing the wire notification on Beau’s phone. It doesn’t help that he’s called and texted so many times that I blocked his number. I’ll undo it later, but I need time to think and not be swayed by his rugged sexiness.

Did I overreact about the whole thing? Should I have shown more understanding?On the one hand, I’m tired of feeling suffocated by my dad. I’m a grown woman fully capable of caring for myself. On the other hand, Beau’s got a point about law enforcement and the horrific things they see firsthand. I can only imagine based on recent headlines.

I want to turn around, fly back into the arms of my mountain man stalker, when out of nowhere, I spy a figure by the side of the road. It’s Ralph with his thumb out, hitching a ride. He looks exhausted and frumpy in his Nike tennis shoes, denim shorts, drab beige T-shirt, and navy-blue, paisley handkerchief rolled and tied around his head like a sweatband worn by a nineteen-eighties aerobics instructor.

I pull over in the closest spot possible, looking in my rearview mirror as he runs up to the passenger door, hopping in. Pungent body odor instantly hits me, as if he’s been hiking for hours, and his face and T-shirt are drenched in sweat. I turn up the AC, rolling down my windows to diffuse the smell.

“What happened?” I ask, side-eyeing him as I pull back out.

“My van wouldn’t start, and I feel like shit because I promised the crew I’d pick them up from the Silver Ridge trailhead. I’ve tried to call them over and over again, but no one’s picking up, So, I thought I’d try thumbing that way.”

“Hitchhiking to the trailhead? Haven’t you heard of Uber?”

“Uber in a town this size? Ha. But I figured somebody kind-hearted would come along, and here you are.”

“I’m glad I saw you. I wouldn’t be hitchhiking these days, especially with a murderer running around. You have to be careful, Ralph.”

He nods, shrugging. “I don’t want to let anyone down, especially not my hiking besties.”

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