Page 10 of Mountain Wood

“Like that pretty little thang who just left?” Conner waggles his brows. “Giving her the special guest treatment?”

I want to throat-punch him. “It’s not like that.”

“Why not? She’s staying with her family or something?”

“She’s alone,” I say, my burger suddenly turning into a rock in my belly.

“Is she married?”

“How should I know?” I didn’t see a ring on her finger or anything, but I know that’s not a telltale sign of commitment anymore. “She’s a guest and I don’t fuck my guests.”

Bennet slaps my back. “Such a gentleman.”

There’s nothing gentlemanly about the desires I have for that woman. It makes me feel awful because she deserves better than to be fantasized about by the likes of me.

“Watch your back,” Nick chimes. “She’s looking more and more like an op, if you ask me.”

He might be right.

“Ohhh, that sounds like an enemies-to-lovers Hallmark story if I ever heard one,” Conner says. When we all give himwhat the fuckfaces, he shrugs. “Sorry. Taylor made me watch a Christmas movie marathon because I lost a bet with her last week. It’s still fucking with my head. My mind immediately latched onto the city girl-country boy trope where she’s sent to take his farm but ends up falling in love with him and yada yada yada.”

“Bro.” Nick pinches the bridge of his nose. “That’s insane.”

Agreed.

“Let me know about poker on Friday night.” I’m going a little numb with dread because I really hope Grace isn’t working for that asshole from New York. Hallmark movie be damned, I can’t lose my property for any reason, and if she turns out to be here to charm my ass so I’ll cave and sell…

Fucking hell, I can’t even pretend that’s a possibility.

When I rush outside, the burst of freezing cold air does nothing to cool my overheated skin. My mind races with a dozen scenarios, but it keeps circling around the biggest one.

She’s alone.

Grace is staying in a cabin in the woods, by herself, and I’m worried.

Look, my place is typically safe and with no other guests staying there, it’s not like she’ll have an issue with a random stranger. But there is wildlife. Black bears. Coyote. Skunks.

Earlier when I asked what happened to her, I acted surprised when she said it was a mud bath. I already knew. I’d seen her bright outfit sticking out like a sore thumb through the brush when I went hunting for Oscar and found them both rolling in mud. Instead of interrupting, worried she’d think I was following her, I watched in silence, awestruck that a woman so bougie would ever do such a thing. She took a bunch of selfies with Oscar, and I think a video too. I’m not sure what’s worse, that I pretended to not know, or that I stayed and watched.

I have zero regrets about doing it. Her cuteness with Oscar will forever be burned in my brain. But now I’m scared something will happen to her out here. I’ve got trail cameras set up to monitor wildlife, and it’s late in the season for bears to be roaming around, but does Grace know how to protect herself with nature at her doorstep? What if a rogue racoon somehow gets into her cabin? It’s happened before. Granted, that was in the summer when a family had the doors and windows open, but…

Chill, Dean.

I’m overreacting.

She’s a grown woman who has some sense to her.

Yeah… so much sense she rolled around in mud with my dog earlier.

And moved her car in frigid temperatures with no coat and no shoes.

Holy shit. I’ve got to get back to her cabin and make sure it’s safe and secure before something potentially goes wrong. Op or not, she’s mine to protect for as long as she stays with me.

Chapter 4

Grace

After dinner, I went across the street to a tiny grocery store, humbled by the fact that as limited as their selection of food was, I still didn’t know what to do with most of it. I kept looking up recipes on my phone while hunting down ingredients, but my cell service cut out in most aisles.

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