Page 102 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
It was worse.
She flashed him a smile that was polite but distant. There was none of the humor he’d come to recognize in her eyes, and none of the warmth that he wasn’t sure he could live without now that he’d experienced it.
She looked hard. Untouchable. She might as well have been covered with scales and had smoke pouring out of her nose, because this right here was the dragon.
He finally understood why Lizzy had named her that.
He knew it wasn’t true. Heck, even Lizzy had caught on that the fire-breathing routine was all an act. But right now, that hard, prickly armor wrapped all around her…
Yeah, he could see the likeness.
“I’m not saying it was anyone’s dream vacation,” he said, aiming for lightheartedness. “I could have done without the injuries and the scare out in the storm…”
Nothing. He wasn’t exactly performing a stand-up comedy act over here, but he’d thought maybe he’d get a chuckle. A real smile, at the very least.
“But I, uh…” He cleared his throat again. “I just wanted you to know that I really enjoyed our time together, and—”
“JJ, stop. You don’t have to do this,” she interrupted.
He blinked in surprise. “Do what?”
She shifted to face him, her gaze shuttered, her expression blank. “We had fun, yes. And the kissing and the cuddling… it was nice. Really. But I’m a big girl, JJ.” Her chin came up as she clasped her hands in her lap. “I don’t expect it to lead to anything more.”
His head jerked back like she’d just struck him, and he turned his focus to the winding road ahead of him as she continued.
“You’re going back to the ranch, and I’ll be heading to the airport for the next flight out.” When he glanced over, her smile made his chest turn to ice. “We don’t have to have ‘the talk.’”
She used air quotes, as if her cynical tone wasn’t enough.
“The talk?” he echoed as his brain tried to keep up.
But he knew what she meant. The “it’s been fun, but…” talk. The “it’s not you, it’s me” talk. That was where she thought he’d been going with this?
He turned his head and arched his brows in disbelief. “You think I’m trying toendthings?”
She lifted a shoulder and faced forward, her lips a little too pinched for her apathetic shrug to be believable.
She might be acting like she didn’t care. But she did.
That was enough to give him a fresh wave of courage.
“Look at me, Lia.”
She resisted for a second, staring out the front window as she drew in a deep breath. Then she turned to him on a sharp exhale, like she was steeling herself for battle. Her brows arched in challenge, as if she was baiting him to prove her wrong.
Oh good Lord, save me from this woman’s stubborn pride.
He might’ve actually laughed if he wasn’t still reeling. “Lia, that wasn’t what I was going to say at all.”
Her brows dropped, a hint of confusion and vulnerability slipping past her armor before she went all icy on him again. “Then what were you going to say?”
He huffed in exasperation. “I was trying to say that I had such a great time with you that I was hoping… that is, if you’re up for it… I thought maybe we could see more of each other going forward.”
Ah heck. There he went sounding all stiff and formal again.
He glanced over to see Dahlia staring at him in clear confusion. “How?”
Valid question. He drew in another deep breath. “Well, I know we’ll be apart for a while, but I do have a phone. And don’t tell anyone, but we actually have Wi-Fi out there in the bunkhouse.”
