Page 104 of Snowed In With the Mountain Man
He wanted that. More than anything in the world, he wished she’d move to Aspire… for him. But he wasn’t so selfish that he’d ask that of her.
And yet that was basically what he’d been insinuating. He winced, trying to backpedal with his thoughts. To get them back on track. “Look, Lia, I’m not asking you to drop everything and move—”
“And I’m not offering,” she snapped.
Another tense silence followed.
She broke it first. “This is a ridiculous conversation to be having,” she muttered. “We spent two days in a cabin together, and suddenly we’re pretending we’re in love?”
He flinched at the bitterness in her tone.
“It doesn’t work like that. And you know better than anyone the stupidity of rushing into things and being with someone for the wrong reasons.”
His breath hissed out of his lungs as her blow hit him right where it hurt.
He didn’t try to argue. How could he? She was right. He knew better than to rush into a commitment.
But this is different. This is real. What we have is—
He shut down the thoughts before they could go any further. Was it? Right now he felt like he was sitting next to a stranger. He couldn’t catch a single glimpse of the woman who’d stolen his heart.
She was in there, but in this moment, he couldn’t help but wonder if he’d made her up. His dream woman. Because right now, she was nowhere to be found.
So he forced the thoughts of love and romance out of his mind. She didn’t want to hear it. And maybe she had a point.
Maybe he was asking for too much.
Maybe what he wanted was a pipe dream, and what they had was never meant to last.
Either way, he kept his mouth shut, and they rode in silence the rest of the way back to the ranch.
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Dahlia was certain the silence would kill her.
But she survived. And when they drove up to the ranch house and she opened the passenger side door, she took her first full breath in nearly an hour.
JJ wouldn’t look at her as they both moved mechanically to get her bags out of the back.
“I got it.” He snagged the handle of her luggage before she could.
She pulled her hand back quickly so they couldn’t touch. He noticed. She could tell by the way he stiffened.
Her throat tightened so badly she couldn’t speak.
I’m sorry!
She wanted to grab his wrist and make him look at her. She wanted to beg him to understand.
But he was gone, walking through the front door with her luggage as all three of her sisters rushed out to greet her.
Rose reached her first, throwing her arms around her shoulders. “I was so worried!”
Emma and Lizzy followed right after, and Dahlia patted them awkwardly as they joined in the hug until they were an unwieldy medley of tangled arms.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” Lizzy said.
“Thank goodness you were with JJ,” Emma added.
