Page 3 of Mountain Man's Valentine
The man walking toward me is about my age, maybe a bit younger. I don’t recognize him at all, but you could swap him out for any of the guys in my pre-med classes and he would lookrightat home. His body is covered in head-to-toe in grey and white camo print, except for the yellow vest he has on which all of the players receive before the game.
“That was a pretty good shot,” he says, pushing his hood away from his face. He smiles at me and points back to where we just came from, throwing a thumb over his shoulder. “I didn’t know if you had it in you.”
He is a bit on the short side, sure, but he has a full, thick head of black hair and tanned skin and piercing blue eyes the color of the ocean on a bright, cloudless day. He looks a bit younger once he shakes his hood off, hanging against his back, as he tries to get the wild, errant flakes of snow to drift to the ground.
“Didn’t think agirlcould take a shot like that?” I say, my tone a mixture of incredulous and sweet on purpose.
He chuckles, taking a few steps closer to me.
My heart skips a beat as he shoves his hands into his pockets.
“Something like that.” His eyes trail down to my feet and then up to meet my eyes again, and I get a strange sensation deep inside me. “Let’s just say you looked distracted. I didn’t know you were out here to win.”
“Of course I was out here to win. Why would I be here if I didn’t want to win?”
“I don’t know,” he replies, pushing one hand through his hair. “I saw you eating your candy and you kind of looked like you were all over the place. You didn’t seem to hear me even though I was making a ton of noise right over your shoulder.”
“So thatwasyou I heard.”
“You did hear me,” he says, taking another step toward me.
He gets close. Very close.
“I heard you,” I reply, “and I knew I had to act quickly to get my bullseye before the person stalking me did.”
He smiles and turns away from me, gesturing with his head for me to follow him. I push off the tree I’m still grasping and begin to follow him.
“You know where you’re taking us?” I ask, checking the compass on my phone. “I was honestly starting to wonder how to get back to the camp.”
“Don’t worry,” he says, “I know where we’re going.”
He leads me a few paces through the trees, our feet crunching against the ground, the frost becoming more and more frozen with each step, each moment. The sun is just starting to peek out through the clouds off in the distance, painting it in orange and red, though the sky behind us is still grey.
“So what brings you out here?” I ask, grabbing a tree branch to steady myself as I continue to follow his lead. “No hot date for Valentine’s Day?”
He chuckles and glances over his shoulder, throwing a grin back at me.
“A few of my buddies and I have come out here to do this the past several years. We’ve been doing it since high school. Not many girls come out, though.”
“Yeah, I can see how it would be more of a bonding activity for guys,” I say.
“You should be careful out here on your own,” he says. “A young woman all alone in the woods.”
The way he says it is almost peculiar, and a small wave of heat unfurls inside my belly.
But I’m sure it’s nothing. He’s just being nice.
And really, he isright. Sort of. Because I’m not entirely alone, am I? I’m with a group of people. The people who’ve signed up for the activity.
It might be a solitary activity, but there are plenty of people around if I need them.
“I guess I’m just adventurous,” I say, clearing my throat.
The chill in the air suddenly grasps me and I shove my hands into my pockets, though I should leave them out to steady myself, keep my balance.
“You seem adventurous,” he says, stopping in his tracks and turning back to me. “I never met a girl out here who was all alone. A few bachelorette parties who thought it would be fun to do this, maybe, but never a girl all alone in the wilderness.”
His eyes narrow on mine and he takes another step toward me, snapping a branch in two under his heavy boot.
