Page 7 of My Mountain Man Stalker
Because the truth is, I’ll burn the world to keep her safe.
Even from me.
4
Wren
It takes me a few hours to stop expecting him to lock the doorfrom the outside.
I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Hale to snap. For the mask to fall and reveal something worse. But it never does.
He moves around the cabin like he’s lived here his whole life—efficient, quiet, steady. Like he was built for solitude. He barely says a word, and yet somehow, I don’t feel alone.
I sit cross-legged on the bed while he chops firewood just outside the window. I can see him through the glass, his shirt clinging to broad shoulders, the sharp crack of the axe splitting through the stillness of the woods. His forearms flex with every swing. There’s something hypnotic about the rhythm.
And I hate that I’m watching him like this.
Like I want totouchhim.
This man—who’s been following me for years. Who’s broken a thousand boundaries without ever asking permission. Who should terrify me.
But I don’t feel scared.
I feel… safe.
And I don’t know what that says about me.
He comes back inside just before sunset, brushing snow off his boots and muttering something about a storm coming. He doesn’t speak unless he needs to. He moves with purpose, not noise. Everything about him is sharp-edged and quiet.
When he pours hot water over instant coffee and sets a mug down in front of me, I almost laugh.
“What?” he says, finally meeting my eyes.
“You’re… domestic,” I say, smirking. “I pictured more blood and violence. Less Folgers and flannel.”
He doesn’t smile, but something flickers behind his eyes.
“I can be both,” he says.
I sip the coffee. It’s bad. But I don’t care. It’s warm, and I’m starving for any version of comfort.
“So,” I say, watching him settle into the chair by the stove, “how long?”
His brow lifts.
“How long have you been watching me?”
He doesn’t flinch. Doesn’t deny it.
“Since you were nineteen.”
I blink. “That long?”
He nods once.
“Why?”
His jaw tightens. His eyes stay locked on mine. “Your father asked me to.”
