Page 4 of One Night with the Mountain Man

The concern in her eyes tugged at heartstrings I thought I’d cut away a long time ago. “I’ve got an old radio in the shed. Let me dig it out, and I’ll see if I can reach someone at the resort to let them know you’re okay.”

Her hand landed on my arm, her fingers looking even paler against my tanned forearm. “Thank you.”

Nodding, I left her on the couch with Lucky watching her every move. She might have won over my mutt, but there was no sense in me getting wrapped up in some stranger’s drama. Especially not a woman whose sister was marrying my foster brother.

* * *

The old radiowas where I remembered seeing it last. I hadn’t had a use for it since I bought this place, but the previous owner had left it along with a bunch of other crap. As I turned to leave the outbuilding, I ran my gaze over the project I was currently working on. My fingers itched to forget about the woman in my living room and lose myself in my work. The pair of rocking chairs I’d been working on was almost done. I didn’t know what had possessed me to create something so functional. Usually, the pieces I freed from huge chunks of wood were more decorative than useful.

Knowing Adelaide was waiting on me made me turn my back on my equipment. Working with the tools the previous owner had left behind had been the way I’d found some peace over the years. Thankfully, it also provided me with a means to support myself. Though it looked like that might be coming to an end. The owner of the shop in town that sold my stuff told me he was retiring soon. I lived a modest life and had enough money tucked away to keep myself going for a couple of years, but then what?

I stepped onto the back porch with the radio in hand. Those were problems for another day. Right now I needed to focus all of my efforts on getting Adelaide Frost out of my house before I got attached. Having gotten a hard-on inducing look at her miles of curves last night, I was already picturing what she’d look like underneath me. How her eyes would widen, and her mouth would round as I thrust deep inside of her.

My fingers closed around the handle of the back door, and I peered through the window. She sat on the couch, feeding small pieces of cracker to my dog. He looked up at her in adoration. Her charm had already disabled Lucky’s defenses. I couldn’t afford to let her start chipping away at the armor around my heart.

With a heaviness settling in my chest, I pulled open the door. “Found the radio. Let’s see if we can make contact with someone in town to let them know you’re safe.”

5

ADELAIDE

Istill didn’t know anything about the mountain man. Having spent the past ten years in New York, I’d become more than a little wary of strangers. Though something about him set me at ease. If he wanted to hurt me or take advantage of me, he’d already had plenty of opportunities.

As a kid, I’d heard about the folks who lived in these hills. The staff at the resort took great pleasure in spreading local legends through the kids’ camp or while roasting marshmallows at the fire.

The gruff mountain man next to me didn’t fit the description of cranky, reclusive old-timers the staff always talked about. Or the spooky tales of prisoners who’d escaped from the federal prison a few towns over and spent the rest of their lives hiding in the hills. Despite his gruff appearance, the guy currently fiddling with old radio wires seemed like a regular man—if muscled, hot-as-hell giant could be consideredregular.

A crackle sounded through the radio. My pulse pounded, and I slid the tray onto the empty cushion next to me.

“Looks like we have a signal.” He glanced over at me, his eyes softening at the edges.

“What are you going to say?” I didn’t remember seeing a radio at the front desk of the hotel. But surely the trail guides had some way of keeping in contact with the resort in case they needed assistance.

“I’ll just try a general call out first. If you were reported missing, that’s probably the best place to start.”

I nodded and clasped my hands together.

He pressed on the button and spoke directly into the mic asking if anyone had reported a missing hiker. We waited for a response. Seconds stretched into minutes with no answer. A hollow ache spread through my stomach.

“I’ll try again in a little bit.” He set the mic back on its holder. “In the meantime, can I get you anything?”

“No, I’m fine.” I tried not to think about how worried Jules might be. Our dad and a couple of our brothers were arriving at the resort today. This weekend was supposed to be about bringing two families together and celebrating, not focused on locating a missing person. “When do you think I’ll be able to get back to the resort?”

He stood and scrubbed a hand over his beard. “Hard to say. It could take weeks to get the bridge repaired.”

“Weeks?” My back straightened, and I fought the urge to jump to my feet. “I can’t stay here for weeks.”

“Relax. I’m just as invested as you are in getting you back where you belong.” His eyes narrowed, creating a deep furrow across his brow.

“Sorry, the last thing I want to do is inconvenience you.” My tone came out a few degrees colder than I intended. It’s not like I’d planned to get lost in the woods and impose on a stranger.

The dog whimpered like he didn’t want to witness an argument.

“That’s not what I meant.” Samuel perched on the edge of the cushion on the opposite side of the sectional. “Lucky and I like to keep to ourselves. We’re not used to visitors.”

I ran my hand over the thick fur on the dog’s back. “Yeah, he seems extremely uncomfortable with new people,” I joked.

“He’s usually not so friendly.” Samuel got to his feet and picked up my tray.

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