Page 9 of Seduced by the Mountain Man

"I'll tell you," I say to Holt, "but not right now. I still want to go on this date. I still want to eat pulled pork and get kissed good night."

"We can do whatever you want," Holt says gently. "We can reschedule. Or we can go eat pulled pork now. I just don't want to get shut out."

He's looking at me seriously, and I am trying really hard not to feel rescued. "Dinner, please," I say with relief. "I want my mind taken off it for a little while."

"And then you'll tell me?"

I nod, making up my mind that he's trustworthy. "I'll tell you everything."

CHAPTER SIX

HOLT

Sage looks gorgeous.

I've seen her in dressier outfits, like her boho Stevie Nicks looks, all trailing scarves and long skirts and dangly earrings. I've seen her in shorts and baseball jerseys. I've seen her in wide-legged pants and those halter top things that show off her shoulders. I've seen her in a bikini and swim cover-up at the lake.

And I've seen her naked too, as much as I've tried to forget that sight. Naked was by far the most beautiful, but if I'm honest I'll say that I'd take the sight of her wearing literally anything.

What's worrying me is that both she and Sammi look like something awful has happened. I try to be thoughtful and offer her the chance to go out another night, but she says she wants to not think about it for a little while.

I can distract her. In fact, it'll be difficult to keep from distracting her the way I want to, with touches and kisses and more. But I can try to make tonight a happy time. I just want her to be able to be honest with me, the way Lisa never could.

We pull up to Fat Daddy's BBQ and I tell Sage to stay put until I can come open the door for her. It's a thrill to take her hand and help her down to the ground. She's not a tiny little thing, but I like how delicate she seems next to me.

It's been so long since I've been out that I'm actually dismayed at the state of Fat Daddy's. It's always been kind of a hole in the wall, which doesn't matter that much when a lot of their business is takeout, but it's even more of a dump now. The menu's predictable too: pulled pork or brisket, with sides of macaroni and cheese, coleslaw, and baked beans. They have bottled sodas, iced tea, and bottles of local beer. That's it. That's all. Good, plain food.

Sage wrinkles her nose. When somebody comes out from the back to take our order, Sage says it'll be to go.

A sweet shock goes through me as she turns to me and says, "That's okay, isn't it? We can take this to your place?"

"Absolutely." Good thing I did a last-minute clean after work, in hopes that I'd get to show her my cabin.

We get pulled pork with all the sides. We turn down plastic utensils and paper plates. We get Cokes. We take all this stuff in the truck, and we drive up to Big Horn Ridge.

"You gonna tell me now, or later?" I ask. "Not gonna push you. It's just...look, you know I was married, right?"

"I know," she says.

"The thing with us was that Lisa, my ex, she had some issues. But instead of telling me about them, she just drank instead. And I swore I'd never be with somebody who couldn't tell me stuff."

"Could you tell her your stuff?" Sage asks.

I shoot her a quick glance. Damn, she's so pretty. "Well. A lot of my shit had to do with being unhappy with her drinking, so that was a tough one."

"You never hid any secrets from her?"

I sigh. "Well. Maybe. Like...for example...I never told her that before I met her, I once rousted a bunch of naked teenagers out of the lake and I still had inappropriate thoughts about one of them."

That shouldn't make her smile, but it does anyway.

"No, I guess that would be an iffy thing to tell your wife," she says primly. She straightens her jeans skirt, and that one small motion has me suddenly very aware of her body next to me. Her citrus smell. Her red lips. Her smooth thighs. "I'd want you to tell me, though," she says. "I'd want to know that you were attracted to somebody else."

"Bullshit. You'd hate me."

"I would not," she says calmly. "I'd just remind you, in the most thorough way possible, that I was the only woman who deserved your attention."

And just like that, she's turned the conversation to a possible future in which we're not only married, we're honest with each other. Not to mention, fucking each other stupid.

---