Page 17 of Grumped By the Mountain Man

Once I get Mochi back into the house, he immediately climbs onto the pillows beside Ayla and she hugs his neck.

“You can’t stay in those clothes,” I say gently. I know she’s freezing, so the last thing she’ll want to do is strip, but staying in those soaked muddy clothes will only make things worse.

“I’m so cold,” she whispers as if in protest.

“I know, butterfly. I’ll get you warm again in a second.”

She doesn’t shrink away from me when I reach for the hem of her shirt and pull it over her head to expose an emerald, lacy bra. Damn, she looks good in green. I struggle not to stare at her breasts as I unbutton her denim skirt and tug it down her hips next, exposing matching underwear that’s entirely see-through.

I don’t have the willpower to look away this time. Not when her smooth mound is directly in front of my face.

I swallow. “Mochi, grab that blanket.” I nod at the buffalo plaid blanket thrown across the opposite end of the couch. Mochi drags it over to me and I wrap it around Ayla like a burrito before leaning her back against the pillows.

Color’s finally starting to flood her cheeks again, as I reach for the zipper on her left boot. She winces as I ease it off to assess her rapidly swelling ankle.

“It’s not as bad as it looks,” she says at my quick intake of breath.

“I know. It’s worse,” I say with a sigh and shrug out of my drenched coat before heading into the kitchen. I grab painkillers, a water bottle, the first aid kit, and a pack of frozen peas from the freezer before returning to the couch.

Immediately Ayla gasps, her eyes roving over my exposed arms where a half dozen pockmarks are turning my skin purple.

“You have a few yourself,” I point out as I hand her the water and pills before propping her foot up on a pillow and laying the peas over her ankle.

“But I was already outside when the hail started. Why did you come out? You know how dangerous it can get.”

I glance up at her incredulously. “Ayla, you were out there.”

“Because I was being an idiot. That doesn’t mean you should be one too.”

“There’s no way I would leave you out there on your own.”

“Hail only last about fifteen minutes—”

“I don’t care if it lasts one minute. Do you really think I’d sit comfy in this cabin and let you bear it alone? Especially when I’m the cause for you running out in the first place? I called Willis. I know he was never coming.”

She looks down at her ankle for a long time avoiding my gaze. When she finally speaks, it’s barely a whisper. “Jaxon? I’m sorry.”

Before I can intervene to tell her that she has zero to be sorry for, she sniffles and starts again.

“For everything. For showing up to your cabin unannounced. And for going into the nurs—into that room. I’m sorry you have to have me in your house for even longer now that I’ve injured myself and there’s a crap ton of hail outside. I’m sorry I came at all.”

A pang goes through my heart at her words. “Ayla—”

She shakes her head. “Cali aside, I wanted to come. I wanted to be near you even after getting the hint at the rehearsals and wedding that you weren’t interested in me. I still kept trying to force myself on you.”

My heart fucking shatters. Is that seriously what she thinks? “None of that is true.”

She smiles, but it’s weak and sad, and I’m the cause of it. “Then why do you keep icing me out? Why do you keep pushing me away?”

“It’s not you.”

Ayla rolls her eyes, and a tear falls down her cheek.

I brush it away with my thumb and force her to look at me. “I mean it. It's not you, butterfly I swear. You’re absolutely perfect.”

“So perfect you can barely stand to look at me?”

“Yes,” I admit. “You’re so perfect that all I want to do is trap you here. Keep you with me locked away in this cabin in the middle of nowhere. Just you and me for eternity. So believe me when I say it’s not you. It’s me. I’m grumpy and miserable and quite frankly I don’t think I can give you what you need.”

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