Haley's Mountain Man

With a muffled curse, he shifted into Drive and pulled onto the road. Too much to hope for, maybe, but that didn’t stop him from doing just that. The sensation was uncomfortable and threatening and dammit, he didn’t like it one bit.

Reaching over, he switched on the radio and raised the volume loud enough to block out his thoughts, a maneuver that typically proved successful. Not today, and by the time he arrived home, he’d swept straight past uncomfortable into spitting mad and raring for a fight.

Well, he’d work that out, too.

And he would’ve, no doubt. But not thirty seconds after exiting his truck, a sky-blue compact car pulled in behind him, and the woman at the wheel was none other than Miss Haley Foster herself. She’d followed him home? Who did that?

Forget gumption. The woman was insane, and had zero sense of self-preservation. Hell, as far she knew, he was an ax murderer. Why would she put herself at risk?

He raked his fingers through his hair, silently counted to ten to rein in his irritation, his concern for her that also made no sense. Whatever she was up to, it stopped now. Had to.

Otherwise, he might go and do something stupid. He might just let that hope take root. Or … he might start believing that the rules of the world—his world—had somehow changed. That, he knew, would be a false belief, and when everything righted itself again—which it absolutely would—he’d be worse off.

He couldn’t go there. Wouldn’t let himself go there. Drawing in a deep breath, he marched forward. One way or another, this stopped now.

Perhaps if she hadn’t grown up with three older brothers, Haley would’ve been fooled by Gavin’s nod of greeting and his easy, almost loose gait as he approached. Thanks to Reid, Dylan and Cole, however, she recognized when barely restrained anger darkened a man’s gaze.

So, okay. Chasing after him probably hadn’t been her smartest move. Better, less intense, if she’d used the phone number on the flyer she’d snagged. Given him the chance to get to know her a little before barging into his life uninvited. But she hadn’t been thinking. She’d reacted.

She was here now, though, and she intended to have her say. Then, if he asked—or by the looks of him, ordered—her to leave, she would. Probably. No, she would. Absolutely.

Inhaling a fortifying breath, she unbuckled her seat belt and stepped from the car with her smile in place. Adrenaline pummeled through her, every bit as potent as if she’d downed an entire bottle of caffeine pills with an extra-large cola, and her heart knocked against her breastbone in a too-fast beat. Out of nerves, she told herself. Out of the belief that this—and the man himself—was important, and that she couldn’t screw this up.

He came toward her, his expression serious, his eyes shadowed. Stopped in front of her and appraised her, gave his head that same slow shake she’d seen earlier. “Haley,” he said, his voice gruff and low. “This is … unexpected. Why are you here?”

The way he stood and stared, waiting quietly, raised her nerves another notch. Too bad she hadn’t considered exactly how to go about this, exactly how to explain her instinctual need to follow him. Instead, she grabbed on to the first words that popped into her head, lame as they were, and said, “You ran out of the Beanery so fast, I didn’t have the chance to thank you.”

He blinked. “Thank me?”

“For the tea. And I wanted to thank you. So, um, thanks!”

Creases lined his forehead and his jaw did that clenching, unclenching thing again, and she knew—just knew—he was still working hard to keep his anger at bay. “Are you in some type of trouble that I should know about?”

“Nope. No trouble.”

“There isn’t a crazed boyfriend hot on your heels you need protecting from?”

“Nope,” she repeated, weirdly pleased by this question. She might have taken the opportunity to flirt—just a little—but a chunk of long, loose hair fell into her face. She brushed it aside. “Don’t have any boyfriend at the moment, let alone a crazed one.”

Disbelief coated his expression, and that pleased her, too.

“Your car isn’t making funny noises that have you concerned?” he asked in an even, almost rigid manner. “You’re not ill or injured or in need of any medical attention whatsoever?”

“Car is running great…. Well, maybe not great, but certainly nothing out of the ordinary, and I’m feeling terrific. Really … terrific. I do, however, appreciate your concern.” She widened her smile, batted her eyelashes. “Greatly, even. Very sweet of you to ask.”

“That’s me all right, sweet.” He pushed out a short breath. “And I’m guessing you’re not here to borrow a cup of sugar or to sell me something, correct?”

“Correct! I’m all set in the sugar department. And, I don’t know. Are you looking to buy anything?” Uh-oh. Based on the scowl currently decorating the mountain man’s face, she might have gone a little too far to the flippant side of the equation. “Listen, I really just wanted—”

“Glad you’re all set. Hope you enjoyed the drive here, and take care on the drive back.” With those tersely uttered words, he pivoted and strode in the direction of his truck, his gait no longer easy or loose. Just … bam, he’d heard enough and was done with the conversation.

Unaccustomed to people walking away from her, Haley sucked in a surprised breath. What should she do? Chase after him again, or get in her car and drive away, as he wanted her to? She could almost hear every one of her brothers’ voices chiming in that she should leave. Now. Before she did something she might regret.

Only problem was she didn’t want to leave. If anything, the very fact that Gavin had asked after her well-being when faced with such a peculiar situation spoke volumes. Showed her the strength of his character, she supposed. Maybe even proved her instincts were right all along, which really, she hadn’t doubted. Much.

He was mad. No doubt about it. Frustrated, too, probably. But he’d tempered both emotions and chose, instead, to ascertain that she didn’t require any assistance. Yes, she liked him.

The tight ball of heat returned in her lower stomach, just as intense, just as real as before, shocking her with its strength. Okay, liked was an understatement. A sigh born from her own frustration slipped from her lips. Nope, she wasn’t leaving. Couldn’t, really.

There had to be a way to get through to him.

“Wait!” she hollered. He didn’t pause, didn’t look over his shoulder, just kept on walking in the opposite direction. Feeling very much like a lost puppy—or maybe even a stalker, at least from his perspective—she set off at a half jog on wobbly, Jell-O-filled legs. “Please? I only want a few minutes to talk. I’ll leave then. Promise.”

Whether it was due to the please or the promise, she didn’t know, but he paused and turned, and waited for her to catch up. When she had, he glowered, and the storm that had been brewing reached its momentum and rolled in.

“Are you insane or just naive?” he asked, his temper finally leaking into his voice. “Because following a man home—a man you don’t know, I might add—isn’t very smart. Or safe. Or logical. Or anything you should be doing.”

“Logical, no. I’ll give you that one,” she said calmly, even though he had a point, even though her heart was now pumping so hard, she could hear the beat of it inside her head. “But I’m neither insane nor naive, and I’m able to decide what I should and should not do all on my own. In case you were wondering.”

“You don’t know me,” he repeated, pacing in sort of a half circle in front of her, his boots stirring up mini dust clouds with each step. “Where is your sense of self-preservation? Of caution? Look around you, Haley. Look!”

She didn’t, just kept her focus on him. She’d seen enough driving in, and she knew exactly what he was getting at. Other than the long, skinny, dirt driveway, they were pretty much surrounded by trees. The closest neighbor was several miles down the road, and from where they stood, Gavin’s house—as it sat back a ways, behind more trees—wasn’t all the way visible.

In all likelihood, she could scream at the top of her lungs and not a soul would hear. But she wasn’t afraid, of the remoteness or of Gavin. Angry or not, she was certain he wouldn’t hurt her. As certain as she was of her height, her name, the color of the sky and the scent of freshly baked bread. The knowledge sat inside her with the same solidity, and she didn’t question it.

“My sense of self-preservation is alive and well, thank you very much,” she said with all the dignity she could muster. “And I happen to have very good instincts about people. I wouldn’t have come here if I’d had any worries in that regard. I’m not an idiot.”

“Didn’t say you were an idiot,” he conceded. “But there’s more than one kind of smart, and I’m guessing that no one knows where you are, that you followed a strange man home to a fairly secluded area. I’m guessing that you didn’t give a thought to letting even one person in on where you were headed, what you were doing. Would those be accurate assumptions?”

“Um, yes. But—”

“That’s a problem,” he inserted, halting his pacing. “I’m stronger than you, bigger than you, and dammit, Haley, a different man, a dangerous man, could and would take advantage of such a situation.” He cursed again, rather colorfully. “So I find it hard to believe that you have even an ounce of self-preservation in your entire body, otherwise you would not be here now.”

This exchange, all of it, felt more familiar than it should. Somehow, that flared her own temper into being. Narrowing her eyes, she said, “Yep, you are bigger and stronger, but I know how to protect myself. And yep, you live in a secluded area. Lots of folks around here live in seclusion. There’s nothing new about that, but Gavin, you are not a different man. You are you, and—” she lifted her chin, met his gaze with hers “—you are not a dangerous man.”

“You do not know that!”

“I do know that!” And she did, whether she could put the whys for that into words or not. Maybe she was an idiot, after all. Why hadn’t she just phoned him? Everything was spiraling out of control, and she could only blame herself and her stupid heart-on-sleeve tendencies.

“You can’t know that,” he fired back.

“But I do! Sure, following you home was overkill, so I totally get your side on this.” She stopped and gave herself a mental shake. “I’m sorry for that, really. It was an impulse, I guess. I just wanted to talk to you, and I saw you in your truck, and … here I am.”

“I see.” He stared at her, she stared right back, and somewhere in the few seconds that passed, some of the tension dissipated and a faint glimmer of humor teased into his expression, lightening the storm in his gaze. And her heart melted all over again. “Do you typically have a difficult time controlling your impulses?” he asked. “Or is this something new?”

“You’re the first man I’ve ever followed home,” she admitted. “So that’s new. But I’ve been known to drive to the store at two in the morning for chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream when the impulse strikes, and I’ve perhaps made a few rash decisions here and there.”

Such as when she got the bug to drive to Vegas after a late-night study session in college. But she hadn’t eloped, even when the opportunity presented itself, even though she’d considered it. That was an impulse she’d controlled just fine.