Page 16 of Grumpy Mountain Man
“You’re up.”
At the sound of Dakota’s voice, I turned, leaving the refrigerator open behind me. She stood just this side of the doorway to the bedroom, buck naked, with her arms folded over her chest again. The rest of her naked body was bared for me, and most of me wanted to shut this refrigerator door, get her back into that bed, and make love to her for the third time in twelve hours. She’d be sore, though, so maybe I’d just go down on her.
“I was just thinking about making you breakfast,” I said.
She looked around, her gaze landing on her clothes near the pool table. I held my breath, sure for a heart-stopping second that she was about to tell me she needed to get dressed and get back to the ski lodge. And that would be that. But when she spoke again, I realized I was letting my fears get the better of me.
“Do you mind if I throw on some clothes?” she asked. “I feel a little self-conscious.”
I looked down. I’d put on my underwear before exiting the bedroom, just so I wasn’t running around my house naked. I couldn’t blame her for at least wanting to put some underwear on.
“Sure,” I said, turning back to the fridge. “I can make eggs, but I don’t really have anything to go with them. How about I run out and get some donuts?”
“Coffee will be fine, for now,” she said.
I frowned as I shut the fridge door and headed back to the coffeemaker. There was something about Dakota that was different this morning. She was tense and anxious, like shecouldn’t wait to get out of here. Like she couldn’t wait to get away from me.
My heart seemed to sink to my gut as I poured coffee into a mug. What had I gotten myself into this time? I was falling for a woman who didn’t feel the same. Last night, I would have sworn we were on the same page, but of course, that had been the heat of the moment. Now that she’d had time to literally sleep on it, regrets weren’t that out of the question. She’d given up her virginity, after all. It was something I didn’t take lightly, but it had been a big move for her.
Maybe she regretted it. Oh God, did she regret it?
“How do you like it?” I asked, trying my best to keep my tone neutral. “I don’t have creamer. Just milk.”
“Sugar?” she asked.
For a hopeful second or two, I thought she was calling me sugar. It was a term of endearment. But then I reminded myself of the conversation we were having and opened the cabinet to grab the bag of sugar I rarely used. I pulled a spoon out of the drawer, set it in the mug, and poured coffee.
“I’ll let you doctor it up,” I said, stepping away and picking up my own cup.
“I thought I’d go check out the baking competition today,” she said. “They have a little area for an audience, although nobody showed up yesterday. Maybe I’ll be the only one watching today, but I have a feeling some friends and family are going to show up for the contestants, and I feel like some of those contestants are my friends now.”
As she talked, she entered the kitchen and dropped a spoonful of sugar into her coffee, stirring it and adding milk. Then she turned, holding the mug, and leaned against the counter as she looked at me.
“If you don’t mind dropping me off at the lodge?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said.
I already felt my defenses going up. That was my way. If I thought someone was going to hurt me, I shut down. I pushed them away. I’d push her away and put on a brave face. The last thing I’d want was to let her know how much she was hurting me.
But this time, I stopped myself. I couldn’t just let my pride do the talking with Dakota. I had to at least know the real deal here, or I’d regret it for the rest of my life.
“Look, I know long-distance relationships suck,” I said. “And I don’t know where you live. But it’s worth it to me, whatever this is, to find out if it can go somewhere.”
It went against everything in me to lay my heart out on the line like this. I could easily get smacked down here and end up regretting it. But if she was heading out of town in a couple of days, I’d never see her again anyway, so what difference did it make?
The truth was, it made a big difference. Because even if I never saw her again, she’d never completely leave my memory.
She closed her eyes, and I knew this was it. She was about to deliver a huge blow. She was dreading doing it, so at least there was that. But it was bad news, whatever it was.
She opened her eyes again and looked at me. “There’s something I should have told you.”
I’d swear she paled a little. I missed the blushing Dakota from last night.
“I don’t even know why I kept it to myself,” she continued. “I guess part of me liked the fantasy. I believed that if you thought I lived somewhere far away?—”
“What are you saying?” I asked.
My eyes immediately went to her left hand, even though I’d checked to make sure she was ringless yesterday. But she could be in a long-term committed relationship without wearing a wedding ring.
