Page 13 of Beastly Mountain Man

Caprice put her coat on and followed me outside while Bear stayed close to her instead of ranging toward the trees.

“You don’t have to come out for this,” I told her as we crossed the porch.

“I know. I’ve been inside with a laptop since breakfast. I want to see what the mountain is doing before it becomes something I only observe through a weather app.”

I liked that answer.

The air had a heavier feel than the night before. Wind moved through the tops of the pines now, and the cloud cover had thickened until the whole ridge looked washed in shades of slate, brown, and dark green. Caprice tucked her hands into the pockets of her camel coat and watched while I brought another armload of wood from the covered service reserve.

One split was too large for the fireplace, so I set it on the chopping block beside the storage area and took the maul from the truck.

The wood separated cleanly on the first strike.

When I straightened, Caprice’s eyes were on me instead of the wood.

She smiled when our eyes met.

“I’m not going to pretend that was entirely educational.”

Heat pulled low through my body, stronger than it had beside the door.

I set the maul safely against the block before answering. “I wasn’t going to make you explain yourself.”

“Another civilized policy.”

Her smile stayed with me while I stacked the two smaller pieces beneath the covered overhang.

I still had half the upper properties to check before lunch, along with weather updates to review and a maintenance list that would not shorten because I was attracted to a guest. Caprice had her own work waiting inside. Neither of us needed to pretend otherwise.

I pulled my gloves back on. “You’re set for now. The resort will send an update if the snow changes delivery or road conditions, but everything up here is ready.”

Caprice nodded, then hesitated before going back inside. When she spoke, the teasing had eased from her voice, but the warmth hadn’t.

“I understand our agreement is for actual problems with the cabin. But if you’re back on this end of the ridge later and nothing has broken, you don’t have to wait for an emergency before you knock.”

I held her gaze.

“I’d like that.”

Her smile came slowly this time. “Good.”

The door worked. The fireplace worked. The cabin had more than enough wood, and nothing else on my list required me to stay.

I headed back toward the truck with Bear following at my side, aware of Caprice still standing on the porch behind us. I had work to finish before the weather turned, and I intended to finish it.

But the next time I came back to her door, neither of us needed something to be broken.

Chapter Three

The front door shut behind me with a solid click, cutting off the cold and the fading sound of Lucky’s truck somewhere beyond the trees.

I stood in the entry for a moment with my camel coat still buttoned and my hands buried in the pockets.

I had just invited a man I’d known for less than twenty-four hours to come back when nothing was broken.

More importantly, he’d said he wanted to.

That seemed worth approximately ten seconds of appreciation before I returned to being a functional adult.