Page 14 of Auctioned to the Devil

Her smile fades. “I just got here.”

“I mean just for today.”

“Why?”

“Storm damaged the north trail. Cats have been moving lower. Bear’s active. You’re alone.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“Didn’t say you couldn’t.”

“You heavily implied it.”

“I said you’re alone.”

“I’m a thirty-year-old woman. I’m allowed to be alone.”

She’s younger than me by a decade. Normally that would run me off, but something in her eyes pulls me in.

I step closer. She holds her ground, but her breathing changes.

I notice too damn much about her.

“Being capable doesn’t make you bulletproof,” I say.

“Neither does being six-foot-four and terrifying.”

“Six-five.”

She stares at me.

Then she laughs. “You’re unbelievable.”

“So I’ve heard.”

I start up the trail.

“Caleb.”

I turn one last time. She’s watching me differently now. She’s curious and that’s dangerous.

“Why are you really warning me?”

The easy answer is Frank.

The better answer is the mountain.

Neither explains why I’ve spent the last hour making sure she doesn’t break her neck.

My gaze shifts toward the ridge, where the old Sloan parcels disappear behind thick timber.

“Because people come up here thinking the mountain’s the dangerous part.”

Her expression changes. “What does that mean?”

I hold her gaze.

“People don’t always disappear because they get lost.”