Page 3 of Wanted By the Mountain Man
I cringed at his words. Pepper wasn’t “the girl from the diner.” She was a woman. She wasallwoman. And her work at the diner was just that—work. It didn’t define who she was. But her mom owned that diner, and it was a safe bet Pepper would take it over when she retired.
She already did a lot around there. She pretty much managed the place. I’d seen her placing orders, and just the other day, she’d been training someone new.
But all I said in response was, “It’s new.”
“Got it.” Dayton chuckled. “I won’t get too used to having her around.”
Two guys jumped into a game of netless water volleyball while the women cheered from the sidelines with plastic cups full of wine and alcoholic seltzers. But my mind was working through what he’d said. He wouldn’t get used to having her around.
The guys thought of me as some sort of player, even though they’d never seen evidence of it. Pepper was the first woman I’d brought to something like this. Sure, I’d slept with a few women here and there—mostly tourists coming through town. But I was no womanizer.
But I wasn’t bugged because I cared what the guys thought of me. I couldn’t give a damn about that. What did bother me was that Dayton said he wouldn’t get used to having her around. I was shocked to find I didn’t like that.
Did I have a thing for Pepper? Of course, I did. But that didn’t mean I wanted to have her by my side at every function for the rest of my life.
Did I?
“Look sharp, Donovan,” one of the guys called out, snapping me out of my thoughts just in time to turn and find the ball flying straight toward my forehead.
I recovered, but not in time to get my arms into position, which meant the ball bounced off the side of my left forearm, making me look like a total screw-up. My attention immediately went to Pepper, sitting next to the food blanket with a plate on her lap.
I wanted to be over there with her, enjoying some of that cold fried chicken or maybe a couple of the sandwiches Hayden’s girlfriend had picked up from the deli. But instead, here I was, catching the look of smug satisfaction on Rafe’s face as it became clear their team was going to kick our asses.
Reminding myself Pepper was watching, I put my head solidly back in the game. We still lost, but at least it was by a smaller margin.
“Who’s up for a lumberjack competition next?” Rafe asked. “Give you a chance to earn back your dignity.”
He was looking at me when he said that. Damn it, the two of us were going to have to get this out in the open or come to blows. I’d assumed since he had a girlfriend now, his dislike of me would end, but it was clear he just didn’t like me in general. This couldn’t possibly still have to do with him thinking I was after some woman who’d come and gone from our lives faster than that bucket of chicken would. I wasn’t sure he even remembered her name.
“I’m getting some food first,” Dayton said. “I’m starving.”
Thank God someone said it. I definitely needed to get some food in my stomach. We’d waited until Pepper arrived to starteating, and it was a good thing the women got first dibs on the food before the guys tore through it.
By the time I got to the bucket of chicken, only breasts were left. I might be a breast man in other areas, but when it came to chicken, I preferred legs and thighs. I skipped the chicken and grabbed an extra sandwich. Either the sandwiches weren’t as popular, or someone had replenished the supply, because there were two very full, verylargetrays of them.
“We’re going for a swim,” the women announced, taking their containers to the large trash can the guys would empty tomorrow.
I saw Pepper lagging behind, lifting off her shirt while still seated. She then moved to the fastening of her shorts.
She looked uncomfortable, and I knew exactly why. She was about to parade in front of these guys wearing a one-piece swimsuit. As much as I wanted to ogle her, I wanted to protect her even more. So I quickly pulled the guys into a conversation about the upcoming football season.
It seemed to work. None of the guys were interested in checking her out, anyway. They were all newly in love. Just as I didn’t care anything about their girlfriends, they didn’t care about mine.
She wasn’t my girlfriend, though. And we weren’t in love. So why was I suddenly not interested in looking at any woman in the world but her?
I’d barely cleaned my plate when the guys hopped up to start their pissing match—the one we called a lumberjack contest. Normally, I’d be all over it. I was competitive by nature, and I’d just helped my team lose at water volleyball, after all. But tonight, I was all about Pepper.
The other women had left her sitting in the water alone, but she didn’t seem to mind. I glanced over my shoulder at the group that had gathered near the woods before returning my attentionto her. She was floating on her back, staring up at the sky like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Did she have any idea how beautiful she was? My guess was no. I weighed my options. I could go slam an axe against some wood, or I could spend time with the woman I’d invited. Spending time with her was the right thing to do. It was polite. I couldn’t just leave her in there.
I told myself all that, but really, I just wanted to be around her. So I whipped off the T-shirt I’d put back on after swimming and stepped back into the water, wishing it were deep enough that I could show off my diving skills.
At first, she looked down at me without standing. But she soon put her feet on the ground and faced me head-on.
She nodded toward the scene behind me. “You aren’t doing that?”
I shook my head. “I’d rather go for a swim with you.”