Alone with the Mountain Man (Hot Mountain Nights 2 #14)

Chapter One

Wren

My cramps were brutal as I dragged my suitcase along the polished floor.

Of course, I’d forgotten any painkillers.

I’d have to pay ten times more for a tiny bottle at the airport convenience store once I got through security. First, I’d have to check in for my flight.

I headed toward the counter as another hard cramp hit me. I was a girl’s girl. I supported women in power, but why was Mother Nature playing the drums on my damn uterus?

“Hello, checking in.” I handed my ID across the desk. “Any chance I can get a window seat?”

The woman behind the counter clicked away on the keyboard and frowned. “This flight is oversold, but you’re in luck. There’s still one seat left, but it’s a middle.”

I huffed a breath but tried not to take out my crankiness on this unsuspecting woman. “That’s fine.” I had to get to my friend Kara’s wedding in Colorado, one way or another.

While I was waiting for my boarding pass to print, I glanced to my left where voices were being raised at the next counter. “Oversold? How do you sell more tickets than seats?”

“It’s common practice to account for no-shows,” the clerk explained.

“They sell more tickets than seats, then assign seats as people check in. Since the seats are all assigned I can put you on standby.” The man didn’t seem placated.

He was tall and intimidating-looking, running a hand through his too-long dark hair.

Nice to see I wasn’t the only one having a shitty start to the day.

“Here we are,” the woman helping me said, drawing my attention back to her. “Have a safe flight.” She handed me my ticket and ID, and I started tucking them into my bag.

“That was the last seat,” a voice carried from the desk to my left, and I glanced up just as the angry man’s eyes landed on me.

I took the handle of my suitcase and started toward the security line, but his voice caught up with me. “Excuse me? Lady? Ma’am?”

Reluctantly, I stopped, my sneakers squeaking on the polished floor. I turned to face him.

“Don’t call me ma’am,” I huffed. I hated being called ma’am. Sir sounded respectful. Ma’am sounded like I was too old to carry my own groceries.

“Fine. What would you like to be called?” he asked sarcastically. Up close, his eyes were a beautiful shade of dark chocolate.

Ooh, chocolate would be really good right now.

“I’d rather you didn’t call me at all.” I turned my back to him, but he called out again.

“Look, you got the last seat on the flight I need.”

“Okay, well I can’t make the plane bigger now, can I?” Another cramp hit me, and I grimaced against the discomfort. I needed drugs and caffeine… or menopause.

“Well, I have to get to a wedding. Can you just let me have your ticket? You can catch a later flight.”

The audacity.

This international airport was not big enough to hold his audacity.

“I have a wedding to get to too, and I—” I shook my head. “Why am I even arguing with you?” I muttered the last sentence and headed toward the security line.

“Because you’re being unreasonable and you know it,” he shot back, quickening his pace until he was walking beside me as if we were somehow in this together.

I stopped short, turning on him. “Unreasonable? You’re the one asking a complete stranger to give up their seat like you’re entitled to it.”

“I’m not saying I’m entitled,” he said, jaw tightening. “I have somewhere to be, and my day just got fucked.”

“I have somewhere to be too,” I snapped. “You think I’m flying for fun? I’ve been up since four, I feel like shit, and I still managed to plan ahead and get here on time.”

His eyes flicked over me. “I was here on time too,” he said, his voice calm and controlled. “They checked me in, but I don’t have a seat. They told me to see the gate agent.”

“Then take it up with them.” I gestured back toward the counter. “Not me.”

“I did. They said I have to wait and see if a seat opens up, or they’ll rebook me.” He let out a humorless laugh. “Apparently, I’m less important than your precious window seat.”

“Middle seat,” I corrected automatically, lifting my ticket and shaking it at him. “So congratulations, you’re losing out on the worst seat on the plane.”

For a second, his mouth twitched as if he might smile. Then it flattened again. “So you aren’t even going to consider helping me?”

“I have considered it,” I said, already stepping away again. “Answer’s still no.”

He called after me, but I didn’t look back.

A handful of pills and a strong black coffee later, I was sitting at my gate waiting to board. The man from earlier was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t know why I was even looking for him.

It wasn’t my fault the airline oversold the flight.

Of course, I still felt bad for him, which I’d love to blame on my hormones. It was dumb that you could buy a ticket and not actually get a seat.

He was right.

About that part, anyway.

Didn’t mean I was going to step in front of him and take the bullet.

My friend Kara was getting remarried after a shitty divorce, and I wanted to be there to celebrate with her. I was a wildfire fighter. I’d worked in Canada, the US, and Australia, depending on where the busy fire season was.

With a job like that, I missed enough important events in my friends’ and families’ lives. Missing this was out of the question.

Slowing down and staying in one place would solve the problem of missing important events. I just wasn’t sure where that one place would be.

Maybe Colorado, where Kara was now living.

I was excited to look around the little town of Iron Peak and see if it was a good fit.

As the time for boarding got closer, the waiting area filled up. I clutched the handle of my suitcase in one hand and my boarding pass in the other. No matter how often I flew, I still had that simmering anxiety that I would miss the flight.

My zone was called, and I checked my ticket for the hundredth time before getting into line behind a group of people clutching coffee cups and carry-on bags.

I glanced toward the gate agent and saw a familiar face glaring back at me. His thick arms were crossed over his chest, and his dark beard outlined the frown on his face. He’d be kind of hot if he wasn’t a complete jackass.

I shifted my gaze away, guilt blooming in my gut, which made absolutely no sense.

There was no way to avoid him as I got closer to the front of the line.

“Miss Middle Seat made it,” he said with a sarcastic smirk.

“Jealous?” I said, crossing my arms over my chest, my suitcase leaning against my leg.

“Very. I love being squished between two strangers for three hours.”

“It’s closer to three and a half, actually.” I paused. “So no luck getting a seat?”

“Standby. Need someone to be less organized than I am, or develop a conscience.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not going to let this go, huh?”

“Not my best trait, I admit.”

My lip twitched. “Well, I hope you get a seat… just so you can stop harassing me.”

“Next, please,” the boarding agent called, and I tore my eyes from the stranger and moved forward.

She scanned my ticket under his watchful eye.

“Have a safe flight,” he called after me as I moved toward the jet bridge. I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

“You too… if you ever get one,” I called back.

If he replied, I didn’t hear it. The sound of the airplane’s engine was loud, and I was focused on finding my seat. Even as I settled into my shitty middle seat, the stranger stayed on my mind.