Chapter 5
VANESSA
S teak. That was what I smelled. Maybe a ribeye. It could be a sirloin. Heck, I couldn’t tell the exact cut of meat, but I definitely smelled steak.
I opened my eyes and looked around. I wasn’t in my tiny studio apartment back in Boone, nor was I in the rental cabin. Steak wouldn’t have made sense in either of those scenarios.
But I hadn’t been up all that late last night. I could get up early. I’d definitely had a solid eight hours of sleep.
I pushed myself to a seated position and looked around. The mountain man next door. Dayton. He’d shown me to my room, then headed off to bed. It had been way earlier than I usually fell asleep.
I left my phone next door, though, which meant I couldn’t stay up late poking around on social media. I had nothing to do but lie here, thinking about him. The image of him in boxer briefs was trapped in my brain, playing on a loop. Over and over and over. Finally, I drifted off to sleep.
I may as well go see what was going on. I couldn’t stay in bed forever. Maybe he was cooking in his underwear. My heart leapt at the thought.
But when I opened the door, I could clearly see he wore a shirt. The cabin wasn’t all that big, and everything but the bedrooms was wide open.
His back was to me, so he didn’t realize I’d come out.
The jingle of tags on Gigi’s collar gave me away.
She came rushing toward me, her little paws tap-tapping on the hardwood floors.
She stopped in front of me, her tail wagging, along with most of her lower body.
She had a full-body wiggle going on by the time I knelt to pet her.
“Hi there,” I said.
Those little soulful eyes looked up at me, her nose moving as she sniffed. I was dying to scoop her up in my arms, but I had to remind myself this was not my dog. I should get the owner’s permission first.
“Gigi, down!” Dayton called out as soon as her paws touched my legs.
I hadn’t even been aware he was watching us until then. When I looked up, he’d turned, spatula in his right hand.
I opened my mouth to say it was okay, but then I realized he was probably trying to train the dog. So I stood, effectively dislodging Gigi’s paws, and started toward the kitchen.
“Bathroom’s in there,” he said, pointing. “I realized after I went to bed that I probably should have told you that.”
Oh, yeah. I definitely needed a bathroom.
“I could always go back to my cabin…”
My voice trailed off there. I should go back to my cabin. I should thank him for his hospitality and let him get back to his life. He’d probably be relieved. He was a gentleman, so he wouldn’t kick me out. He’d let me stay as long as I needed, but I couldn’t take advantage of that.
“You can’t leave yet,” he said, obviously assuming I was anxious to get the heck out of here. “I’m making breakfast.”
“You made breakfast for me?”
“For both of us.”
I glanced at the stove. It definitely smelled like steak, but I only saw a carton of eggs and a tub of butter. This should be interesting.
“Sure,” I said. “If you don’t mind. Again, I don’t want to be any trouble.”
“We’ll eat, and then I’ll check out your cabin. Make sure everything’s safe before you go back.”
I didn’t realize I had a smile on my face until I was washing up and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. How long had that been there? Hopefully, I wasn’t grinning like a goof when I was talking to him.
The table was already set when I emerged—a plate, napkin, fork, spoon, and steak knife at each setting. He’d situated us across from each other, which meant he’d be looking right at me the entire time. I wasn’t sure how good an idea that was since I just woke up.
“Coffee?” he asked.
I breathed a sigh of relief. I was hoping he was about to offer me that. I needed caffeine like I needed oxygen.
“Yes, please,” I said.
“I drink mine black.” He gave me an apologetic look. “I don’t have any creamer. I do have sugar and milk.”
“That’ll work.”
I could run next door and grab my creamer. I bought some at the store on the way into town. Heck, I could’ve made my coffee while I was over there, but I wasn’t sure how to. I didn’t recognize the name brand of the coffeemaker, so figuring out how to work it would’ve been a struggle.
Dayton headed to the kitchen, grabbed a mug, and began pouring from a carafe like the one my parents had when I was a kid. Even they didn’t have that kind anymore, but it made sense that he would. A lumberjack in the mountains wouldn’t buy some frou-frou one-cup coffeemaker.
He pulled out a jug of milk and a big bag of sugar.
I couldn’t help but laugh inwardly at the fact that he didn’t even have a sugar dispenser.
Not even a canister on the counter. In fact, looking around, it was clear that he definitely hadn’t invested in kitchen accessories.
Even the paper towel roll was just sitting on the counter, ignored, without anything holding it in place.
He was still standing when I started toward the table, cup of not-sweet-enough coffee in hand. It was fine. Any caffeine would do at this point. I’d just think of it as medicine and suck it down.
But I did stop as I neared the table, spotting what he’d set on each plate. Yes, there were two steaks with a generous side of eggs. My jaw dropped.
“What?” he asked, looking from me to the plate. “You don’t normally eat steak and eggs for breakfast?”
I shook my head, eyes still wide. “I mean, I knew it was a thing, but I’ve never actually had it. Cold pizza is the closest I’ve come to dinner food for breakfast.”
“Steak and eggs are breakfast food,” he said.
But his tone was anything but serious. In fact, I saw a hint of a smile there.
I tilted my head. “Is that the first time I’ve seen you smile?”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not really smiling. But yeah, I guess I don’t smile enough.”
Since he obviously wasn’t going to sit until I did, I walked around the table and took my seat, setting my coffee mug next to my plate.
I still didn’t speak as I pulled my napkin from beneath my knife and fork and settled it onto my lap.
There was more to this story, and I was waiting for him to tell it.
By remaining silent, hopefully I had a chance of hearing it.
“My goal has been to keep to myself since leaving the military,” he said. “Maybe even before that. I was burned.”
“Burned by a friend?”
“A good friend and a fiancée.”
The word fiancée sucked the wind out of me. Please tell me it was an ex- fiancée. He said he’d been burned, so I assumed that was the case.
“Former fiancée,” he said. “I guess I’ve turned into a grump over the years. I moved up here to get away from people. But that isn’t the answer either.”
I could relate to that. I’d come up here to get away from people so I could write, and here I was sitting with him. But that had very little to do with a need for companionship. I would’ve been perfectly happy over there alone if I hadn’t gotten spooked.
No, in this case, I wanted to be with him.
“Sorry about your fiancée,” I said, mostly because I wanted to learn more about the situation.
How long ago was it? Just how heartbroken was he? Most importantly, was he over her?
He shrugged. Actually shrugged. That seemed like a sign he was over her.
“What about you?” he asked. “Boyfriend? Fiancé? Husband?”
He lowered his gaze to my left hand at the end of that.
I had a feeling he’d already checked out that part of me.
Or maybe he hadn’t. I was assuming he was as romantically interested in me as I was in him, but that was just going off this electricity I felt zinging in the air between us.
Every time I looked at him, my insides got all warm and toasty.
It was honestly like nothing I’d ever experienced, so if it was one-sided, I’d be super confused.
“No boyfriend,” I said. “Never had one…”
That finished on an awkward note. I was poised to add, “never will,” but in this case, that didn’t even make sense. Of course, I planned to have a boyfriend someday. Not just a boyfriend, but a husband, at least one kid, and a dog. I definitely wanted a dog.
“I find that surprising,” he said.
I was chewing a bite of steak, which wasn’t ribeye or sirloin. I didn’t know all the different cuts, so I had no idea what it actually was, but it was delicious.
I finished chewing and swallowed before asking, “Why’s that?”
“You’re stunning.” He gestured toward me, then shrugged again, looking down at his food as he scooped up a large forkful of eggs. “I just assumed there’d be a guy lurking around somewhere.”
“Thanks.”
I felt myself blush. I wasn’t used to being called stunning, and I definitely wasn’t used to being hit on, which was exactly what this felt like. God, I hoped he was hitting on me.
“I’ve never even kissed a guy,” I blurted.
Holy shit, why did I tell him that? That was the last thing I would’ve wanted him to know. I was twenty-three years old and as innocent as innocent could be. I’d missed out on every possible experience with guys—except going to prom with my best friend’s brother because nobody else asked me.
He stared at me, eyes narrowed again. This time, I felt a little skepticism.
“You’ve never kissed a guy?” he finally asked after staring at me for an uncomfortably long time.
This wasn’t the first time someone had handed me a heaping dose of disbelief when I mentioned my lack of experience. I got it. I had a hard time believing it myself.
“I’m a writer,” I said, as if that explained anything. “I’ve always been very shy. It kept me from putting myself out there.”
That was sort of true, but really, I knew guys just weren’t into me like they were into my friends. It had taken a while for my body to fill in just right, and my flat-chested, no-curves friends seemed to attract more guys than I did. It gave me a serious case of body image issues.
But once I hit my late teens, things blossomed in all the right places. I started getting looks, especially from older guys, but not anyone I was interested in. Until now. With Dayton, all the pieces seemed to fall into place.
He stared at me appreciatively, and I soaked in every glance. Yes, this was what I’d been looking for all my life.
The problem was his location. Did I really see myself giving up my life in Boone to move up here? If things worked out between the two of us, maybe. But it would take a whole lot more than a weekend to figure that out.
I knew one thing, though. I was ready to be kissed. And I wanted to be kissed by this guy.
“I have a favor to ask you,” I blurted. “I don’t want to impose, but I think this is something you might not mind doing.”
“What’s that?”
“Kiss me. Not right now. I need to go next door and brush my teeth. But I want my first kiss. And I want it to be with you.”