Chapter 2
2
SEAN
I sucked at interacting with women. Okay, so I sucked at interacting with all humans, but beautiful women like the one on my sofa did a number on me. I got tongue-tied and retreated into myself.
That wasn’t an option today. Beautiful Bronte was the only one here. I couldn’t blow her off by pretending I wasn’t interested like I usually did.
But what was really alarming was I didn’t want to blow her off. For the first time in my life, I wanted to be the type of guy who could flirt with a woman until she eagerly hopped into bed with me. Instead, I was pouring bottled water into a glass and wishing I had a straw.
Women liked straws, didn’t they? Hell, if I knew. It had been a while since I’d even been on a date, let alone had a relationship.
“So you said it’s a baking competition?” I asked as I approached her on the couch.
Ask questions to get her talking. That was the key. I’d read that somewhere. I’d never put it into practice, though.
“National baking championship,” she said. “Thank you.”
After handing her the glass of water, I walked around the coffee table and took a seat on the recliner. That was where I pretty much lived when I wasn’t in my woodworking shop out back or working on the logging crew.
“The prize is fifty thousand dollars,” Bronte said.
That got my attention. The determination in her voice told me she didn’t just want to win. She was going to win.
“You’re a baker,” I said.
That wasn’t really a question, but it had to count. When she started talking, I decided it definitely counted.
“I’ve been baking since I was five years old,” she said. “I’m still not doing it professionally, though. I enter bake-offs all the time at home.”
“Where’s that?” I asked.
Too soon. I should have waited until she finished her story to ask a question. Fuck, I sucked at this. But practice made perfect.
“Jefferson,” she said. “It’s a small town about a half hour from Boone. Heard of it?”
I shook my head. “I’ve heard of Boone, but not Jefferson.”
“Have you lived here long?”
She took a sip of her water as she waited for me to answer, those gorgeous blue eyes settling on my face. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen—the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen, and I’d seen the sunrise over the mountaintops pretty much every day for the past four years.
“I grew up here,” I said. “But I served in the military. Moved back when I heard a lot of my brothers were coming here. A bunch of us are joining up with the new logging crews that are forming here. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there’s a lot of stuff going up all around town.”
A lot of stuff going up? Real smooth.
“It made the news,” she said. “The new shopping center going in near downtown? Brighton something or other?”
I nodded. “Named for Brandon Brighton. He grew up here too.”
“You’re friends with him?”
She looked impressed, like the guy was some sort of celebrity. As small as our town was, I supposed he could be considered one.
“We graduated together,” I said.
I didn’t explain further than that. I wasn’t exactly the guy everyone considered a buddy. I kept to myself, and that was the same in school as it was now, when I lived up here in the middle of the woods by myself.
“Can you see the ski slopes from here?” she asked.
She turned and looked out the window, and I took the opportunity to admire her curves. She’d wisely dressed in layers, and she had a band of some sort around her head, covering her ears. Her blonde hair was in a ponytail.
But even through the layers, I could see the swell of her large breasts and the hips that stretched the fabric of her tight pants. I couldn’t stop myself from imagining what she’d look like naked, and it reminded me just how long it had been since I’d had to battle those thoughts around a woman.
“No,” I said as she turned back to look at me, probably wondering why it was taking me so long to answer. “I can hear their skis sometimes slicing through the snow, but they’re only around a few months out of the year.”
That was about to change. The ski lodge and the town were taking measures to boost tourism outside of the winter months in this mountain town.
“So you may see some more activity on this hiking trail?” she asked.
“Yeah, that’s why I was posting that sign when I spotted you.”
Frowning, she looked toward the door. “Sign?”
“No trespassing. Is that rude?”
When she turned back to look at me, her eyes were wide. “No. Have you had problems with people trespassing?”
I shook my head and stared straight ahead at the fireplace, wondering if I should fire it up. She’d been running in the freezing cold. It wasn’t just her, though. In the short time I’d been outside, I’d gotten a little chilly myself.
“I’m gone most of the day for work,” I said. “I just don’t need any kids creeping into my house while I’m gone.”
Did that make me sound paranoid? Maybe. I hadn’t been that way growing up. But I’d lived near the city line, where we were surrounded by other homes. Being as secluded as I was up here, it probably didn’t make much sense to lock my doors, but with tourists not too far away, I figured I could never be too safe.
“Kids?” she asked.
Oh, yeah. The way I’d said that had probably been confusing.
“Troublemaking teenagers,” I said. “Looking for a place to make out?—”
I stopped mid-sentence, realizing what I’d just said. I’d just met this woman and I couldn’t stop thinking about what she might look like naked, but now I’d brought up the subject of making out. As innocent as the comment might be, I couldn’t help but think of what it might be like to make out with her.
Or just kiss her. I’d be happy with a kiss.
“These wood carvings,” she said. “Who did them?”
“Me,” I said. “A little hobby of mine. I don’t do anything with them.”
I didn’t know what that even meant. I had them set up here, and that was doing something, wasn’t it? My mom, who now lived in Missouri, had a couple of my custom carvings in her home. One was of her dog and the other was of a little girl holding a basket of flowers.
But it was expected when someone put this much time into working on something that money would be the goal. Money was never my goal outside of paying bills.
“Do you do all this right here in your house?” she asked, staring at the carving I’d done of me as a child holding a beach towel on vacation.
“I have a small shed I built out back,” I said. “That’s where I do most of my work. Want to see?”
No. Of course she didn’t want to see. She wanted to drink her water and get back on the trail. She had fifty thousand dollars to win, after all.
She took another long sip from the glass and stood. “I’d love to see it. Do you want me to put this in the sink?”
“I’ll take it.”
I stepped toward her, reaching out. Only as I got closer did I feel it for the first time. It was more than the initial attraction and the fact that I couldn’t stop looking at her. I had this almost overwhelming urge to put my arms around her and pull her toward me in a kiss that I was sure would be life changing.
I reached out, planning to avoid touching her as we transferred the glass from her hand to mine. I didn’t want to be too forward, but I had a big hand that pretty much engulfed the entire glass. That meant my pinky brushed her index finger as we made the switch, and the millisecond of contact sent heat rushing through my body.
Our eyes met at the contact, and I knew in that one look that she felt it too. There was something going on here, and if I didn’t find a way to keep this woman around, I’d think about her for the rest of my life.