Chapter 2
2
TOBIAS
M y buddies on the logging crew were going to give me hell for this one. If they found out about it, that was.
I came out of my bathroom with my large first-aid kit in hand. Some of this stuff might be expired. It was from my military days—I bought it when I lived on base, and I was guessing it was a few years old. But last time I checked, bandages didn’t expire. And I couldn’t find an expiration date on the antibiotic ointment.
My damsel in distress was in the guest bathroom—the only bathroom in the house with a tub. When I entered, the water was still running as she held her foot under it, her eyes squeezed closed.
“You okay?” I asked, leaning against the doorjamb and watching her.
The woman who’d introduced herself as Emmy gasped and turned to face me. Shit. I hadn’t meant to scare her.
“I’ll clean your tub if there’s any blood on it,” she said.
Of all things for her to be worried about when blood was coming out of her foot, dirtying up my bathtub should have been the least of them. That just told me what type of woman she was. She was beautiful—stunning. By far the most interesting-looking woman I’d seen in a long time. It was more than just those gorgeous curves and that long, straight, dark hair. And more than those curves that made my hands ache to explore. It was those eyes that gave just a hint of mystery while still being warm and kind.
“Don’t worry about that,” I said. “It’s a bathtub. And it’s white. I’ll just throw bleach on it if it doesn’t come out.”
“I think it’ll come out,” she said. “Most of it’s washing down the drain.”
She looked at me over her shoulder. I noticed she had her black dress pants pulled up to her knees. I’d taken her coat when she entered and settled it neatly on the back of the chair at my kitchen table, despite the fact that I didn’t even give my own coat that kind of treatment. But after she removed her coat, I’d had a hard time not staring at the way her curves filled out the sweater she wore underneath.
And now was no different. No matter where I looked, I saw the swell of her breasts out of the corner of my eye.
I held out the bandages and ointment. “I brought these. I can help, or?—”
She shook her head. “No, I can do it. Thanks.”
After handing over the kit, I stepped back toward the doorway. I should leave. She’d want privacy, right? But she was busy turning off the faucet.
When she spun on the ledge of the tub until she was facing me, I questioned if she really did want me to leave. I should ask. But I didn’t. I just stood there gawking at her like a teenager who’d never seen a beautiful woman before.
“I guess you wonder why I was walking around a construction site in the middle of the night.”
It was hardly the middle of the night, but it was past the time I’d expect someone to be wandering around Seduction Summit, even during tourist season. Activity pretty much remained at the ski lodge unless a tourist hopped in their car and went somewhere. If they did, it was to eat at the diner or to cross city lines for some booze.
“That’s where my bakery’s going to be,” she said. “I was visualizing it.”
I didn’t know what visualizing meant. But I could piece together the first part of that.
“You’re leasing space in the shopping center? I didn’t even know they’d gotten that far along yet.”
“Not yet,” she said. “I just won a competition, and the prize is help with setting up a bakery.”
“The baking competition?” I asked. “The one that’s happening at the lodge right now?”
“Yes,” she said.
I knew about the competition because those bakers had been distracting my fellow logging crew members. One by one, they’d been snatched up by the beautiful women hanging out in that tent this weekend.
I didn’t get it. Weren’t they all going back home? What was the point in getting into a thing with a woman who was leaving? I’d say just to get laid, but they seemed pretty darn stuck on the women they’d met. That told me it was more than sex.
This beautiful baker was staying here, though. She wanted to put down roots in Seduction Summit. She had a puncture wound in her foot to prove it.
“So, you don’t have a space reserved in the shopping center yet, but that’s where you plan to set up your bakery,” I said.
“If I picture it, it will happen. That’s what I heard a couple of the other bakers say, anyway. I think it’s hocus-pocus.”
While Emmy talked, she spread ointment on the small area of her foot that had been attacked by the nail. I was shocked to find that my body was reacting to just watching her. I never thought of myself as someone with a foot fetish. Maybe it was just watching her rub something on her bare skin—wherever that bare skin was.
“I thought visualization was worth a try, though,” she added.
I frowned. “Don’t you just need money and it’s yours?”
She laughed. “Yeah, that comes tomorrow when the banks open.”
“A business loan?” I asked.
Emmy eyed me, chewing her bottom lip thoughtfully. I knew that look. She was trying to decide if it was wise to tell me something. Finally, she spoke.
“I won fifty thousand dollars. That was the grand prize. I don’t know how much it costs to open a bakery. I mean, I looked it up online, of course, and it sounds like it should cover it, but this is a mountain town. It might cost a little more. So yes, I’ll probably need a loan, but I’m also going to deposit this money.”
That was a lot, and I wasn’t sure how to respond to any of it. But I found my face breaking out in a smile.
“Congratulations,” I said. “There were a bunch of bakers there too. You beat out a lot of people, I assume.”
“Just twelve of us. So I guess it’s not that big an accomplishment.”
She shrugged and picked up the box of adhesive bandages from the floor. She should be celebrating. Why was she acting like this wasn’t as big a deal as it was?
“I’d say it’s a pretty big accomplishment if you won fifty grand,” I said. “How many bakers are there in the world who didn’t even try? So, what’s your specialty?”
“Cheesecakes. Funny thing was, there were no cheesecakes in this competition. But my bakery will definitely have a selection of them. I’m thinking everything needs to be bite-sized, though, for the tourists coming through the shopping center.”
Tourism in Seduction Summit was pretty much a joke, but they were hoping to change that. A business like hers wouldn’t do well if she only had sales a few months out of the year. But I didn’t say any of that.
“Do you like living here?” she asked suddenly, crumpling up the paper that had come off the bandage.
I pulled my mind back to the conversation. “I came here for the same reasons you’re eying the town. They needed loggers for all the construction—to clear away sites for cabins and, well, stuff like the shopping center in town. I don’t think the opportunity is going away anytime soon.”
“And the more people move to Seduction Summit, the more they’ll need pies and cakes.”
“Don’t forget doughnuts,” I added.
Emmy frowned. “Doughnuts?”
“Bakeries make those, don’t they?”
“Usually, that’s a separate business,” she said. “But pastries, definitely.”
Suddenly, she set both feet on the ground and pushed herself up. I resisted the urge to rush forward and help her. She hadn’t asked for help.
“Ow!” she cried out, immediately dropping back to the ledge of the tub. “I think I may have to take you up on the offer for pain meds.”
“Hard stuff or over-the-counter stuff?” I asked.
She looked up at me, surprised. Yeah, I had a bottle full of hardcore pain pills to help with lingering pain from a gunshot wound I’d suffered while working in a combat zone. I nearly threw the whole bottle away, but something had told me to hold onto it just in case. And now I was glad I had.
“Just the over-the-counter meds. The other stuff makes me woozy.”
“Be right back.”
That was all I said as I exited the bathroom and headed to the kitchen. I’d just met this woman, but the thought of her taking heavy-duty pills from a stranger in a cabin in the middle of the mountains horrified me. I knew she was safe with me, but I felt this need to protect her from everyone she’d met in the past or might meet in the future.
I’d feel that way about any woman, but this was different. This was very specific to her. I might feel this need to protect her, but the one thing I couldn’t afford to do was fall in love.
No, that wouldn’t be good for her. I was not relationship material. I’d just have to find a way to keep my distance from this beautiful woman while still making sure she was okay.
But I could already see that wouldn’t be easy.