3. Emma
EMMA
I wolf down the sandwich, too hungry to be self-conscious as the mountain man watches me intently, like he’s worried I’m about to run away. I considered it, especially when I first saw him looming out of the trees, a scowling giant with eyes like thunder. But my hunger won out despite my fear.
“What’s your name?” the man asks, his deep voice rumbling through me.
For a moment, I consider lying. I could give him a fake name—hide my identity. But somehow, that doesn’t feel right. My instinct is to tell him the truth.
“Emma.”
He nods. “I’m Brody.”
“Nice to meet you,” I say, avoiding his gaze. Now really isn’t the time to be noticing how handsome he is.
“You need somewhere to stay, Emma?” he asks. “Someplace safe?”
The word ‘safe’ snags in my chest, and I swallow hard, forcing myself not to cry. But before I can figure out my answer, Brody continues, “I have an outbuilding not far from here. Been renovating it. It’s not finished yet, but it’s there if you want it.”
I force myself to look at him. Despite the permanent scowl on his face, there’s a gentleness in his eyes that makes my heart flutter. I want to trust this rugged stranger. I want to believe he can help me.
“Thank you for the offer,” I say quietly, “but I don’t have any money.”
“Don’t need your money. The place is just sitting there empty, not ready to be rented out yet. It’s not perfect, but the essentials are there.”
Hope flickers in my gut. I want to accept Brody’s offer, but my instinct is to be cautious. I know how dangerous it can be to owe people. To be dependent.
But I don’t know if I can face another night in my car.
“You’re sure?” I ask tentatively.
“Wouldn’t offer if I wasn’t.”
He doesn’t rush me for a response. Instead, he waits quietly, still keeping his distance like he’s trying not to spook me.
But I’m not going to run. Brody might be a stranger, but after a few minutes in his presence, I already feel safer.
Less alone. Trusting him is a risk, but it’s one I have to take.
“Thank you,” I say, gratitude welling inside me. “I appreciate it more than you know.”
“Don’t mention it.” Brody gives me the shadow of a smile beneath his thick beard, but it slips away almost instantly. “Follow me. It’s not far.”
I do as he says, hurrying to keep up with his enormous strides. Barely a couple of minutes later, we reach a quaint log cabin nestled in the trees.
“This is my place,” Brody says. “The outbuilding is around the back.”
It looks exactly like the kind of place I imagined a mountain man would live, with its weathered wooden exterior and moss-covered slate roof.
I smile to myself as we pass it, heading for a much smaller building several hundred yards away.
It’s made of the same dark wood as the cabin, with a sloping roof and a tiny porch.
Brody opens the front door and I follow him inside. The living room is bare, except for a single chair and a ladder up against the wall.
“No shower yet,” he says, opening the door to the bathroom. “But there’s a tub. Water’s all hooked up.”
The kitchen is a little more complete, with a refrigerator, stove, and a rustic oak table. In the bedroom, there’s a mattress on the floor, still in its plastic wrapping.
“That’s it.” Brody looks at me apologetically as we return to the empty living room. “Not much, I know.”
But to me, it feels like a palace.
“It’s perfect,” I tell him, beaming as I look around. “Everything I need is right here.”
Brody grunts, unconvinced. “I have a couple of armchairs in my cabin. I’ll bring them over—should make things a little more comfortable.”
I feel a rush of affection for him as he frowns around the empty living room like he’s trying to figure out how else to improve it. Meeting this man was a seriously lucky break.
“I don’t know how to thank you enough for all this,” I tell him, meeting his gaze. “As soon as I find a job, I promise to pay you back.”
“You don’t owe me a dime.” Brody crosses his arms stubbornly. “I told you—this place is just sitting here empty.”
“But…”
Before I can continue, he changes the subject. “What brings you up here, Emma? You local?”
My stomach knots. I’m not surprised that Brody has questions, but I still haven’t figured out what to tell him. He’s watching me, head cocked, eyes burning with curiosity.
“No, I…well, I had to leave the place where I was staying kind of unexpectedly. So I drove out here looking for somewhere to stay, but I ran out of gas up in the mountains. I had to sleep in my car, and I was on my way down to the nearest town to look for help when you found me.”
It’s the truth—just not all of it.
“Shit,” he mutters. “Good thing that didn’t happen in winter.” He runs a hand over his beard, like the thought agitates him. “Did you drive far?”
“Yeah…all the way from New Mexico.”
I swallow hard. Again, it’s the truth. I just hope my vague responses will be enough to satisfy Brody’s curiosity.
“Damn, hell of a drive.” He’s quiet for a moment, like he’s thinking over everything I just told him. I can tell he wants to know more, but he doesn’t push it. Instead, he says, “I’ll head down to Cherry Hollow and grab some gas for your car. Then you can park it out front.”
God, how is this man real?
He looks like a total grump, with his heavy brows and deep frown lines. Even his voice is gruff. But everything he says is so considerate, so thoughtful that my heart threatens to burst.
“That would be amazing,” I tell him. “Thank you.”
He shrugs off my thanks with a grunt. Clearly Brody isn’t the kind of guy to enjoy praise, but I already owe him so much, and I want him to know what it means to me.
“Do you mind if I come with you?” I ask as he grabs his keys from his pocket. “I want to ask around town, see if anybody’s hiring.”
“I’ll take you. But hell, you’ve been through a lot. Sure you don’t want to rest for a little while?”
Part of me would love to crawl onto the mattress in the bedroom and sleep for twelve hours straight, but I can’t afford to wait around. I might not have to pay rent, but I still need money for food and gas and all the other things that normal people buy. The sooner I find a job, the better.
“I’m sure.”
Brody nods, and I follow him outside toward a large pickup parked in front of his cabin.
He opens the door for me and our arms brush as I pass him, his skin warm against mine.
The contact makes my heart flip, my breathing shallow as Brody shuts the door for me and rounds the truck, hopping into the driver’s seat.
Calm down, Emma.
Your arms touched…that’s all.
But as the truck roars to life, I sneak a glance at Brody.
His eyes are fixed on the road ahead, and I take the opportunity to stare at him—his long nose, his thick beard.
He seems to take up the entire vehicle with his broad shoulders, which strain against his blue plaid t-shirt.
His muscular arms are on display, tan and inked, and I have to force myself to look away before he can catch me ogling him.
Ever since I first laid eyes on Brody, I’ve been feeling things I’ve never felt before…things I can’t explain. Whenever he looks at me, my heart flutters like a caged bird, beating its wings inside my chest. It’s overwhelming—like my body is betraying me.
I need to keep it together.
I didn’t escape from Scourfield just to end up losing my mind over a stranger.
My focus needs to be on building a normal life for myself in Colorado.
That’s it. Nothing else should matter. But when Brody catches my gaze a moment later, a fleeting look before he turns back to the road, my breath hitches all over again, the air squeezing from my lungs.
Crap…
This sure as heck wasn’t part of the plan.