“Nope.”
A short huff. “Then what—”
“It doesn’t matter now.”
Griff curses under his breath, but he stops asking questions. We drive in silence for a long while, and I stare out of the window at two hawks wheeling high above the treeline. Anything rather than the man sat beside me.
I thought we had something here. God, I was sosure.It seemed impossible that I could be the only one whose heart trips faster every time our eyes meet; the only one holding on to the truck seat by my fingernails to keep from leaping into his arms. The only one who had some kind of cosmic awakening while wrapped together last night.
My dumb, romantic heart has a lot to answer for. Of course Griff doesn’t see me like that—why would he? He told me how he feels about city girls who drag their naive butts into the mountains.
At least he hasn’t said ‘I told you so’, not even after I changed my mind. There’s that, anyway.
“Bet you can’t wait to see the back of me.” I try to sound teasing, but it comes out strained. “What would you normally be doing at this time? If you weren’t driving a city girl all over the mountain?”
Griff frowns out at the road, but he answers my question. “If I had a shift, I’d be in the Mountain Rescue headquarters down at Cloudy Lake. Or on a day off, I might be fishing at the river.”
Sounds nice. I can picture it so easily: Griff, with his dark hair and scowling eyebrows and his broad, sculpted shoulders, rescuing trapped tourists who’ve wandered off the trail. Griff, with that secret smile he gets sometimes when he stares out at the mountains uninterrupted, casting a line into a slow-moving river. So peaceful and manly. Even in my mind’s eye, I want to lick him all over.
I pretend to fix my hair so I can wipe my eyes at the same time. But I guess I’m not that sneaky, because Griff says, “Luna.”
Just that. Just my name. But the way he says it… he sounds as wrecked by this morning as I feel.
“I’m fine.” I sniff loudly, peering out at the mossy rocks like my life depends on it. “But it’s all such a mess, you know?”
There’s so much to figure out now. Need to catch up on quilting orders; need to find a new apartment. Need to decide where to go and where to live. Ugh.
Decisions are the worst.
“Aiden’s an idiot.” Griff’s harsh words make me jolt, and I blink at the towering man beside me strangling the wheel. “If he thinks there’s someone better out there, he’s a fucking idiot. You’reeverything, you hear? They should put you on the goddamn mail order bride website. They should make posters with your face on and interview you on the radio. They’d have so many sign ups, their website would crash.”
My watery giggle softens him up. Griff smiles at me, eyes strained.
“You’dnever sign up.”
There’s a bark of laughter. “Luna, I’d be first in line.”
Huh. I straighten, heart fluttering.
Ooookay. He’s probably just being nice, that’s all.
“Aiden didn’t change his mind.” Better to come clean about that, because I don’t want to leave bad feelings on this mountain once I’m gone. Before long, I’ll just be a distant memory to these men, and I don’t want to be the reason for any bitterness between neighbors. “Idid. But he was super nice about it. I don’t think he felt any spark for me either.”
“Bullshit,” Griff says immediately, and it’s a lie but a sweet one. “You changed your mind?”
“Yeah.” I pluck at my dress, teasing at a loose thread. “Typical city girl, right?”
“Why?” Griff asks, voice hoarse.
Um. “Because we all come here unprepared, like you said, and change our minds when we figure out that it’s cold as balls—”
“No,” he interrupts, and the truck is slowing. Pulling onto the side of the dirt track. “Why’d you change your mind?”
Oh. Shoot.
My seat belt jerks against my shoulder as I crane to stare out of the window. “Hey, are those two hawks fighting or getting it on?”
“Luna.”