Page 70 of Craved By the Mountain Man

“Usually?”

“Sometimes less.”

She stares at me.

“That might be the least romantic sentence anyone has ever said over breakfast.”

“Wasn’t trying to be romantic.”

“No kidding.”

I almost smile.

Then she gets quieter.

“So what changed?”

“You.”

Her fingers still around the bacon.

I hold her gaze.

“I stopped letting women matter.”

Her expression softens.

“Then Kaden brought you here.”

I remember her laughing at something her brother said, curls everywhere, watching me when she thought I wouldn’t notice.

“I wanted you immediately.”

Her lips part.

“You barely spoke to me.”

“I was trying not to touch you.”

Color climbs her cheeks.

“You were Kaden’s sister. Off-limits. And I knew if I touched you, I wasn’t going to want one night.”

She stares at me.

“So you ran away.”

“Strategic withdrawal.”

Her mouth falls open.

“You did not just call running away from me a strategic withdrawal.”

“It worked.”

“For two years.”

“Yeah.”