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“I love it out here,” I say as I watch a chipmunk scurry over Jack’s shoe and disappear into the bush. “I’d love to move out here when I retire one day. If I ever retire.”
“Why wait?”
I look at him and he shrugs shyly. “I mean, why not move now? The city isn’t a safe place for you and you said it yourself that you’re probably going to lose your job at the diner and the Chinese restaurant.”
“Don’t remind me,” I mutter. Neither of my two bosses are the forgiving type and they’re not going to want to hear any excuses about why I disappeared without any warning. I still haven’t called either of them. I should do that when I get back to Jack’s place.
“It would be nice,” I say, letting myself indulge in the fantasy a bit. Jogging through the mountains in the morning, the safety of the town, the friendly people, and of course, being close to Jack. Maybe I can find a place that’s hiring and rent a spare room out over someone’s garage or something like that. I can save up to repurchase the equipment that was stolen and restart my sticker empire again.
“Good, so it’s settled,” Jack says in a firm voice. “You’re staying.”
I look at him with a grin. “I didn’t say that…”
He lets out a humph as his protective eyes narrow on me. “We’ll see. Come on, let’s go back down. There’s more I want to show you.”
We head down the trail, but I keep looking at Jack from the corner of my eye. He’s wearing a green tank top and I can’t seem to take my eyes off of his giant arms and broad shoulders. This man is a beast in the best possible way.
I just wish we weren’t so far apart in age. It doesn’t bother me at all—I love his mature age, it’s so sexy—but I know he still sees me as his best friend’s little kid. I wonder if I can ever shake off that image he has of me.
Or, if I’m going to be stuck in the friend zone forever.
“Like this?” I ask Jack as I hold up the throwing ax.
He steps behind me, dwarfing me with his huge muscular frame. “Yeah,” he says as he slides his big hand along my arm, lining my wrist up with the bullseye. “Release it like I showed you. When it’s perpendicular to your arm.”
I take a deep breath as he steps back. It’s hard to focus on anything when he’s around, let alone throwing a freaking ax at a huge wooden target.
He told me he liked to throw axes for fun, and I said I wanted to try. I meant in some hypothetical future, not right now, but hey, I guess you have to do outdoorsy stuff like this once in a while when you have a crush on a big hulking mountain man.
“Keep your eye on the bullseye,” he says as I pull my arm back.
I’m going to embarrass myself, I just know it. This thing is not going anywhere near that bullseye.
I take a deep breath and launch it just like he showed me, but it sails wide to the right—way worse than I thought—and sinks into the trunk of a harmless tree standing behind the target.
“Oh no!” I gasp, my hands flying to my mouth. “Sorry, tree!”
Jack chuckles as he walks over. “Pretty good for a first try.”
“Really?” I ask in a sarcastic tone. “You’re seriously going to stand there and tell me that was good?!”
He laughs harder. “Maybe not. Let’s try again.”
“No way,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest when he tries to hand me another ax. “I’m done with throwing axes in the middle of the wilderness. How about you take me into that cute little town I passed and you can show me around?”
“Like a date?” he asks. “Sorry. I didn’t mean—“
“Yeah,” I say, a huge smile building on my face. “Like a date.”
“You’re not drinking?” I ask after the bartender leaves. I ordered a pint of red beer, but Jack only ordered a soft drink.
“No,” he says with a smile and a shake of his head. “I don’t drink anymore.”
“Oh,” I say, suddenly feeling bad that I suggested we go to a bar. “We can leave if you’re uncomfortable or if you’d rather do something else.”
He puts his big hand on mine, swallowing it completely. “It’s okay, Ruby. I don’t need alcohol when I have you.”
My cheeks start to blush, so I turn away before he sees the red flooding into them. This bar is so cute. It’s called Cliffside Tavern and seems to be the hot spot in the Greene Mountains. At least it is tonight. The place is packed and we were lucky to snag two bar stools at the end of the bar when a couple suddenly got up.
