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Again, I try to sound apologetic, but the words come out harsh and rough.
“Oh…well thanks, that’s nice of you,” Ava says sweetly. In my peripheral vision, I can see her looking at me, eyebrows raised.
Before either of us can say another word, I open the door and step outside. I hear a gentle “bye” from behind me but the door slams shut before I can reply.
Fuck.
I could have at least tried to be friendly. I would have loved to hear more about Ava and where she’s from and why she’s staying here alone for a week. But after isolating myself for so long, I’ve forgotten how to talk to people. Nowadays I’m more like a grunting Neanderthal than a human being. I shouldn’t be around a sweet young thing like Ava—not with my permanently scowling expression and gruff-sounding voice.
If she’s Beauty, then I’m the fucking beast.
Feeling like an asshole, I head away from the vacation cabin without a backward glance, trudging through the trees until I reach my sprawling home. I sit down at my desk once more, staring at the blank page that I left behind. I finally manage to write:
Dear Lincoln
That’s all I can do. I was struggling enough before, but meeting Ava has thrown my whole world off balance. I swivel around in my desk chair to look out of the window. The vacation cabin isn’t visible from here—the forest is too dense—but I can see smoke billowing up through the trees from the cabin’s chimney. Ava must have got a fire going. I stare at the swirling smoke, thinking back to those pretty blue eyes, glimmering like mountain lakes, and for the first time in a long time, I wish I wasn’t alone.
I wish I was with Ava.
3
Ava
I stoke the fire, the flames crackling merrily in the hearth, radiating warmth into the cabin. Dinah meows appreciatively and curls up on the rug in front of the fire with a deep sigh that makes me laugh.
“Long day, huh?” I ask, reaching down to stroke behind her furry ears.
Now that there’s no longer a wild animal running loose in the kitchen, it’s time for me to relax in front of the TV. But as I settle back against the couch cushions, I know there’s no way I’ll be able to concentrate on anything.
Not after Nash.
I almost stopped breathing when he first walked into the cabin. I’ve never seen anybody like him before—tall as a giant with shoulders a mile wide and biceps that bulged beneath his shirt. He seemed to fill the whole cabin when he came in, and his size combined with his permanent frown was intimidating as heck…but also unbearably sexy. When he fixed those forest-green eyes on me, the intensity made my knees weak, and I forgot all about the raccoon in the kitchen. All I could focus on was his handsome bearded face, rugged and wild.
But although Nash is the hottest man I’ve ever seen, he was also cold and reserved. It was like he couldn’t get out of here fast enough, and I feel like a total idiot for babbling at him the way I did while he just looked at me blankly. Still, despite his grumpiness, there’s no denying that Nash has left me hot under the collar, and I’m almost tempted to create some other emergency just to get him to come back.
“What do you think, Dinah?” I ask. “I could lie and say the shower is broken or something. Make him come and check it out.”
Dinah opens her eyes slightly to look at me before suddenly rolling back and bending her head down to lick her butt.
“Okay, jeez,” I mutter. “It was just an idea.”
After Nash left, I watched out the window as he disappeared through the trees. I’m guessing that he lives in that huge mansion I saw on the drive here. Probably with his wife and twenty kids or something—the house sure looked big enough. I didn’t see a wedding ring on his finger, but maybe he took it off before he came over since he was expecting to wrestle with a raccoon. That’s probably why he was so cold toward me—he didn’t appreciate some random girl ogling him when he’s a happily married man.
I groan to myself and turn on the TV, trying to lose myself in When Harry Met Sally. It’s my favorite romcom and usually nothing can tear me away from it, but right now, my mind is wandering all over the place.
Maybe I could go and take a little peek at Nash’s mansion.
Judging by how fast he got here earlier, it should only take a couple of minutes to walk over there. Curiosity is getting the better of me, and even though I know I shouldn’t spend my day snooping around a stranger’s home, I find myself automatically pulling on my coat and scarf, like my body has already made up its mind. The sky outside is darkening fast, but I reckon there’s still enough light to find my way through the woods, and I can always use the flashlight on my phone if necessary.
“I’ll be back soon, Dinah,” I say, grabbing a pair of gloves out of my bag. “Fifteen minutes tops.” Those light green eyes watch me as I reach for the front door, and I sigh. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m just going for a walk.”
She sighs and closes her eyes again, but I swear she’s judging me.
I shut the door behind me and pocket the key, my feet crunching through the snow as I head in the same direction that Nash went. Thick fir trees envelop me, and I breathe in the crisp mountain air as I walk through the woods. I can already see lights through the trees up ahead, and in no time at all, I reach the tree line in front of Nash’s home. I only caught a glimpse of it on the drive here, but now I can see how massive the house really is. It’s a log cabin, just like the vacation home, but about twenty times the size, with endless wooden gables and stone chimneys, and huge windows glowing orange in the dying evening light.
I stay hidden behind a tree as I scan the snowy land surrounding the mansion, looking for the telltale signs of children—swings or tricycles—but there’s nothing littering the white earth to suggest that kids live here.
That doesn’t mean he’s not married, though.
