Baby For The Mountain Man

“Just a shower. Nothing else,” I said.

“Care to put on some clothes?” she asked.

“Do you want me to?”

Her eyes hardened onto mine. I could tell she was debating what I had said. Taking it to heart and making her decision carefully. She swallowed thickly, her body tensing underneath my gaze. I stepped away from the door, giving her space to come in if she wanted.

But all she did was shake her head.

“I’m hungry. I figured we could talk over food,” Ava said.

“Give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be ready,” I said.

“Good. That’s the first time I’ve ever made the first move. I was concerned it would backfire,” she said.

“The first move? I’m pretty sure I was the one that asked you to dinner first.”

“At your cabin, sure. But this is us going out somewhere. And I made that move because you don’t have a cell phone.”

“I have a landline,” I said.

“No one has a landline,” she said with a grin. “Do you want me to drive, too? I could pay. You could put on a pretty little skirt and show off those toned legs of yours.”

“You done?” I asked.

“Maybe. Do you want me to be done?”

I grinned at her as a chuckle fell from my lips. I ushered her into the house so she could wait for me, her body drifting into the kitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, making herself comfortable.

She looked good, making herself at home.

I quickly got changed, then we piled into my truck. I drove us into town and took Ava to this hole-in-the-wall diner that made everything from scratch. It was the best place in town to eat, even though the atmosphere was far from fancy. But even though Ava grew up in the family she had, she didn’t strike me as the kind of girl that was impressed with stuff like that.

“Everything’s homemade?” Ava asked.

“Everything. Even the sauces and the bread,” I said.

“I take it they locally source their meat?” she asked.

“Yep. They don’t do business with anyone that doesn’t live within thirty minutes of Kettle,” I said.

“Damn. I can’t eat anything that isn’t within twenty minutes of the town limits.”

Her giggle was phenomenal. All night, we went back and forth like that. We talked about her love of books and how she still wasn’t sure if she wanted to get an education. I told her I felt college was overrated and how someone could get a decent two-year degree now and go on to live fantastic lives. Ava poked at my college memories and I told her stories of my wilder days. Days when I traveled and stayed up until four in the morning drinking with the guys on campus.

She hung onto every word I was saying.

“This was a wonderful surprise,” I said.

“I’m glad you think so,” Ava said. “I was hoping you would be up for dinner.”

“At first, I thought you might’ve been someone from the rival company who had come to intimidate me,” I said.

I watched Ava lock up as her eyes slowly panned up to mine.

“Are they still giving you trouble?” she asked.

“Not since the letter. But our lawyer did draft a harassment lawsuit and send it back to them.”