Chapter 8

8

LUCKY

B eing alone in the mountains had always been like a balm to a wound when it came to my heart. Just a few hours of fresh mountain air and I forgot all my troubles.

Not this time, though. This time, the emptiness seemed to only get deeper with every second I spent away from Georgia.

I’d have to go back to the lodge eventually, even if I wasn’t staying there. I’d need to report in to Alex. But for today, I’d do my job, then head to town and try to find a place to stay in one of the two hotels near the square.

I was sitting on a rock, eating the peanut butter and jelly sandwich that had been in my truck since yesterday, when I heard a vehicle approaching. This lookout was well off the main road, although signs pointed to it. Point of View, it was called.

Frowning, I tossed my half-eaten sandwich on top of the paper bag next to me and stood. I had half a mind to snatch up my belongings, hop in my truck, and get the hell out of here. I’d move on to the next location, maybe eat my sandwich there.

But something stopped me. I didn’t want to be like that anymore. I wanted to join the land of the living. And damn it, I wanted Georgia in my life. Every day for the rest of my life.

Yes, she’d gotten up in the middle of the night and left, but maybe I’d overreacted. I’d rushed to pack up and check out before she showed up for work, afraid that if I saw her, the rejection might kill me. Rejection was what I was sure would happen because people always left. Getting close to people meant they could leave me. They would leave me. They always did.

But my one night with Georgia had taught me something important. Shutting myself off from everyone out of fear of being hurt was no way to live. Was it worth the risk to open my heart up to someone like Georgia? Absolutely. And that was exactly what I’d do.

I shoved the sandwich back in my bag, grabbed my thermos full of coffee that I’d gotten at the diner, and stood. I was hopping in that truck, all right, but not to go to the next location. No, I’d head straight for the lodge. I had a woman to win back.

I was already in the truck, engine humming, ready to push the gas pedal, when I saw the small black sedan that had joined me up here. It was a small dirt lot meant for parking and to enjoy the view. I had a feeling this was a makeout spot for teens, though.

Something about that black sedan stopped me. There was nothing all that unusual about it, but my heart skipped a beat anyway. Then I got a look through the front windshield. The driver was a blonde with a ponytail.

There was one blonde with a ponytail I knew, and her image was imprinted on my brain. On my heart.

“Georgia.”

I said her name out loud, loving the way it sounded crossing my lips. Yes, I was definitely well on my way to falling in love with this woman.

Frowning, I cut the engine and stepped out, walking with determined strides toward her car. She’d come to a stop just in front of my truck, our headlights bouncing off each other’s. I didn’t want her to get out of the car, though. I didn’t mind the thirty-degree temperatures. They actually invigorated me. But I’d want my lady to stay warm.

My lady. I just hoped she was on board for making me her man.

Georgia didn’t make a move to get out of her car, so I pulled open the passenger door and peeked in. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“I had to come find you,” she said. “Get in.”

She didn’t sound happy. I saw that as a good sign. I climbed in and spent a few beautiful seconds enjoying the warmth inside her small car. Maybe sitting out in the cold had been a way of punishing myself for getting too involved too fast. Right now, it seemed crazy that I’d sat out in the cold when I could have blasted the heater and enjoyed my sandwich in my truck.

“You just left,” she said. “You checked out. You didn’t tell anyone where you were going. I didn’t even have your phone number.”

She said all that staring straight ahead, but I didn’t need to see her expression to know she was hurt. The last thing I’d ever want to do was cause her pain.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I freaked out.”

That was the best way to describe it. “Triggered” was the word people used for it these days. All I knew was waking up to an empty room frightened the hell out of me. It made me realize just how vulnerable I’d made myself to this woman.

“People leave,” I said. “They’ve left all my life. I learned not to get too close to anyone because I’d only get hurt.”

“And you think because I wasn’t there when you woke up, I left you?”

Now she looked over at me. The spark in her eyes showed me just how fired up she was. I wanted nothing more than to kiss her right now, but we had to resolve this first.

“When I woke up to find the room empty, all I knew was I had to get out of there,” I said. “You’d be at the front desk soon, so I checked out before you could show up. Alex tried to talk me out of it, but I told him I’d found somewhere else to stay.”

“I left to go home for a fresh change of clothes,” Georgia said. “When I saw you’d checked out, I assumed…”

She didn’t finish that. She didn’t have to. I knew exactly what she’d assumed. She’d assumed her first time had been a one-night stand. And considering the many women I’d slept with in my younger years, I couldn’t blame her. I’d done my fair share of sneaking out of bed in my time.

“I have a lot of healing to do,” I said. “I’ve known that for years, but I had nothing pushing me to get fixed. Not until I met you.”

Get fixed might be the wrong term for it. Wasn’t that what they said about dogs? I didn’t want to be fixed in that sense. In fact…

“I want a wife, a family, all of it,” I blurted. “But only if I can have it with you.”

Her mouth slowly spread into a wide smile, and my heart felt like it was finally beating again. Everything was going to be okay. Now that I’d found Georgia, my life could begin.