Page 6 of Don’t Make Me Fall (Mountain Men of Cinnamon Creek #1)
Chapter Six
Hudson
The sun begins its inevitable sink into the horizon as I hike back to Sunset Point with my overnight pack slung over my shoulders.
I had better signal near the truck, where I called and indeed confirmed the rockslide that has completely covered the only road out of here will not be cleared until morning due to a staffing shortage.
Apparently, Alanna and I are the only two affected by this occurrence, so evacuating us when I have everything we need to survive a night in the wilderness is not a priority.
No one else understands how dangerous it is to leave me alone with this curvy bombshell and a tent meant for one.
Not even Reid.
In fact, he seemed the least concerned about us being stranded.
“I know she’s in good hands,” he said when I called to check in. “Take good care of her, man.”
Part of me feels guilty for that kiss that turned into a very handsy make out session.
But only part. Because if that fucking rockslide had waited two more god damn minutes, I’d have gotten my hands on those delightful tits, and she might’ve have gotten her fingers cupped over my still hard cock.
Things could have easily gone too far too quickly.
It’s why when Alanna opted to stay behind to watch the sunset, I readily agreed.
We needed space.
Yet, the whole fucking time I was away from her, I felt some invisible tether trying it’s damnedest to yank me back to her.
I keep hiking uphill, hoping with each twist and turn of the trail that the physical labor will calm me the hell down.
It’s not working.
I’m less than five minutes away from a night together with Alanna in a tent not intended to hold two people. It’ll be too cold tonight for me to sleep outside and leave her without my body heat. Survival skill, I convince myself.
I hear something odd and freeze.
The sound is faint, and I strain to hear it clearly. It sounds like…sobbing?
Yes. It’s quiet. But it’s very clearly a woman crying.
Fuck.
Did she get hurt while I was gone?
I start to run, tapping back into my military days where running up a steep incline with seventy pounds on my back was just another Tuesday. I don’t stop until I reach the summit.
“Alanna—”
“Fuck you, Tyler!” she cries out, chucking her phone. I watch in shock as it sails over the edge of the cliff.
Alanna’s devastated expression turns to outright alarm as she seems to realize what she’s just done. “No. No, no, no, no—”
Dropping the pack, I lunge for her before she does something reckless, like dives off the top of the mountain after it.
“What the hell are you doing?” I growl at her, holding her tight against me, both relieved and irritated that her impulsiveness almost took her from me. She squirms in my arms for a few seconds before finally going limp. The sobbing starts up again.
Despite my anger, I soften instantly. “Alanna, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”
She shakes her head, determined not to look at me. “Nothing.”
I should take the out she’s giving me. The last thing I need to do is get in the middle of whatever drama she has going on in her life.
The completely established life she has outside of this place.
But dammit, I need to know who the fuck Tyler is and why I want to strangle this asshole I’ve never met.
“It’s not nothing.”
“It’s just me. Being stupid. Nothing new to see here.”
Turning her in my arms until she faces me, I cup her cheek with both hands and use my thumbs to brush away her tears. It’s the exact opposite thing I should be doing if I want to keep us from that point of no return. But I can’t seem to help myself. Seeing her in distress is my fucking undoing.
“What’s wrong?” I ask again, more gently this time.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” She tucks her head against my chest, and I hold her there, my hand on the crown of her head, until the sun vanishes behind the mountains.
I don’t know what the hell is happening between us.
Though Reid has talked about his sister before, I never paid much attention.
Until last night, I’d never even met her.
But now?
Now I can’t imagine ever letting her go.
Even with the darkness surrounding us and the last of the daylight retreating, I hold her tighter, as though afraid she might slip right through my hands if I don’t.
It’s only when she starts to shiver that I realize I haven’t set up the tent, much less started a fire.
I kiss her temple.
“Sweetheart, I need to get a fire going so you don’t freeze.”
She nods against me. “I’ll help.”
“You don’t need to do that,” I say.
“I’m not some damsel in distress,” she fires back.
My hand goes to her neck, and I tilt her chin up with my thumb until she looks at me.
I pin her in place with a stare so intense it startles even me.
“In the short time I’ve gotten to know you Alanna, I’ve come to know that you are many things—headstrong, smart, determined, stubborn, sexy as hell.
But the last thing you are is some damsel in distress. ”
She reaches up, gripping my face with both hands. That amber gaze is trained on my mouth.
Fuck, I want to kiss her.
I want to taste her.
To savor her.
Not just in this moment.
But in all the moments.
One nagging question lingers in the back of my mind, holding me back, and it’s getting too loud to ignore.
“Who’s Tyler?”
Her heated expression turns ice cold in a flash, and I know I’ve hit on something. Something too important to simply brush off. She tugs free of my hold and searches her pack for a flashlight.
“It’s just a simple question.”
Her narrowed glare says otherwise. “I’ll get some firewood since it’s clear we have no other way to keep warm tonight.”