Page 8 of Mountain Man Tempted (Hard Timber Mountain Men #2)

CALLA

I hadn’t slept at my grandparents’ place in over two weeks. It made more sense for me to stay at Holt’s. At least that’s what I kept telling myself and he agreed. I’d moved some stuff into the guest bedroom, though I hadn’t actually slept in the bed since that first night I’d stayed over.

Holt and I put Lane to bed together each night, then we’d stay up late talking, kissing, and having the best sex of my life.

I’d set an early alarm so I could wake up and sneak back to the guest room before Lane got up.

We hadn’t defined what was going on between us, but I was falling for him. Fast, hard, and completely.

Weekends were my favorite. If Holt had something he had to do, he’d take us with him.

We’d clear trails or check on the fire tower and make a day out of it.

Then we’d head back to the house, make dinner together, and snuggle up on the couch for a movie or one of Lane’s dinosaur documentaries.

The three of us fit together like a cozy little family, and I loved every second of it.

Today we were heading into town to go to the Saturday morning farmer’s market.

Holt was already making breakfast, and I could hear Lane moving around the family room.

I pulled on a pair of leggings and buttoned the flannel shirt I’d stolen from Holt.

The smell of fresh coffee made me smile as I pulled the guest bedroom door closed behind me.

“There she is.” Holt smiled and turned to fill a mug for me.

“I thought you were going to sleep forever.” Lane wrapped his arms around my waist, and I bent over to hug him back.

“You wore me out last night.” Lane and I had done a nighttime dino scavenger hunt in the backyard while Holt was at his weekly trail supper.

I was hoping that if we did enough fun things in the dark that it might help with Lane’s night terrors.

It seemed to be working, or at least something was.

He’d slept through the night several times this week, and the dark circles under Holt’s eyes had actually started to fade.

“Good morning.” Holt handed me the mug, and I resisted the urge to rise up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

“Good morning to you, too.” I smiled at him over the top of Lane’s head. These moments meant everything to me, and I didn’t want them to come to an end.

“You two need to eat, then we need to get to the farmer’s market. All the good stuff gets snatched up early.” Holt tickled Lane under the arms and carried him over to the table.

After we’d finished bacon and egg sandwiches and cleaned up the kitchen, we piled into Holt’s truck and headed into town.

I hadn’t been to the farmer’s market yet, but Nellie kept trying to get me to stop by.

The main street through town was closed off where dozens of tents had been set up.

I’d never seen so many people in Hard Timber.

“It’s a huge draw,” Holt said like he could read my mind. “You should have seen it during the kickoff weekend.”

“Can we get jerky from Harlan?” Lane asked as he jumped down to the sidewalk.

“If he’s here.” Holt turned to me and grinned. “Harlan’s supposed to have a vendor stall, but he doesn’t always show.”

“Sounds about right based on what you’ve told me about him.” I smiled back as I got out of the truck. Seemed like most of Holt’s friends avoided interacting with the public as much as they could.

Holt took one of his son’s hands, and Lane reached for mine with the other.

I gave it a squeeze, and the three of us started down the street, hand in hand in hand.

We hadn’t been out in public much since Holt and I had crossed the line between employer and employee, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Lane had seen us snuggle a little, but we’d avoided any public displays of affection.

Holt had been hurt badly when his ex left, so I was more than willing to let him lead when it came to who to tell about our developing relationship and when.

I just wished he’d talk to me about it, but things were so good between us, I didn’t want to bring it up.

Our first stop was Nellie’s tent right outside the cafe.

She had her petting zoo set up with a bunch of the animals she’d rescued over the years.

Holt had told me all about how she’d turned her land into a refuge for animals that had been injured or abandoned.

My grandma had mentioned Nellie and her “motley menagerie”, but I hadn’t been by to visit it yet.

“Well, look who decided to finally stop by and meet my new additions.” Nellie reached out to give Lane a hug. He dropped our hands so he could hug her back, though he seemed more interested in the box of baby chicks she held in one arm.

“Can I hold one?” Lane asked.

“As long as you’re careful.” Nellie lifted one of the tiny birds out of the box and set it in Lane’s hands. “You can even take one home with you if?—”

“Nope.” Holt cut her off. “Jack the Rabbit doesn’t need a friend. You’ve already been way too generous with sharing your strays.”

Nellie just laughed. “We’ll see, sugar.”

While Lane oooh’d and aaaah’d over the baby chick, I ran my hand over the back of a miniature pony who looked like he’d had a rough start.

“That’s Lemon,” Nellie said. “No idea where he came from, but he showed up one day underweight and full of burrs. Nobody claimed him, so he’s been with me ever since.”

“Your heart is way too soft, Nellie.” Holt stepped up next to me and scratched Lemon behind the ears.

Our fingers brushed. The contact sent shivers racing across my skin, just like it did every single time we touched. I was in deep with Holt. Deep enough that I needed to decide for myself where things stood so I could make plans.

“Looks like things are working out between the two of you,” Nellie said. Her eyes twinkled as she shifted her gaze back and forth between us.

I waited for Holt to say something. Every second that passed felt like the ticking of a time bomb.

He cleared his throat and stepped away from me. “Yeah. Calla’s been great with Lane. A real lifesaver. The two of them have been having a great summer.”

“That’s great.” Nellie shifted her gaze to me, her brows arched. “Your grandma told me you moved in with Holt. Said she was sorry to see you go, but that it made sense so you could be more hands-on.”

Heat crept up my neck and across my cheeks. It was like she could see right through both of us and knew exactly what we’d been doing every night after Lane went to bed. “Um, yeah. It’s made things a lot easier since Holt sometimes needs me at night.”

“I bet he does.” A woman with long dark hair wearing a Huckleberry Cafe t-shirt and a smirk stepped up next to Nellie. “Hi, I’m Holt’s sister, Jessa. You must be Calla. I’ve heard a lot about you from Lane.”

She held out her hand, and I automatically took it. Holt had told me a little bit about his baby sister, but we hadn’t had the chance to meet. Nellie looked on as we shook hands while Holt’s face turned the same shade of pink as the Mason jars full of huckleberry lemonade she had for sale.

“Hey, Jessa. Don’t you have somewhere to be or something to do?” Holt asked.

“She’s helping me with the farmer’s market today,” Nellie said. “And it’s about time the two most important women in your life met each other, don’t you think?”

“We need to head over to Harlan’s. I promised Lane I’d buy some of his homemade jerky.” Holt couldn’t seem to get moving quickly enough. He took the chick from Lane’s hands and set it back in the box. “See you both later.”

I said a quick goodbye and followed him as he herded Lane away from Nellie’s stand and down the street. It took me a minute to catch up to him since I had to take at least two steps for every one of his. “What was that all about?”

“Nothing. I just don’t like people prying into my personal life.

” He offered a smile that was probably meant to reassure me but did the exact opposite.

I wasn’t expecting him to hold my hand and tell everyone we were a couple as we waltzed down Main Street, but his reaction made me question just how he viewed our relationship.

It wasn’t a good time to bring that up, not with Lane around, so I bit my tongue and figured I’d bide my time.

We stopped at Harlan’s stand next, and Lane picked out a few new flavors of beef and venison jerky.

Then we wandered through the rest of the booths.

I grabbed some fresh vegetables from a local farm and a jar of huckleberry jam.

Holt bought us all fry bread tacos from a food truck for lunch, then we walked along a path by the river until it was time to head home and get dinner started.

We were about fifteen minutes away from Holt’s place when my phone pinged with an incoming text.

While he and Lane sang country songs at the top of their lungs, I checked my messages.

It was from the supervisor of the group I’d worked with on the school program.

He’d secured funding for the upcoming school year and needed to know as soon as possible if I’d be able to start in a few weeks.

My heart lit up. I’d been wrecked when the program got pulled. The kids I’d worked with had made such progress and would definitely back slide without ongoing support. But then I turned around and looked at Lane. He strummed a fake guitar as he made eye contact with his dad in the rear-view mirror.

Running the program would mean moving away from Hard Timber. I’d only been in town for a little over a month, but it had grown on me. The time I spent watching Lane didn’t feel like a job. It felt like being part of a family. And Holt… the blood drained from my face.

“Everything okay?” Holt reached over and gave my hand a squeeze.

“Yeah.” I squeezed back. I’d have to talk to him about the offer. It wouldn’t interfere with watching Lane since he started school a week earlier than the kids in Bozeman. But it would mean putting an end to whatever was growing between us.

I tried not to let on that something was bothering me while we made dinner together and played one of Lane’s dino games after. But once we’d tucked Lane into bed, read him a story, and kissed him goodnight, I couldn’t pretend anymore.

Holt followed me back to the family room and pulled me into his side as soon as we sat down on the couch. “Up for a movie, or would you rather head to bed early so I can show you how much I missed you today?”

I snuggled into him and laughed. “What are you talking about? We spent the whole day together.”

“Yeah, but I couldn’t touch you how I wanted to or kiss you whenever I wanted.” He rested his chin on top of my head and let out a long sigh.

“And why’s that?” I asked, pulling away enough to be able to look up at him. “I know we’ve only been messing around for a couple of weeks, but are you planning on going public or am I just a secret you want to keep to yourself?”

His eyes narrowed like he wasn’t sure what I meant. “What are you talking about?”

“In town today. You acted like I was just the nanny.”

“But you are the nanny.”

“But is that all I am to you?” I crossed my arms over my chest, a pitiful way of trying to protect myself.

His forehead furrowed like he’d finally figured out what I was really asking. “Calla,”—he reached out to brush his thumb over my cheek—“you’re not just the nanny to me, baby girl.”

“Then what am I?”

“You’re… hell, you’re…” He pulled his hand back and shook his head. “I don’t know. Things are good between us. Do we have to put a label on it?”

My heart cracked in two. I didn’t expect him to get down on one knee, but I also wasn’t prepared for him to minimize the time we’d spent together like it was nothing. “Do you see any kind of future for the two of us?”

He swallowed hard. “I think there’s a possibility, but?—”

“But what, Holt?” He’d been burned bad by his ex. But he’d still let me in. Let me get close to him and Lane. And now he wanted to pretend like it didn’t mean a damn thing.

He shifted so he faced me on the couch. “Where’s this coming from? Aren’t you happy?”

“The program I ran last year secured funding. They want me back.” I wanted him to tell me not to take it. That he wanted me to stay in Hard Timber. That he wanted to build a life together.

Even though he hadn’t moved, the look in his eyes said he was miles away. “When did you find out?”

“Today.” Tears threatened, but I held them back. I didn’t want him to see me cry, to see how far and how fast I’d fallen for him.

“Sounds like an opportunity too good to pass up,” he finally said, his voice flat. “When do you need to go?”

“That’s it?”

“What do you want me to say, Calla? You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. You can go anywhere, be anything you want to be. I’m not about to saddle you with the choices I’ve made.”

“So you want me to go.” My voice came out hard and strong even though I was shattering into a million pieces inside.

“I want you to do what’s best for you, not what’s best for me.” He reached out like he was going to touch me, but his hand stopped halfway between us and dropped to his lap.

“What makes you think that can’t be the same thing?” All he had to do was give me some sign that he wanted me to stay. I had so much of myself wrapped up in him and Lane that I was ready to turn down the job offer if he gave me any indication that he wanted me.

His jaw tightened. “You should go to Bozeman. Help those kids.”

I wanted to shake him by the shoulders and yell into his face. Instead, I got up off the couch and headed toward the guest room.

“Calla…” He got up and took a few steps toward me. Then Lane started screaming from his bedroom. Holt’s face fell.

“You should go to him.” Lane was his top priority and would always come first. That’s how it should be, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

But as Holt opened his son’s door and left me standing in the hallway, I wished with every fragment that was left of my heart that he would have cared enough to at least put me second.