Page 5 of Rugged Mountain Man (Cold Mountain Nights #1)

Chapter five

Mika

Did I hear that right?

Cormac must have been hallucinating from blood loss, saying things he didn’t mean.

Someone will go the distance for you one day, Mika. And I wish to God that man could be me.

His eyes slipped closed and his head dipped forward, chin resting on his chest as he passed out.

I sat in the car, stunned into silence. The heater blasted and the snow softly whispered against the windows.

There was no way Cormac just confessed he had feelings for me. That simply…wasn’t possible.

For one thing, we met less than twenty-four hours ago.

And for another thing, he might change his mind when he was lucid.

I wrapped my arms around my knees, straining my eyes as I gazed into the snowstorm. Searching for signs that help was on the way. I needed to get out of this damn car. As soon as we were safely in town, I had to leave and never look back.

My gaze strayed from the windshield and fell on Cormac’s sleeping profile.

This man had cooked for me. Twice.

He had braved a storm, for my sake.

He had given me the coat off his back to ensure that I was warm.

The phantom memory of his touch on my bruised cheekbone made me blush. Had anyone ever touched me so gently in my entire life?

As soon as I walked out of Brock’s house, I swore I wanted nothing to do with another man. It was too painful to get it wrong. It hurt too much, to open my heart, and receive only cutting words and insults in return.

But what if I got it right this time? What if Cormac was willing to love me the way I’d craved to be loved for so long?

Tentatively, I reached out and pressed my knuckles to his cheek. His skin was cool, clammy, and his stubble rasped like sandpaper.

Then a searchlight swept across the windshield, momentarily blinding me. A caravan of three snowmobiles veered into view, navigating around the fallen tree. They parked next to the car and a figure in a full-body black snowsuit approached the driver’s side door, pulling it open.

“You must be Mika,” a man said. I recognized his voice from the satellite phone.

He removed his ski camp, revealing smiling golden brown eyes, and the same square jaw that Cormac had.

“I’m Rafferty,” he said. “You called me about my pain-in-the-ass brother. I brought a few friends along for backup."

“He lost consciousness a few minutes ago,” I said.

Rafferty sighed.

“This is exactly why I nagged him about carrying that damn sat phone. He spent five days lost in the mountains last year because he broke his ankle and he couldn’t hike back to town. I was worried sick.”

My heart squeezed to see Rafferty’s concern. Cormac was lucky to have him for a brother, to know that he had family who cared about him. He sighed and hauled Cormac over his shoulder into a fireman’s carry, which couldn’t have been easy, given Cormac’s size.

“Come on, Mika,” he said. “Let’s get you two out of this storm.”

“You’re going to wear a rut in the floor,” I said.

Rafferty groaned and stopped his restless pacing of the waiting room in Juniper Creek’s hospital. Cormac had been in surgery for over an hour by now.

I don’t know what I was still doing here. Rafferty could look after his brother. I needed to find a place to stay now that I was in town. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave, plucking at a stray thread on my sleeve. I wanted to hear if Cormac was okay.

More importantly, I wanted to see if he remembered what he’d said in the car, right before he passed out.

“So,” Rafferty said, dropping into the seat next to me. “How long have you and Mac been dating?”

“Oh,” I floundered. “We’re not—”

Rafferty raised his eyebrows, waiting for an explanation. What was I supposed to say? Cormac and I weren’t dating, obviously. But we weren’t friends either. We just met.

And yet, he’d put his safety at risk for my sake. He’d cooked for me. Twice. He’d given me the coat off his back to keep me warm.

Someone will go the distance for you, Mika…

My mouth went dry and I swallowed hard.

“My brother has avoided women like the plague for a decade,” Rafferty went on. “Did he tell you about the divorce yet?”

I nodded, twisting my fingers together in my lap.

“Then you know it wiped him out,” Rafferty said. “Took him down for the count and he never managed to get back up.”

I looked away, scrubbed at my palm with my thumb.

“We’re not—”

Again, I failed to speak the truth.

We’re not together.

Why couldn’t I just say it? Why did I keep getting choked up on it?

Maybe I couldn’t say it because I wanted something else. I wanted to tell the whole world that Cormac was mine.

“Rafferty Pelletier?”

He shot to his feet, crossing the waiting room when the doctor emerged. They spoke for a few seconds. He nodded and glanced back, gesturing to me.

“Cormac is out of surgery. We can go see him now.”

I pointed to myself.

“Me? But I’m not family…”

Rafferty took my hand and pulled me to my feet.

“If you don’t say anything, the hospital staff don’t need to know that. Just pretend to be his cute little wife, and no one can tell the difference.”

I sputtered, attempting to protest, but Rafferty steered me down the hospital hallway to Cormac’s room.

He was sitting up when I poked my head through the door. His leg was bandaged and propped on a pile of pillows. The gray pallor had left his skin, replaced by a healthy warm color. But his pupils were dilated wide and dark, indicating he must have been on some heavy duty painkillers.

“There you are, big brother,” Rafferty said. “It’s nice to see you awake for a change.”

Cormac’s gaze flicked from Rafferty to me. I lifted my hand in a small wave.

“Hi,” I said softly. “You look…good.”

“And I’m glad Raff got you off that mountain road in one piece. Are you doing okay?”

I smiled softly. Had Cormac always shown this much concern about me? Would I ever get used to it? Or would it take me by surprise forever?

“You’re the one who’s in a hospital bed because you tried to chop your own leg off,” I countered. “I’m fine by comparison.”

Cormac waved me off.

“I can barely feel a thing. No need to worry about me.”

“I’m pretty sure that’s because you’re pumped full of painkillers, tough guy,” Rafferty said.

A beat of silence settled over the room. Rafferty leaned back against the door frame, crossing his arms with a little smirk playing across his lips.

How much did Cormac remember before he passed out? Did he remember our conversation? Did he remember those words I couldn’t stop thinking about?

What if he had no memory of it at all? Or worse—what if he regretted what he’d said now that he was coherent?

So I decided to pretend it never happened in the first place.

“When will you be free to go home?” I asked.

Cormac grumbled and tipped his head back against the pillows.

“Two days, at least,” he replied. “I lost a lot of blood, and the doctor wants to keep an eye on me for infection.”

“He won’t last that long,” Rafferty said to me. “Mac hates hospitals. They make him nervous.”

“You’re not any better than me,” Cormac countered. “Mika, was he pacing the waiting room?”

I nodded.

“Like a caged tiger.”

Cormac shot a satisfied look at his brother.

“I knew it.”

Rafferty rolled his eyes and cupped a hand to his ear.

“You’re welcome, by the way. I haven’t heard you throw a little appreciation my way for saving your ass. Again.”

Cormac groaned and closed his eyes, chuckling.

“Thanks, Raff. I owe you one.”

“Damn straight, you do. I’ll be rubbing your nose in it for a while, so just get used to it now.”

I smiled, listening to them banter and tease each other. Cormac was lucky to have a sibling like that who cared for him enough that he would drop everything and lend a hand when Cormac called.

“Hey,” Cormac rasped, breaking through my thoughts. He crooked a finger, beckoning me closer. “Come here.”

I crossed the room to his bedside. From the corner of my eye, Rafferty slipped out the door and disappeared, leaving me alone with Cormac.

“Do you need a place to stay?” he asked.

“Eventually, yeah. I haven’t booked a motel yet. I was waiting for you to get out of surgery first.”

Cormac nodded and hesitation flickered in his eyes for a split second. Then he took a bracing breath and spoke.

“I have a cabin on the outskirts of town. A real cabin, with running water and electricity. No drafty windows, I promise. And it has two spare bedrooms that are never used. You can stay as long as you want to get back on your feet.”

I considered for a moment. It was the perfect solution, and I already felt safe with Cormac. But was I ready to move in with someone again after the nightmare of living with my ex?

“I can’t pay you very much,” I said.

Cormac shook his head.

“Don’t worry about that. This leg is going to take a while to heal, and I’ll need some help around the house. If you say no, Rafferty will be the one to check in on me, and he’s a nosy son of a bitch who won’t let me have a moment of peace.”

I laughed softly, but anxiety still churned in my stomach. I liked Cormac. And that terrified me.

I wasn’t supposed to catch feelings for another man. Ever. Let alone so soon after escaping Brock’s tyranny.

Cormac must have sensed my hesitation. He took my hand, smoothing his callused thumb over my knuckles.

“I’m not him, KitKat,” he murmured.

For the second time, Cormac had to remind me that he wasn’t like my ex-boyfriend.

But I knew that now. I’d seen it in his behavior, in the way he spoke to me, in the way he cared for me.

There was a better world waiting for me beyond the clutches of my hellish ex. All I had to do was step forward and claim it.

“That sounds like an offer I can’t refuse.”