Page 4 of Single Mom for the Mountain Men (Mountain Men Why Choose #3)

A iden sends Tanner over once he leaves, and the man looks as ready to face the day as one can.

He’s in baggy cargo pants, a carabiner hanging from his belt that jingles with every moment. His buzzed head is covered with a beanie, leaving only his pierced earlobes out in the open. A thick sweater covers him completely but does nothing to conceal the thickness of his shoulders at all.

“Why are neither of you ready? Let’s go face the fire,” he says after we’re done greeting one another.

Sophie and I eye each other apprehensively, standing there with our pajamas still on.

“Er, ready for what?” I ask him.

He raises his brows. “Well, to go climb the mountain, of course.”

“Oh, yes! I’m going to go change, Mom!” Sophie yells excitedly as she whizzes out of the living room and back into her bedroom.

I eye her with disbelief, then turn to the man standing before me with his arms crossed as he leans against the doorframe.

“She hates being outdoors! And she hates the cold, too! How the hell…”

Tanner grins at my confusion, tilting his head. “Well, you’d better get dressed, too, Lena.”

“We aren’t going to actually climb a mountain, are we? I’m too old for that, Tanner,” I whine, and I’m a little horrified to realize how much I sound like a pouting Sophie.

“Chop, chop, Momma Sanders. We aren’t going to scale a mountain, no, but I will build you up to that, rest assured. We’re going on a tour. Bundle up in your warmest clothes, and keep a few snacks on you. I got the rest covered.”

“This is not what I meant when I told Aiden I didn’t know anything about mountain life,” I say—more like moan—before dragging my feet to my room.

As reluctant as I may be acting, there is a slight rush of exhilaration coursing through my body.

Days have been long and uneventful in the cabin, and to have something to do, no matter how physically taxing, sounds enjoyable.

Tanner gets us loaded into his jeep once we’re all ready to go, and we ride to the part of the mountains where the air is colder and the road is rougher than anything I have ever driven on.

“When does it get fun?” Sophie demands from the back seat when the jeep starts rocking severely.

“You wanna walk instead, Sophie?” he asks her, turning his head to look at her.

“This is the most fun I have had in, like, ever,” she says seriously, and Tanner and I burst out laughing.

“No, but we are going to walk. There is something I want to show you both that is exclusive to Whitefish only.”

“Noooo! I don’t wanna walk,” Sophie whines.

“I second that,” I add from the passenger seat.

“You guys are killjoys.”

Tanner gets us out of his jeep, and we trudge through the thin trail ahead of us, the incline already tiring me out by just looking at it. The rocks crunch under our feet, and Sophie is wobbling after just a few steps.

I hold her hand as we walk while Tanner marches ahead of us and points out every peculiar tree or branch growing this far into the forest.

“That leaf looks like a pizza!” Sophie points to one leaf at the top of a tall tree.

“Pizza?” Tanner asks incredulously. “Because it’s a triangle?”

“I’m hungry, and I want pizza,” she retorts, and I laugh, nearly tripping over a large rock in the process. Tanner’s arm comes around my waist before I even know what’s happening, holding me upright.

“Be careful,” he murmurs, his tight and hard body pressed against mine. This close, I can smell the mahogany scent emanating from him. Gooseflesh rises under my shirt where his arm is locked around my waist.

Flushing, I nod to show that I heard him as I scoot away.

After a few more steps, we end up on the edge of a cliff.

The lush valley of tall trees stretches out below us.

Condensation covering their peaks greets us as we look down past the cliff.

There are a few birds fluttering in groups here and there, weaving in and out of the trees.

The greenery, coupled with the blue sky and the chill of the air, makes it the most beautiful scenery I have ever laid my eyes on.

“Woah,” I breathe, almost stepping forward with the intention to sit by the ledge before I remember that Sophie will want to copy me. “This is…”

“This is the best thing I’ve ever seen!” Sophie exclaims. “Why can’t we have a cabin here?”

“You would walk all that way, back and forth, again and again, Sophie?” Tanner teases her, a soft smile on his face.

“Hm,” she hums, looking thoughtful, “I’ll take a day to think about it and tell you.”

Tanner guffaws. “Right, of course. Take all the time you need.”

He goes to stand by the edge, way ahead of me, and I see his shoulders rise as he takes a deep breath. “This is the best view Whitefish has to offer you at this elevation. The higher up you go, the more breathtaking it gets.”

“How far up have you been?” I ask him, holding Sophie’s hand to stop her when she tries to sneak past me and stand beside Tanner.

“To the very peak, Lena. I’ve camped out here enough to know every tree and every trail by heart.”

The affection and pride in his voice as he speaks tells volumes about how much he loves being in nature. It warms my heart to hear his inspiring and beautiful words, and to see someone love something to this extent.

“Now that you see what Whitefish truly has to offer, I’ll take you guys over to another spot I like to visit, where I’ll catch some fresh fish for you guys. Once that’s done, we’ll eat them there, the way I always do when I’m camping.”

“I’m gonna throw up,” Sophie announces, and my gaze snaps to her.

“Why, Soph? You good? What did you eat?”

“I’m talking about the yucky fish, Mom. I don’t want to eat that,” she tries to whisper, but the wind carries her words.

“You’ll love the fish, Sophie, you have my word. But if you don’t, feel free to puke it all up.”

As Tanner leads us to the spot in question, the sun rises to its highest point in the sky.

We take off our sweaters, and Tanner walks only in his undershirt.

His golden skin glimmers under the sun, his sweat adding a shimmer to his body.

I find my gaze stuck more often than not on his corded shoulders and forearms as he snaps branches from trees with his bare hands and picks out little berries for us to eat.

We trudge along a well-worn path to end up near a river. To call it a river seems like an exaggeration. It’s more of a trickling stream. The water is crystal clear, the rocks and sand below the surface clearly visible.

“You want to know something cool? The water’s warm right now,” Tanner tells us as he wets his hands and then splashes water on his face. His earring catches the sun’s rays, winking at me. “It’s also clean enough to drink.”

“This is where you’ll find your fish?” I ask him as he holds Sophie’s hand while she peers at the water.

“Yeah. The fish are gonna come out any moment now. I’ll show you guys how we get our dinners here, and maybe you can do it yourself, because going to the store is a hassle no one here needs.”

“You have a jeep!” I point out incredulously. “Why aren’t you just driving to the closest store?”

“I hate driving. And why would I get frozen meat from the store when I can get it free of charge and have it as fresh as can be?”

I blink, unable to refute his statement. “But can’t we just ask you to bring some for us when you go hunting? Why do we have to learn to hunt ourselves?”

“Yeah, Tanner!” Sophie pipes in, ever the fan of whining. “Please!”

“Well, I could bring you food.” He sighs loudly, pretending to be annoyed. “But regardless, you should know how to do it in case anything happens to me. It’s a necessary skill to have in the mountains.”

“Mom and I have you to protect us, Tanner!” Sophie says cheekily. Tanner pauses for a moment, his eyes flitting to mine. In the bright light of the day, I can see gold specks that glimmer in his irises.

“Don’t you doubt that for a minute, Sophie,” he says, his expression oddly serious.

The fish emerge not long afterward, stealing Tanner’s attention. In a matter of five minutes, he’s managed to catch two healthy fish, and he even sets up a little fire to cook them. He claims that they’ll have a tasty, smoky flavor once he’s done, but I don’t fully believe him.

He takes a few bites from the raw fish, grinning when Sophie and I make identical noises of disgust.

“Sushi has raw fish in it, too,” he defends himself.

“I hate sushi.” Sophie wrinkles her nose as she eats the little bites that I hand her from the grilled fish I’m eating. I echo a similar sentiment.

“City girls aren’t as brave as I thought they were, huh?” he teases us, and I cast him a look.

Tanner takes us back home in his jeep when the sun is well on its way down. Sophie’s missed her nap time and is tired and grouchy. I think that the Sanders have done enough outdoor activities for today.

As Tanner places a sleepy Sophie on her bed, I watch the two of them. Sophie snuffles for a moment, then snuggles into her blankets.

We make our way out of her room, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I close the door behind us.

“Thank you for making time for us today on such short notice, Tanner,” I say honestly.

“Don’t thank me yet.” He grins mischievously. “I want to teach you how to hunt. We still have ample hours left in the day. Come with me.”

I nearly roll my eyes. “You were being serious? I’m not good at sporty stuff like that.”

“No excuses, Lena. I’ll show you more of Whitefish, and you’ll learn that there is nothing to fear here. Things run just a bit differently than you may be used to, but there’s no harm in adapting yourself to new places.”

Finding myself unable to say no to his words because of the honesty visible in his eyes, I try to offer a logical argument instead.

“I can’t just leave Sophie alone. I have to see that she eats dinner on time and–”

“Don’t worry about that. Brody and Aiden can babysit Sophie while we’re gone.”

“But they must be busy. I can’t just spring this on them without prior notice.”

“This is all the notice they need, Lena.”

I open my mouth to protest again, but he shushes me, not letting me speak.

“Trust me on this. There is no one more reliable than Brody and Aiden. And they’d be over the moon to spend some time with Sophie.”

I sigh deeply, nibbling on my lower lip as I consider it.

Before coming to Whitefish, it would be one of my friends who babysat her, but only for a few hours before I got back home.

I didn’t want her separated from me for too long.

Anxiety courses through me as I think about being separated from her again.

In the end, it’s Tanner’s eyes that really seal the deal for me. Unable to resist him, I admit defeat and give in.

Brody and Aiden’s very enthusiastic chorus of yeses over the phone when Tanner calls them shows me how over the moon they are with this babysitting task. I debrief them on her schedule, sounding a bit too anxious about the whole ordeal.

They reassure me endlessly, and I find myself in the passenger seat of Tanner’s jeep before too long, sitting tensely at the idea of leaving my daughter with two neighbors I just recently met.

“We’re gonna start small. Rabbits are gonna be our target.”

When I ask him why rabbits specifically, he explains, “In the lower parts of the mountain ranges, the forests are lusher and the temperatures are livable, even in the winters. That’s why most rabbits head down there during the cold season.”

His quiet yet passionate spiel really draws me to him.

He sprinkles in a few of his experiences here and there, and it makes me even more curious as to who he really is.

We fill the rest of the drive with small talk, nothing too heavy, and the normalcy helps to put me more at ease.

When we get to his desired location, we get out of the car and hike for a bit until he motions for us to stop.

Then, he gestures for me to stand in front of him.

“See, with rabbits, you can’t get too close.

They’re flighty animals. You have one chance to get them.

Aim with your eyes closed, angle your arm,” he instructs me, standing directly behind me as he fixes my position as I hold the gun.

I can feel his breath at the back of my neck, gooseflesh rising on my body at the proximity.

His corded arms touch the base of my elbow, straightening it as his other hand grazes my waist, but just barely. Concentrating twice as hard on the task, I refrain from closing my eyes and basking in the tense proximity between us.

I miss each try, and I make at least fifteen attempts. Tanner laughs at me as I tell him I’m just no good at this kind of thing. He manages to nab two bunnies right away as he shows me how to aim the gun properly.

There’s this strange energy between us. Part of it is admiration, I’m sure, of the quiet skill behind Tanner’s guidance. There’s so much more to him than meets the eye, and I wonder how much of his true personality he’ll unveil to me.

When the sun starts going down and the wind picks up, we both decide that it’s time to leave. Tanner says that this kind of wind is a warning for weather that’s about to come in quickly.

As we make our way down the rocky path back to the car, Tanner keeps close to me. His hand brushes the small of my back more often than not, helping me keep my balance as we pick up speed. The butterflies in my stomach barely let me take a breath, my body heating with each casual touch.

When we’re in the jeep, the leaves blow over the windshield, making it hard for Tanner to see. We barely make it home safely, but even in such dangerous conditions, I trust Tanner completely. I know that whatever happens, he’ll bring me back home to my daughter.

I’m not expecting to see the sight I’m greeted with when I head back inside. Sophie is yelping playfully as Brody carries her on his back, a plastic sword in her hand as she pretends to slay Aiden. He plays along, clutching his neck where she struck him and falling to his knees.

All three of them are laughing and whooping, noticing my entrance at the very last moment.