“Avery,” he lifted his head and looked down at me, his hazel eyes serious. “I’m crazy about you.”
My breath caught.
“I know you’re scared,” he rumbled. “I can see it in your face right now. But I need you to hear me out before you run.”
I stopped struggling, though my heart was still racing.
He shifted his weight to one elbow, his other hand coming up to brush a strand of hair away from my face. The tenderness of the gesture made my chest ache.
“I haven’t let a woman close in eight years,” he said quietly. “Not since Brenda left.”
I blinked up at him. “Eight years?”
“Eight years.” His jaw tightened.
“Brenda and I had dated for years, and I was pretty sure we were going to marry. But when my dad died, I was lost. Brenda wanted to make decisions about my inheritance when what I needed was to grieve.”
A gasp slipped out of my mouth. I couldn’t imagine how he’d felt at the time. I was close with both of my parents, and if I lost either one of them, I imagined I’d be stuck in a fog of pain for a few years straight.
His voice was deep with emotion. “She wanted me to leave the mountain and buy her a nice house in a bigger town… become civilized. When I wouldn’t do it… she found someone who would.”
He paused, and I could see old pain flickering in his eyes. “I was still grieving my dad when she walked out. After that, well,I sent a big oldfuck youto the opposite sex and decided women weren’t worth the trouble.”
“Flint—”
“But then I walked intothisbookstore,” his thumb traced along my neck. “And there you were, all flustered and pink-cheeked, trying so hard to keep me at arm’s length. And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since.”
My eyes burned with unexpected tears. I wanted so badly to believe him, but I’d believed someone before. Someone who was a lot like Flint.
“I had a thing with someone once,” I whispered. “He was older than me, a mountain man like you.”
Flint listened intently, tightening his grip around my waist.
“I told my friends I thought we were getting serious,” my voice cracked. “That’s when the rumors flew around town that we might get married soon. A bitter smile landed on my lips. Now I know why he wanted to be so secretive. It’s because he liked to keep hisactivesocial life off the radar. I wasn’t the only woman he was with during that time.”
“That asshole. Who was it?”
“It actually wasn’t Sawyer’s fault.”
“Sawyer Reed?”
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “He nevertoldme we were exclusive. I… jumped to that conclusion all on my own. I always make fairytales out of nothing. He let me down gently once he found out. After that, the rumor mill worked overtime for a while.”
Flint’s expression darkened, but he didn’t interrupt me.
“The heartbreak was bad enough,” I continued, “but the gossip wasworse. Everyone in town knew, andeveryonehad opinions. I couldn’t go anywhere without feeling people’s eyes on me, whether they were pitying me or judging me.”
“I understand,” he said, and the weight of voice told me he truly did. “The gossip about Brenda and me is part of why Imoved out to a cabin where I didn’t have to see sympathy in everyone’s eyes every time I bought groceries. I fucking hate that shit.”
Something shifted in my chest. Hedidunderstand.
He knew exactly what it felt like to be the subject of small-town whispers. To have your private pain become public entertainment.
“I can’t be someone’s Friday night fling again,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. “I can’t do that to myself. If this is going to be anything, it has to be public. I need to know you’re not going to hide me away.”
His eyes flashed with something fierce, and when he spoke, his voice was a low growl that rumbled through my entire body.
“Avery, I don’t hide what’s mine. If we do this,everyonein town will know you’re with me.”
