I watched him shut down in front of me, his walls flying high into the air before tentatively dropping again.
“Forget I said his name. He doesn’t matter now.”
I sucked in a breath to say something more, but Grayson shook his head, his voice firm, “It’s in thepast. There’s no need to talk about it.”
The man knew how to shut down a topic hard. So I pivoted.
“Okay then. What’s the future? Tell me what the plan is.”
Grayson gestured around the empty room. “Students would stay in the bunkhouse, take classes here in the main building, and learn wilderness skills in the woods. I’ve got two hundred acres. Plenty of room for tracking exercises, survival scenarios… the works.”
“Two hundred acres? That sounds like a lot.”
“It is. It was worth giving up my cabin for this.” His eyes lit up as he talked, and I could see how much this dream meant to him.
This wasn’t just a business venture. It was his life’s work, stolen from him by someone he’d trusted.
“What will it take to get it going?” I asked.
He scoffed, the light dimming in his eyes. “Too much money.”
“How much?”
“I need to build a whole bunkhouse.” He ticked items off on his fingers. “Finish tiling the community bathrooms. Finish installing the commercial kitchen,” he scowled. “Right now I’m cooking on a hot plate and keeping my food in a mini-fridge. At least I have running water, or you might not have been so keen to sleep with me.”
I laughed at that, even as the weight of what he was trying to build settled on my chest. I thought about the small room where he slept.
He was living a bare-bones existence while he tried to rebuild what his friend had destroyed.
“How much will all that cost?”
“The bathrooms and kitchen, maybe ten thousand if I do most of the labor myself. The bunkhouse is the bulk of it since I’ve only got the foundation poured.” He let out a heavy breath. “That’ll eat up another thirty thousand, minimum.”
Forty thousand dollars. That was a lot of money.
“What about this room?”
“This? This is just cosmetic. I need to finish the walls and put down the finished floors, but I’ve already run the wiring and I’ve bought the materials. I’ve been slowly finishing it in between tours and SAR runs.”
I looked at his old pickup truck through the window. Then calculated what a wilderness guide and part-time search and rescue volunteer probably made in a year. It seemed like it would take himyearsto save that much money. Maybe decades.
My mind started spinning with possibilities. I had some savings left. Not much, but maybe I could help somehow. Or maybe there were grants for small businesses, loans with decent term rates.
Therehadto be a solution.
Grayson stood and crossed to where I sat, pulling me up from my chair. His hands settled on my waist, warm and solid.
“Enough about my problems,” he murmured, his voice dropping low. “I’d rather focus onyou. I don’t know how long I have you before you leave this town, and I want to take advantage of every minute I get.”
His mouth found mine, and the kiss was slow this time, tender. But I could feel the heat building beneath it, the hunger that never seemed to fully satisfy itself.
His hand slid down my hip, fingers trailing along my thigh before slipping between my legs. Even through my jeans, the pressure of his touch made me gasp.
All my thoughts about money and the future scattered like leaves in the wind.
If the man wanted me again, I wasmorethan ready for round two.
Chapter 11
