“You’re a flirt,” I told him, which made him chuckle.
“Maybe, but it’s true.”
I cocked a brow at him, deciding then and there, once this call was done, I was packing up and loading what I could, and heading out, letting a friend know what she could do with the rest of the stuff.
“You look tired,” Mason said, smacking my back, which earned him a glare.
“Maybe I am.”
“Someone keeping you awake?”
“Not like you think.”
I took a sip of my beer, my mind wandering to Janelle. I had never made a video call, and wasn’t sure what I was thinking when I did it. I just knew I had to see her face, to make her smile. But when that blush appeared, yeah, all my blood headed south, and I had to struggle not to go into the nasty thoughts that wanted to slip out.
But talking to her was so easy. It was as if we had known each other for ages, not just the short time that we had. And I sat in my chair, on the phone with her outside, really wishing that she was in my lap.
A total first for me because I didn’t long for that.
However, with this one, I longed for a lot of things.
Like I longed to take the trip to town with her, my hand on her leg, or holding her hand.
I longed to show her my land, the lake, and all the woods surrounding it.
I longed to bring her to this bar and show her off, letting everyone know that I was taken and they needed to back the hell up.
Just like this one woman who kept making eyes at me.
“Someone wants you,” Mason said and I rolled my eyes.
“Yeah, well, I don’t want her. I told you, this life isn’t interesting anymore. I’m over it.”
“This has nothing to do with Janelle, right?”
I gave him a look because he did know the truth about that. It did have something to do with it. Maybe we couldn’t say we were dating, but I felt like I belonged to her.
“I’m out of here,” I told him, standing up and throwing some bills on the counter.
“Hey Christian?”
“Yeah,” I said, turning around to glance at him.
“Invite me to the wedding.”
I flipped him off as I walked out of the bar and over to my truck. I loved this bar, it was the best of dive bars in my opinion, and it did cater to a lot of the men around these parts, so it was far more rustic.
But because of that, it also had a lot of loose women that came, hoping to shack up with one man or another.
And I was done with that, had been. Again, it’s why I joined Mountain Mates, and honestly, I didn’t have a problem with that.
I pulled up my drive, only slowing down as I saw a car parked a little further to the right of the cabin. Stopping right in front of the porch, I stared at the single woman who sat on the steps, her head lifting at the sound of the engine.
Her hair was down and surrounded her curvy face, a face I wanted to grab and kiss endlessly.
I licked my lips and took a deep breath before I turned the truck off and climbed out, walking to stand right in front of her. She stood up, barely reaching my shoulder and I had to smile at that.
“Hi,” I told her, making her laugh.
