Page 3 of The Mountain Man's Paradise
“Sometimes.”
Her eyes warm with amusement. “That’s very reassuring.”
I should let go of her hand. I know that. We’ve completed the introduction. Normal people release each other and move the hell on. But her skin is soft, her nails are painted pale pink, andshe smells clean and sweet from the sun. I loosen my grip before I do something stupid, and her fingers slide out of mine slowly enough to make my jaw go tight.
Noah makes a sound beside me that I ignore.
Mindy steps in. “Rosalyn has been saving my life all morning. The welcome bags got delivered to the wrong conference room, the florist called about the arch, and my aunt is trying to reorganize the seating chart.”
“I stopped the seating chart crisis,” Rosalyn says. “For now.”
“See?” Mindy looks at me. “Hero.”
Rosalyn lifts one shoulder. “Low-stakes hero.”
I look at her mouth. Then I force my eyes back up. “Still counts.”
Her smile slips for half a breath, and the air between us changes. I see how she notices it too. Her fingers tighten around the clipboard, and she glances down for the first time since she walked over.
Good. I’m not the only one.
A woman calls Rosalyn’s name from across the lobby. She turns, and irritation hits me fast and unreasonable. I don’t know this woman. I have no claim on her time. I have no damn reason to hate the fact that someone else needs her.
But I do.
“I have to fix one more thing,” she says, looking back at Mindy, then at me. “I’ll see you at the welcome drinks?”
“Yes,” Mindy answers before I can say anything.
Rosalyn’s eyes stay on mine. “Try not to escape before then, Barrett.”
“I wasn’t escaping.”
“No?” Her smile deepens. “You were thinking about it.”
Noah coughs into his fist.
I hold Rosalyn’s gaze and tell the truth. “Not anymore.”
Her lips part a few millimeters before she pulls herself back into motion. She gives me one last look, then turns and walks away toward the woman calling her name.
I watch her go.I know I shouldn’t, but I do it anyway because I’m not a saint and I’m sure as hell not blind. Her dress moves around her curvy legs, her hips shifting with each step, and every protective instinct I own wakes up.
It’s insane. It’s too fast. This isn’t how I live my life.
Rosalyn disappears around the corner, taking the only thing in this whole resort I want to look at, and the countdown in my head changes. I’m no longer counting the hours until I can leave.
I’m counting the seconds until I see her again.
2
ROSALYN
Barrett is watching me from across the terrace.
I notice him between greeting Mindy’s college roommate and redirecting one of Noah’s cousins away from the private cabanas reserved for another event. It should be impossible to notice one silent man when there are forty people gathered under string lights with drinks in their hands and the ocean rolling softly beyond the low wall, but Barrett isn’t built to fade into anything. He stands near a stone column with his broad arms crossed over his chest, wearing the same black T-shirt and jeans from earlier, looking deeply uncomfortable and far too large for the delicate glass in his hand.
Every time I glance over, his eyes are already on me.
