Page 9 of Mountain Grump Protector

Taking the challenge, Murph licks my hand and rests his head against my knee. “Too late.”

The corner of Cal’s mouth twitches for a moment, and then it’s gone.

“Come on.” He nods toward the cabin.

The dog follows close behind me as we climb the steps to the porch and step inside the cabin. His presence gives me a sense of calm, even though I’ve just set foot into a remote cabin with a strange man three times my size.

Inside, it smells like cedar, woodsmoke, and faintly like motor oil. I did see what looked like a garage around the back, but the inside of the cabin is clean. Really clean. That throws me. Half-feral mountain men aren’t supposed to keep clean houses. Are they?

“Bedroom is the second door on the left,” Cal points down the hall. “Bathroom is next to it. Clean towels under the sink. Take a shower if you want.”

I open my mouth to object, but he stops me. “There’s a clean shirt on the chair in there. Take it.”

“I don’t⁠—”

“You’re shivering, Willow,” he says simply. “It’s colder up here, and you’re hardly dressed for it.”

I look down at my tank and cutoffs. He’s not wrong. But I’m pretty sure my shivering has nothing to do with the temperature.

"Put it on.” He turns away. “Door locks.”

Door locks.

“Where are you going to be?”

“Out here. I’m not sleeping tonight anyway.”

I could argue with him, but what’s the point? I’m exhausted, and he’s right, I’m shaking, whether it be from the cold or from everything that’s happened, and the man who just paid six grand for me less than an hour ago is pointing me toward a bedroom with a lock, and from what I can tell, has absolutely no intention of joining me or cashing in on his purchase.

I don’t have any fight left in me. Without another word, I head down the hall.

His bedroom is clean, the bed made neatly. It shouldn’t surprise me, he was in the military after all. The shirt is right where he said it would be. Soft gray flannel. It smells like him.

I shrug it on, and the warmth envelopes me.

I close the door and reach for the lock.

It clicks. I stand there with my hand on the bolt for a moment, not sure if I’m locked in or out. Not that it matters for the moment.

Cal paid real money to get me away from those men. He doesn’t know me, and from what I can tell, he doesn’t seem to want anything from me.

And that’s the part I don’t understand.

Chapter Four

Cal

I wait till I hear the lock click behind her before I turn away.

Good girl.

The sound immediately takes me to a place I’ve tried for decades to forget. A different door. A different lock and a different woman, I told her to keep it shut and locked until I came back.

She did.

I didn’t.

I shut the memory down before it can get the rest of the way in. I’ve had practice.