Mountain Manhattan_Mountain Man in the Big City by Frankie Love

Author:Frankie Love [Love, Frankie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

20

Ford

I’m retreating. It’s not even a choice… it just is. The moment Tallie called and told us Matty was missing, my heart started pounding in my chest.

I was pulled back in time to a place I never wanted to see again.

It’s all too close to home. And being here with Mia, what happened tonight, it’s the exact reason I always push people away.

She’s knows something is off. I see it in her eyes; in the way, they don’t quite meet mine. And when we return to the hotel in the early morning hours, after the hospital visit, she asks if everything is okay. “I understand it was scary… but Ford, you showed me a side of yourself I’d never seen before. And I just want to make sure you’re alright.”

“It was a long night,” I say, my heart closing even as I speak.

“You sure that was all?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry for getting so intense.”

“No. I understand that fear causes us to act crazy sometimes.”

My heart tightens. She is being so graceful, so understanding. I snapped at her when memories came flooding back to me and that wasn’t fair.

She pulls her long dark hair up to the top of her head and secures it with a tie. Her eyes are dark, and I know we’ve only known one another for a month, but it feels so much longer. She looks at me like she wants to take away my worries, but I’m not sure she’s in a place to fix the mess of a man I am deep inside.

“I’m glad it was only a sprained ankle,” she says with a sigh. “But it just put things in perspective.”

“Ain’t that the fucking truth.” We’re sitting on her couch. Matty and Tahlia are both in their rooms. Matty’s foot wasn’t broken and thankfully the sprain will heal in a few short days. He was worried that he’d miss his summer camp, but Mia assured him everything would go as planned.

As planned.

As if anything in life goes as we expect. I pull her into my lap wanting her close, even though I know that before the night is through, I need to say goodbye.

It’s too much. I said it was a fling, but my heart is getting tied up in hers. It’s all too damn soon. And tonight, solidified the reason I have my fear; the reason I push people away.

I know what it is like to get hurt. To be wrecked and ruined. Raw in ways that broke me once.

I won’t add my pain to her own.

She straddles me, and I wrap my arms around her shoulders. Our eyes finally meet.

“Ford, what’s going on with you?”

I cock an eyebrow and shake my head. “Nothing. Just intense, you know?”

“It’s more than that,” she says softly. “Did I do something wrong?”

All I want right now is to kiss her, take away her worry. Tonight, we shared a first, and it was so damn vulnerable, so absolutely beautiful. I hate that the night has gone so fucking sideways.

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