Flirting with the Mountain Man (Rosewood Ridge Fire #6)

Chapter 4

4

TYLER

I should leave. I should walk out of this hospital and go home. Yes, I’d driven Bianca here, and she was relying on me for a ride back, but that wasn’t the only reason I was still here.

I couldn’t walk away from her now. I physically could not move away from this hallway I’d been pacing for the past twenty minutes. With each step, it became clearer that I was in deep. This woman had come into my life and flipped my world upside down.

I’d never be the same.

Click.

The sound of a door opening behind me had me nearly jumping out of my skin. I spun to see Bianca exiting her dad’s room, a smile on her face.

“He’s asking for a double cheeseburger,” she said. “I think he’s going to be just fine.”

I’d known that the second we walked into his room to find him sitting up in bed, flirting with one of the nurses. It had been peak Andy Sullivan.

“Oh good,” I said.

The sigh of relief I breathed was real.This had been tense—the whole night. What we both needed was some sleep, but the thought of going back to my empty cabin and climbing into my bed alone filled me with dread. It all seemed empty. All of it. Everything was a little brighter when this woman was nearby.

“Do we need to grab him a burger?” I asked, desperate to keep her in my life a little longer.

Yes, she very well could be preparing to send me on my way. I didn’t need to be here. I could volunteer to grab one of the guys and bring one of their vehicles here so it would be in the parking lot whenAndy was eventually discharged.

“The nurse said absolutely not.” Bianca laughed. “They’re going to run some tests, just to make sure everything’s okay. They seem sure it’s dehydration, but they want to be positive. He might have to stay overnight.”

I nodded. “I’d rather they make sure before they release him.”

Biting her lip, she averted her gaze and shifted from one foot to the other. She was so breathtakingly beautiful, even with no makeup and in casual clothes, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. But I could tell she wanted to say something.

“What’s up?” I asked.

She lifted her gaze to my face. “I might need your help with something. I mean, you could drive me up to get my car, and I could take it from there. I’m fine with driving myself back down here. I just wanted…”

Now she stopped and bit her lip again. I was curious what this favor was, but I was even more curious about what she wasn’t saying.

“I was hoping you’d say yes to riding with me down here,” I said after waiting out the silence for a good half minute. “I’m going to be honest. I wanted to spend more time with you.”

Her eyes widened, and her eyebrows rose slightly. I’d take that as a good sign.

“I felt the same,” she said. “Weird, huh? We just met.”

“Weird.” I smiled. “I’m thirty-five. And you’re Andy’s daughter.”

“I’m twenty-three,” she said. “And I’m not a kid.”

That much was certain. Andy would probably have my head if I dated his daughter, but at this point, it was a risk I was willing to take. It was a risk I couldn’t avoid taking. I had to be with this woman.

“So what’s the favor?” I asked.

“Dad needs his laptop. If he’s going to be here for a while, he wants to catch up on his streaming.”

That brought another smile to my face. There was a perfectly good TV in the room, but Andy didn’t want to waste time. If he could get caught up on his streaming, he was going to do it, by gosh.

But it also meant I had a reason to spend more time with this woman. Even if we split up at her house, I’d find a way to connect with her later.

“Maybe on our way, we could stop and grab some breakfast?” she asked. “I’m starving.”

Now that she’d mentioned it, I was pretty darn hungry myself. And not just for her.

“Rosewood Ridge Diner?” I asked.

“I don’t know what that is, but it sounds great.” And then she said the words I’d said earlier at her cabin. “Let’s go.”