Scolded by the Mountain Man (Sweetheart Falls)

6. Tyson

6

TYSON

I wake up on the couch feeling like an asshole. I shouldn’t have snapped at her like that yesterday, but she pushed the wrong button, and I reacted. So to make up for it, I gave her the bed.

I get up and notice the rain has mostly stopped. It looks like today will be the day that Penny will demand I take her home. A hollow feeling forms in my stomach when I think about leading her down the mountain and hiking back up here on my own.

I climb the stairs, expecting to find Penny still asleep in bed. Instead, I find her already awake and standing naked by the window. She turns and sees me, and for a moment I see a look flash across her face as she contemplates leaping back into bed to cover herself. But when she realizes I’ve seen it all before, she stands right in place where she is, almost defiantly, allowing my eyes to drink in the beauty of every inch of her curves. She really is unbelievably sexy.

“Looks like I was up before you this morning,” she says.

“Uh, no,” I lie in an attempt to save face. “I was just going to let you shower before me.”

She’s clearly not buying it and gives me a look up and down, then nods. “Uh huh.”

She steps past me and goes over to her clothes, which she picks up and then tosses back down on the bed. “You know, if I don’t get something new to wear soon, I’m gonna feel like I’m living on the streets–”

“Listen,” I interrupt. “I apologize for yesterday. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. It was wrong of me.”

Penny stops and turns around. I can see the need for what I’m saying in her eyes. She was more than likely going to just let what happened yesterday go and be the better person, but now that I’ve brought it up, her entire demeanor has shifted. She shakes her head warmly.

“It’s all right–”

“No, it’s not,” I reply, taking her hand in mine. “I was a total dick, and I apologize. And if you accept my apology, I have the world’s greatest joke to tell you.”

“The world’s greatest joke?” she asks, cocking her head to the side.

“That’s right,” I reply. “But only if you accept my apology.”

A tiny smile curls across her lips. She pretends to think about this for a moment, then nods. “Okay. I accept your apology. Now let’s hear it.”

I take a power stance, as though I legitimately am about to lay the world’s greatest joke on her. I can see she’s already trying hard not to smile.

“Do you know why the banana got arrested?” I ask.

Her smile broadens. “No, why?”

“I don’t know,” I reply. “But I’m pretty sure he will get out on a peel.”

Penny instantly bursts out laughing and covers her mouth with her hand. She spins around and tries not to let me see her giggling, but somehow that only makes her even cuter.

Thank God this went over well and she’s not still angry with me from yesterday.

“A peel!” She snorts. “I get it!”

“Not bad, right?” I smile.

Still smiling, she nods and gives me a thumbs up. “The pinnacle of dad-jokes, but somehow that’s why I love it.”

I feel so comfortable around her. Like she’s been living here for months already. For so long now, home has meant this cabin. Home has meant this mountain and these woods. But now, I can see home meaning something else entirely.

I can see home meaning Penny.

“There’s a reason I snapped at you last night, and I want to tell you why,” I start to say, but Penny raises her hand to stop me.

“It’s okay, Tyson. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to.”

“No, I do,” I reply. I can’t believe I’m going here with her, but I am. “Come on, let’s go outside. But you might want to throw some clothes on first.”

Penny smirks and slides into her pants and shirt. “I’m surprised you’re telling me to get into my clothes instead of out of them.”

“Well, we have time.” I smirk back at her as I take her hand and lead her down the stairs.

It’s a nice, brisk, cloudy day as we step out onto the front porch. I can hear a woodpecker doing his thing somewhere to the east. I lead Penny just past where I cut wood and have her take a seat on the log bench I built last month.

“So you asked me what a guy like me was doing out here in a place like this, and the truth is…my name isn’t just Tyson. It’s Tyson Ainsworth.”

Just as I expected, Penny’s eyes go wide. Her pupils dilate and her jaw drops.

“ The Tyson Ainsworth? From Ainsworth Pharmaceuticals?”

“The one and only.” I nod.

It’s no surprise she knows who I am. Basically everyone in the world knows who I am. Certainly everyone in North America, and definitely an analyst from Goldman Sachs would know. I surpassed Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk in terms of famous billionaires several years ago when my company went public.

“Oh my wowzers!” she gasps. “You will not believe this, but the very first trade I proposed to my boss was a bet on your company! We made a lot of money off it, and I made my name at Goldman because of it. No offense, but a lot of people were betting against you back then.”

I chuckle. “Oh, I remember. Trust me.”

Penny frowns. “You’ve been missing for almost a year now. Everyone thinks you’re dead.”

“The people who need to know know I’m alive.”

“But why?” she asks, sounding flabbergasted. “You’re one of the richest men in the world, if not the richest. Why are you out here all alone?”

I have to chuckle as I look at her and the sincerity in her eyes.

It’s there. The feeling I’ve been missing. Having someone with me that I feel truly connects with me on a personal level, without having known who I was when she met me.

“You answered your question yourself,” I reply. “Being one of the richest men in the world sounds amazing, until you realize that’s the only reason why anyone wants to be around you. Every woman you meet, how do you know they don’t just want you for your money?”

A sad look of understanding comes across her face. “And so you came out here to what? Be a hermit?”

“I came out here to find something real,” I reply. “Something I truly want .”

“And that’s to live alone on a mountain?” She sounds confused. Something stirs inside me, and I decide to counter back at her.

“And what about you, Penny? Do you truly want to be a stock broker? What is it that brought you out here on a solo hike that got you into so much trouble?”

She sighs. Her entire body slumps, and she leans forward and puts her head in her hands. I want to reach out and cradle her in my arms, help ease whatever is troubling her at this very moment.

“I don’t know.” Her admission is painful for her. I can hear it in her voice. “I thought I did. I worked my ass off to get where I am now, but now that I am there, it’s just driving me nuts. So I took a personal day to go hiking. Now that I’ve been lost and haven’t gotten in touch with my boss, he’s going to kill me. Maybe even fire me.”

I take a deep breath and immediately start thinking about ways to prevent this from happening or things I can do to make her life easier for her. But that’s when I see it: a black bear coming out of the woods right behind Penny.

“Penny!” I hiss, keeping my voice low. “ Don’t move a muscle!”

Penny instantly freezes, but the black bear does not. He’s big, and he’s not shy. He strides right out of the woods like he owns the place, his enormous claws crushing the soil beneath him with every step he takes. I’m sure Penny can hear him, but she maintains her poise. That is, until he lets out a roar that echoes throughout the entire area.

Penny’s face floods with panic, and she clasps both hands over her ears. Without hesitation, I snap into action.

I race toward the cabin, closing the distance in seconds. The front door is nearly taken off its hinges as I shoulder it open and dash for the cabinet where I keep my guns.

I snatch the twelve-gauge from the rack and two birdshot shells that I quickly load as I sprint back in Penny’s direction.

Thank God that beautiful girl hasn’t moved from the bench since I left, but that big black bear has walked closer. He’s probably about thirty feet away from her now and looking curiously in her direction. He’s interested in her, and she looks panicked, like she’s ready to get up and run for her life. And I don’t blame her.

I bolt up in front of the log site and stop, lift the shotgun and take aim just in front of the bear’s feet at the dirt. The object of the shot is to kick up rocks and scatter them into the bear and scare him off, not to actually shoot the bear and harm it in any real way.

“Don’t move!” I cry out just before squeezing the trigger.

The shotgun goes off. The stock kicks back into my shoulder.

Just as I planned, rocks and dirt scatter up into the bear’s face. He lets out an irritated roar but immediately spins and races back into the woods as fast as he can go, like his mom just called him back to the den.

Penny snaps up like a rocket and rushes into my arms. I grasp her and hold her tight. There’s no describing how incredible it makes me feel when I protect her. Whether it’s bringing her in from the storm and providing her shelter or saving her from this bear like I just did.

“Oh my God, that was the scariest thing in my entire life!” she cries out into my chest. I can feel her panting as she gulps deep breaths.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” I assure her. “Breathe slowly. He’s gone.”

“Was that thing going to eat me!?”

“Normally they don’t just randomly attack,” I explain. “But I find it’s better not to tempt fate and best to just get rid of them.”

She nods quickly. “Yeah, I agree!”

“Maybe if I ever come across a tiny little baby one that I need to rescue and take to a bear sanctuary, things will be different.”

She looks up at me with that gorgeous face of hers, and my desire to provide for her rushes through me, coming to the forefront of my existence.

“And you started a pharmaceutical company?” she asks. “Talk about not fitting the stereotype.”

I laugh. “Yeah, turns out I have a variety of interests.”

“So do I,” she responds, reaching a hand down my pants. “And it turns out stock broker men are not one of them. So, Tyson. Will you take me inside and strip all of my clothes off?”

I’m rock hard in an instant, and she notices immediately. I slip my hand up her shirt and cup her breast. So perky. So plump.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I can do that,” I growl as I lift her into my arms.