Free Unbound by Olivia Leighton Page B

aisle where I kept nutritional supplements, granola, power bars, and the like. He eyed the GoBar selection for a while and then seemed to randomly pick a few. As he did all of this, I finally got a chance to give him a look-over without being too obvious.
     
    His dark-blonde hair was slightly unkempt, but not in a never-been-washed sort of way. It seemed to have that messy quality that usually showed up on magazine covers, the ' I didn't try but I did ' look that most guys couldn’t pull off. Both his hair and his goatee were in need of a trim, but it wasn’t too bad.
     
    His t-shirt, while loose-fitting, emphasized his amazing upper body. Most hikers I saw come into The Pine Way were usually rather slim, yet fit. But Jack looked as if he made a habit of hitting up a weight room fairly often. My eyes roamed greedily over his broad shoulders and down his muscular back.  Dear Lord, what would he look like without a shirt on?   How I could use a night alone with him… Goose bumps rose up on my arms as I reveled in my naughty thoughts.
     
    Jack turned back towards the counter and I looked away quickly, my eyes going back to the crossword puzzle. As I did, I heard the bell over the door jingle again. I frowned as Amber Dawson stepped through the door. She was dressed in a cute sweater and pants that were far too tight. She had on a pair of those ridiculously large sunglasses that somehow looked absolutely beautiful on her.
     
    I hated her in that moment. And I knew that I would hate her even more when Jack’s attention would predictably shift from me to her. But, just as I expected her to rush up to Jack and initiate a pointless conversation, something amazing happened. For a brief moment, our eyes met.  Amber took in the situation and smiled.  Pointing at Jack, who was facing away from her, she mouthed “omg he's hot.”
     
    My eyes flicked to Jack, who was completely oblivious, and then back to Amber.  For the first time, I actually smiled at her. She saw that I was in the middle of an awkward conversation with a man that she had never seen before and was giving me space.  She stepped to the side and pretended to find something of interest in the rock climbing section of the store, far away to the back.  Maybe Amber isn't so bad after all...
     
    Jack sat the bars next to the register slowly, as if he were trying to think of something to say. My insides twirled like a vortex of butterflies.  Is he going to ask me out?   Finally, when the last GoBar was on the counter, he found the words he was looking for.
     
    “ Have you ever been to Catchman’s Overlook?” he asked.  Damn.
     
    “ Once,” I said. “A few years back. I’m really not much of a long-distance hiker.”
     
    “ Rock climber?” he asked.
     
    “ No.”
     
    He twisted his head and thought.  “ Runner?”
     
    “ Wrong again.”
     
    “ It seems odd that you’d be the proprietor of a place like this, then,” he said with a boyish grin.
     
    “ It was my father’s place,” I responded with a proud smile. “I used to help him here when I was a teenager and I fell in love with it. It was all I ever wanted to do even after I went to college.”
     
    “A h,” he nodded slightly.  “I revoke my previous statement then.”
     
    “ No worries.”
     
    Jack eyed me for a moment, still smiling, and then an awkward silence fell between us, one that I did not let extend any further than it had to. I started to ring up his GoBars, going as slow as I could in the hopes that he might pick the conversation up again. As I scanned the bars across the scanner, it occurred to me that this was the first time since my divorce that I had spoken to a man in a way that might lead to…well, to something.
     
    It was both monumental and terrifying all at the same time.
     
    The silence made me very aware of Amber Dawson in the back of the store. I was sure she was eavesdropping. Therefore, I wasn’t about to be the one to take the next step. I