Page 6 of Single-Dad: The Mountain Man

“All good, Shane?” The large man asks in his deep tone. He’s slightly smaller than Shane, but equally as impressive in size.

“Yes. Thanks for the favor,” Shane says before turning to me. “Let’s go.”

* * *

Shane

“Eat,”I say, putting the bowl of beef stew on the kitchen table and sitting opposite her.

That’s it?

I haven’t spoken a word since back in the alley when I lost control and then I give her a command like some sort of drill sergeant?

I’m about to ask her more nicely when she heaps a spoonful into her mouth and closes her eyes.

“Your stew’s the best medicine,” Willow says. Those beautiful green eyes light up.

I take a deep breath, allowing the compliment to buoy me up. “I was afraid you’d be tired of it by now. I feed it to you every other day.”

Food’s a safe topic right now with the nanny, Ms. Steele, in the cabin, but tension hangs in the air like a mountain fog.

“No way. As long as you’re not tired of cooking it, I won’t get tired of eating it.”

“That settles it, I’m serving stew for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

She covers her mouth to giggle and a little smile tugs at my lips. I can’t help eating up all the mannerisms she keeps feeding me like her own batch of medicinal stew. Quirks that uniquely belong to her.

The way she hums softly to herself in the mornings, scrunches her nose when she finds something amusing, or how her full, pouting lips twitch when she’s nervous.

“What about when I go back to my apartment?”

“I’ll deliver it fresh, three times a day.” I keep my tone light but can’t ignore the way my brain starts working out a plan of action to carry this out.

“You’re crazy,” she laughs.

“Gage told me to give you whatever you need.”

“Does that include another kiss?” Her lips twitch.

I don’t need a refresher when it comes to remembering the taste of her luscious lips, their softness, her sweet whimpers, or her hot breath. That memory will be forever burned in my brain as the moment I betrayed my best friend.

“No. Never again,” I say, sternly.

My harsh tone is directed at the feral beast inside of me that wants to flip the table and maul her again.

“Fine,” she says, sounding resolute.

I’m drawn to her green eyes as silence stretches between us.

“Okay, I’m leaving now.” Ms. Steele wanders in, cutting through the tense atmosphere.

Charlotte was having a little trouble sleeping so I read her a story. And Dylan was out like a light almost immediately.”

“You’re a godsend, Ms. Steele.”

We see her to the door and wave her off before I turn to Willow.

“Gage would kill me if he saw what happened tonight,” I murmur. “And he’s done enough time as it is, I know he wouldn’t want to do anymore.”

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