Page 25 of Mountain Refuge

Adam gripped me tight, pressing his lips hard against my forehead. I wasn’t sure how long we stayed there like that. It could have been five seconds or five hours. I felt my heart crack a little when he eventually pulled back.

He lifted a hand to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing against my tear trail. I was taking short gulps of air, just trying to keep myself together.

“If I was a different man, living a different life, I would kiss you without hesitation or regret. I would take you into my arms and make love to you all night long, Brooke.” He let his hand drop. He pulled away completely. I felt immediately cold, despite the roaring fire behind me. “But that’s not my life. I have to put my children first. I have to protect them. And you, my beautiful mountain goddess, are a distraction I can’t afford. My attentions are already divided.”

Adam stood up. I watched as he took a deep breath and then walked towards the bedroom. He didn’t look back and I didn’t call out to him. He was clearly as torn as I was, but that fact didn’t make me feel any better.

Chapter Ten

Adam

The roar of a snowmobile had never been so welcome. I was sitting in the living room playing tic-tac-toe with Lydia while Henry sat on my lap sucking on a bottle. He wasn’t eating much anymore, just gnawing on the nipple. I didn’t mind as it was entertaining him for a time and exercising his gums. He’d started teething just before we had gone on the run.

Yesterday had been long and painful. One could have cut the tension between Brooke and me with a knife. Corbin had been unable to come down. His mom wasn’t feeling well, and he hadn’t wanted to leave her. I understood, and sympathized, but I’d been really counting on the company to fill the silence between Brooke and me.

We were avoiding each other, and I hated it. She had barely spoken to me since our night on the couch. When she did speak, it was a simple question like, “Did you eat enough?” or informing me that “I’m going outside.”

I didn’t know how to fix it, to fixus. And the worst part of that desire was that there was nous,and never could be. When Brooke walked into a room, she took up my whole attention. Shewas like a magnet, automatically drawing my eyes to find her, follow her, study her… If I didn’t know of her equal attraction to me, I’d call myself a creep and blindfold myself to spare her my obsession. I wanted to walk up to her and kiss her. I wanted to be able to call hermine. I had never felt so possessive over a woman before. I’d never understood the Neanderthal desire to claim a woman until I met Brooke.

But taking her, even with her permission, would be selfish. I needed to protect my kids. I couldn’t risk any distractions from that, or it could cost us our lives.

I’d gone to bed with the kids again last night, but I hadn’t fallen asleep when they had. Instead, I laid awake and fought the growing urge to walk out into the living room and make love to Brooke in front of the roaring fire. At one point, it had gotten so bad that I had lifted a sleeping Henry onto my chest and held him as if he weighed enough to anchor me down.

So by this afternoon, after almost two days of near silence between us, I was about ready to explode. When I finally heard the snowmobile outside, I let out a sigh of relief. Corbin would get my mind off Brooke.

I went to the window, and my jaw nearly dropped. I hadn’t seen him in eighteen years. When he’d been arrested, Corbin had been a tall, gangly teenager. He’d been malnourished and downtrodden.

The giant that climbed off the snowmobile looked nothing like the teen I remembered. Actually, with that black beard and long shaggy hair, he could have been Hagrid’s younger brother. I placed him a foot taller than my five-ten.

Brooke opened her front door for him, and he had to duck to enter. I couldn’t believe how large he was. His biceps were bigger than my waist! Goddamn. He was pure muscle.

My eyes flew to Brooke, recalling thebabecomment over the radio. Was there something between them? In comparison,how was I even in the running for Brooke’s affections when she had a man like Corbin so near?

“Whoa,” even came from Lydia.

Corbin looked over at me, then behind me at Lydia. A huge smile appeared on his face, and, despite my irrational jealousy, I found myself smiling back. “Jesus, Adam, it’s so good to see you.” He dropped the duffel bag he was carrying, came over and wrapped his massive arms around me. Since I was holding Henry, he didn’t grip me too hard, but I still felt the squeeze.

When he released me, he clasped me on my shoulders. This was definitely familiar, our height difference. In high school, Corbin used to rest his elbow on my head because, per him, my head was the perfect height to be used as an armrest.

“Holy sh— I mean, cra—” He winced, biting his tongue. “Wow, I’ve never had to curb my language before. This is going to be hard.”

I laughed. “You get used to it or get creative with alternatives. My preferred are ‘sugar-snaps’, ‘fudge-sicles’, and ‘H-E-double hockey sticks’.”

“I’ll try to remember those.” He looked around me to where Lydia had pressed herself against the back of my leg. She was peeking her little blonde head around my leg. Her natural curiosity and my greeting likely kept her from being scared of the stranger.

Corbin knelt down in front of her. Even kneeling he was huge, but at least he wasn’t towering now. “Hi, sweetheart. What’s your name?”

She looked up at me. At my encouraging nod, she looked back at Corbin. “Lydia.”

“Lydia? That’s a pretty name, fit for a princess.”

She shrugged but didn’t say anything.

“Hm,” Corbin hummed. “Are you afraid of me?”

Again, Lydia looked up at me. I didn’t indicate which wayshe should answer though. After some contemplating, she pursed her lips and looked at Corbin. “No. You’re Daddy’s brother and my uncle.”

He smiled so wide, it must have hurt his cheeks. I hadn’t told him I’d been referring to him as her uncle as an explanation as to who we were seeing. I could have called him a friend, but I wanted her to feel like she had family beyond me if anything happened to me. It was my hope that by calling him her uncle, she would trust him easier.

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