Page 140 of The One With the Mountain Man

I crushed her against my chest and held her tight, my fingers in her wild hair. Cristobal pulled her into the bushes and her crying was what alerted the jogger that stopped Cristobal from dragging her off. She escaped that day. She wouldn't have escaped the plan he had for her next and I was so damn grateful that this town full of gossips and murder aficionados was ours. "Crying is normal."

Her hands fisted against my skin. "It's weak. It's...it's not who I want to be."

I understood what she was trying to do, but it wasn't the same. "Don't blame yourself for crying, love."

"I will if I want to. Just like you will blame yourself for fighting back against your father." She let the words settle. "Or we can decide that those were extreme circumstances and everything else we've done proves that we're not those people." She pushed away from me and sat up, wrangling her wild hair out of her face. "You are a good man, Jackson Finn. You are a good man and I love you, and you can't change that fact. I will love you whether you like it or not."

I drank up her love like a starving man and I was sure I would die without it.

"And you used all that outdoorsy Bigfoot skill of yours to save me and your friends today, which is very sexy, I might add."

There she went again, dragging me out of my doom and gloom. "I punched Travis when I thought he was flirting with you." I couldn't seem to take the win. I needed to drag up every shred of proof that I was bad and hold it up under the light for her to examine more closely, to realize she was wrong and I was right.

Instead, she sighed. "Oh Jackson. What am I going to do with you?"

Forty-Two

Marley

All my memories will be good because they'll be of you

I staredat the magical golden trickery of light that created this view they called Golden Hour as I snuggled into one of Jackson's flannel shirts. I wondered how long it would take me to get used to the cooler air. The fact that the land wasn't flat for as far as the eye could see still baffled me, but it didn't shock me anymore.

The temperatures were something else. Their late summer was my winter. The nights were cool up here on the mountain and would have sent all my friends back home diving for hoodies to hide in.

"Whatcha thinkin' about darlin'?" Jackson's smooth voice vibrated the air moments before his arms came around me.

"That I don't want to leave."

"So don't." The fire he'd just built began to crackle.

"I'm not going to."

"Good." He spun me away from the view to give me an even better one. "Now that that's settled, we keeping our usual Friday night date of Scottie's cooking and then some dancing?"

I wrapped my arms around his neck, knowing this was the exact place I wanted to spend the rest of my life. Both at Golden Hour and in Jackson's arms. We'd spent the last five days quietly processing everything that happened and coming to terms with the fact that neither of us were perfect people and we were perfectly content with that. We avoided the brief media storm that descended on Lost Creek when they realized the arrest of my stalker probably meant I was in town. When they couldn't find me and no one in Lost Creek was willing to discuss anything about me, they left.

I had fallen head over heels for Lost Creek. Calusa Key would always be my hometown, but Lost Creek washome."I think that's how I want to spend every Friday for the rest of my life."

He grinned. "Right answer. Now tell me what all these deep thoughts are because I know you're having them. You get this cute little crinkle to your eyes like if you squint just right the answers will appear." He pressed kisses to the corners of my eyes.

"I'm going to ask Mack if I can buy Golden Hour."

Jackson's eyebrows shot up and he blinked. "Excuse me. Shouldn't I be involved in discussions of where we live."

"That's what I'm doing now. I led with what I want. Now you tell me what you want."

Mischief lit up those eyes and I almost melted. "Well, I may have asked Digger about a few properties near town."

I swatted him. "Shouldn't I be involved in discussions of where we live?"

His whole body shook with silent laughter. "I was just gathering information, love."

"Any that got you excited?"

"Some worth looking at...until I remembered I'm in love with a famous author who can probably buy the town. Can you buy the town, Marley? Is this your plan?"

Now I was laughing. "Absolutely not. Just this place, or any other place that will make us stupidly happy."

---