Page 144 of The One With the Mountain Man

I squeezed her tight. This was...perfect. I never thought I'd move back to Lost Creek, let alone be happy about it, but it was happening. We would get countless nights like this. My life was suddenly very, very full. "Thank you."

She craned to look up at me. "For what?"

"For all of this." I nodded to the table that had now added Aviana, Eve, and Harrison.

"Then I should be thanking you, too."

I worried sometimes about taking her away from the life she had. "You're sure about moving here?"

She moved her cheek to my shoulder and cupped my face. "I guess we talked a lot about you and not much about me today. Yes, this is what I want."

"But your friends?"

She shrugged. "Charley's still coming to visit. And while I like her friends, we hadn't gotten close yet. I haven't had a close group of friends since..."

"I know, babe. But it seems wrong to present you with my ready-made crew as substitute."

"You're not. Not really. Your friends are Scottie and Travis and Digger. I like them but they're not my besties."

"True." I pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I like Willow. And Eve and Aviana. I like Karis a lot."

"And you can't get rid of Mack."

"For the first time I'm forming a real group of friends again. I want to be here."

I hated, absolutelyhated, the pain that flashed through her eyes whenever memories of her friends came up. I wanted to take all those years where she was too afraid to let anyone close and crush them into a hug so she'd only feel loved.

I pressed my palm to her heart. "I will keep you safe. Always."

She covered it with hers, pressing it harder against her warm skin. "Bad things will happen. That's life."

"And when they do, I'm here. Loving you. Always." I shifted so I could kiss her the way I needed to. "No matter what happens, no matter how long we have, if I'm gone one day, I want to have loved you so hard that the memories keep you happy until we're together again."

"Oh Jackson. You already have." She kissed me right back. Just as dirty and depraved as we'd been earlier at the cabin.

"Ugh, just go and snog in the backseat of your giant truck like everyone else," Eve gagged. "This is incest or something! I should not be seeing this!"

"Incest?" Marley whispered against my lips. "Oh my."

I smiled against her lips. "You still sure you want this? They never stop. They interrupt and meddle and they'reloud."

"Oh, I want this. In fact, I'm looking forward to it." She yelped when I reached under her skirt and squeezed her ass.

"To the truck?"

She grinned. "I do believe we had plans."

"We could turnthis guest room into my office," Marley mused as we relaxed in the hot tub the next afternoon. "I write all over the place, but that's only one part of my job. I need a proper desk where I can do edits and accounting."

"The apartment has plenty of guest space. Will you be moving furniture from home or buying up here?"

Her gaze went fuzzy as she got lost in her head and I had to stop myself from floating across the tub to hold her. I couldn't squeeze the bad memories out of her no matter how much I wished I could.

"There are a few things I'll want moved. My desk, computer, and all my personal stuff, but the rest I'll probably donate or sell. Is it weird that all I really care about can be distilled down to about twenty boxes?"

"You're askingmethat?"

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