Page 35 of The One With the Mountain Man

"Wait...if you two didn't know each other before...how the hell did you both wind up at Golden Hour?"

Luck. Fate. Divine intervention? "The universe threw me a bone." I tossed Scottie's own words back at him.

"Huh."

"Yeah." And I was thanking my lucky stars. Last night changed everything. I could have talked to her all night. Every word felt like a little prize. She'd slowly started to let me in.

And that kiss. Damn. Just damn. Incredible didn't even begin to describe it. I wasn't a monk. I enjoyed the hell out of sex and kissing. But now I had to rethink everything because that kiss was better than any other kiss I'd ever had,andmost of the sex. It had lit up my whole body, my mind, even my damn soul. And that was just a kiss. Afirstkiss.

"So what is it?" Scottie crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. "I speak from personal experience that there's a thing. A very specific thing that the right woman brings to the relationship that changes you forever. What's your thing?"

Gus kept chewing on his finger as he rested against me. "When we met, she was in a bad way. There's clearly some shit going on in her life. Normally that would make my skin crawl. But...all I feel is calm around her." It was the kind of peace I didn't think was possible for me.

"Oh damn. You're done for, man."

Which also meant I was screwed if I didn't do this right. Marley was one wrong step away from fleeing. It was written all over her face. It was in every sudden jerk when I surprised her. "So what's your thing? With Mack?"

Scottie scoffed. "I asked for yours, never said I was telling you mine. Fuck off."

Which was hilarious because everyone in town knew Scottie and Mack had crushes on each other way back in high school. I made a half heart in the air. "You complete me."

He grabbed the water dispensing gun from behind the counter. "I don't care if you're holding a baby. I'll drench your ass."

I stepped back, out of range. "She's your person."

He shot the water over the bar anyway. "You suck, you asshole! I hope Maeve and Sharon make you miserable and they forget all about me!"

I pushed open the door and stepped into the bright afternoon sunlight. "True love!"

Scottie groaned as the door swung shut.

"That was fun!" I told Gus. "Want to go annoy Uncle Red now?"

Gus sat up and scowled. "Red?"

"Yeah, buddy. The old guy who takes you fishing."

Gus's face lit up. "Red!"

I opened the door to ODX and set the kid down since I knew the offices were relatively safe. Red stood up, glared at me, then squatted down to high-five Gus. "Hey buddy! You're drooling everywhere!"

Guess Sharon and Maeve got to him too. "Yeah, I think he's got a tooth coming in. Reesa said he wasn't too happy, so I bailed him out."

Red kept scowling as he followed Gus around the office.

"Has Maeve been by?" Might as well jump right in.

Red took down a teddy bear his granddaughter gave him ten years ago and made it dance. "You know what you did."

I sighed. Maeve really knew how to work this town when she wanted to. "It literally just happened. Sorry I didn't make it by to fill you in on the gossip first."

"I'm talking about my sandwich, son." Gus giggled and hugged the bear. Red pulled it back and made it dance again.

I was lost. "What sandwich?"

Red sighed. "You were supposed to bring me a BLT yesterday. Ring any bells?"

That ten-minute jog to the café lasted a little longer than planned, but I couldn't bring myself to feel guilty about it. "Uh, yeah. About that..." The minute I laid eyes on Marley I'd forgotten everything else until Reesa called.

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