Page 65 of The One With the Mountain Man

My phone vibrated on the railing, and I swept it up, hitting the green button before bringing it to my ear. "Morning, sister dear."

"Yay! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

I rolled my eyes. How could Karis possibly know about last night? "What for?"

She scoffed. "Don't bullshit me. I know for a fact you had fun with Marley at the saloon and that you left with her in a hurry."

"And?"

"And you should hear yourself. All it took was three words for me to know that she didn't let you go all night."

I took a sip of coffee; glad this wasn't a video call because the shit-eating grin on my face was unmistakable. "Do you need me today?"

"It's Saturday."

"And?"

"And you should keep wooing Ms. Perfect. You need to lull her into thinking you're the one."

"I think I've been doing that quite well, thank you very much."

"Good!" Gus squealed in the background and then a musical toy started making noise. "It's Saturday. Gus is playing with his toys, I'm reading a book, and we don'tneedyou. If youwantto come hang out, that's your business, but I think it would be a weird way to spend the day when you have other options."

"Point taken." The sky had turned a mosaic of orange and pink. The mountains stood like black shadows beneath it, all while a strong breeze rustled through the leaves of the trees, promising rain in the next day.

"So... how are things?"

"Do you really want to hear about my night? You've never been interested in details before." Not that Karis and I didn't share more about our lives than most siblings did. I knew more than I cared to about her and Julien. Not because she wanted to share intimate details but because we exchanged information, whether it was personal or not.

"Not the kinky shit. Jeez. But like, you had fun? It was good for both of you? She might even like you?"

I loved that she cared. "Yeah, we had a good time. It was...perfect. And I'm trying real hard to make sure she likes me, yes."

"Wooing. You need to keep that shit up. I have sworn off men but if one bothered to woo me, I might just give him the time of day. Maybe."

"What would you suggest?" If Karis didn't need my help today, then I had zero plans other than spending more time touching Marley.

"Making her breakfast would be a good start."

"I don't think she's going to be up for a few more hours. She only just went to sleep."

The line went silent. Then Karis cleared her throat. "That was borderline too much information, but I'll allow it since I'm the one digging around in your personal life. Wait, why areyouawake?"

Because I couldn't believe this was my life. That if I went to sleep, I might wake up alone. "High on life, I guess."

"I'm really, really happy for you. Well, I'm going to make Gus some pancakes and you should get back in bed and at least try to sleep, okay?"

"Give Gus a squeeze for me."

"Will do."

I set my phone aside and finished my coffee. I had never wanted to stay in one place for very long but between this view and the woman waiting for me in bed, I felt none of the usual tugging to keep moving down the road.

I wanted to be right here for as long as life would let us. So I set my coffee mug in the sink and crawled back into bed, curling around Marley as she muttered something in her sleep.

That damn calm settled over me again. It was like Marley's skin had some sort of drug in it that instantly flooded my system with peace.

And even though the room was growing brighter and brighter as the sun moved higher in the sky, I fell into a heavy sleep and didn't wake up until the rain came.

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