Page 65 of Fake Date with the Mountain Man

The only person who doesn’t stop by is Emmett. A pang of guilt strums at my stomach. He was friends with Kayla. He’s probably sad to see her go.

Ryan reappears right when everyone else is packing up for the day. He’s a picture of ease, leaning in the doorway of my office. For the first time all day, I’m not thinking about Kayla. All I can think of is last night when Ryan growled those three little words into my ear as I came undone beneath him.

Suddenly, I’m tempted to take up running as a hobby. If it gets me home and in bed with Ryan faster, it can’t be that bad, right?

Nope, nope. My lungs ache just thinking about running the mile in gym class. A brisk walk will have to do.

“Let’s go home,” I say as I stop just shy of grazing against him in the doorway.

Ryan sees the glimmer in my eye, hears the inflection in my tone, and licks his lips into a smile. He tilts his head toward the exit in silent agreement.

Unfortunately, we only get as far as the steps outside the building before we run into a crowd of nosy coworkers, still gossiping about the events of the day. Luckily, none of them are brave enough to ask any direct questions of either of us. The crowd is all fake laughs while Linda tells a story about one of her kids.

Ryan slips his hand around my waist and asks just loud enough for the crowd to hear, “Ready to go home?”

I nod, startled but pleased. If anyone is surprised by this, they don’t show it. I guess we weren’t hiding it as well as I thought we were.

I begin my jogging career, practically sprinting off toward my apartment, but Ryan catches my hand when we reach the street corner. He laces his fingers in mine and pulls me back to him.

“My place,” he says. “It’s been a rough day. Let me take you home and pamper you.”

“What do you have in mind?” I ask, lacing my other hand in his so that we’re pressed together.

“Eggplant parmesan…”

“Mmhmm…”

“Then planting my head between those gorgeous legs and licking your sweet pussy until you beg to come over and over again.” He whispers this against my hair, smiling casually as if he’s just told me I look nice today. An onlooker would be none the wiser that his words just made my panties so wet that I can feel them clinging to me under my stiff work pants.

That night, Ryan keeps all of his promises and the troubles of the day disappear under his touch.

Chapter 24

RYAN

“Crazy week, huh?” Linda says as she pours herself a cup of coffee.

I nod without looking up from the creamer I’m stirring into my cup. My molars grind together as I fight off the urge to tell her to mind her fucking business.

I know Linda means well; she’s just curious. Everyone around here is curious. And everyone is asking the same damn questions.

The news that Marlow and I are dating, on the other hand, didn’t really seem to be news to anyone at all. I guess we were fooling ourselves to think that it wasn’t already public knowledge around the station.

The one saving grace is the fact that people seem to be leaving Marlow alone now for the most part when it comes to Kayla. Maybe because they know that Marlow was Kayla’s boss, so she won’t be able to divulge any juicy details. Maybe because they’re afraid it’s a sore subject for her. Or maybe because Marlow is the queen of setting boundaries that others wouldn’t ever dare to cross. She probably shot them all down before they could even get the words out of their mouths.

Sometimes I forget how hard I worked to earn Marlow’s trust and break down her walls. But the truth is that her walls are still there; I’m just on the other side of them now. And Marlow wouldeat anyone alive who even thought about trying to encroach on what we’ve built together.

Andthatis sexy as hell.

I stop by her office on my way out of the breakroom. She’s typing away with all her attention on her computer screen, but her little smile tells me that she knows I’m here.

“I’m heading out to the field for the rest of the day. You want to do happy hour tonight with the crew?”

“Sure,” Marlow says.

“Alright, I’ll meet you back here around five o’clock then.”

Marlow nods and I pause in the doorway. For the last week, all of our parting words have been ‘I love you,’ but that hardly seems appropriate here at work. I can picture the collective eye-rolling of everyone in the adjacent offices. Instead, I nod and tap my hand against the doorframe twice on my way out.

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