Page 25 of My Wild Mountain Man

“Raven.” I cleared my throat, but whatever was going to come out died on my tongue with the way she smiled up at me.

“You haven’t even worked out yet, and you want to go eat?” She had no fucking idea what I wanted to eat. She giggled, almost like she could hear my thoughts. Not that she called me out on it. Cheekily, Raven hip-checked me and pulled me towards the treadmill.

“Let’s just do a thirty-minute run, and we can go for breakfast.” She winked with her sexy little compromise, and I nodded. I felt like a lost little puppy, more than happy to follow her anywhere.

Our jog was great, and breakfast at the local diner was even better.

Usually mundane things were brighter, lighter when I was by her side. I was in trouble. Deep trouble. My pretty girl had swept me up and held my heart in her hands. But who the hell was I kidding? She’d owned it from the moment she stepped into the brewery after returning from school. One look, and I had been a goner. I’d known it then, no matter how hard I had tried to fight it these last couple of months.

“This was fun.” She smiled up at me. “Pancakes made by someone else always taste a million times better than cooking them for yourself,” she adorably said as we stood outside the diner.

From where we were standing, I could see her car. A sinking feeling started to settle in the pit of my belly. Our time together this morning was coming to an end.

“They are.” I stepped closer, not bearing to be too far away from her. When I took her hand, her eyes widened. We were out in public where anyone could see us, including her brother or someone who could go back to tell him something.

“Bash,” she whispered. My cock hardened beneath my gym shorts at the sound of my name off her tongue.

“Tell me I’ll see you tomorrow.” Shit, I was looking for trouble, digging myself into a deeper fucking hole. One I had no plans of getting out of. Raven was mine. She’d been mine since I’d first laid eyes on her.

“Tomorrow,” she repeated and chewed on her bottom lip. “Bash––“

“Give me a chance.”

“A chance for what?” she asked without judgment. I swallowed. “Look, Bash, I just… I need to know if this is sex or…”

“Or,” I cut her off and squeezed her hand.

“Bash.” Her eyes widened.

“It’s more, Raven.”

“More what?” an all-too-familiar masculine voice asked behind me, but I didn’t pull my hand away from hers. I turned and fought like hell from wincing.

I felt like the world’s crappiest friend.

There was Onyx, his dark almost black eyes bouncing from his baby sister to me. Looking at the two of us like he didn’t know what to make of us.

“Pancakes,” Raven quickly said, pulling her hand away from mine and crossing her arms in front of her. “I came into the diner for pancakes.” She pointed at the diner behind her. “And I saw Bash there, so I made him join me,” she shared like it hadn’t been the other way around.

“You were eating pancakes?” he asked incredulously. He knew me too fucking well, but I simply shrugged, not wanting to outright lie. “You hate pancakes.” I breathed in and cleared my throat.

“What can I say? I needed a little bit of a comfort meal.”

“Huh.” He noted, looking at me for a little too long; a suspicious brow rose. “I see Raven cut your hair. Finally.” The fucker didn’t miss a thing. I nodded, running my fingers through the short strands.

“Best haircut I’ve ever had,” I said honestly. My gaze drifted to Raven. She was already looking at me with those fathomless dark eyes. Her lips parted with a heated stare. I knew exactly what she was thinking about. My gaze dropped to her chest before looking at my best friend. “What are you doing out and about? I thought you were working on your kitchen?” I asked, hoping it was enough to change the focus from us.

He shrugged, but something about the way he wouldn’t meet my gaze made me think he was hiding something. “I had to get some supplies at the hardware store.”

“The hardware store, huh?” I muttered.

“You really taking three days off this weekend, or you going to show up at the brewery?”

“Three-day weekend, Bash?” the little brat asked, as if it was brand-new news to her. “That sounds fun.”

“Yeah. I need a break. And no.” I turned to Onyx. “You won’t see me popping into the brewery. Why?” The last word slipped past my lips.

“Just wondering.” He smirked, turning towards Raven. “This guy always says he’s going to take time off but goes for a hike and straight back to work. You know what? Thinking about it, you guys should go for a hike this weekend,” he suggested.

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