Page 33 of My Wild Mountain Man

I shook the thought away, knowing I’d feel like I was holding my breath when the clock struck midnight, waiting for the doorbell to ring.

bash

. . .

Like an idiot,I kept staring at the clock on the main wall of the brewery, and when I wasn’t, my attention would move to my phone to check the time. I was a fucking goner for Raven. One kiss had changed it, crumbled all the self-control I had held on to so fucking tightly, my hands ached from unclenching.

“Got plans?” Austin asked. I grunted, serving a beer to a customer. “You meet someone?” Because I knew Austin, I cut him off, shooting him a look, one that admitted my guilt. And he wasn’t stupid. He knew exactly what I had done. Or was planning to do.

“You have got to be shitting me,” he hissed, looking over his shoulder to find a distracted Onyx not paying us any attention. “He will?—“

“Breathe,” I ordered, walking away knowing he would be hot on my heels.

“What the fuck?” he asked the moment we were alone in the back office. “When the hell did this happen?”

“The night you cancelled on me,” I admitted, though if I was honest, it had started a long time before that.

“What the…” He ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “Shit.” A muscle in his jaw twitched. “This is going to be a fucking mess.”

“It’s not.” I shook my head. “I’m going to talk to him.”

“Oh! You are, huh? What exactly are you going to say? Hey, buddy, I fucked your little sister, by the way. Oops, sorry.”

“Shut the fuck up,” I growled, stepping closer to him, not shying away from my natural height. “Don’t ever talk about her like that.” I pointed my finger at his chest. “I haven’t touched her.” Technically, it was true.

“Wait. Nothing’s happened?”

“No. Not really.” He stared at me for a moment, then suddenly, his gaze grew hopeful, and I knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. “Great! No harm, no foul! All you have to do is keep your hands off her and keep them to yourself. Easy peasy.”

“It’s not that easy, Austin,” I groaned, and he rolled his blue eyes.

“Man, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, there are literally apps for this. All you need to do is get laid. You swipe?—“

“I love her,” I blurted out, my eyes unwavering from his. He stared at me for a long moment before dramatically sitting down on the couch we kept back there. “For real, genuine love. She’s the one for me, Austin.”

“Fuck,” he groaned. I could tell he believed me.

“I’m going to talk to him,” I rasped, knowing in my bones I had to do it sooner than later. It was risky. I hadn’t even taken Raven out on a date. Not a real one. Shit, we might not even be compatible. For all I knew, the things I liked that I wanted to do to her would scare her off.

“When?” he asked.

“Monday morning,” I answered. She would know by then. Or have an idea whether she actually wanted me and not whatever version of me she’d made up in her head all these years.

“Man…” He shook his head, and I saw him slow down before his gaze moved up to mine, his arms resting on his knees. “Please tell me this isn’t why you agreed so easily to the whole us each getting some time off?”

“I was going to come in here and ask for the three days off. You guys bringing it up out of nowhere, honestly, the whole thing was dumb luck.”

“Shit…” He stared at me. “What the hell happened last week?” I opened and shut my mouth.

“I couldn’t keep watching her from afar anymore. This week… it’s like she’s there. Everywhere I look. Not only physically but in my head.”

“Have you ever thought that maybe she’s playing you?”

“Raven?” I chuckled because she didn’t play games.

“Hey, women play all sorts of games, even when they might not know they are,” he argued. I rolled my eyes.

“That’s the stupidest thing I have ever heard,” I muttered. “She’s mine, Austin.” I stared at one of my two best friends. “I don’t know how she will feel about me when she gets to know me a little better, but“—I shrugged—“I need to try and see where it goes.”

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