Page 9 of Restored By the Mountain Man
The silence that follows is so thick, I think the call might have dropped. Then Laurel explodes.
"He WHAT? Zoe, I swear to God, if that man laid a hand on you, I will drive up there right now and castrate him with a rusty spoon. Grayson may be his brother but he’ll learn to forgive me. His other brothers can help hide the body."
"No, no, no," I rush to explain, fighting back a hysterical laugh. "It's not like that. It's... God, I don't even know how to explain this."
I quickly fill her in on the whiskey incident and Ezra's reaction, how he seemed genuinely panicked about me being soaked in alcohol, insisting I wash it off immediately, like my life depended on it.
"So you're telling me," Laurel says slowly, "that your brooding, mysterious boss demanded you shower in his private bathroom because he was worried about you being flammable?"
"That's exactly what I'm telling you."
"Huh." There's a thoughtful pause. "You know, that's actually kind of sweet in a completely neurotic way."
"Sweet? Laurel, I'm about to be naked in my boss's bathroom!"
"Speaking of which," she says, and I can hear the grin in her voice, "remember that time you were on the phone with me when Grayson announced he was about to thoroughly fuck me?"
"Oh my God, don't remind me," I groan. "I had to bleach my brain after that conversation."
"Well, now we're even. Except you're the one naked in a bathroom this time."
"This is completely different!"
"Is it though?" Laurel's voice turns serious. "Zoe, from what Grayson has told me about Ezra, he's been through hell. Losing his wife and child like that... it probably left him with some serious trauma. Maybe seeing you covered in alcohol triggered something."
I start peeling off my whiskey-soaked dress. "I know. I could see it in his eyes. He wasn't seeing me, you know? He was seeing something else. Something that scared him."
"PTSD can manifest in all sorts of ways," Laurel says gently. "The fact that you recognized he was having an episode and went along with what he needed... that shows incredible compassion, Zo."
"I just didn't want to make it worse. And honestly?" I take a shaky breath, dropping the ruined dress into the sink. "Sometimes I have episodes, too. After Tom died, certain smells or sounds would send me spiraling. I know what it's like to feel like you're drowning in your own mind."
"That's why you're perfect for each other," Laurel says softly.
"Laurel, he's my boss. This is my first day. I can't be having thoughts about how perfect we are for each other."
"Thoughts happen whether we want them to or not. The question is what you're going to do about them."
I stare at his shirt on the counter, imagining how it's going to smell like him when I put it on. "Right now, I'm going to shower and try to salvage what's left of my professional reputation."
"Good plan. But Zoe? Be gentle with him. And with yourself. Sometimes the best things come from the most unexpected moments."
After we hang up, I strip off the rest of my clothes and step into the shower. The hot water feels incredible against my whiskey-sticky skin, washing away the alcohol and some of the tension from this bizarre morning.
I use his soap, noting how it smells like cedar and something clean and masculine. It's the kind of scent that makes you want to bury your face in someone's neck and breathe them in. Not that I'm thinking about burying my face in Ezra's neck.Absolutely not.
When I'm clean, I button up the flannel and it immediately swallows me, the hem hitting mid-thigh and one shoulder hangs off.
I catch sight of myself in the mirror.Oh, hell no. This won’t do.
Looking around for anything that could save this monstrosity, I spot it. A thick leather belt hangs from a hook at the back of the door. Forming a plan, I grab the belt and tie it around my waist, then untuck the fabric to make it more form-fitting.
Yes, this is it.
I look like a woman wearing her lover's shirt after spending the night in his bed.
I shake my head, banishing that thought immediately. This is a professional situation. My boss was concerned about safety and provided me with clean clothes. That's all.
I gather my whiskey-soaked dress and step out of the bathroom, expecting to find Ezra waiting with instructions or perhaps an apology for his strange behavior.
