Page 31 of The Mountain Man's Virgin
“I mean, I know some local women who would crash their car on purpose if they knew that Michael Brady would come to their rescue and get into a sleeping bag with them.”
“Really?” It didn’t surprise me, Mick was handsome, but what woman yearned to be with a hermit who had retreated from society?
“You look surprised,” she said as she pumped the blood pressure cuff.
“I am kind of,” I replied honestly. “I mean, he’s hot, but he can be a bit of an asshole – and who wants to be with a man who gave up everything?”
“Everything?” she looked at me and smiled, “You don’t know who he is, do you?”
We were interrupted by a knock on the door. “You almost finished?” the voice on the other side asked.
“Just give us a few more minutes,” the medic yelled back.
As she released the cuff, she ran her hands over the finger-shaped bruising that was forming on my biceps. Her eyes were filled with concern.
“Are you going to tell your boyfriend all the details of your story?” she asked.
“I hadn’t really thought about it.” I felt the tears starting to form. After Lawrence’s interrogation, I knew that I couldn’t tell him about ALL the details of Mick bring me back from the dead. And I definitely couldn’t tell him that we had kissed.
“You know that it’s not okay for a man to hold you like that. Right?”
“He’s never been like that before. I think that he’s just in shock or something.”
She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “Honey, I see all kinds of things in this line of work, and what I saw there, that’s not normal.”
“I’ll be fine.” I stood up. “Are we done here?”
“Yes,” she sighed and started to pack up her big blue medical bag.
“Good. Thank you for your help.” I smiled at her, trying to convince her that I wasn’t with a horrible girlfriend beater, but after the way Lawrence had looked at me, I wondered if she saw something in him that I didn’t.
“I’m going to give you two pieces of advice,” she said, holding up two of her latex gloved fingers. “One: don’t tell your fiancé every single detail about how Mr. Brady saved your life; and two: Google Michael Brady when you get home.”
Chapter 22 – Mick
The moment I walked through the cabin door, Chopper almost bowled me over, his thick tail whacking against the doorframe. I bent down and hugged him, “Want to go for a walk, Chops?” He whined happily, his tail wagging half of his body.
I clapped my hands and opened the cabin door wide. Chopper bounded out and headed down my fresh snowmobile tracks. I turned back to look inside the empty cabin, and even though there were embers in the fireplace, and the temperature was fine, it just felt cold. I saw the rumpled quilt on the couch where Lucy had been curled up only hours earlier. I sighed and grabbed my cross-country ski boots.
Nothing cleared my head better than being out in the fresh air and exerting my body. I hoped that a bout of good old-fashioned Nordic skiing in the cold mountain air would help to rid the memory of Lucy from my mind.
Chopper and I headed off into the trees, their branches strong even when weighed down with the fresh marshmallow pillows of snow. The only sound I could hear was the soft scratching and gliding of my skis on the snow and the sound of Chopper panting behind me. The silence was usually my friend, but today my mind wouldn’t stop racing. Back in the lodge, I had wanted to grab Lucy by the hand and get her away from that monster, Lawrence. I knew that she didn’t love him, and it broke my heart to realize that she was with him for his money. Lucy had shown her true colors, or color, gold -- a gold digger.
Even if she didn’t think that she was with him for his money and prestige, I knew better. I had seen it a million times. There have been a few women in my life that I thought they loved me for me, but if I had been a broke man living a simple life, they would’ve run for the hills.
The steam from my breath synced up with the timing of my ski strides, the sun glinted on the snow crystals falling from the trees. It was a magical phenomenon, as though diamonds were floating down around me. I found myself wishing that someone else could see the sparkly air. And, who was I kidding, I wanted that someone else to be Lucy.
Then I knew exactly what I had to do.
I glided to a stop, did a quick kick turn and headed back to the cabin as fast as my skis would carry me, Chopper bounding behind me.
Back at the cabin I radioed to the office and told Jeff to get ready for my arrival.
“Roger that,” Jeff said over the crackly radio.
“Also, I need you to do some background research for me on Lawrence Locklear and the Ames Founder’s Club”
Jeff read Lawrence’s name back to me and promised he'd have the information for me when I landed.
