Page 11 of Winning with the Mountain Man
But it came again and again, followed by a loud knock. I groaned and pulled the covers off, wiping my face with the back of my pj sleeve, not bothering to find a tissue.
The ringing continued and another knock. Jeez, have some patience. It must be Journey. That girl couldn’t wait longer than a second for anything.
I grabbed my robe from the edge of my bed and slipped it on before making my way downstairs. More loud knocks and rings went straight through my pounding head. “Alright, alright, I’m coming. I told you, Journey, I was fine. I was in bed. You didn’t need—” But when I opened the door, it wasn’t Journey standing on my front porch.
It was Hudson.
“Hi.” His voice was hesitant, unsure. My heart cracked. “Can we talk?”
“I’m sorry, Hudson, right now is not a good time.” I patted my hair, the thought of what I probably looked like making me cringe inside.
“Please, Carina. Just give me a few minutes, please.”
“You didn’t think to come by the garden center today?” A spark of anger burst through my veins.
“I wanted to. But I’d rather talk in private. Your family?—”
“I know.” I cut him off. “My family is a pain. You’ve made yourself clear.”
Hudson shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”
I swiped at my face with my hands as the tears began again. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for.”
He reached out and took my hands in his. “I couldn’t work today. I could barely focus, haven’t slept a wink, nor have I eaten. I spent the day in bed, because that’s the only place I want to be if you’re not in my life. I’m sorry for what I said. There’re things I need to work through. But that’s not on you. That’s on me. I love you, Carina, and if you want kids, then I want them too. All I ask is for one dog.” He smiled, released one of my hands, and wiped my tears away with his thumb. “And considering how cute Sunny is, I wouldn’t mind a couple of cats.”
I cried harder. “Oh, Hudson. I can’t ask you to change yourself for me. I can’t, and I won’t. And you shouldn’t either.”
“I’m not changing myself. Was I unsure about having kids? Yes. But they were never completely out of the question. And with the right person, I think I’d be an amazing dad. Just like you’d be an amazing mom, the only mom I’d want my kids to have. But there’s plenty of time for all that in the future. For now, we can enjoy each other. There’s no rush. You’re my perfect person, wildflower. I’ll spend every day going forward showing you just how special you are.”
His words healed my wounded heart, and a sob broke free from my chest, the last of my sad tears sliding down my cheeks. I placed my hands on his chest and lifted myself onto my toes. “Are you sure?” I searched his eyes, afraid yet knowing at the same time that he was it. He was my person. Now and for always.
“Never been more sure in my life. Now enough words, more action.” His mouth swooped down onto mine, and his kiss propelled me into another world, the only world I wanted to be in—his.
EPILOGUE
Hudson
Two months later
I wastedno time making Carina my fiancée. If it were up to me, we’d already be married. I was dying to call her my wife.
But all good things come in due time. I was learning to be more patient, something love needed to be.
It also needed to be kind and understanding, grateful, and most importantly, full of compromise.
Two people coming together wasn’t always easy, with as many bumps in the road as anything else in life.
And the two of us? We were sometimes like oil and water. She was loud to my quiet, light to my dark, yin to my yang. Absolute perfection in every way. And despite our differences, we found a way to stay blended.
Carina might be the opposite of me in many ways, yet she was my perfect person through and through, and I’d never tire of showing her how much she meant to me.
“Gruff, be gentle! Don’t run her—ugh, too late. Gruff!” Carina tugged on Gruff’s leash, and he calmed down for a second before pouncing around again.
She handed me the leash with a look of amusement. “That dog. Loves to push the boundaries. Kind of like someone else I know.” She winked and elbowed me playfully as she took Jellybean’s leash. Jellybean was the newest addition to our family, a pretty boxer puppy we recently adopted together. She was a baby and still didn’t have as much energy as Gruff.
As I reined Gruff in, Carina scooped up Jellybean, looking her over in case Gruff didn’t cause any injuries. Not that he would ever intentionally hurt Jellybean, but sometimes I wondered if he realized just how big and strong he was.
Carina and her cat, Sunny, moved into my cabin a couple of weeks ago, and we rescued Jellybean a week later. We’d spent a lot of time in the backyard, training and playing with the dogs, getting it all in before the weather changed. The hardest was leash training, and today, Gruff was not having it.
