Page 15 of A Very Mountain Man Romancing

“And you didn’t like it?”

“It was lonely,” she admits.

“Really? I always was envious of the kids who were only children. They got all of their parents’ attention.”

“My parents didn’t really have a lot of attention to give. My mom was a nurse and my dad was a doctor. They both worked crazy hours and so I was by myself or with a nanny most of the time.”

“I’m sorry. They should have made more time for you,” I tell her, wrapping my arm around her shoulders.

She rests her head on my shoulder and we both stare down at the sleeping baby for a moment. Our food gets delivered a minute later, and I reluctantly pull away from Mabel so that the server can set the food down in front of us.

“This looks delicious,” Grier says as she grabs her fork.

“Yeah, this is my first time here actually and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it smells awesome,” Anise says.

I’m about to ask how she could have lived here for months and never stopped at the diner but all of a sudden, Anise freezes, her fork full of food poised halfway to her mouth. Her dark blue eyes are wide and locked on something just over my shoulder.

I turn and try to spot what has her looking like a deer in headlights, but before I can, Grier yelps. I whirl back around just in time to see her dart under the table.

“Um, is everything okay?” I ask.

“Don’t look at me!” Grier whisper hisses and I turn to look at Mabel worriedly.

“What’s going on?” I whisper to her and Mabel just grins.

“It’s Grier and Anise’s future husbands,” she tells me, calmly grabbing her spoon and digging into her soup.

“No, it’s not!” Grier and Anise both hiss at the same time.

Mabel looks over at me out of the corner of her eye and nods her head. I crack a grin and turn back just in time to see Anise dive under the table to join her friend.

That’s my first clue that the guys are headed this way.

I look over my shoulder and see them sitting at the barstools at the counter. They’re turned toward each other but their eyes are locked on our table. Or more specifically, under our table.

“Are they gone?” Grier whispers, poking her head up.

“Not even close, sweetheart,” one of the guys growls and she hurries to dart back under the table, knocking her head on the edge in the process.

“Should we be concerned?” Wells asks and I shrug.

“No, leave them be,” Snow tells her husband, a mischievous smirk curling her lips.

“Yeah, I’m surprised that they’re under the table,” Magnolia adds.

She leans back and looks under at Grier and Anise.

“You’re missing the group of hotties that just walked in.”

A loud growl goes up from the counter and I turn to see Mabel laughing next to me. Anise and Grier both pup out from under the table, their eyes going to the group that just came in and when they both climb up into their chairs, I know that tonight is going to get wild.

“They are cute,” Grier tells Anise.

“Uh-huh,” Anise says, not taking her eyes off the door.

“That’s enough of that, little one,” the other guy says.

The table next to ours opens up and they slip into the chairs there, their eyes locked on Grier and Anise.

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