Page 27 of The Cowboy of the Mountain

Damon heads over to help Luke out of the car but I’m fixed to the same spot. I can’t stop staring at Mia. Even though Damon’s here, I can’t suppress the urge to take in the length of Mia as she exits the car, her jean shorts and tank top doing a number on my body.

I try to take a step but stumble. Jesus, she’s gorgeous. Damon and her hug, breaking off to have a conversation that I can’t hear. They could be talking in front of me and it still wouldn’t register. Everything’s fuzzy as my body reacts to Mia.

Luke slams into me with a big hug, and I finally wake up from my trance.

“How was school?”

“So much fun,” Luke says before launching into a minutes-long monologue about everything that happened, ending it with his run-in with my brother, all the while I feel Mia’s eyes on me. “He was outside having lunch with Aunt Daisy. Oreo was there too and he wouldn’t stop licking my face.”

Mia slides in a little closer, and it’s becoming an impossible task to keep my eyes trained on Luke when all I want to do is slide my hands around her waist and pull her closer to me.

“But he said Mia could join us for the bomb—bonfire this weekend.”

Remind me to thank my brother for this gift. I finally turn my gaze to Mia and she’s glancing at Oink nudging a clump of dirt.

“Mia in the mountains?” Damon says. “She couldn’t leave them quick enough when she was living at my cabin.”

Mia snorts. “It wasn’t the mountains I was running from.”

“Was it the bears?” Luke asks.

Mia gives Damon a long look before saying, “You could say that.”

“You’ll join us, right?” I ask, my mouth dry as the rest of my body tenses.

“I might be able to swing my schedule around. I’ll talk with Lizzy.”

“Luke would love it if you’d come,” I say without thinking.

“And would you?” she asks almost imperceptibly. Her gaze flicks to Damon as he and Luke play with Oink.

I close the gap between us. “You know that answer all too well.”

I brush my fingertips down her cheek, resisting the urge to collar her throat with my hand and capture her lips. I’m already pushing it with Damon so close, but now that I’ve had the first forward progress with Mia in ages, I’m hesitant to back down.

“Then I guess that settles it.”

I swallow hard.

“Are you working Friday?”

She nods. “I’ll pick you up after your shift.”

“Okay,” she says, biting her lip as my gaze drifts down her neck. “Do you think it’s a good idea?”

I lean in, my cheek nearly brushing against her as I rasp, “Can’t think of anything better.”

“I can,” she says, her fingers grazing my stomach as she moves past me and rejoins Luke and Damon.

“Luke’s sold me on it,” Damon says. “I can’t miss a good bonfire.”

Mia and I share a look before I turn back to Damon. Something flickers across his face, but I don’t skip another beat. “The more the merrier,” I say as Luke jumps up and down.

“We’ll play flashlight tag, hide and seek, throw axes, and?—”

“What was that last one?” I interject.

“Hide and seek?” Luke asks.

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