Page 10 of Protected By the Mountain Man

“I’m not afraid of Nate or anything.” Dylan laughed. “But I do want your father’s blessing if I’m going to marry you someday.”

Had he just used the “m” word? It was a little early to be talking about that, but I wouldn’t complain. Suddenly, I couldn’t imagine going a day of my life without having this man in it.

“He’ll get used to it,” I said. “Besides, if he’s friends with you, he must know you’re a great guy. That’s really all he wants. A guy who’ll look out for me.”

“Well, you’re with the right guy, then,” he said. “Now, the server’s coming back any second. I’m going to steal a kiss before he shows up.”

I wasn’t just smiling. I was beaming. I leaned forward and met him halfway across the table, not caring who saw us. I was going to kiss my man, and I was going to kiss him whenever and wherever I wanted.

EPILOGUE

DYLAN

“Helmet?”

“Check!”

“Mouth guard?”

“Check!”

“Cleats?”

“They’re on your feet.”

Delaney looked down at my shoes and I followed her line of vision. Yep, my cleats were on my feet.

“Daddy’s wearing shoes in the house,” Daisy, our six-year-old, said.

“No tattle-telling,” her older brother Dominic told her. Then he hoisted his father’s athletic bag up higher on his shoulder. It was so big, it strained his eight-year-old frame, but he managed to stay upright anyway. “Dad, can I keep score?”

“You can help Papa Nate,” Delaney told him. “But only if you go grab the cookies. I’ll take the bag.”

Delaney’s father injured himself during the first game of the season, so he was sitting the summer out. That meant taking care of keeping score, using Dominic as his helper.

It had taken Delaney’s dad a while to get used to the two of us dating, but he’d met a woman of his own soon after. And that woman was Delaney’s age. That seemed to make him realize just how powerful that first-time connection could be. Now, he was the proudest dad and grandfather I knew.

“I’ll take the bag,” I said, reaching out.

Dominic handed it to me and ran to the kitchen. That left Delaney and Daisy watching me as I slid the strap of the bag onto my shoulder. I wasn’t sure what touched me more—the look in my daughter’s eye or the look in my wife’s. They both saw me as their hero.

The same went for Dominic, who returned seconds later with a large platter of Delaney’s signature dessert. She’d learned to bake football-shaped cookies that had become the hit of our weekly football games. We were playing the Rosewood Ridge Mavericks, the only other team in town. It was all just for fun, but we took it as seriously as if we were in the big leagues.

“Dad, can I spend the night with Amara?” Daisy asked.

Amara was the daughter of our friends Lynlee and Cooper, who’d met the same weekend Delaney and I got together. We got married around the same time and now had kids around the same age. Unfortunately for Dominic, though, Lynlee and Cooper had two girls, so he was shut out of these constant sleepovers.

“We’ll see,” I said, looking at my wife. “Depends what we have going on tomorrow.”

“I think we could make a sleepover work,” she said. “If Lynlee has too much going on, maybe Amara can come here and spend the night.”

“Yay!”

Daisy started jumping up and down, and I didn’t stop the smile that spread over my face. I never imagined being a father and husband would fill my life with so much happiness. This was truly what life was all about.

“Let’s get this show on the road!” Delaney said in her best mom voice.

That, of course, brought eye rolls from her two kids, who even exchanged a look. That was one thing they could agree on—their parents were huge dorks.

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