Page 4 of Loyal to the Mountain Man

“You know what? I’ll take the same.” She pointed to her soda. “Could I also get a shot of rum to pour into this?”

“Sweet tea for me,” I said. I would have ordered a beer or something harder, but I had to get back to work.

“You only live once, right?” she said as the bartender walked away.

I tilted my head slightly. “What’s ‘living,’ in this case? The rum or the burger?”

“Both,” she smiled. “I haven’t had a burger since New Year’s Eve.”

“Becoming a vegetarian was your New Year’s resolution?”

Or was it vegan? Hell if I knew the difference. I put myself in the carnivore category.

“No.” She shook her head. “My goal was to eat healthier. My dad had a heart attack last year. Needless to say, it was a tough time for our family. He’s in his early forties.”

Shit. Her father was in his early forties? It wasn’t just the early heart attack that was disturbing, but the fact that I was closer to her father’s age than hers.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“He’s okay. It was mild, but it shocked me, watching what he went through, not to mention seeing how much it upset my mom. But yeah, I guess an occasional splurge won’t hurt me much. Every Saturday night, I allow myself one bowl of ice cream. It’s a small bowl.”

She made a motion with her fingers to show the size of the bowl. It was beyond small.

I saw what she meant by “you only live once,” but I also respected her wanting to be healthy and live a long life. In fact, I was questioning my own lifestyle. Since I suddenly found myself thinking of being a husband and father, wouldn’t I want to make sure I lived as long as possible for my family? A family I didn’t even have yet but suddenly couldn’t stop thinking about?

“So, you’re a good girl.”

The comment slipped out of my mouth. It was like it popped into my head and I couldn’t contain it.

I held my breath as I waited for her response. It could go in a variety of directions, some not good at all.

Finally, she took a deep breath and looked over at me. “I always have been, but maybe it’s time for that to change.”

All the air seeped from my lungs at the same time my dick sprang to life. She averted her gaze, but I didn’t miss the sparkle in her eye and the way her cheeks reddened. She was blushing. Blushing. Over me?

It was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.

“My parents were super religious,” she said. “They didn’t let me date until I was sixteen, and even then, it was only in groups. I’m a rule follower, so I did what I was supposed to do—didn’t drink, vape, or have sex.”

Those three items packed a punch, especially the third one.

“Are you saying...?”

I hesitated when I saw the bartender walking toward us, my soda in hand. He set my tea and a straw in front of me and mumbled something about our food being ready soon.

I barely heard him. My mind was on the word I hadn’t said out loud.

“I am,” she said once we were alone again. “And it sucks.”

I almost laughed out loud at her description. “I don’t know. There are good things about not having sex.” I tore the wrapper off my straw and slid it into my drink. “No worries about getting pregnant.”

“You say that like you’ve gone without sex before.”

“Eight months.”

Had I just said that out loud? Yep. She’d think I was a total loser who couldn’t get laid.

That was far from the truth. Where there was a will, there was a way. Lately there just hadn’t been a will.

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