Page 51 of Mountain Hero

“Thanks, man.” Enzo lifts his chin at him. “When we can, definitely.”

Ten minutes later, after Max leaves with a new pair of snowshoes and several extra large fleeces, and it’s quiet again, Enzo turns to me. The worried crease is in his forehead as he asks, “Was it okay that I called you my girlfriend? It just came out, but I know we haven’t talked about it. I’m sorry if I jumped the gun.”

Was it okay?

Joy fizzes up inside me. Stretching up, I press a kiss to his jaw. “It was definitely okay.”

A smile tugs at his lips, and his eyes light with pleasure. “So you’re my girlfriend? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes.” I beam at Enzo. “That’s what I’m saying.”

“Ah, good.” He sweeps me into his arms and peppers light kisses all over my face. “My girlfriend. The most incredible woman I’ve ever met.”

Oh.

OH.

Forget an ice cream cone melting. My heart is a puddle of sappy goo. Heart swelling, I frame his face and kiss him hard. “You’re pretty incredible, too.”

CHAPTER 14

ENZO

I have that feeling in my gut again.

The one that tells me, despite everything seeming completely normal, that something bad is about to go down.

Like the feeling I got when I called Tyler right before his wedding, congratulating him and saying how much I wished I could be there.

I was due to go back to Afghanistan days before his wedding, so the best I could do was FaceTime and a gift. My old teammate was out of the Army by then, ready to settle down with his new wife and start a family, and I couldn’t have been happier for him. But I remember getting this weird feeling, so I told him to watch his back.

He laughed at first, then sobered. “I will, man. But we’re going to have dozens of former and active military there. I think we’ll be okay.”

Tyler was okay. But another former teammate wasn’t. Nora, who served on the other split team, ran into some serious trouble. Fortunately, it all worked out, and now she’s safe and happily married herself.

In the past, whenever I’d get that feeling, I never knew what to expect. An IUD up on the road ahead? A bomber hiding in a closet? Tangos appearing in a location intel deemed to be safe?

This time I have a pretty good idea of what’s coming. Maybe not the exact execution of it, but it’s going to involve Thomas, and possibly some of his asshole friends.

I’m conflicted. Part of me wants him to just make a move already. The other part wants me to shield Winter for as long as I can. Because however he does it—stealth attack on the house at night, some kind of attempt at the store—and as well as we’ve prepared, it’s still going to be terrifying for Winter.

She insists she’s okay. It would be easier to believe her if her nightmares weren’t increasing in frequency. And I haven’t missed her reluctance to sit outside, whether it’s on the porch or the patio, and how she clings to my hand every time we go to the store and back.

I hate to watch her struggling. And it makes me even more determined to end this for her. Even if it strikes a little fear inside me about what’s going to come after.

Not that Winter has said or done anything to make me think she intends to break up with me once Thomas is finally in custody. She talks about going for hikes and going to visit her aunt and spending more time with my friends. And each day, she opens up even more to me. Physically—like when she boldly unbuttoned my pants and jerked me off last night or when she let me go down on her first thing in the morning. And emotionally—she’s told me about how hard it was losing her parents, how alone she felt, and how it all came back during those terrible nights of captivity.

Still. I worry. What if she decides Bliss isn’t the place she wants to live anymore? What if the bad memories are too much? I would do long-distance, but if she wants to move out of state and I’m here with everything Uncle Caleb left to me… I don’t know.

Would I give it all up for Winter?

Would she want me to?

“Enzo.” Winter comes into the living room, freshly showered and dressed in yoga pants and a gently-worn shirt with the UVM logo on it. I know she doesn’t think it’s sexy, but I sure as heck do.

Tight pants that show off her sweet little ass and slender legs I like to imagine wrapped around me? The shirt she wears without a bra that shows her nipples as the early autumn evening starts to cool? I think she looks so much sexier like this than any of the form-fitting outfits I used to see women in the bars wearing.

“Hey, hun.” I shove my concerns aside to be dealt with later and focus my attention on Winter. “You ready for the movie?”

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