Page 31 of Rescued By the Mountain Man

His face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Really? Thanks!”

“Enough of that,” Warrick said, “Let’s eat.”

We shared the platters around, and I filled my plate, dug into my food with gusto, and listened to the chatter going around. Everything spelled comfort and warmth, especially around the beautiful sunset, the swaths of vivid orange, red, and burnt gold blazing across the sky before indigo ate at it and twilight set in.

The humidity dipped, and the leaves rustled as a chorus of birds began their nightly serenade from the trees. Soon enough, a crescent moon glimmered in the dark sky, surrounded by a splattering of sparkling stars.

“So, are you planning to stick around for a while?” Lucas asked while wiping his mouth. “We need a little more pretty people around here.”

“I think so,” I replied. “Just don’t ask me to clean up any poop.”

“Noted,” Warrick replied, reaching for his water. “I’ll ask you to oversee then.”

“I’m handing in my two weeks’ notice tomorrow,” I replied calmly.

He narrowed his eyes and tipped back on his chair. “Well, looky, looky. Did someone forget to put Goose back in his rather lavish barn doghouse?”

All three men turned to look as the big dog lumbered up the steps and came around to Warrick’s side to rest his muzzle on his knee. Reaching down, Warrick rubbed his ears. “You should be sleeping, buddy.”

Lucas stretched. “Speaking of sleeping, after that meal, I will be snoozing like the dead.”

“You surely made a feast of all feasts, Marie,” Connie replied, standing too. “I’ll be tinkering with one of my ATVs before I crash.”

“I’m going to town,” Santos said, “Wanna ride with me, Isaac?”

“Don’t corrupt him,” Warrick warned.

“Good luck with that,” Lucas said his good night and headed off while the rest faded into the night as well.

I offered to help clean up the table and hauled the plates and platters back to the kitchen. “Leave them here,” Marie replied. “I’ll take care of it between tonight and tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I nodded, “Good night.”

Returning to the patio, I found it was only me, Warrick, and Goose there. Seated, I crossed my legs and dared to look over to the two. “You two know each other?”

“I rescued him as a puppy,” Warrick replied. “Well, relative puppy. When I got him, the vet said he was about one year old, but he was as big as a horse’s foal. He’s been by my side ever since.”

“I’ve never been able to hold onto a pet,” I replied. “I had two goldfish and one hamster as a kid. Both fish gave up the ghost and I woke up one day to see the hamster’s cage open. I am sure he made a break for it.”

Another rusty chuckle from him made me smile, “So, from boyfriend to hamster, you have an abysmal record of holding onto a man.”

“I guess—” I shot him a look. “—but what about you? Any crazy exes I need to be worried about?”

“Hardly,” he scoffed.

Sitting forward, I hated doing this, but I had to. Slipping the phone from my pocket, I got back to the video, and I crossed over to him. Resting my back on the edge of the table, I asked. “I don’t want to open a can of worms, but have you ever seen the video of your accident since it happened?”

His brows lowered and his eyes sharpened, dipping to the phone and back to me. “Is that it?”

I pressed play and handed it to him. He took it, his fingertips brushing mine while he watched, his face stoic. I saw his jaw tighten the moment I suspected he’d fallen, but he only gave it back to me when it was over.

“Now you know the worst night of my life,” he said, “I left after that for months of surgery and rehab. They asked me to come back but I couldn’t—I couldn’t do it anymore. It felt alien to me and besides, my parents had passed, and I had to come and take over the ranch.”

“How bad was it?” I asked tenderly.

In response, he drew up the leg of his left pant and tapped at a place in his shin. “I have plates here and here, and I had to reconstruct my knee with metal and plastic prostheses.

A part of my muscle was shriveled and had to be grafted with parts of my tendons and human donors. That was my fifth surgery, and it took me out for almost eight months. Overall, I was down for over a year and a half.”

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