Page 21 of Mountain Men Heroes

She angled her body to better see him.

“Have you seen a man so desperate for his soul mate that the life is sucked out of him? Multiply that by a hundred, a thousand and that’s the pain I’ve suffered being away from you.”

“I know.” She licked at a dusky nipple that had his eyes drift closed for a second.

“Do you?” He groaned and his eyes lit with lust again when he coaxed her gaze to his.

She nodded. And let him look into her soul to see the truth.

“Your father yanked you out of here so fast...” He trailed off, gathering his thoughts, his thumb tracing small circles around the piercing of her bellybutton. “If it wasn’t for my mom gluing the family together, we would have broken apart.”

“All because of me.”

He placed a warm palm to her cheek and drew his thigh up the length of hers.

“Because of hatred and misplaced guilt. He blamed himself and for some reason, he found the need to shift that blame to your father. It made coping with her death easier, I think. I’m so sorry.”

Drake lifted his eyes from her lips as she sighed heavily.

“Not your fault, sweetheart.”

She nodded.

“What are you going to do now?”

She moved her hands down his sides. She didn’t want the magic of the moment to fade. If she broke contact she feared reality would rush in and tear them apart.

“I don’t have a lot of options. All the meetings will have to take place, but after that is done, I’ll assume my father’s position as owner and CEO and continue on with Morgan Gem.”

Drake stared off into the darkness beyond their ball of warmth. The haunting expression he wore scared her. “In New York?”

Lightly, she turned him to face her. “That might not be entirely the case. I would have to travel a lot, but Morgan Gems can open satellite offices. I mean, I will be the boss,” she added with a sly grin that earned her a kiss to the end of her nose.

“I didn’t know how to give you this until now.” He peeled back the several layers of their cocoon and she immediately felt the Alaskan chill.

Her entire body tensed with a fierce need to have him closer the further he got. She trailed his movements as he crossed the room to gather his satchel. The feeling was a little strange but she liked the adrenaline rush that fed into her blood as he turned back to her. Was it that deep bond between them he was always mentioning? She hoped so.

His expression tightened, and the mirth and happiness she saw during their lovemaking swiftly faded. “Promise me something.”

“Anything.” She canted her head to the side as he produced a white envelope from a front pouch on his pack.

“Promise me you’ll do what makes you happy. If that takes you away from me again, so be it. I can live with that. Or, I’ll at least try. Whatever your father has to say in this letter, be true to what you want.”

Well, hell. Her eyes darted between his and the letter he held. A familiar flourish of black ink spelled out her name.

“Marry me.” She didn’t want to know what her father had to say right now. What Drake asked of her made everything as clear as the Alaskan sky in the middle of June.

Her spontaneous demand caught him off-guard. That was okay because it scared her too. But if anything came out of the pain she suffered from her only family, it was to take every day she could with the people she loved. And honestly, she’d never stopped loving Drake.

“Do you know what that means?” he asked bluntly.

“It means what it should. That I’ll be yours and you’ll be mine.”

“And that your life will stop being mocha whatever lattes in Time Square and a whole lot of plaid and pine trees. I don’t think this town has more than one café. Can you handle that?”

She looked at him like he lost his mind for a second and then sighed. Like fancy city life is all there was to dreams and expectations out of life.

“I can make a mean pot of coffee so I think we’ll both survive without fancy named lattes,” she chuckled. “What I can’t handle is being alone. Not anymore. Not after what I’ve learned this week with losing my father.” Esmeralda held up the folded letter. “Not when I have my happiness so close.”

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