Page 11 of Wishing for the Mountain Man

But I didn’t mind that. In fact, I kind of missed it from my military days.

Tess met me just outside the restaurant, and we walked hand-in-hand toward the elevator, barely controlling ourselves until we were inside the room. As I brought her to orgasm with my tongue, then entered her, I thanked my lucky stars for everything in my life that had led up to finding her.

Now that I had her, my life could begin.

EPILOGUE

TESS

“Those guys are kind of sexy in their aprons, aren’t they?” Sloane asked, nudging me in the arm.

We were in line at the annual Rosewood Ridge Volunteer Fire Department pancake breakfast. It was the eighth one I’d attended as Jax’s wife.

“Yeah, but Sloane likes her husband wearing nothing but the apron,” Cassie said, leaning forward to speak to me over Sloane, who stood between us.

After glancing at Sloane to make sure she was okay with us ribbing her over it, we both laughed. We all four shared a lot as best friends. Always had.

But Cassie kept her voice down for a reason. What was said in our friend circle, stayed in our friend circle.

“Hey, what are you all talking about up there?” Ashton, obviously feeling left out, asked.

The line was long, but the four of us were close to the griddle. Jax and I had been among the first to show up here today, followed soon after by our friends. That meant we’d be the first besides all the kids to get pancakes. We’d made sure they were all settled before we even thought about waiting in line.

Our kids were with their grandparents—all seated at the same table toward the back. I didn’t have parents in town, but Cassie’s mom had relocated here, and Jax’s mom was visiting. They’d volunteered to keep an eye on the kids to let us moms enjoy our breakfast for a change.

“There’s my beautiful wife,” Jax said, flashing me a big smile.

He was the official pancake flipper, a job all the other guys wanted. Now he handed the spatula over to Bryce.

“I’ll be right back,” Jax said. “I’m going to kiss my wife.”

“Ugh,” Bryce said, but he was smiling as he took over.

“You guys are so cheesy,” Cassie said. But she and her husband, Denver, were just as bad.

As I waited for my husband to come around, I turned to look at the table full of our kids. Jax and I had a six-year-old boy named Hudson and a four-year-old girl named Lily. Our friends’ kids were around the same age, and they were all either going to Rosewood Ridge Elementary or already there.

Our houses were in different areas of town, though, since we’d moved into our husbands’ existing cabins. But we regularly had get-togethers at each other’s houses, especially in the summertime.

In college, the four of us had discussed raising our kids together, but we’d never dreamed it would actually happen. And definitely not in a town as charming as Rosewood Ridge.

“The Cyclone Stud strikes again,” Mac joked.

They were always teasing him, bringing up that name. He’d never live it down. The volunteer fire department was more of a fraternity than the sorority where I’d met my friends during college.

“Maybe the rest of us want to come around and kiss our wives,” Bryce said as Jax arrived in front of me.

My husband looped one arm around my waist and tugged me toward him. His mouth landed on mine in a kiss that remindedme of our early days together. We still had a lot of those kisses, but we had to deliberately make time for them with the kids keeping us so busy.

When he released me, I was breathless. But I was just about the luckiest woman on Earth.

“You’re not getting your spot back,” Bryce said.

As Jax smiled down at me, it became clear he didn’t mind one bit. In fact, he might have joined us for breakfast if someone hadn’t specifically designated a table for the moms to get some time away from our kids.

Jax released me and started back around the table. “Perfectly fine with me,” he said. “I’ll help out with the drinks.”

He made his way to the end of the table, where Denver stood dispensing coffee and orange juice. That was our cue to get a move on. I grabbed three pancakes, added some almonds and syrup, and made my way to Jax, who had my coffee prepared exactly the way I liked it.

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