Page 4 of Kept By The Mountain Man

I hired an assistant to handle the client-facing portions of the job and to research new potential clients. I was terrible at it. Unfortunately for me, the first few assistants never lasted for more than a few weeks. Not until I hired Evie.

To be honest, Evie could be the worst assistant in the history of the world, and I still wouldn’t ever fire her. I need to be around her sunny self every day. She’s become the only bright spot in my days.

“I’m about to call the Ecorp company back. Do you need anything?” Evie asks me, leaning against my open office door.

“It’s almost lunchtime. If you’re taking that call, then I think I’ll head into town and grab something to eat.”

“Grab me a sandwich and something sweet?” she asks, and I nod.

It took me all of a week to learn what Evie likes and doesn’t like. She loves pumpkin spice anything, Ube, and caramel. She hates white chocolate, coffee, and traffic. That’s just scratching the surface though.

Evie is smart, loyal, funny, and kind. She’s an optimist, always seeing the best in people, always looking on the bright side.

I stand and head out to my car, doing my best to stop thinking about my curvy assistant as I make the short drive into town. My cabin is on the outskirts of Sweetheart Falls. I moved here after I left the Marines. I had just started driving until I was sick of being in the car. I was hoping that this place would eventually feel like home, but it hasn’t. The only thing that feels like home, is Evie.

I stop outside of Evie’s favorite deli and head inside to order us some lunch. I groan slightly when I see Richard standing in line. His smarmy face lights up when he spots me, and he walks back to join me.

“Hendrix, my man!”

I’m not your man.

“I heard the big news. Congrats, man. Bagging Evie!” he says as he holds his fist out for me to bump.

“What?” I ask, trying to make sense of what he’s saying.

“I heard that you and Evie were together.”

I wish.

“Claire was talking about it last night at the bar. She said that Evie told her you two were together at the bookstore,” he says, his voice loud and carrying in the small deli.

“Evie told people that we were dating?” I ask dumbly.

Evie told people that we were dating? Why would she do that? Could she… could she maybe like me? Could she possibly want more than a boss and assistant relationship with me too?

“Yeah, man! Everyone in town has been talking about it,” Richard tells me.

I’m not sure what to do with this information. Part of me wants to run back home and confess that I love her, and I want to be with her, but I need to be smart about this. For all I know, this could be some weird twisted rumor, and then I would just embarrass myself.

No, I need to play this out. I need to think about it from all angles.

I need to talk to my assistant.

Richard orders, and then it’s my turn. I place our order on autopilot, pay, and grab the takeout bag before I head out to the car. My mind is racing as I drive back to the house, and I try to play it cool as I head inside.

Evie is just finishing up her phone call, and I head into the kitchen to sort our food. Evie’s office is in the dining room, and she ends her call and joins me a minute later.

“We got another client!” she tells me, grabbing the cookie that I hold out to her.

She always prefers to eat her dessert first, and I smile as she takes a big bite of the sweet treat.

I wanted to wait, to see if she would say anything, but she’s acting normal, and my patience is wearing thin. I need to know if she loves me too.

“I ran into Richard at the deli,” I start, and I watch her make a face.

She thinks that Richard is smary, kind of like a greasy car salesman. I have to agree with her.

“I’m sorry,” she says, taking another bite of her cookie, and I bite back my own grin.

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