Page 62 of Mountain Protector

So I reluctantly pull away while sternly ordering my body to calm down. She stares at me, cheeks flushed and eyes dark with desire, her rosy lips curving up as she says, “Well. I like that hello.”

“Sorry.” I tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. “Let’s try this again.” I take a step back. “Songbird. You look absolutely stunning tonight. I missed you. And I couldn’t wait any longer to kiss you.”

“Oh.” Her cheeks go red. “I missed you. A lot. And I’ve been so excited about our date. Do I get to find out what we’re doing?”

“Now you do.” Reaching for her coat off the rack, I slide it onto her arms. Then I grab her purse—the cranberry one, for the holidays—and hand it to her. “First, we’re going to dinner. At the Laughing Goat.”

“I love the Laughing Goat. The sandwiches we’ve gotten from there are amazing.”

“Well, I hope this will be even better.” I take her arm and lead her outside, adding as I check to make sure the door is locked, “They have a special Christmas-themed tasting menu. All prepared by the chef. I’m not sure what makes the food Christmassy, but I guess we’ll find out.”

“That sounds great, Knox.” Lark flashes me a breath stealing smile. “I can’t wait.”

“I can’t believeI didn’t know snowmobile sleigh rides were a thing.”

As we head up the path to Lark’s house, she looks over at me, beaming. “You’d think I’d have known,” she continues, “having grown up in Vermont. But it was so cool, just whooshing across the snow with all the lights around us.”

“I didn’t know it was a thing, either,” I admit. “But when I brought my truck in to get inspected, Max mentioned it. I knew he set up Santa’s Wonderland on his property, but the snowmobile thing is new.”

“It’s so nice of him to do that.” She pauses. “But do you know what made him start? Putting up all the lights, I mean. Since he doesn’t have kids.”

At her front step, Lark reaches into her purse and pulls out her keys, handing them to me to unlock the door. It’s something we started when she first came home, having me go inside first, and I think it makes both of us feel better to keep doing it this way.

“It’s his family’s land,” I reply. “And his parents did the lights for years. I remember them from when I was a kid. When they passed, Max didn’t want to disappoint anyone. So he kept up the tradition.”

“But we were the only ones there. Was it just good luck?”

“No.” Pushing open the door, I tuck Lark against my side as we walk inside, scanning the living room quickly for any sign of a disturbance. Not that there should be, her new security system would have alerted us immediately, but I still like to be sure. “He doesn’t actually open it up until the week before Christmas. But when I asked him, he was happy to run us through early.”

“Oh.” A soft expression moves across her face. “That’s so sweet. I should bring him cookies. Or candy. Or… I don’t know. Beer? Something to thank him.”

I kiss Lark on the cheek. “I’ll get him a case of beer. Don’t worry about it.”

“But you’ll tell him thanks from me?”

“Of course.”

While I hang up our coats, she goes over to the tree and flips on the lights, filling the room with a soft, golden glow. Turning, she says to me, “It’s so pretty, isn’t it? I know I said it before, but thank you for getting the tree. And for bringing it back here and setting it up all over again.”

Crossing the room, I wrap my arm around her waist, gazing at the tree for a moment before turning back to her. “It wasn’t a problem, songbird. It made you happy. So I was glad to do it.”

“Knox.” Her eyes meet mine, an indecipherable emotion in her gaze. “I don’t know how I got this lucky. When I think about it, if I hadn’t moved away from Montpelier, bought this cabin in the middle of nowhere… I might not have met you.”

My heart wrenches, pain stabbing through it.

What if?

What if Lark stayed in Montpelier? What if that asshole Vinnetti went after her there? Would she have been okay? Where would she have gone afterwards?

Shit.

What if I had never met her?

“No.” Firming my voice, I shove away the what-ifs. “I think people come into our lives for a reason. And I think some people are just supposed to meet. So Ibelieve we would have met. If not here, in Montpelier. Or you would have moved here another time.”

A smile curves Lark’s lips. “I like that.” After a pause, she says, “So. Now that the date part of our night is over, what would you like to do?”

“Well, it’s not over, really. I bought a bunch of your favorite treats from Decadent Delights. So I thought we could enjoy them while we watch a movie. Maybe set up a little picnic by the fire. And I have a gift for you. I wanted to wait and give it to you when we got home.”

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