Page 14 of Protected By the Mountain Man

I think about it later that night when I’m tucked into bed with Billy snoring gently in the bedside bassinet Graham stopped by to set up earlier. I can hear Ace snoring much less gently from the couch on the other side of the curtain, but somehow it doesn’t bother me.

Why did I say yes to the dinner date with Ace’s friends? Is it for the same reason that the big man’s hacksaw snores comfort me more than they irritate me?

Trust.

The word floats to the front of my mind unbidden. I gasp into the dark, then freeze when Ace’s snores stop. I hold my breath until his begins again.

Itrustthis man.

I’m not sure why. I don’t know him. He’s been out of the apartment more than he’s been in it since my arrival.

I don’t know if that’s his usual, or if he’s giving me space. Either way, I find myself missing his solid, quiet presence.

Because when Ace is here, I feel like I can breathe better. My heart doesn’t have to work as hard to beat, and keeping up with Billy is easier somehow. When Ace is here, I don’t stress and worry and tie myself into knots about what the future holds.

I trust him. Deeply.

And while I’m not certain why, I’m confident in that feeling.

Maybe I’m a fool. After all, I didn’t exactly make the right choice when I hooked up with Ryan.

Then again, I didn’t think I was making a lifelong commitment to the guy when I agreed to spend a single night with him. I’m not sure that, given a second chance to choose my child’s father, I would pick Ryan at the time.

I sure as hell wouldn’t choose him now. Not after everything that he’s put us through.

But Ace? Something in my belly leaps at the idea of making him the father of my future children. From the way he gently tussles with Billy, making my boy laugh long and hard, he has the makings of a good dad.

I don’t miss the fact that I trust Ace, a virtual stranger, to hold my son when I balk at letting Billy’s own father within ten feet of him.

That means something.

It means a great deal, in fact.

So when Ace came to me with his proposal of dinner at his friends’ home, he’d already earned my trust, and I said yes. He wouldn’t have asked me and Billy to join him for something he thought was a bad idea.

It might be a weird dinner, with me and Billy being the odd ones out in a room of people that already know each other. And it might be extra awkward, with four adults and only two of them romantically paired.

But Ace thinks it’s a good idea, and for some reason, I can’t come up with a reason to disbelieve him.

I find myself smiling into the darkness, butterflies stirring in my belly. I curl my knees up to my chest and pull the covers up to my nose, enjoying the feeling even while I’m not sure what it means.

Ace

I’m so damn nervous.

I probably should never have accepted Quinn’s dinner invitation. This has got to be a huge mistake. Mariah’s probably angry that I cornered her into this.

I slide a look over at Mariah perched next to me on the couch in Doc Peace’s living room. She’s chatting with Quinn, both of them animated and smiling as they talk. Billy’s rolling and cooing on a blanket on the floor with Kiri entertaining him with toys.

Mariah doesn’t look mad.

But maybe she’s making the best of a bad situation.

I swallow hard.

I hope I didn’t fuck this whole thing up.

“Ace.”

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