Page 14 of Protective Mountain Man

“I clock in at seven,” she said.

I let out a whistle. “A twelve-hour shift?”

She nodded. “But only for four days. Alex and his girlfriend still pick up the slack. So I’ll have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off.”

“Well then, we’ll have dinner tonight and plan to spend some serious time together, starting Wednesday.”

She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”

As I pulled out of the lot and headed down the treacherous road toward downtown, my heart couldn’t be fuller. I had the woman of my dreams by my side.

Icy roads were nothing. I could face anything as long as Porsha was with me.

EPILOGUE

PORSHA

“It sucks that they’re replacing this,” I told my husband as we sat on the chairlift, heading toward the top.

“Well, right now it feels great, but in January…”

I sighed, scanning the beautiful scenery all around us. Spring had sprung in Seduction Summit, and as usual, the lodge was busy installing the slides that would bring families from all over to our bustling town this summer.

It had been five years since Brock and I met at that very lodge. And while it was still most popular in the winter months, year-round tourism had picked up quite a bit since the town had brought in so many new businesses.

“I’m just sad to see it go,” I said, glancing over at my husband of four and a half years. “We have so many good memories up here.”

This was where he’d proposed. We’d also come up here early on when we were dating. Not to ski—we’d just ridden it up to the chalet and back down again. As an employee, I was allowed to do that.

I wasn’t an employee anymore, though. I’d worked as a desk clerk for a few months, until I landed a job working remotelyfor an investment firm out of South Carolina. I still worked for them. Occasionally, I had to travel for conferences and meetings, but most of the time, I worked from the small home office in our log cabin built by my friend’s husband, Lucas Bennett.

Having flexible hours was important when you had two kids under the age of five. And now, I was expecting again. I was only three months along, and I hadn’t even told my boss yet. That would come soon enough. Right now, the two of us were enjoying a much-needed date day, riding the chairlift before they closed it down for good.

“It was nice of Alex to let us do this,” I said. “I guess all our friends are taking a spin today.”

Brock shook his head. “Maybe later, but right now, we have this whole thing to ourselves.”

I liked the sound of that. I reached over and settled my hand on his thigh. My hormones had been off the charts lately. If there was a way we could have sex on this ski chair, I’d do it.

We’d have plenty of chances for that, though. The new daycare in town kept both kids when they weren’t in school, and I’d often stop by Brock’s shop before driving to pick them up when I got a break in my work in the afternoon.

“We have the hot cocoa chalet to ourselves,” he said, nodding.

When I looked over, there must have been confusion on my face. After a pause, he nodded in the direction of the building up ahead of us—the one at the very tip-top of the mountain. It had been set up as a small building where skiers could grab some hot cocoa or coffee before heading down the mountain to ski.

Hot chocolate and coffee weren’t being served this time of year. The barista, the person they hired to work the desk in the chalet, had once been a seasonal worker, but they’d since shifted that position to help out with all the other things the lodge did.

“Are you serious?” I asked, staring at the building as the chairlift approached.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “Prepare to jump.”

“One, two, three,” we said together.

We hopped off the chair and got out of the way as it continued on its usual path. During ski season, we would have taken it around and hopped off onto the run. But we were stopping at the chalet, and it wasn’t for a warm beverage.

We held hands as we walked into the building. It was just a little hut that had been pretty bare bones until a couple of years ago when Alex brought a team in to redo the whole place. Now it had a fireplace and a sitting area where skiers could lounge while they enjoyed the toasty beverages they got from the bar to the left of the door.

I’d barely stepped into the chalet when Brock’s arms went around me. He’d slipped in behind me, closing the door. We were alone in here on this nice spring day. My husband had made it clear nobody would be joining us.

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