Page 6 of Devotion By the Mountain Man

“I’m happy for you, Wade. Really, you deserve it.”

“Thanks, man,” I say, a bit choked up. All three of these guys have helped me with settling back into civilian life and it means a lot to have friends who care. And who all know what I’ve been through. This town has a weird way of bringing me everyone I need.

“Get back to work, you sap,” Ethan says with a laugh as he turns to the other end of the bar. I look up and smile as I see my sister and Ava sitting across from me.

“Surprise!” Sophie shouts, leaning over the bar to give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, hugging her back.

“She’s here to help me with some interior design at our place,” Ava says. My sister—though I hate to admit it—had an incredible eye for design, for how to make homespeaceful. She ran her own design firm in the city, but was always happy to drop stuff for a weekend and help out any of her friends or family.

“That’s great. I actually might need your help with a project too, Soph,” I say.

She looks back at me, brown eyes a mirror of my own. “Oh yeah?” she asks.

“Yeah… my friend, Rosie, wants to redo her place but never has the time. I was thinking you could check her place out and give me some ideas.”

“Your “friend?”” She puts the word in air quotes and I know then and there it’s not even worth trying to hide my feelings anymore.

“Hopefully more than a friend. She should be here in a few minutes, you can meet her and we can go over stuff,” I tell her, looking back to our cousin to back me up.

“You’ll love her,” Ava says to Sophie, “just like I knew you would,” she says looking back to me.

“You’re not getting a thank you,” I say back to her with a laugh. I turn to grab them some drinks and ask them what they want to eat. They order some stuff to snack on and I get back to powering through my shift.

I hear the bell on the door jingle and look up, hoping that it’s Rosie. Instead of meeting her lively blue eyes, I meet the angry, near-black eyes of the man I kicked out of the bar yesterday. Her douchebag coworker. Steve.

He looks livid, and drunk, as he approaches the bar. I move away from where Ava and Sophie are sitting, not wanting them to be involved in this. Steve comes up to the corner where I’ve moved and as he gets closer, I notice how sweaty and red he looks.Yep, definitely drunk.

“Hey, asshole!” he shouts.

“Calm the fuck down, Steve. You’re drunk and acting like a fucking idiot.”

He scoffs back at me. “Yeah, well you defended that bitch yesterday and made me look like a loser in front of my coworkers.” Every single word sounds like it’s taking him maximum effort to come up with. It’s pathetic.He’spathetic.

“Don’t you dare call Rosie a bitch,” I say, leaving the area behind the bar and getting up in his face, hoping the fact that I’m nearlytwice his size will scare him off. “Get the fuck out of here. You’re banned.”

“You can’t do that,” Steve says. “You’re just a bartender.”

“He can’t, but I can. Get the fuck out of here and never come back,” Scott, Ava’s partner and co-owner of this spot with Ethan, says from where he’s appeared behind me. I flash him an appreciative smile before turning back to Steve and giving him my deadliestI’m going to kill you if you don’t leavelook.

Steve still looks like he’s seething, but he turns and leaves the bar. Something tells me this is far from over.

“Thanks, man,” I say, turning back to Scott who is perched in front of Ava and Sophie, holding Ava’s hand in his own.

“No problem, that guy has always been a dick. I’m sorry he’s been harassing Rosie, but glad it gave me an excuse to finally ban his ass.”

“Yeah. I think he makes her life at work hard enough, no need to have him barging in on her personal time, too,” Ava says.

I just nod. Sophie looks at me curiously before turning back into her drink. Hmmm.

I get back to work, constantly eyeing the door for the brown-haired beauty I’ve been waiting to see all day. Just as I bend down to empty the behind the bar dishwasher, I hear the familiar jingle of the door and just know it’s Rosie.

I rise and am greeted with the sight of the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. She’s dressed casually in a gray sweatshirt and bike shorts, frilly socks peaking over the top of her simple whitesneakers. Her curls are swept up into a high ponytail and her fresh face is glowing. I could live a million lifetimes and never find someone as beautiful as her.

Her eyes meet mine and her cheeks redden as she gives me a small wave. I grin back at her, rounding the bar and scooping her into my arms before planting a quick kiss on her lips.

“Hi, honey,” I say into her ear. I feel better just seeing her, like she’s calmed me.

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