Page 85 of Single Mom's Mountain Men
And I love them.
My eyes flutter open to meet Charlie’s. His eyes are a mix of soft protectiveness and hot desire. We stare at each other for a second and then he leans down to capture my lips in his, in a sweet kiss that erases all the doubt from my mind.
I love him.
And Wes.
And even Mitch. I love these men so much. They’ve become my home, my safe haven and I want to stay with them forever. But I know I can’t. Eventually whatever this is will have to end and I already want to cry just from the thought of it.
"Patty?" Wes is suddenly beside me, clearly done with the argument with Mitch. A sheen of sweat stains his naked chest, which tells me that he's been hard at work all morning. He touches my cheek and with his thumb, he wipes off moisture. That’s when I realize that I let a tear escape.
"What’s wrong? Are you in pain? Did Mitch hurt you?’
"Did I hurt you?" Mitch comes out behind Charlie and just like that I’m surrounded by all three men. And with all their attention on me, I can barely take it. I love them so much it hurts. I love that they’re so protective of me and so careful. They treat me like something precious and delicate. Never have I had someone who treated me so well, like I'm special.
Not even Keegan.
Now that I'm older, I see the beginning of his courtship for the farce that it was. At the time, I thought his buying me extravagant gifts and taking me on expensive dates, meant that he cared about me. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker, but now I know he was simply love-bombing me to manipulate me.
None of these brothers have taken me on a helicopter around the city or to a five-star restaurant. None of them have bought me an expensive dress. But they’ve shown their care in deeper ways. Like Charlie fixing up my car without even mentioning it and treating it like it was nothing. They took turns driving me around simply because they were concerned that I wasn't familiar with the roads. They argued that they should pay my daughter's school fees, as though that were the most rational thing in the world. Wes got enraged on my behalf when he found out about my abuse, but he didn't make it about him, comforting me and agreeing to keep my secret.
And then when we have sex they prioritize my pleasure.
And they don't do any of it like they expect to be praisedfor it. They do it because it's simply who they are. The kindest, sweetest men I've ever met.
I'm not sure how they feel about me. But in such a short time, they have completely won my trust and my love.
And now I don’t know what to do about it.
"I’m fine,’" I tell them and then focus on Mitch. "You didn’t hurt me."
"That’s good," he says and sighs. "Charlie bought you some soup. I'll go warm it up."
"I’ll stay here in case you need me," Charlie says and Wes grumbles, "I guess I'll take my ass back to work then."
I giggle and once again, I send a silent thanks to Jamie from the gas station. If not for her I never would have met these wonderful men, and I'm glad I took a chance on the Montana mountains.
I feel much better by late afternoon, good enough to get out of bed and get started on dinner. Of course, Mitch isn’t happy about it when he sees me. While I'm cutting up potatoes, he walks in with Katie on one hip and Maddie on the other and then frowns when he sees me standing in front of the stove.
"Mommy!" my girls say and wiggle to be let down. Then they run to me and hug me tightly around the legs. "Mitch and Charlie said you were sick."
"I was." I bend so I can hug them too, breathing in their innocent light smell.
"So why didn’t you let us come see you?" Maddie pouts. "I would have kissed your booboos."
"Aw, sorry hon. I didn’t want you to catch what I had." I kiss her on the top of her head and then do the same to Katie. "But I feel much better now. A doctor came to see me andgave me some medicine that made all the pain go away. Did you guys have a good day at school?’
They both nod frantically and Maddie announces, "Katie has a boyfriend."
Katie frowns at her sister. "He’s not my boyfriend."
"Yes, he is. He was following you around all day and let you get a turn on the swing whenever you wanted it."
"Yeah because he’s nice. He’s my friend. I don’t have a boyfriend. Uncle Wes says boyfriends have cooties and so we're not allowed to have those."
"But Uncle Wes is Momma’s boyfriend, and he doesn’t have cooties." And then Maddie lets out a dramatic gasp. "Wait, Mommy is that why you were sick? Did Uncle Wes give you cooties?"
"No," I giggle. "Uncle Wes did not give me cooties."
