Page 10 of Haunting the Mountain Man
He’ll keep his mouth shut, but if he doesn’t, I’ll break his jaw. Good guy or not, if he hurts my girl, I’ll even the score.
“Cole,” Sabrina growls when she catches up to me. “You didn’t mean that right? I mean you’re not really going to make me wait until Friday. Right?”
Her arms loop around my bicep, physically leashing me to her side, and I don’t mind at all. Let my girl stake her claim for the entire town to see. Already a dozen people have seen us at the coffee shop and walking down Main. The marriage license we’ll sign Friday is a formality. Our marriage is already Crescent Ridge official.
“Cole?” she asks, and I can feel her blue eyes burning a hole into the side of my face as we walk down the street.
We pass a group of tourists peering into the front window display ofSugar Crossing,eyeing all the pastries the little bakery has to offer. Sabrina waits until they’re out of earshot before she rattles my arm.
“Cole. You are not making me wait.”
I don’t answer her until we’re at the front door of her bookshop.
“I had a lovely time today, Sabrina.”
“Cole,” she growls.
She glares at me as I plant a chaste kiss on her cheek. Good. We’ll let this be a lesson.
“Better luck tomorrow, pretty girl,” I say with a grin.
She doesn’t say goodbye, just turns on her heel and unlocks her door. I wait until she disappears through the door marked employees only in the back. Like most of the older buildings in Crescent Ridge, there’s a small apartment above the shop floor and that’s where Sabrina lives. Her commute is amazing, but Idon’t have to be in construction to know that her apartment is tiny.
Just big enough for one curvaceous witchy woman, one burly meathead, and maybe a puppy.
Sabrina
“Cole Opolski is a giant jerk.”
Onyx doesn’t acknowledge my existence on a normal day, so I’m not surprised when he ignores my rant. Obsidian and Oswald are more sympathetic, but that’s because it’s time for food.
To my friends, the three black cats are identical, but I’ve always been able to tell them apart at a glance. Onyx is always lazing about, relaxing on the furniture like he lives in a palatial apartment on Park Avenue. Obsidian prefers the high ground. He’s usually hiding in the shadows above my kitchen cabinets or on the top platform of the cat tree in the corner of my living room.
And Oswald…well he’s unique for a cat.
As if on cue he rubs against my legs and chirrups to get my attention.
“Hey pretty boy,” I murmur as I pick him up.
The black cat with a lazy eye behaves more like a dog than a cat. He doesn’t play coy, and he enjoys affection. The other twowill let me pet them only on their terms. Oswald seeks me out if he starts to feel neglected. Typically, after five minutes. Ten max.
He purrs as I pet him. I hold him close to my chest like a baby. Within seconds his hair is all over my clothes. No amount of brushing, bathing, or lint rollers will stop the spread of cat hair. Thankfully, none of my cats have white hair or I’d be a Yeti by lunch.
I mumble to Oswald about my first date with Cole. He listens intently but offers no feedback besides a corrective slap to my arm when my hand gets too close to his belly.
“I’m getting married on Friday,” I whisper to him. “And he doesn’t even know I have three cats. What if he’s a dog person?”
Obsidian hisses from his perch on the cat tree. One time I took him down to the bookstore when he wasn’t feeling well so I could keep an eye on him. It was the same day Lily Hart brought her dog, River, to her book signing. River escaped unscathed but not for lack of Obsidian trying to maim him. My cat was ready to throw hands. Err, paws.
My phone rings and Oswald jumps out of my arms.
“That man better be ready to apologize,” I mumble to myself.
Checking my phone, it’s not Cole, but Noel calling for a date debrief.
“Who is it?” she asks the second I answer.
“I’m not telling you.”
