Page 39 of Take Me Slowly: part 2
"Then you can come back to Vancouver with me," Brooks finished for me.
"Not without me," Riley said quickly. "Except, I'm not leaving. So you both have to stay."
"I'm not going anywhere either." Connor gave Josiah the side eye.
Josiah gave it right back, before letting out a long, slow breath. "Look, I can try to put the past behind us, but since you were the asshole all this time, you need to make a fucking effort."
Connor was on his feet, hands curled into fists. "I didn't?—"
Josiah rose as well, standing chest to chest with the other man. "You fucking did. I know you were only listening to what you were told. That's the reason you're standing here right now. You didn't know any fucking better. Now you do."
Connor looked like he wanted to argue, but he hardened his jaw and lowered his hands. "I'm making an effort." He sat back down.
Josiah regarded him for a few moments before he too sat back down.
"That was hot," Riley said.
Brooks looked conflicted. "I've heard about mountain men…"
"We're even better than anything you've heard," Riley said.
"I think I can see that," Brooks said softly. He still looked confused.
For a moment, I wondered why, then it dawned on me. He'd just figured something about himself that he hadn't known before. He wasn't just attracted to women. I had to admit, there was something about these men that would make it difficult to ignore those urges. I certainly couldn't.
"I know this isn't going to be easy," I said slowly. "There's a lot of water… Maybe that isn't such a good expression to use in this situation." I winced. "A lot of history between Connor, Riley and Josiah. And history between Brooks and me. If this is going to work, then we need to learn to communicate with each other."
"I'm down," Riley said. "I admit this is weird. It wasn't that long ago that the idea of you even talking to Josiah made me want to punch him in the face. But shit changes and I'll roll with it."
"Whatever," Connor muttered. "I'm not giving Leah up."
"Neither am I," Brooks said quickly.
Josiah scrubbed his face with his hand. "Do I have a choice?"
"There's always a choice," I told him. "I know you feel the connection between us. I do too. I'd like to see where it can go. If you don't want to, then…"
He looked thoughtful for a solid minute before saying, "I do want to. As long as those two keep their heads out of their asses." He nodded toward Connor in particular.
"Back at you," Connor told him. "You weren't innocent in all of this. Yeah, we gave you shit, but you gave it back."
"Wouldn't you do the fucking same?" Josiah demanded. "If everyone told you to stay the hell away from Aurora Hollow, how the hell would you act? You'd come out swinging."
"Josiah is right," Riley said softly, as though worried he was going to spark an inferno in the form of Connor's temper. "We were shitheads. Classic case of monkey see, monkey do. Worse, we knew the way our fathers talked to, andabouthim was wrong, and we copied it anyway."
"Allegedly," Connor said. "We still don't have proof he's telling the truth."
Josiah glared at him. "If you're going to be a prick?—"
"Okay," I snapped. "Can we all calm down?”
"It's not too late to go back to Vancouver," Brooks said.
All three of the other guys turned to him, and in unison said, "No."
"At least they agree on something," I said with a sigh.
"We should get back to town before the roads become slipperier and we need a snowplough to get out of here," Connor said.
