Page 6 of A Baby for the Mountain Man

Not that any of the thoughts I’m having about her right now would fall under proper.

“So.” She shifts lanes and casts a glance my way. “Are you excited about the wedding?”

“Mmm.” I shrug. “If Winter is happy that’s all that matters.”

“You’re not a fan of weddings?”

“I’m not a fan of marriage.”

Her lips form a perfect “O” and her cheeks pink up slightly. I mentally curse myself for making her feel uncomfortable, even while I appreciate the way she looks right now.

Flustered is a good look on Sophie.

I bet it would look even better if I was the one to get her flustered in bed.

“Fuck,” I mumble to myself. These are not the kinds of thoughts I should be having about my baby sister’s best friend.

It doesn’t matter how good she looks to me right now. She’s off limits. I’ve always made my sister’s friends off limits, just like I always made sure to keep my friends away from her.

Sibling code.

It’s just been a long time since I with a woman. That’s all. And you’d have to be without a pulse not to notice how cute Sophie is.

Not just cute. Stunning.

And right now, she looks really annoyed with me. I sigh. I’ve gotten really bad at small talk in my years away from civilization.Oh, I still come into town a couple times a month. But only to get supplies. Never to chit chat.

Still, Sophie is doing a huge favor by driving all the way to the airport to get me. The least I can do is try to have a decent conversation.

“It’s not that I’m against the institution of marriage or anything.” I scratch my beard. “It’s just not for me.”

“Oh really?”

“Trust me. I know.”

Sophie shakes her head at me and mutters something about “men.” For the first time in a long time, I nearly grin.

“So, what about you?”

She spares me a glance. “What about me?”

I glance at her left hand and note that she doesn’t have any rings on her fingers. Of course, that doesn’t mean anything. But if I was married to a woman like Sophie, I’d make sure everyone knew to keep their hands off by putting an obnoxious ring on her finger to scare off anyone before they could get any ideas.

“You haven’t decided to take the plunge?”

“Not exactly.”

I arch an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

She shakes her head. “Would you mind if we made a couple of stops on the way to the lodge? Your sister had some last-minute errands she needed to take care of, and I told her I’d help.”

“By all means.”

I’m not much for running errands, but I wouldn’t mind spending a little more time with Sophie.

We don’t say much as we make our stops. I’m happy to play the part of pack mule while she picks up a surprisingly long list of things.

With every stop, I find myself admiring more than the way Sophie fills out a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. There’s anefficiency about her that’s admirable. A sense of confidence I hadn’t seen all those years ago. When my sister brought her home for Thanksgiving their freshman year of college.

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