Page 10 of November is for Nate

I pointed out my favorite shops, like the outdoor store the Pike brothers owned and the bakery where Lily sold her mouth-watering baked goods.

“We should pick up some cookies or another pie for dessert,” I suggested.

“I thought I was dessert.” Ainsley laughed and nudged her cheek into my shoulder.

“Baby, you’re the main dish.” I kissed the top of her head and led her into the shop.

“I forgot how super cheesy you could be.” She playfully pushed at my chest. “Oh my gosh, what smells so good?”

Lily ran the Mountain Delight Catering Company, but had a small retail shop set up in the front where she sold cookies, pies, and ready-made meals to take home and toss in the oven. I was a regular, and usually stopped in at least once or twice a week since I didn’t like cooking just for myself.

“Hey, Nate.” Lily came out of the kitchen in back, her eyes lighting up at the sight of Ainsley on my arm. “Who’s this?”

Word would get around Mustang Mountain sooner rather than later, thanks to the close-knit gossip mill. I didn’t care, though. “This is Ainsley. She was my girlfriend in college, and we reconnected at the Friendsgiving event yesterday.”

Ainsley blushed. “I’m just in town for the weekend. Those pies you made were amazing.”

“Thanks.” Lily reached over the counter to shake Ainsley’s hand. “I’m Lily. Welcome to Mustang Mountain. I hope we’ll be seeing a lot more of you now that you and Nate have reconnected.”

A dull ache pounded in my chest. There was no way Ainsley would be spending more time in Mustang Mountain. Her life was thousands of miles away, across a damn ocean. Still, it was hard not to picture her here. Lily had fallen for one of my MC brothers, Mack, a few months ago. Poor guy had been named Ruby’s mountain man of Mustang Mountain in May, though it had worked out for him. Now the two of them were practically joined at the hip.

Seemed like a lot of my MC brothers had found love over the past year. Ruby tried to claim the credit, but I wasn’t sure she deserved it. No one would be able to tell her that. I’d have better luck arguing with an angry bobcat than I would with Ruby Nelson.

“What can I get for you?” Lily moved behind a case holding a variety of desserts. “I’ve got a caramel apple cheesecake that will melt in your mouth. If you didn’t get enough pie yesterday, I just put out a mixed berry with the last of the huckleberries from the summer.”

“That one.” Ainsley didn’t hesitate. Born and raised in Montana, she loved anything and everything made from the small, tart berries.

“You got it.” Lily packaged the pie in a box and slid it across the counter. “It’s on me today. I hope you enjoy your time with Nate and will be back soon.”

“I hope so, too.” Ainsley picked up the pie. I couldn’t read her expression beyond the friendly smile. Was she just saying that to be nice? Did she really see herself coming back to Mustang Mountain? A sliver of hope wedged its way into my chest.

“Where to next?” I held the door for her, then took the pie. “I can run you up the mountain to meet Lily’s other half. Mack trains sled dog teams and might be taking a few of them out to get a taste of the fresh snow. Or we can stop in at Ace’s Place and grab a spiked cocoa to warm you up.”

“I don’t care what we do, as long as I’m with you.” She stood on the curb, putting her almost at eye level since I’d already stepped down onto the street.

I didn’t want to ruin the moment, but the more time we spent together, the more invested I was. Letting her go back to London like nothing had changed wasn’t an option.

“We need to talk.” I held the pie in one hand out to the side so I could pull her against me with the other.

She nodded into my chest.

Before I could nudge her chin up to get a read on how she was feeling, my phone rang. Fuck. I dug it out of my pocket. Sheriff Cade’s number scrolled across the screen.

“Damn. I really need to take this.” Way to ruin a fucking moment.

“Go ahead.” Ainsley took the pie. “I’ll pop into the Mercantile and grab a few things for dinner.”

I nodded, then pressed the phone to my ear while I watched her walk away. “Nate here.”

“Nate, I’m following up on that set of prints you captured.”

“You found something?”

“Yeah.” Sheriff Cade clucked his tongue. I could picture him leaning back in his chair and resting his cowboy boots on the edge of his desk. He probably had a damn toothpick sticking out between his lips, too. “I’m pretty sure they don’t belong to your illegal hunters. They match a partial print one of my guys grabbed from a recent break-in.”

I’d always considered Mustang Mountain a safe place to live. Folks around here rarely locked their doors, and the crime rate was so low it didn’t even register. Lately we’d had a series of burglaries that were unusual for the area. The sheriff’s office had been trying to connect them, but hadn’t had success yet.

“Do you have any leads?” I’d never worried about taking care of myself. Growing up in a small mountain town as the youngest in a family of all boys taught me how to fight when necessary. But with Ainsley around, I didn’t like the sound of a bunch of unsolved break-ins taking place.

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