Page 26 of The Silent Mountain Man

"Silly mountain man. You should've asked for something better." Eddie leans over and snatches the license from my fingers. "You're going to get that anyway."

Before he looks to check what my name really is, he tilts his head, his teeth gnawing into his lower lip. "And what do I get if you're bullshitting me?"

"What doyouwant?"

"Us," he answers firmly and with no hesitation.

"What about us?"

"A chance for us to make it work."

"I… I can't live in the city, Eddie. I'm sorry."

"That's okay. I can move here."

"What about your job?"

"I already work from home three days of the week. It should be fine. And if it's not, I can get another job."

"What about your friends? Your apartment? Your life?"

He frowns. "Are you trying to put me off? Is this not what you want?"

"Of course it's what I want. Not a day has gone by these past ten years that I haven't thought about you, wondering what it would be like if we'd had the rest of the summer. If, after that, we could've gone somewhere and started a life together."

"So why are you throwing all these roadblocks in my face now?"

"Because it's a lot to ask. What if you give everything up to move here and be with me, and at some point down the track, you end up resenting me for it? Or what if you hate it? This life isn't for everyone. Which reminds me, don't you hate the mountains, City Boy?"

"I hate what the mountains reminded me of. Pa betraying me and losing you. The mountains themselves are fine. I have nothing against trees and fresh air and all that nature stuff."

"Glad to hear it."

"I'm serious, Harrick. Losing you has been the biggest regret of my life. You could be right. I could hate it here, but I promise you this, I'd rather try and know for sure, than walk away and live with what-ifs for the rest of my life. That sucks way more. Believe me."

"Oh, trust me. I know all about that."

His eyes dart to the license, then back to me. "So, do you agree? If I win and your surname isn't Tarzan…" He tries to keep a straight face as he says it. "Then we become a thing?"

I scratch my chest and pretend to think about it. "Would we have to make it Instagram official?"

"Now is not the time to be funny, mister." He swats my chest. "Do we have a deal?"

"Yes. We have a deal."

"Good."

He starts to slowly lift the license higher, and I swear, I'm enjoying this way too much. I actually think he's not entirely sure at this stage. I'm going to lord this moment over him for the rest of our lives.

He looks down, then up at me. Then down at the license and up one more time. He tosses me an adorable smile that makes my cold, brutish heart melt.

"Duncan. Harrick Duncan."

"Guilty as charged."

He pushes forward. I brace my hands around his waist and stare into the face, the eyes, of the only man I've ever loved. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You wanna talk about pleasure?" He licks the side of my face. "The pleasure is about to be all mine."

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