Her Older Mountain Man - Page 9

Luke stops talking, and his face twists with his confusion.

“Colette, who’s this?” he asks. “Do you know him?”

I ignore him and move closer to Colette, kneeling down and placing my hands on her thighs.

“Angel, look at me,” I tell her. I rest my big hands on her thighs, feeling the warmth of her skin and drawing strength from it. “You think I’m just going to let you walk away from me? From us?”

She sniffles and shrugs. “What am I going to do, Owen? I have a baby coming. I need to make sure that I can provide for it.”

She’s so short and I’m so tall that I’m just about eye-level with her right now, and I lean forward to run my nose along her cheek. “Whatever you need, I can give you.”

“Can one of you tell me what the fuck this is?” Luke interrupts. I turn and glare at him, but Colette shushes me before I can open my mouth.

“Luke, give us just a minute,” she says gently. “Owen and I need to talk.”

“Owen Morningstar?” he asks, his eyes widening. “The cabin guy?”

Both of us ignore him as we gaze at each other. A tear trails down her cheek and I wipe it away with a gentle hand.

“I don’t want to be a burden on anyone,” she says. “This baby is the most important thing in my life, and I need to really do this and not rely on the scraps other people can throw me.”

“A burden? Scraps?” I push her hair back from her face and look deep into her eyes. “Colette, Iloveyou. I knew I loved you when you showed up screaming at my door. You’re not a burden, and neither is this baby.”

I place my hand gently–so gently–on her tummy, and she rests her own little palm on top of mine as I brush more of her tears away.

“I don’t know what this shithead over here did to you to make you believe that you matter so little, but believe me, you’re everything to me,” I tell her, ignoring Luke as he tries to interrupt me. “Come home with me.”

She sniffles. “Me and the baby?”

I lean forward and place a gentle kiss on her lips. “You and the baby. Do you think I’ll make a good dad?”

Colette smiles and nods. It’s enough for me, and I’m about to help her to her feet when Luke speaks up again.

“Sorry, no,” he says. “Colette is my girlfriend and you can’t just waltz in here and take her away.”

I straighten to my full height and pull out my phone, tapping away at the screen until I find the materials that Jake sent me. “I’m pretty sure I can, Luke. Tell me, does any of this look familiar?”

He leans in, peering at the screen, and pales when he realizes what I’ve got.

“So I assume that’s a yes,” I say. I tuck the phone back in my pocket. “Your dad’s a pretty big shitbag, but I bet even he’ll be mad if he finds out that you’ve been scamming payroll to cover your–ah, extracurricular activities.”

I don’t need to go into further detail–gambling debts, four-figure bar tabs, tons of credit card charges at strip clubs–he’s in hock up to his puny balls on stupid bullshit, and a baby was a surprise he just couldn’t handle. Lucky for him, Sam Barnes is enough of a prick that he was willing to help him push Colette out of the picture. And lucky for me, he’s desperate enough to do whatever I tell him to do.

“What do you want me to do?” he finally chokes out.

“Give Colette whatever she asks for,” I tell him. I look at Colette. “What do you need, baby?”

She bites her lip, thinking, and then looks over at Luke. “I want you out of my life,” she says. “You don’t have to give me anything, but you don’t get anything, either. Don’t call me, don’t come to my door, nothing. We’re done.”

My dick hardens as she finishes, her voice hard and clear. She’s alioness, and Luke looks shaken as she finishes with him.Good answer, I think.

“I’m done here,” she says. She rises to her feet and takes my hand. “My suitcase is in my car. Let’s go home.”

Hand-in-hand, we walk out the door. And we don’t look back.

Chapter 7

Colette