Mountain Refuge (Mountain Mutineers #1)

Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Adam

T he roar of a snowmobile had never been so welcome. I was sitting in the living room playing tic-tac-toe with Lydia while Henry sat on my lap sucking on a bottle. He wasn’t eating much anymore, just gnawing on the nipple. I didn’t mind as it was entertaining him for a time and exercising his gums. He’d started teething just before we had gone on the run.

Yesterday had been long and painful. One could have cut the tension between Brooke and me with a knife. Corbin had been unable to come down. His mom wasn’t feeling well, and he hadn’t wanted to leave her. I understood, and sympathized, but I’d been really counting on the company to fill the silence between Brooke and me.

We were avoiding each other, and I hated it. She had barely spoken to me since our night on the couch. When she did speak, it was a simple question like, “Did you eat enough?” or informing me that “I’m going outside.”

I didn’t know how to fix it, to fix us . And the worst part of that desire was that there was no us, and never could be. When Brooke walked into a room, she took up my whole attention. She was like a magnet, automatically drawing my eyes to find her, follow her, study her… If I didn’t know of her equal attraction to me, I’d call myself a creep and blindfold myself to spare her my obsession. I wanted to walk up to her and kiss her. I wanted to be able to call her mine . I had never felt so possessive over a woman before. I’d never understood the Neanderthal desire to claim a woman until I met Brooke.

But taking her, even with her permission, would be selfish. I needed to protect my kids. I couldn’t risk any distractions from that, or it could cost us our lives.

I’d gone to bed with the kids again last night, but I hadn’t fallen asleep when they had. Instead, I laid awake and fought the growing urge to walk out into the living room and make love to Brooke in front of the roaring fire. At one point, it had gotten so bad that I had lifted a sleeping Henry onto my chest and held him as if he weighed enough to anchor me down.

So by this afternoon, after almost two days of near silence between us, I was about ready to explode. When I finally heard the snowmobile outside, I let out a sigh of relief. Corbin would get my mind off Brooke.

I went to the window, and my jaw nearly dropped. I hadn’t seen him in eighteen years. When he’d been arrested, Corbin had been a tall, gangly teenager. He’d been malnourished and downtrodden.

The giant that climbed off the snowmobile looked nothing like the teen I remembered. Actually, with that black beard and long shaggy hair, he could have been Hagrid’s younger brother. I placed him a foot taller than my five-ten.

Brooke opened her front door for him, and he had to duck to enter. I couldn’t believe how large he was. His biceps were bigger than my waist! Goddamn. He was pure muscle.

My eyes flew to Brooke, recalling the babe comment over the radio. Was there something between them? In comparison, how was I even in the running for Brooke’s affections when she had a man like Corbin so near?

“Whoa,” even came from Lydia.

Corbin looked over at me, then behind me at Lydia. A huge smile appeared on his face, and, despite my irrational jealousy, I found myself smiling back. “Jesus, Adam, it’s so good to see you.” He dropped the duffel bag he was carrying, came over and wrapped his massive arms around me. Since I was holding Henry, he didn’t grip me too hard, but I still felt the squeeze.

When he released me, he clasped me on my shoulders. This was definitely familiar, our height difference. In high school, Corbin used to rest his elbow on my head because, per him, my head was the perfect height to be used as an armrest.

“Holy sh— I mean, cra—” He winced, biting his tongue. “Wow, I’ve never had to curb my language before. This is going to be hard.”

I laughed. “You get used to it or get creative with alternatives. My preferred are ‘sugar-snaps’, ‘fudge-sicles’, and ‘H-E-double hockey sticks’.”

“I’ll try to remember those.” He looked around me to where Lydia had pressed herself against the back of my leg. She was peeking her little blonde head around my leg. Her natural curiosity and my greeting likely kept her from being scared of the stranger.

Corbin knelt down in front of her. Even kneeling he was huge, but at least he wasn’t towering now. “Hi, sweetheart. What’s your name?”

She looked up at me. At my encouraging nod, she looked back at Corbin. “Lydia.”

“Lydia? That’s a pretty name, fit for a princess.”

She shrugged but didn’t say anything.

“Hm,” Corbin hummed. “Are you afraid of me?”

Again, Lydia looked up at me. I didn’t indicate which way she should answer though. After some contemplating, she pursed her lips and looked at Corbin. “No. You’re Daddy’s brother and my uncle.”

He smiled so wide, it must have hurt his cheeks. I hadn’t told him I’d been referring to him as her uncle as an explanation as to who we were seeing. I could have called him a friend, but I wanted her to feel like she had family beyond me if anything happened to me. It was my hope that by calling him her uncle, she would trust him easier.

“That’s right.” Cautiously, he opened his arms. “Can I have a hug?”

Lydia stepped forward slowly. She kept her hands at her sides. When she got close enough, she lifted one hand to his outstretched one. Her entire spread hand fit in the palm of his. She journeyed down his arm, touching his jacket, which looked like it was made of real fur. Her exploration brought her closer to him. Corbin remained perfectly still, letting her choose how close she got.

I watched, waiting to see what would happen. Lydia wasn’t very trusting with strangers. I think she attached herself so quickly to Brooke because, one, she’d saved us and, two, Brooke was a woman. Lydia had learned from a young age not to trust men other than me and her brother.

She was in between his outstretched arms but still hadn’t gone in for a full hug. Lydia scrunched up her face. “Are you going to keep my daddy safe?”

Corbin’s eyes flew to mine before immediately going back down to her. “I’m going to try. And not just your daddy, but you too.”

Lydia thought about this for another moment before nodding. Her seven-year-old curiosity satisfied, she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around his neck. She had to stretch up on her tippy toes to reach .

Corbin’s arms came around her, holding her tightly to his chest. He rose to his feet with her still in his arms. Lydia’s legs dangled high off the ground. She lifted her head to look down, way down, at the floor. Her grip on Corbin’s neck tightened but she didn’t look scared. Instead, she turned to me with the biggest grin on her face.

“Look, Daddy, I’m taller than you!”

I chuckled. “I see that, Angel.”

Corbin patted her back. “Stick with me, kid. I’ll give you as many piggyback rides as you want so you can stay taller than your daddy.”

She was so small in his arms. If he tightened his hold, he could crush her like a bug. But I knew that would never happen. I knew those arms could and would protect her.

Henry, finished with his chewing on the bottle’s nipple, let out a large burp. Thankfully there was no spit up this time.

Corbin reached over and draped a large hand over his head. “Good to meet you too, little guy.”

“His name is Henry,” Lydia supplied. “He’s six months old.”

“Yeah?” Corbin jostled her playfully in his arms. “And how old are you, little miss? Twenty-one? Twenty-two?”

Lydia giggled. “No! I’m seven!”

“Oh, how silly of me. You look so much older when you’re this tall!”

Movement from behind Corbin drew my attention to Brooke. I was reminded of the first morning I’d woken up here, when I’d held my kids on the kitchen floor. It was the way she stood, her hunched posture, almost like she feared she was intruding on a private moment.

I wanted so much to pull her into my arms then, to include her. It would have been so easy, so right. To hold her against my side, one arm around her waist, the other holding Henry. I could picture it perfectly, like a family portrait.

I cleared my throat, needing to get that vision out of my head. “Brooke, would you mind taking Lydia into the kitchen for a snack? Corbin and I need to talk.”

While there definitely were things that I didn’t want Brooke to know, I also needed space from her. It was the excuse I needed to prevent myself from doing something stupid.

I didn’t miss Corbin’s eyes as they volleyed between the two of us.

Brooke stepped forward. “Of course.” Corbin lowered Lydia to the floor and Brooke offered her hand. “Come on, Lydia. Let’s see what goodies we can dig up.”

She didn’t look at me as she led Lydia from the room.

Corbin, however, did. He raised his bushy eyebrows in question. I shook my head, not ready or willing to talk about that.