My Mountain Man’s Desire (Rock Creek #1)

Chapter 10

CHAPTER TEN

Griffin

I need a second to pull myself together after what just happened.

At the sink in the kitchen I splash cold water on my face ignoring the voices around me for the time being.

Fuck .

I just drove right through the fire. There hadn’t been any other choice. I needed to protect my girl and I’d meant it when I told her it would all be okay because now that I’ve found her I’m not going to let anything bad happen to her. To us.

She’s mine. It’s my job to protect her and the family we were going to have together. I’d die for my girl. Thank goodness today wasn’t going to be that day. We were safe.

“Griff! Son.” My father’s arms pull me into a strong hug. “You’re safe. Briggs said the wind shifted and?—”

“I’m fine.” I stand back and rub a hand over my face. “William?”

“He’s fine. We were never in any danger. As soon I saw the smoke this morning, we headed in,” my father explains. “Ran into Ryder on the road coming to get us. Gran’s been feeding him ice cream since we got back.”

“Thanks, Pa.”

“Of course. We’re just glad you’re okay. Briggs mentioned you weren’t alone? Is?—”

“Later.” I give him a curt nod. I’ve been away from her long enough.

As the main hub in town, The Den was a busy place at the best of times. But in an emergency it was packed. For the first time when I emerge from the kitchen, I notice all the people gathered there. The place is packed. But my eyes go straight to my girl.

And my son.

Who has crawled up into Sophie’s lap.

I scrub a hand over my face to be sure my eyes are working properly.

But they’re working just fine. They each have a bowl of ice cream in front of them and together they’re laughing and talking as if they’ve known each other for years.

As if Sophie were his mother.

My heart swells watching the scene in front of me.

“Life is funny sometimes isn’t it, son?”

I look down as Ma slides an arm around my waist and pulls me close. She might be at least a foot shorter than her sons, but she was tough. “What do you?—”

“Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason for the way it happens,” she says as if I hadn’t spoken. “But when love strikes, there’s no denying it.”

That’s the truth.

“It looks like William may have fallen just as hard.”

I can’t disagree with that. My son is cuddled up tight in Sophie’s arms in a way I’ve never seen him do before. Then again, I’ve never seen him with a mother figure in his life. My heart squeezes a little more.

“What are you waiting for, son?” Ma winks and smacks me lightly with the dish towel she’s holding. “Get over there and join your family.”

Sophie

The weight of him on my lap feels just right and when he snuggles into my embrace after I tell him my name, I fall head over heels in love with William.

“Wasn’t I right, Sophie?” His little boy face with chocolate ice cream rimming his lips, looks up at me. “Ice cream makes everything better, right?”

I don’t think it’s the ice cream so much as the cuddles I’m getting from Griff’s son, but regardless, everything is just fine.

There are a handful of kids in the restaurant, but I’d known William the moment he came over to me with a bowl of ice cream in his hand and without hesitation and crawled up into my lap. The connection between us was instant.

I was born to be this little boy’s mother.

“You were right, William.” I ruffle his hair a little. “How did you know chocolate was my favourite?”

He looks at me, his eyes so much like his father’s, turn serious. “I don’t know,” he says matter of factly. “I just had a feeling.”

“Sometimes that’s all it takes.” I squeeze him a little tighter.

I feel Griff’s presence before I hear him. “Do you think I can have some of that, too?”

“Dad!”

William reaches his arms out for his father who scoops him up easily into his arms. “Sorry your camping trip was cut short, little man. I hope you had fun.”

“It was so fun but Papa said that when there’s a fire the best thing to do is get to a meeting place and see how to be helpful.”

“Is that what you’re doing with Sophie?”

“You know her?”

“I sure do.” I bite back a giggle when Griff winks at me before sliding into the booth next to me, William still in his arms.

The little boy shifts so he can look at both of us and still eat his ice cream.

“In fact, I’m really glad you two have met.” A shiver races through me. “Because we’re going to be seeing a whole lot more of Sophie in the future.”

My heart catches in my throat. With anyone else, I’d think all of this was happening too soon, but with Griff it feels just right and I know what he’s going to say before he says it.

“I lied to you earlier, sweetheart.” Griff reaches for me with his free hand. “I told you everything would be okay before we drove through the fire but the truth is, I was scared. Not of the fire, but of losing you. I’ve never felt that kind of fear before, and it was in that instant that I knew without a doubt that I would literally drive through hell to keep you safe because I love you. Marry me, Sophie.”

“Marry you?”

“Yes. Be my wife. William’s mom and the mother to all of the babies I plan on putting in that beautiful belly of yours. Stay with me on the mountain. Forever.” He swallows hard, waiting for my answer. “Be our family, Sophie. What do you say?”

My heart races as I look from Griff to William who’s also waiting for my answer, back to Griff. I’ve spent my whole life doing what other people expected me to do. I’ve never even had the chance to figure out what I wanted for myself.

But in this moment, with this man and his son in front of me, I’ve never had more clarity in my entire life.

“Yes,” I say. “A million times, yes. There’s nothing I want more in this whole world.”