Make Me Stay (Men of Gold Mountain)
Page 20
He shook his head. “I don’t need to hold on so much to the things that hurt me. It might be time for me to try something else.”
Sam scrunched up her face, confused. “But I thought you said they reminded you of your uncle. Of good things—of someone who cared.”
“Sure. But having only one thing like that—it also keeps present in my mind how little else I had. It’s like I’m always carrying around the fact that I chose to shatter my knee instead of make the team.”
Sam pulled down his hat so it better covered his ears. “You were protecting your mother.”
“I don’t know if I was saving myself or throwing everything away.” His voice was quiet. They were on their way out—it wasn’t the time to talk. And yet, in a way, that was the beginning of things for them, the moment their relationship became real. They knew they could say what they were thinking, whether it was the right time or not.
“It’s okay to move on,” Sam said. “It doesn’t mean you have to give anything up. It’s like you said when I fell on the moguls. It means you’re learning, pushing yourself, trying something new.”
“I’ll move on if you stick around,” Austin had said.
And now he was saying it again, only it wasn’t just words anymore. He pulled a small black box from his pocket. Sam took off her helmet and dropped it in the snow. She couldn’t believe she was being proposed to in the middle of a ski trail, her hair a mess, cheeks flushed, a trickle of snow melting down her cheek.
But of course this was how she wanted it, outside on a bright blue day, her heart pounding and so full she thought she might burst.
“You’re smiling like a maniac and I haven’t even shown you what’s inside,” Austin said, and she laughed.
“As if that makes a difference to my answer.” But of course the ring was beautiful—he’d picked it out with help from Claire and Mack.
“Mack doesn’t seem like the wedding ring type,” Sam joked as she slid on the ring, glittering as brightly as the snow in the sun.
Austin laughed. “And yet she kept insisting she knew what you’d like.”
“She was right,” Sam said, and she meant it. “We need to set her up with Connor, finally get the two of them happy.”
Austin’s eyes bugged out. Sam hadn’t meant to spend the moment talking about their friends, but she couldn’t help it. Seeing Austin’s expression, she laughed. “You don’t think so?”
“You obviously haven’t seen them really go at it.” He shuddered. “It’s not pretty.”
Sam shrugged. “Sometimes the people you disagree with the most passionately are the ones you feel most passionately about.”
“In our case, we worked out our differences. The two of them? I could never see it happening.” He leaned forward and took her in his arms. “So, boss lady. What do you say? Are you going to marry me and ski with me until I’m old and decrepit and can’t walk anymore?”
Sam extended her hand, warm from her gloves. His fingers enveloped hers, and just that brush with his skin made her crave his touch, his lips, his tongue. She pulled him toward her and kissed him, tasting him slowly, savoring. Enjoying everything she had.
When she could finally pull away, she brushed her lips to his ear. Still holding him, she whispered, “You, my love, have got yourself a deal.”
They skied down and went home, fed Chloe, and sat drinking coffee at the kitchen table, talking about the future, their plans, the life they were going to build. Framed on the wall was a napkin stained with ink and two signatures, the promise that Austin would work for Kane Enterprises for a whopping $7.99. It always made Sam smile. He made Sam smile.
“Ready for practice today?” she asked as he reluctantly got up to gather his things.
“I wish I didn’t have to go, but I’ve got to meet the new team. It’s going to be different without Amelia this year.”
“You’ll have plenty of new talent,” she said. “Besides, now you can say you coached the woman who’s currently crushing it on the U.S. Ski Team.”
“That is a plus.” He grinned. “And she says she’s loving it, which makes it even better. What are you going to do? Head to the office?”
“Hell, no,” she said and laughed at his surprise. “I’ve got a million people to call. Starting with my mom.” She admired the ring again. “We’ll call your mom, too, when you get back. Okay?”
“Okay,” he agreed, and she was glad he’d taken that step. She wished her dad were here to celebrate with them, to walk her down the aisle and give her stern, fatherly advice when she wasn’t asking for it…but she knew he’d be happy with her choices, and proud of the way the new development was shaking out.
She might not have done everything right, but when she looked at Austin, his grin as he gave her one last kiss before grabbing his jacket and keys, she knew that whatever mistakes she made, she’d continue to work through. With a strong, loving man by her side.
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Acknowledgments
Thank you so much to my dream team: Andrea Somberg, Alycia Tornetta, Kaitlyn Osborn, Nancy Berland, Kim Miller, and everyone at Entangled, who love the men of Gold Mountain as much as I do and have made this book the best it can be.
Nora Metzger and Trish Hayes introduced me to the beauty of the Pacific Northwest and provided invaluable feedback on earlier drafts, helping me figure out who Austin is and what makes him tick. Thank you also to Alison B. for her eagle eye, and to Nora for the important reminder, when I was worried Sam might be getting too much action, that there’s no such thing as too much oral sex. Wise, wise words.
I’m lucky to have a travel buddy, Robert, who first went hiking with me in the North Cascades and helped me plot and draft and dream out loud as we were walking through wildflowers and snowfields in the sun. As I write these acknowledgments, he’s bringing me a beer in Vermont after a day of kayaking and we’re deciding what mountain to climb tomorrow. I can’t wait to see what books are going to come out of this latest adventure. Thank you for being on this journey with me.
The person I want to thank most is you, the reader. I’ll keep writing even if no one keeps reading. But it’s so much better knowing you’re here.
About the Author
Rebecca Brooks lives in New York City in an apartment filled with books. She received a PhD in English but decided it was more fun to write books than write about them. She has backpacked alone through India and Brazil, traveled by cargo boat down the Amazon River, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, explored ice caves in Peru, trekked to the source of the Ganges, and sunbathed in Burma, but she always likes coming home to a cold beer and her hot husband in the Bronx.
Sign up for Rebecca’s newsletter at www.rebeccabrooksromance.com/newsletter to get a monthly email about Rebecca’s adventures. And don’t miss Make Me Beg, Connor and Mack’s story and book two in the Men of Gold Mountain series, coming 2017!
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