Page 7 of Rescued By the Lumberjack

“Want to have a shower before dinner?” She asks me.

“A shower together?” I can’t help asking.

“Okay.” She answers with a grin without even a millisecond hesitation. That fires my blood. I love that she is so eager for us to be together again. I have lots of plans and thoughts about the things I want to try with her. But right now, I have something more pressing on my mind.

“Actually, Mia, do you mind if we talk about something?”

Mia

Oh God, I think to myself as I follow him to the lounge. This is it. THE TALK. It’s been fun but now it’s over. Let’s just be friends. I sit myself down at the opposite end of the lounge to Ronan. Putting up barriers. Refusing to let him show that I stupidly let my emotions get involved.

It was just one weekend. One mind blowing, life changing weekend. If that’s all he wants then that is fine. I will be okay. Except that I can feel an ache in my heart. Maybe one day I will look back on this and be grateful to Ronan for letting me experience heart break. I’ll use it in my writing. I’ll be in an interview and people will ask, how can you write heart break so well?

I’ll laugh it off, while I will always remember Ronan as the man who made me lower my defences. Who brought me out of my shell and taught me what good sex is really about. About being open and sharing and having a connection. A connection he is about to break. I look at him through guarded eyes.

He reaches over, taking my hands and gently pulling me towards him. He looks nervous. Good. I want this to be hard for him. But I still move closer. Wanting this last contact. Hating that I still want to be closer to him even as he is about to break my heart.

“Mia.” He pauses. Thinking over his words. “You know that I like you. We jumped into bed pretty quickly. Honestly, I couldn’t keep my hands off you.”

Another pause. He is looking at me for an answer. I give the slightest nod. I try to take my hands back but he holds them tight. I stare at his big hands holding mine.

“Well, okay.” He is making a mess of this. I wish he would just say the words. “Mia, look at me.”

I look up into his beautiful face. Willing myself not to cry.

“Mia, I want you to stay.” His words rush out of him. “I want us to be together. I want us to live together. Forever.”

I blink a few times as his words penetrate through the wall I had been putting up around my heart. “Really?”

He nods. “I’ve never felt like this about anybody before. Do you think…do you think you could be happy with someone like me?”

I hear the insecurity in his voice. It’s a feeling I know so well. I have noticed that while Ronan oozes confidence about his looks, his strength and his lumberjack skills. He can be a bit worried about not being book smart. But I think we perfectly complement each other in that way. And I can’t help the big smile as pure joy is bubbling up in my chest.

I throw myself into his arms. Kissing him. Hugging him. His arms come around me to position me more comfortably on his lap. His arms holding me tight.

“Is that a yes?” He asks between kisses.

“Yes. Yes!” Words failing me right at this minute.

“Thank God.” I hear him mutter. And then picking me up he carries us towards the bathroom. “Now, about that shower…”

I let out a laugh of happiness. I came here thinking I was going to lock myself away and write. But instead my whole life has changed. I feel like my past was darkness and now I have been brought out into the light. I was the princess locked away in the tower. And Ronan is the lumberjack who rescued me.

Epilogue

Mia

1 year later

The Hog Wash diner might not be the fanciest place to meet my book agent, but I have so much going on at the moment, it was nice of her to come all this way.

“It’s good news.” She beams at me. “We’ve got a bidding war. They love the book. And they want the series.”

Since moving to Hog Wash, I have totally re-written the book and I have the next two almost finished and ready to go. I might have been wrong about my plans for that weekend when I booked a cabin to get my writing done. But I was right about the fresh country air and the small town charm being good for my writing.

But more than that, I think it is having a supportive partner who believes in my dream. I thought I had to lock myself away to achieve my dream. But I’m finding that it is nice to have someone support me towards my goals. Ronan set me up my own office space in the house and he is very good at protecting my writing time. And he doesn’t mind if I want to enact sexy scenes I’m trying to write.

“Did you hear what I said, Mia?”