14. Mel

Ipractically dance out of the office building I’m that excited. The contract is signed. I negotiated hard, and I got everything I wanted.

I’ve met my new team, and they’re a passionate bunch of people. Well, as passionate as financial analysts get. I insisted on taking Alice with me and giving her a promotion to executive assistant and a pay raise to match.

There were a few other conditions I insisted on, and I can’t believe they agreed. I need a celebratory bagel, and then I’m calling Davis to tell him all about it.

My feet falter as I hit the pavement, because I don’t need to call Davis. He’s standing right there in front of me.

All six foot something of him in a leather jacket and beard, leaning against his bike with Hercules in the side car, a big lopsided doggy grin on his face. People are staring at the sight of the rugged biker in the city and his oversized dog.

“What are you doing here?”

My heart jumps in my throat, hoping he’ll say he came for me.

“Mel…” He takes my hands and pulls me toward him. I fall into his arms, so familiar and sturdy. “I’m not gonna let you go like that. You belong with me.”

I take a sharp intake of breath. His words are everything to me, answering the need in my very soul for this man.

“I know I’m younger than you and I work in a bar and I’m half deaf and broken, but I can change.”

I open my mouth to speak, but he presses a finger to my lips and rushes on.

“I’ll move here. I’ll get a respectable job. I’ll be your house husband if you want kids. Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it, Mel, because I love you and I don’t want a life without you in it.”

My heart swells at his words, and sweet relief rushes over me. The connection was real, and I didn’t just stake my career on it.

“First of all, you’re not broken and you don’t need to change and you don’t need a different job. You’re perfect just the way you are, Davis.”

Relief floods his face, and he smiles at me. I grin broadly, thinking of all the possibilities open to us.

“But you don’t belong in the city, Davis.” His face falls, and I run on quickly before he gets the wrong idea. “You belong in the mountains, and I belong there with you.”

He shakes his head. “No, Mel. I can’t let you give up your career. It’s too important to you.”

I grab his hands and pull them up to my chest, unable to contain my excitement.

“I don’t have to. That’s what’s great about being fucking awesome at my job. I’ve negotiated to work from home permanently.”

He stares at me, taking in what I’ve said. “You mean you’re staying on the mountain?”

“Yes. I can do my job from home; I’ve proven that in the last two weeks. I just need to be in the office once a month for two days for board updates and to see my team. But I can do all the rest remotely.”

He stares at me and I grab his cheeks in my palms, squeezing his delicious face and leaning in close so he hears every single word of this. “I love you too, Davis, and I want to stay with you. If you’ll have me.”

Realization finally dawns, and he sweeps me into a bear hug that lifts me right off the ground.

“You’re damn fucking straight I’ll have you, in every position in every room.”

We’re drawing a crowd, and I don’t care. I can’t get the grin off my face.

“And I’ve negotiated an extended maternity package, so when you’re ready…”

He drops me abruptly to my feet and draws back to look at my face.

“I’m ready now, baby. I’ll start our family right now if you want. Why do you think I’ve got such a big cabin? I want to fill it with babies. All those spare rooms, the big furniture? It’s for the kids we’re gonna have.”

I smile at this man who’s ready to give me everything I never knew I wanted.

Hercules jumps out of the sidecar and jumps up, one paw on each of us, wanting to be included. He licks my face, and I kiss his wet nose.

We’ve already started our family with this big cuddly dog. I don’t even care about the prints he’s leaving on my shirt or the crowd that’s gathered to watch.

Davis kisses me and I give in to him, melting against him.

I’ve always been a girl who goes after what I want, and I’m damned lucky to get it. My career, a lovable dog, and my wild mountain man.