Page 113 of Beneath the Mountain Sky

This same feeling.

Overwhelming nausea and feeling like the world around me won’t stop spinning, even when I’m standing still.

I swallow back bile rising in my throat.

A low snicker fills the office. “Having fun?”

Hardly.

I glance over to where Connor reclines at his desk with his booted feet kicked up on top of it. One of his thick, dark brows rises, along with the corner of his lips.

He knows how bored I am, and that my current attempt to pass the time has left me feeling…not great.

“Does it look like I’m having fun?”

Connor snorts. “Sort of. Until you turned that shade of green.”

Uggg.

“I am not green.” I give him a saccharine-sweet smile. “I’m bored out of my mind.”

I settle into the chair, staring at the same ceiling I have been staring at for almost four hours while I’ve sat in here with the grumpiest of the McBride brothers—at least to me. Though, that might be debatable to everyone else on the mountain. They all seem to see Killian as the gruffest, roughest of the trio, but it’s hard for me to accept that when I’ve seen his other side.

Connor, on the other hand, rarely shows even a hint of anything but annoyance at people and life in general. He certainly has at having to babysit me all day.

A little chuckle slips from his lips. “I can tell.”

I motion absently toward the front window that overlooks the lumberyard, where dozens of people hustle around, moving uncut timber from the storage area to the saw house and cut boards to stacks along the far fence wall—all with Killian at the center of it.

Checking in with everyone.

Directing traffic.

Doing the job he was born to do.

That man is at home on the mountain, out in the wildest parts that match his soul, but he somehow fits here, too. This business is the heart and soul of the McBride family and this town.

He would never give up on it, never stop trying to improve things, which means I’m in for a very long day, since he wants to get as much done as possible before the larger search party gets organized and takes off up the mountain.

“He really expects me to stay here with him all day?”

Connor nods slowly. “Yep.”

“And you have to babysit?”

If I have to sit here, I can do it alone.

There isn’t any reason to make Connor more miserable by forcing him to when he’s built just like his brothers and prefers to get his hands calloused and dirty.

None of them wants to spend time in the office, which means Connor is as restless as I am by now.

The corners of his mouth twitch.

He doesn’t smile much, but every once in a while, when you get a grin, you realize how truly handsome he is. If he actually showed any interest in any of the women around town, they’d be in trouble. But he’s always been a quiet loner, seemingly comfortable leading the bachelor lifestyle indefinitely and ensuring his attitude keeps anyone who would chance it at bay.

Just like Killian did…until me.

Connor motions to the yard beyond the window. “I think Liam’s going to come trade off with me in a little bit, so you’ll have much better company.”