Page 17 of Comforted By The Mountain Man (Eden Ridge: Hunter Brothers #1)

I lay my hand on his cheek. “You’re home, Asher. Wherever you are, that’s Ryder and my home.”

“You’ll stay?” he asks, hopeful.

I look around the room. “This is like a dream home. I’ll take it. But where will you live?” I try to keep a straight face.

“Oh, you think you’re cute, huh?” Asher growls, grabbing the back of my head and pulling me forward, kissing all over my face as I giggle too loud but can’t hold back.

“Daddy, Mama, shhh,” Ryder mumbles. “I sleeping.”

We both grow still, looking down at Ryder, who effortlessly goes back to sleep.

“Is that okay?” Asher asks. “Can I be his Dad?”

My heart swells at the vulnerable husk in his voice. “Oh, Ash,” I lean in and kiss him. “You have been more of a dad to Ryder than the man who got me pregnant. He loves you,” I whisper. “Are you sure you’re okay with taking on such a big role? In Ryder’s mind, that’s forever.”

I’ve loved watching my son fall in love with this man but realistically, this is new. This is a lot. A ready-made family. Is Asher really ready to sign up for that?

Asher presses a soft kiss on Ryder's head before scooting closer and taking my face into his hands.

“Sierra, Brown Eyes. When I lost my parents, my brothers all fell apart. Different ways,” his thumb brushes my cheekbone.

“Beckett’s the oldest but being a firefighter, he blamed himself.

He shut down. Holden and I, being twins, are the next oldest. But Holden left town.

It was up to me. I had to hold what was left of this family together. ”

“Asher,” I breathe out, reaching up and holding his wrists, feeling his strong pulse under my fingers.

“For six years, I knew, on the outside, I had it together. On the inside, I felt broken. Too broken to ever be good enough. I accepted love wasn’t in the cards for me.”

Silent tears fall onto his skin. I shake my head because how could this man not feel good enough or deserving of love?

“Then you almost concussed me with a toilet plunger,” he says unexpectedly and I bark a laugh, sniffing back more tears. “And I tried. I really tried not to be mesmerized by how soft and warm your naked skin was or how right you felt in my arms. Day one.”

“You just had to be shirtless that night too, didn’t you?” I giggle.

He chuckles, kissing my lips softly. Pulling back, he gets serious.

“Night one, you gave me purpose. But every day after that, your strength, your endless love for your son, your fierce nature; every chip you let fall, honoring me with hints of trust even when you were terrified to feel what was growing between us.”

Leaning closer, he rests his lips against mine and whispers, “Thank you. For loving me. For bringing me back to myself. If you let me, I plan on loving both of you until you and I are old and gray, sitting out back, watching what we made of this wild, crazy thing called life.”

“I want that,” I say at his lips. “Forever.”

After sealing each one of those promises in a kiss, Asher presses his lips to my forehead. Soon, we fall asleep. I remember smiling, happy tears drying on my face, and thinking, ‘Dreams do come true’. Even for people like me.

The following weeks, we settled into a new normal. It wasn’t until three weeks after my world felt like it’d end that we heard news. One of Oscar’s mistresses had the information the MC wanted. They had no further need for me.

I would say, the only missing piece that kept me from fully sinking into the freedom of my new life was Sulfer. I knew he was like a dog with a bone. His pride was hurt. He wouldn’t let that go.

But Deputy Murphy told the brothers that Sulfer was murdered after they transferred him to California. Made sense. He made a lot of enemies.

I felt conflicted at the relief that coursed through my system at the news. I shouldn’t relish in another human’s death but another part of me couldn’t care. He took my son. He threatened me. Tried other things he was never successful at. I wanted peace.

Now, I have it. I can breathe. I can live.

Four months of surreal heaven.

Asher and his brothers have been working with their lawyer to buy off the guy who still owns the Fletcher’s old land. He’s done a horrible job maintaining it. They want to buy it off him and redo the land. Build more homes. Perhaps erect some project warehouses for expansions.

Once I was sure the MC wasn’t a threat anymore, I started going back to work at the Distillery. Grace insisted on still being Ryder’s nanny. Took him a few weeks to lose that haunted look in his eyes when he’d leave me. Those mornings were hard.

Asher wouldn’t go to work before Ryder’s pickup so he could help me through after they’d leave. Asher’s done everything to help me feel like my own person while still being a unit. It’s taken getting used to but he’s made it easy.

I have my own bank account to handle my own finances. We opened a savings account for me but also, for Ryder’s future. If God-forbid life put him between a rock and a hard place, I never want him not to have the resources he’d need to get through anything.

It’s Thursday and I have the day off. Asher’s working in his home office downstairs while I season a roast in the crockpot for dinner tonight. Chopping an onion, a wave of nausea overwhelms me.

I grip the counter, covering my nose with my wrist, avoiding onion juices. My eyes water as the nausea turns violent. Dropping the knife, I dart to the half bathroom in the hall.

My stomach contracts as breakfast hurls into the toilet. The cold tile seeps into my leggings, perpetuating the chill from the sickness that has flushed my body.

“Brown Eyes,” Asher calls from behind.

“Honey, don’t come in here. Not pretty,” I groan, spitting what’s left in my mouth before flushing.

His warm, large, calloused fingers brush the hair off my neck before something cool touches it. I moan into his touch, rubbing my stomach.

“Did the pancakes not settle right?” he asks, kneeling beside me.

I tip my body to lean on him. “No clue,” I whisper, staving off the new wave at the mention of food.

“Baby,” he says.

“Mm.”

“You haven’t had a period for a couple months.”

It takes what feels like an eternity to connect his meaning. My eyes dart open. Oh shit. My shot. I count in my head when I was due for the next one. I know I mentioned it to Asher when I was a couple of weeks out from needing it but he’d shrug and tell me, I still had time. No rush.

I whip my head around to face him, wide-eyed.

“Oh, my God,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry. I’ve never missed a shot. I promise, I’m so responsible about that. I never meant,” his lips silence me in a fierce kiss.

I gasp in his mouth then immediately pull away. “I have pucky breath!”

Chuckling, he leans over to fill a glass with water and a splash of mouthwash. Handing it to me, I rinse my mouth and spit in the toilet, flushing again. My brain runs a mile a minute. There’s a possibility I’m not even pregnant.

“Maybe it’s just a bug,” I offer, staring into the toilet.

“You mentioned one day wanting more kids,” he says, finger combing my hair off my face.

“Sure,” I finally look at him again. “In the future. You just became a ready-made dad to Ryder. I didn’t think you’d want more anytime soon.”

A soft smile tips his lips. “Brown Eyes,” he kisses my eyes. “I don’t need time to think about whether I want you, us, forever. I say, the sooner we give Ryder a sibling, the better.”

I stare, completely taken aback. More so, with my heart that skips, fearing this moment isn’t actually happening and I’m going to wake up, in our bed, sighing about new dreams I didn’t dare believe I’d get to live out.

“He has been asking about it lately,” Asher smiles, kissing my cheeks then my lips.

“I love you,” I whisper. “So much. With my whole heart.”

His fingers rake into my hair, bringing my face closer. “How about we visit the clinic and confirm. And if you’re not. We should get started on that. Immediately.”

Three seconds of shock bleed into laughter. Can someone combust from joy?

Turns out, we are pregnant. Eight weeks. Our little nugget is brewing. We waited a couple weeks to tell Ryder who took his Hulk plushy and screamed into its face, “Imma be a big brother!”

Safe to say, any worries I had of him feeling overshadowed went out the window.

At the end of my first trimester, we finally told the other Hunters. Should’ve known that they all suspected already. That night, we gathered for Sunday Dinner at their parents’ main house. Grace and I helped Ezra prep the table once everything was done.

With my hand cradling my still flat stomach, I watched our son sit on Asher’s lap, arguing with his uncles about which superpower is superior.

These men, like me, have found increments of light to push away old demons.

I’ve watched them battle their darkness but even the shadows can’t hold back the true nature of this family.

Love.

Love is the essence that runs in their veins. Most of them still don’t see how much love they’re capable of giving. And how much they deserve to be loved.

I feel his eyes on me. From day one, this invisible magnetic string connected us. I felt Asher everywhere then and I still do now. His hand cups mine over our growing child. I smile at this man who busted pass my walls—literally.

I love you , he mouths.

I reach up and press a kiss on his lips. Then exhale.

To think…this is just the beginning.