Page 10 of Fall Wedding With the Mountain Man (Ozark Mountain Men Falling For Love #2)
Hudson
Ever since Lizzie came back from chatting with Shelby, she’d felt more relaxed to me. It seemed their conversation had gone well.
Lizzie and I left the wedding field and drove to Thatcher and Shelby’s house.
She currently had Shelby’s closet doors open and was trying to decide what to wear to the festival.
Their dog Bandit, a sweet giant goofball, was carefully inspecting the new arrivals. He seemed to approve of Lizzie and Leona as much as Frankie did.
Right now I was lying on Thatcher and Shelby’s bed, watching her try to make a decision. My cock hardened a little more every time she shifted. I had a prime viewing spot of her ass from here, and this was the first time I’d had more than a few seconds to check it out.
“What do you think?” she asked as she held a sexy red dress in front of her.
I’d love to see her in it, but I knew she’d feel uncomfortable if she showed up wearing that. So I told her, “It’s not a ball. It’s just the Fall Festival.”
She sighed and put the dress back in Shelby’s closet.
“You want my advice?” I rumbled.
Lizzie glanced at me with relief on her face. “Yeah. I’m out of my element here.”
“Wear a pair of jeans and a flannel.”
She laughed. “That’s exactly what you’re wearing!”
I raised an eyebrow at her and grinned. “It’s the uniform of the Ozarks.”
She pursed her lips and turned back to the closet, touching a pair of Shelby’s jeans.
Quietly she said, “I haven’t worn jeans in years.”
“Really? New Yorkers don’t wear jeans?”
“Uh, I’m sure plenty of them do. But it’s weekend wear, and I don’t get too many of those.”
“A weekend comes every week, hon.”
She gave me a look that said I knew nothing. “Not when you’re a lawyer trying to become a partner at a big law firm.”
I propped my arm behind my head while Leona climbed up onto my belly and found a good napping spot. This kitten was sweet. Frankie might have just got himself a sister. I didn’t think I could take her back to the pound.
“Doesn’t sound like much of a life.” I told her. “Do you really need money that badly that it’s worth sacrificing all your free time for it?”
She held up a pair of jeans with a dubious look on her face, then deadpanned, “What’s free time?”
“Free time is what you do when you’re not at work, hon.”
We came from completely different backgrounds. I could tell. Lizzie was a workaholic, just like Shelby had been when she first moved here.
She wouldn’t understand my lifestyle or see the benefits of it, but I tried to explain. “I believe in relaxing, enjoying myself, and pursuing things that make me feel good. That’s what I do when I’m not working.”
She barked out a laugh. “You’ve got your head in the clouds, Hudson.”
“Do I? I own my cabin. I have enough money to put dinner on the table. And I put ten percent aside for retirement. Sounds to me like I’m doing everything right.”
Lizzie frowned and looked at me. “Sorry, Hudson. I’m not trying to diminish your goals in life. I think I’ve just got bigger dreams than you. It doesn’t make me better or worse.”
“That’s right. You’re going to make partner. There’s a lofty goal.”
She bit her lip, frustration etched across her face. “I don’t even know if I’ll look good in jeans. We’re close to the same size, but Shelby might be a little smaller than me. Will my ass even fit in these?”
“Your ass would look epic in those jeans, hon. But about that partner thing. Will it be worth it? You could hardly find time to come to your own best friend’s wedding. That sounds like misaligned priorities to me.”
She sighed, clutching the jeans in her hands. “I’ve never told anyone this before, but sometimes I sleep at the office. It’s easier that way. Sometimes I have to do eighteen-hour days.”
“That’s a hell of a workday, hon. Does it satisfy you?”
She looked at Leona sleeping on my belly and whispered. “Sometimes I’m so stressed out I think it’s going to kill me.”
I got the feeling Elizabeth was telling me her innermost secrets right now. The fears and thoughts that live inside all of us, but don’t always get expressed. I wanted to fix everything for her. Make her life exactly as she wanted it.
But I was just the here-and-now guy. I couldn’t fix her life, but I could help make tonight something to remember.
So I rumbled, “I can help you with that stress if you want. I’ve got a foolproof stress-relieving technique.”