Page 15 of Fall Wedding With the Mountain Man (Ozark Mountain Men Falling For Love #2)

Elizabeth

Work sucked.

Or I should say, the amount of catch-up work I had to do sucked.

Every reason I’d initially fallen in love with law had now vanished.

I’d gone into the field because I loved to win. Debate class had been the highlight of my high school years. While other girls had chosen frilly dresses for date nights, I’d prepared my counterarguments with glee.

Studying hard for university had felt like I was a warrior preparing for battle. Every A was a conquest. Every B a failure.

Then I’d found Shelby. We’d sat next to each other during our Advanced Legal Research Corporate and Securities class. Then again, during Deposition Strategy and Practice.

After those two classes, we’d been bonded together like twins. Both of us competitive and striving for more.

We were going to be the two best lawyers to graduate from law school. The firms would fight over us. We’d win every case.

Then, when we’d graduated and landed summer associate spots at Wiliams, Phelps and Harmon, beating out five hundred other candidates for the coveted spots, we’d done our victory lap.

After that, reality had struck.

From summer associates, we’d moved up to junior associates. Finding a permanent spot at Williams, Phelps and Harmon, no matter how low the position, was a dream come true for both of us.

Then had come the real toil.

You don’t just miraculously rise through the ranks at a place like that.

You work hard for it, then work even harder .

All the sacrifices we’d both made over the years were now intensified. The missed dates and dances. The parties we didn’t attend unless they were industry events designed to move us towards our goals. The dates we didn’t go on.

Pounds had piled on for both of us as we’d skipped the gym in favor of hastily grabbed morning danishes and coffee.

But we’d been twins together in our fight for success.

And that had made both of us stronger.

Shelby and Elizabeth against the world.

Then Shelby had inexplicably dropped out, quitting the firm and taking an internship in the middle of nowhere, Arkansas.

Shelby said she only wanted to do it to take a breather. But we both knew the truth.

No one took a breather from Williams, Phelps and Harmon and came back again.

“What the fuck are you doing, Elizabeth? We’ve got a deposition starting in less than an hour and you’re staring off into space?” Rick gruffly asked me.

I’d moved on from junior associate to associate. Working to achieve senior associate. Both Rick and I were in line for the next opening, competing with each other to see who would get the coveted spot.

But it looked it was probably going to be him.

Because even though this was my opportunity, I was currently behind in my caseload. I had been ever since the trip to Deer Springs.

My mind was stuck back there somehow. Or maybe it was my heart. My pussy was definitely going through some withdrawals, too.

Rick huffed and grabbed the files we’d been reviewing, stalking off to his own office.

But I couldn’t bring myself to care. I thought of Deer Springs for the thousandth time today.

Shelby and her new life. Leona, Frankie… and Hudson.

Everything I’d worked so hard towards felt meaningless now. All I wanted was Hudson.

Is this what happened to Shelby?

I didn’t know what to do. Or how to fix it.

Five minutes later, Rick came back, cursing under his breath. Then he asked, “Should I ask Caroline to sit in with me instead?”

“No. No. I’ve got this.”

“Do you? Because ever since you went to your friend’s wedding, you’ve been fucking up here at work.”

That wasn’t true. I just wasn’t putting in eighty hours a week anymore.

There were late-night phone calls to Hudson.

Video calls to see Shelby. Half my heart was in the Ozarks, stolen by my best friend, a tiny kitten, and a burly, sexy mountain man.

I even missed Frankie and Bandit, too. What I wouldn’t give right now for one more dog lick.

When I didn’t say anything in response, Rick scoffed and left my office.

He knew I wasn’t competition anymore. He’d already won the promotion, even if the law firm hadn’t made a final decision yet.

How had I never noticed the stress before?

I was at home, which was currently a beautiful old pre-war garden apartment in Harlem that I rented for an obscene amount every month.

My entire life was a question mark right now.

Ever since middle school, I’d had an unwavering focus on becoming a lawyer. And not just any lawyer, but one at a prestigious law firm in the epicenter of commerce, New York City.

I’d dreamed of the life. Vision-boarded it. Then worked hard to achieve it.

And now? Now?

After all this work, how could I want something different now ?

I do though. I want Hudson. And Leona. And Shelby. And Frankie. And Autumn Harvest Festivals. And everything else that I don’t know about yet that makes up life in the Ozarks.

The only question was, did I have the strength to follow my new dream, even if it meant blowing up my old one?

It was two in the morning, and I was pacing around my apartment, full of frenetic energy.

Giving up one dream to follow another was hard. Harder than I’d thought.

And would he want me?

What if everything we’d experienced was just a fling to him?

I knew in my heart that it wasn’t, though. He hadn’t asked me to stay, but I knew it was because he didn’t want to hurt me by asking. He knew my life was here.

Or… it had been here.

My heart belonged to Hudson now.

Even though I’d never even seen his home.

Never seen his town.

None of that mattered.

Wherever he was, I wanted to be.

My eyes landed on the stuffed gray cat toy that he’d won for me at the festival. It was sitting perched on my bed next to my pillows. The second I saw it, I knew.

Tears started flowing down my cheeks, and I calculated the time difference. It would be one in the morning in Arkansas. Too late to call. But I was doing it anyway.

I only had one moment of fear that he might have another woman in his bed.

Then, I dialed the number and waited for him to answer.

If he did have another woman there, I’d tell him to kick her out because he was mine now.

“Liz? Are you all right?” he answered the phone groggily. I’d woken him from sleep.

“No. I-I made a mistake.”

“What’s wrong?” he asked in a panic. “Where are you? What can I do?”

“It’s not like that. I just… I just… I realize I want something different now. I’m going to blow up my life by asking this, but were we more than a fling?”

He let out a deep exhale. “You know we’re more than that. You know how I feel about you, Lizzie.”

I sat down on the edge of my velvet pouf. “You never asked me to stay.”

He rumbled, “You know why I didn’t ask. Do you want me to ask?”

Quietly I said. “I think I do. I need to know how strongly you feel about me, because I’m thinking about blowing everything up.”

He grunted like I’d just kicked him in the chest. “Elizabeth Merley, you know how I feel about you. I told you with my body the night you left me. Are you saying what I think you’re saying?

Because I’d take you as my wife right this second if I thought you wanted that.

I just don’t know how I’d fare in New York.

But I could give it a try. I’d try anything if it meant I got to have you in my life. ”

I started crying then. Loud, harsh sobs.

“I don’t think I want New York City anymore.

I think I want you . And Leona. And Shelby.

And Frankie, too. Can you get Leona back from whoever has her?

Can I move in with you? Are you serious about what you just said?

You won’t be able to date any other women if I show up on your doorstep. ”

He started laughing, then hung up the call.

I sat there mystified about what had just happened. Had that been the ultimate rejection?

But thirty seconds later, he face-timed me.

Seeing his face, still groggy from sleep, made my heart leap into my chest.

“Hey there, beautiful princess,” he murmured. “You want to see something special?”

I nodded, not having any idea what he had in mind. If this were any other man, I’d be expecting a shot of his cock next. But with Hudson, I had no idea what he was about to show me.

He shifted the phone down to his chest, where a tiny gray kitten was curled up in a ball.

“ Leona! You kept her?”

“How could I give her up? Frankie was in love with her.” He panned the phone to the right, where the sweet dog was curled up at Hudson’s side, snoring softly.

Now I was the one laughing. There was no woman in his bed. And he’d kept the kitten.

Hudson was the perfect man. And I wasn’t going to let him slip out of my life.

In a rush, all the words came out. “I love you. I’ve never loved anyone before you.

It’s going to take me time to wrap everything up.

I need to give notice at work. And sublet my apartment.

Sell my stuff. Are you okay if I move in with you?

I don’t even know where you live, or what Red Oak Mountain is like.

Am I going too fast? Maybe we should start with visits. ”

“Oh, Lizzie, nothing’s too fast. You’re going to love it,” he rumbled out. “Red Oak Mountain is a special place. All the Ozarks are. But if you don’t love it here, we’ll move to Deer Springs and buy the house next to Shelby. Okay?”

I shook my head. “No. I want to stay on Red Oak Mountain with you. Will you show me your place? I want to see what will fit in there? I don’t have a lot of stuff because New York City living is limited in space, but I have a few things I love.

My burled-wood antique dresser, my velvet pouf, my espresso machine.

Those three are non-negotiables. Do you have room for an espresso machine? ”

He started laughing. “We’ll make room for anything you want, Lizzie.

I’ll build an addition if I have to. But you should know…

it’s rustic here. And we don’t have all the fancy things you’re accustomed to.

My job pay’s decent, but it’s nothing like what you’re used to.

I don’t know if i can keep you in the style you’re used to having. ”

I hugged the stuffed cat to my chest and whispered, “All I need is you, Hudson Woods. Nothing more.”