Page 14 of Frosty Mountain Man

“Mmm. I think I might have to do more research on that subject.” Her hand moved down my body.

My cock was already hard again, ready for round two. I flipped over, pulling her beneath me. “I think I can manage that.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Elle

I woke to my phone buzzing somewhere outside the bed, insistent and far away, and for a second, I couldn’t figure out where I was or why the mattress smelled so good.

Harrison was asleep beside me, one arm thrown over his eyes, not touching me, which felt strange after last night and also, somehow, exactly right. Like even unconscious he knew how to give a person room.

The buzzing kept going.

I slid out from under the blanket as carefully as I could manage, grabbing a flannel shirt from the chair near the door. I realized I hadn’t had my phone out since I’d gotten here. It was tucked in the side pocket of my purse. Grabbing it, I padded barefoot into the kitchen before I answered it, glancing back down the dark hall once to make sure I hadn’t woken Harrison. I looked at the number and sighed.

“Hello, Mr. Cole.”

“Elle. I was starting to think you’d driven off the side of my grandson’s mountain.”

“Close. My car died instead. And there’s a blizzard, Mr. Cole. In September.”

“I heard. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” I leaned against the counter, pulling the shirt tighter around me. “He hasn’t given his approval yet.”

A pause on the line, longer than I expected. “But you’re still there.”

“I’m snowed in, not on vacation.”

“Mm.” He didn’t sound convinced, and I decided I didn’t have the energy at whatever hour this was to unpack why.

“Mr. Cole, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest with me.”

He hesitated. “What would you like to know?”

I took a deep breath and asked the question that I’d been afraid to ask for the last month. About the rumors that had been circling like sharks in the water. “Is the board trying to oust you?”

Another pause, this time longer. “I’m afraid so, dear.”

Everything fell into place. All the deals that he’d decided needed to be approved by his grandson. Delivered to the mountain by a different person every time.

“Did he finally ask? And did you tell him what you suspected?”

“He didn’t ask in so many words. And it’s not my place to tell him. It’s yours.” I couldn’t help the slight accusatory tone.

“I know, my dear. I was hoping. Well, I was hoping for a lot of things. The board,” he said finally, quiet in a way I’d never heard from him in a year of taking his calls and drafting his letters. “They’re making a move I didn’t see coming until it was already halfway made. I’ve been counting on Harrison’s sign-off to remind them this is still a family business. Every time he’s said no, I’ve lost more ground with people who are looking for a reason to push me toward the door.”

“You should have told him that from the beginning.”

“No,” he said, and something in his voice sharpened, more certain than anything else he’d said on the call. “If Harrison knew what was riding on it, he’d be on a plane tonight, and he’d spend the rest of his life believing he only came back because I was drowning. I won’t have that. I’d rather lose the company.”

“It’s his company, too,” I reminded him gently.

“It’s not if he doesn’t want it anymore. Get home safe when the roads clear, Elle.”

He hung up before I could say anything else. I found Harrison awake when I went back to the bedroom, sitting up against the headboard.

“Everything okay?”