Delivering His Gifts: A Mountain Man's Baby Christmas Romance(3)

The building was in piss poor shape, with only part of it still standing and extensive water damage to most of it. I had a feeling she was no longer operating and closed for business. In the distance, on the same property, I saw a house. I assumed the owner of the rescue lived there. It was even further up the hill and seemed to be in one piece, looking solid and standing, which was good.

I hesitated inside my truck, wondering if I should even bother. I heard a voice coming from near the building, however, and decided if Danielle was there, I could at least introduce myself. Perhaps she was still working.

I got out of the truck and walked toward the wreckage.

“Who’s there?” a voice called out a second before its owner came out from behind the damaged building.

I stopped in place, feeling like my heart had stopped along with my feet.

“Who are you?” she asked, her deep, sapphire blue eyes giving me a once over.

She was petite - only 5’4” or so, but she had curves that would give these mountain roads a run for their money. Even in her jeans and flannel jacket, I could tell she had a body many women would have killed for. A perfect hourglass, if I’d ever seen one. Her dark blonde hair was pulled back into a messy ponytail, tendrils of hair falling around her soft, feminine face.

Her hands on her hips, she lifted an eyebrow at me.

“Uhh, sorry, are you Danielle?”

“Maybe. I asked who you were, and you’ve still not answered me,” she retorted.

“Oh, right,” I said, at a loss for words - a first for me. I reached out my hand. “Sorry, I’m Mason Harvey. I saw that you trained emotional support dogs online - one of the best in the business, according to your reviews.”

And I wouldn’t mind taking you out for dinner sometime, I thought to myself. It had been a while since anyone had captured my attention the way Danielle had. I didn’t typically date, but I was having second thoughts on that philosophy, thanks to one look at her.

“I do,” she said, her face softening a bit. “I’m sorry if I was a bit harsh. It’s just, well, not many people stop by without calling first, especially considering the mess and all. One second, please?” She turned and called, “Skyler, don’t wander off too far, ya hear?”

I don’t know how I missed it, but behind her, not far at all, was a little girl with blonde pigtails. I must have been so distracted by the beauty of Danielle that I hadn’t noticed the child. She looked up when she heard her name, and her blue eyes rivaled those of her mother’s in intensity. In her arms was a little black kitten.

“I found him, Mama,” the little girl said as she bounced toward Danielle. She held up the kitten as if to show him off.

“I told you she couldn’t have gone far,” Danielle said, kneeling to pat the fluffy kitten on the head. “Did you decide on a name for her yet?”

Skyler shook her head, pigtails bouncing around her head.

“I’m sure we’ll come up with something good soon,” Danielle said softly. She looked at her daughter with such love in her eyes. “You always come up with the best names.”

Skyler turned and looked at me, her eyes widening as she stayed closer to her mother’s side.

“This is Mason,” Danielle said, rising and glancing at me. “Mason, this is my daughter, Skyler, and her as-of-now unnamed kitten.”

She was a mom. Likely a wife too. How damned stupid was I to assume a catch like her wasn’t already taken? Figures, the first woman I’d seriously considered taking out on a date in years would be unavailable.

“What a cute kitten,” I said, finally finding my words again. “You know, I had a black cat growing up. Her name was Cinder.”

“Like Cinderella?” The girl’s eyes lit up as if that was the most brilliant idea on the planet.

I chuckled. “Something like that, I guess.”

“I love it. Mommy, can we name her Cinder?”

“Of course, sweetie,” Danielle laughed. “Whatever you want.” She looked at me and mouthed the words thank you, her perfect, naturally pink lips becoming the focus of my attention and making my knees go weak.

I wished I had something clever to say, but I had to settle for a simple, “You’re welcome.”

“I’m not usually the type to ask strange men back to my place, but we sadly don’t have an office anymore, so…”

“I promise I don’t bite.”

“Probably a good thing since we have some very large dogs that wouldn’t take too well to you laying your hands on us.” She smiled to take the edge off that threat, but it was still there. A warning. Just in case I had any funny ideas. “Come on, follow me up the hill.”

She turned and began walking toward her house, her daughter by her side. I was frozen in place at first, watching as Danielle’s blonde ponytail fluttered behind her. My eyes scrolled down her body and landed on a perfect ass.

Dammit, Mason. Stop being a perv. She’s likely married. And even if she’s not, it sounds like you’re not getting anywhere near that fine ass.

Not without a literal dogfight.





Danielle





When I laid my eyes on the handsome stranger, I was blown away. First of all, due to his sheer size - he was easily one of the largest men I’d ever seen in real life. He was well over six feet tall and all muscle. His face was chiseled and masculine, with a jawline that looked carved of stone. His brown beard was short and trimmed, not obscuring that perfect face at all. And those eyes…steely, grey eyes that looked both serious and sincere. It had been a long time since my heart fluttered upon laying eyes on anyone, but Mason Harvey had caused quite the reaction in my panties, I was ashamed to say. Which was why inviting him back to my home was a little more awkward than with a usual client.

“Don’t mind the mess,” I said as we stepped inside the house. “I’ve had to run my business from my home, and as you can see, there’s not a lot of room.”

I bit my lip as I watched for Mason’s reaction. We’d started off on a bad foot, mostly because I didn’t trust any man who just waltzed on to my property. But I’d heard the Harvey name around town. In small towns, word traveled fast. I knew a little about Mason Harvey already - like how he helped with the flooding efforts even though he was new in town. He and his brothers worked tirelessly to rebuild the town and care for the sick after a weird illness plagued Liberty.

Even though the dogs were trained to not jump on us when we entered, they did rush into the room as soon as the door had opened. Grizzly’s bark was bigger than his bite, but as a gentle giant, he was intimidating as hell. Mason didn’t know that in reality he was just a big teddy bear that often let Skyler curl up with him at night. He was a massive Tibetan Mastiff mix, and his thick, dark hair made him look even bigger than he was.

Then there was Oscar, the Great Dane. Again, a big dog, but absolutely no bite in him. In fact, Oscar rushed over to Mason and was already making friends with him as he often did when he met anyone knew.

The one that Mason really had to worry about was Zeus, our rat terrier. The smallest dog of the bunch who was missing an eye, but he didn’t let his size or his disability stop him. His bark was high-pitched and caused Skyler to cover her ears and yell, “Quiet!”

The dog stopped barking and sat down in front of her, as if he could protect Skyler from danger. He growled under his breath as Mason got a little too close to her.

“Sorry, I’m working with him still. He only came to live with us last month,” I said, putting an arm out to stop Mason from taking another step closer. He was still half a room away from Skyler, but Zeus required her to have a very large bubble when it came to strangers. He had taken to her instantly, probably because the little girl doted on him and snuck him food when she thought I wasn’t looking.

“Wow, you have quite the herd here,” Mason said with a low chuckle.

“Yeah, and these are only the dogs,” I told him with a chuckle.

“Only the dogs? What else do you have?”

“Well…currently, we share our home with three dogs, three cats, including the newest kitten, a bird, two guinea pigs, and a rabbit. Not all of them were intended to be kept, but things happen and…” I finished with a shrug.

“We love animals,” Skyler said proudly.

“I can see that,” Mason replied with a laugh.

“We used to have some rats too, but they didn’t live very long,” she said, her voice suddenly sad.

“Yeah, I learned my lesson there. Their life spans are too short for a child as sensitive as Skyler,” I whispered.

“Let me show you Jellybean,” Skyler said, inching toward me.

Zeus let out a low growl at Mason, but a stern no from me and that was enough for Zeus to quiet down. Skyler walked past the dog and took the man’s hand in hers. Her tiny little fingers wrapped around one of his.

“Skyler, sweetie, I don’t think Mr. Harvey has any interest in—”

“Oh, it’s fine,” he said. “I’m happy to meet anyone named Jellybean. How can they not be adorable?”

I flashed a friendly smile and mouthed sorry to him as I followed the two of them into the sunroom. We walked past a large pen, and Skyler pointed out the two guinea pigs. “That one is Peaches, and that one is Peanut,” she said proudly.