The Mountain Man's Secret Twins(32)

“Really?” Bryce said. “I had a leather jacket. Thick boots. We would go all over the country—once we drove all the way to New Orleans. It was the only time I felt really free from all my anxieties. And none of the guys cared if you shared anything about yourself or not. But I always listened.”



“That’s what they said. But it sounded like you,” Kenzie said, feeling warm. “I remember when I first met you, I word-vomited everything about my ex to you, and you just took it. It was exactly what I needed back then.”



“Oh yes, the infamous Austin,” Bryce said, laughing, knowing he didn’t matter any longer to her. No one else did. “How did that go when you got back?”



Kenzie rolled her eyes playfully. “He’s a dick. I was grateful to be rid of him. Plus, it gave me more time to daydream about you.”



Bryce peered at her curiously. “You left because you were scared of what this could be? Or because you found that photograph under my bed?”



“Maybe a bit of both,” Kenzie said honestly, feeling foolish now for wasting any time. “I probably wasn’t ready. I needed to stew over you for a while.”



“Same. I’d spent too much time alone. I felt things for you I didn’t fully understand.” He paused for a long time, screeching the wheels as he turned into a driveway next to a yellow bed and breakfast. “But now I think I’m ready. Let’s do this, baby. Full steam ahead.” He smacked the steering wheel, making Kenzie giggle.



Bryce helped Kenzie from the front seat, offering her his sturdy arm. He gestured toward the yellow bed and breakfast, explaining its origins. “I always stay here when I want a break from the cabin. Larry’s sister owns it, and she always gives me a discount. But most of all, she treats me like family, which, as you know now, means a lot to me.”#p#分页标题#e#



At the door stood an older woman who did resemble the shaggy-haired man at the Blue Boys Clubhouse. She grinned behind her cat-eye glasses, looking Kenzie up and down. “Bryce. In all your years here, you’ve never brought a girl home. What’s gotten into you?” she teased.



“Marnie, we’re going to need two pieces of pie, I think. And some tea. Up in my room, if you don’t mind.”



“Absolutely. The apple or the cherry?”



“One of each, of course, please,” he said, laughing. He lifted Kenzie again and carried her gingerly up the steps, Kenzie wrapping her arms around his neck.



Marnie stood below, on the first step, shaking her head at them. “You’re a 30-year-old man, Bryce. Act your age. Let the lady walk.”



Bryce tapped Kenzie’s tiny feet on the landing and saluted Marnie, giving her a foolish grin. “I can’t help myself. I just found out I’m going to be a father. Twins, Marnie.” He wrapped his arms around Kenzie again and kissed her forehead tenderly, overjoyed.



“Well, I’ll be darned,” Marnie said. “I didn’t think any woman around here would come within three feet you, let alone…” She trailed off. “I’ll get that pie up to you, darlings. Happy news!” She clacked back to the kitchen, which exuded the smell of gooey cinnamon rolls.



Bryce opened the far door, revealing a small, intimate bedroom with a canopy bed and antique furniture, including an eggshell blue lamp that hadn’t worked for at least 40 years. “They always have things that don’t work in bed and breakfasts,” Bryce said. “It’s almost a requirement.”



“Can I show you how I would sell this room as a real estate agent?” Kenzie said, unbuttoning her coat to reveal her sweater beneath. She dropped the coat onto the floral bedspread, waggling her eyebrows. “First, I’d tell you that about ten people are currently squabbling over this place, but I got you the very last viewing possible.”



“So, you want to lie to me?” Bryce said, his eyes flashing.



“Not a lie,” Kenzie corrected. “A stretched truth, maybe. But it’s one of the tools in the business. Afterward, I’d explain that once upon a time, Queen Elizabeth II had slept in this very bed, along with three of her corgis. She’d gotten a cold in it and had thus sold it off to New England, where it now resides.”



“A royal bed. I had no idea Larry’s sister understood such luxury.” Bryce laughed.



“Oh, that’s not even the half of it,” Kenzie said. She gestured toward the antique lamp. “The eggshell blue is a sign of the Civil War era, when an old woman waited up, night after night, for her dead sons to come home. Naturally, back then, the lamp had a candle. They upgraded, for practicality.”