Free PERFECT by Autumn Jordon Page B

around the counter to hug her
friend. Tom had traveled all over the world. He studied in Italy, France and
Germany during his early twenties. Now, at thirty, he found someone to love,
here in this small village, on top of this huge mountain. Maybe fate did exist.

 
     

     

Chapter Six
     
     
    The next morning,
while standing in the guest bathroom located at the front of the house, Darcy
heard Dylan’s truck entering Tom’s driveway. Her heart leaped and she quickly
applied another coat of lip gross and fluffed her hair to make her waves seem
fuller. Then she raced through the bedroom, grabbing the new sage-colored
parka, lavender scarf and gloves she’d bought last night while shopping with
Tom, and snatched up her new boots.
    She tip-toed down
the stairs as not to wake Tom. Upon returning home from their shopping spree,
he’d learned there was an equipment problem at the Grist Mill and had to check
on things. She’d heard him come in around two a.m. The walls of the house were
thin, so she had lain in bed and listened to the shower running before falling
back to sleep around two-thirty. He would wake soon, but she didn’t want her
first date with Dylan to start off with Tom grinning over them.
    Well, it really
wasn’t a date, she mused while slipping into her boots. She was just going to
help out a friend of a friend.
    She opened the
front door.
    Dylan’s knuckles
were poised to knock.
    “Good morning.”
The sight of him sent her heart thumping madly against her rib cage and a smile
bloomed on her lips.
    “Hi.” His gaze
drifted down to her feet and then snapped up to meet her eyes. “Nice boots.”
    She maneuvered her
right foot with her toe to the floor, showing off the oversized faux bearskin
boots that were guaranteed by the manufacturer and the sales clerk to keep her
toes warm even in sub-zero temperatures. “Thanks. Tom and I went shopping last
night somewhere off the mountain. I have no clue where. East or west. All I
know is we drove downhill on this winding road for nearly thirty minutes.” Why
she was being so chatty was beyond her, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.
Dylan just stood there, smiling at her and looking too delicious for this early
morning hour. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I’m glad Tom went with
me and I didn’t drive myself. Coming back, the road we took was really dark.
There aren’t a whole lot of road signs on this mountain either, except for
moose crossings emblems and directional arrows to the ski lodge. Have you ever
seen a moose? Of course you have. You live in Black Moose. You had to. I’d love
to see one. Oh, I bought a new coat too.” She unfolded and held up the
down-feathered coat up for him to see.
    “That will
certainly keep you warmer than your leather coat.”
    Amber flecks
brightened his rich mocha eyes and caught the morning light, reflecting her
happiness back at her. Her fingers curled into the soft material as she fought
the desire to throw her arms around the mountain man’s neck and kiss him
good—like he’d kissed her yesterday.
    “You better put it
on,” he said, breaking her thoughts. “It’s cold out here.” He pushed his gloved
hands into his coat pockets.
    Until that very
second, she hadn’t felt the low temperature. Heat flared to her cheeks. “I’m
sorry,” she said and hooked a thumb over her shoulder. “Did you want to come
in? Tom’s still sleeping. I think he had a problem at the restaurant. He didn’t
return until really late.”
    “No.” He raised a
hand, waving her off. “I don’t want to wake him. Are you ready?”
    “Sure. Just let me
grab my purse and note pad.” She turned, whipping into her coat, and flung her
scarf around her neck. Two seconds later, she stepped outside into the frigid
morning air and allowed Dylan to pull the door closed behind her.
    “Note pad?” He
looked down at quizzically.
    She draped her
purse strap over her shoulder and stuffed the notebook into it. She