Accidental Mountain Man Read online

  Monica shrugged and smiled at him playfully.

  Evan.

  His name was Evan.

  She bit her bottom lip and tried not to look at him with too much lust through her slightly drunken haze.

  “I’m in town for work,” she said before he had the chance to throw something else at her. “I’m a writer. Well, I’m trying to be, anyway…,” she trailed off and tried to look wistfully into the distance.

  Evan cleared his throat and took another swig of his beer. His hands were so big, and the way they were gripping the neck of the bottle made her spine tingle.

  He was all man.

  “So, you came to Grey Mountain to work?” he half smiled at her. “I don’t hear that very often, so I have to say, on this occasion, you’ve surprised me.”

  “Oh, really?” she asked as she drained the rest of her glass and slammed it down on the counter.

  “Another?” Jack asked as he swiped it away.

  Monica nodded her head with a wide smile and Evan matched it. He drained the rest of his bottle and slammed it down on the counter too.

  “What is that drink?” he asked with amusement, as he expertly ignored her previous question.

  “A Mountain Mojito…” Monica teased. “I’d say it’s probably the perfect cocktail for a hardened mountain man like you…”

  Evan crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her as if he wanted to spank her. She bit her lip again and squeezed her legs together.

  “Make that two, then, Jack,” he said with even more mischief. “I can’t let the lady drink alone.”

  Monica rolled her eyes with jest and crossed her legs at the knee.

  “You sure?” Jack asked. “They’re pretty strong.”

  Jack winked at Monica whilst Evan couldn’t see, and she stifled her smile.

  “Just do it,” Evan said with a smirk, and then he ran a hand through his wiry hair.

  “On sight, I never would have had you down as a cocktail drinker…” Monica teased. “But I guess looks can be deceiving.”

  “Well, tonight is one of those nights where I don’t really give a shit what I drink. I just want to get wasted.”

  “Well, then, you’re in luck…” Jack chipped in as he poured a big measure of rum into the bottom of a glass and winked.

  “Lucky me,” Evan said.

  “You want to get wasted?” she asked him, swaying a little on her stool.

  Evan nodded his head and looked at her intently again. There was something about him that made her feel completely at ease with the situation, and as if she could just sit happily next to him for hours on end. Even a silence between them wouldn’t seem like a problem.

  “I want to get so blind drunk, I can’t remember a damned thing tomorrow…” he said with a wicked grin.

  Monica felt herself blushing and she shrugged her shoulders and smiled back at him knowingly.

  “Well, then, I guess you’ll have to catch up, won’t you…” she said cockily as she spun a little in her stool at the same time as Jack handed her the mojito he had been making for her behind the bar.

  She raised it to her lips and took a long sip.

  When Jack passed one to Evan too, he raised his glass in between them and held her gaze.

  “I’ll make a toast…” he said. “To your first night in town… and to not being able to remember anything come tomorrow…”

  Monica clinked her glass against his and then she took a sip as they both held each other’s stare.

  She had no idea what was going to happen between them, but she could already sense that it was going to be a whole lot of fun.

  Evan wasn’t just trouble… He looked as if he could write a book about it.

  He was exactly what she needed to help her past her first night on Grey Mountain and help her settle in without a hitch.

  She sipped her drink, and the men next to the TV screen all whooped and cheered again as their team scored.

  She was in a completely different world to the one she had woken up in that morning… but it felt damned good. And now, she was ready for the next phase of her adventure.

  As the night passed by, Evan and Monica matched each other, drink for drink. His stool slowly got closer to hers, and she slowly found herself turning her knees so that they were bumping up against his. Each time their bodies made contact, she felt a jolt of something exciting and sexual. He was turning on all of her senses and making her come back to life.

  “So, tell me more about this writing then,” he said before he downed a shot of whiskey all in one.

  “Well, there isn’t a whole lot to tell as yet,” she admitted. “I quit my long-term job back in my hometown, so I could focus on this properly. I didn’t want to be a bar girl all my life, I wanted to work for myself and build my own dream… So, I finally decided to make a go of my blog once and for all.”

  “And how’s that working out for you?” he asked her.

  “It isn’t,” she said as she put her head in her hands and groaned. “I haven’t’ written a damned thing… and now I’m starting to panic.”

  “So, you decided to go looking for a little inspiration?” he asked with a raised brow.

  “Exactly,” she said as she raised her hand and pointed at him as if to say bingo!

  He nodded his head.

  “I can see why a change of scenery is a good idea,” he said. “And I guess you’ll get lots of new insights whilst you’re on the road.”

  “Well, I’m not planning to travel too much further,” she said. “I think I’ll stay here for a while and soak up the silence. I’m going to lock myself away and work my butt off until I have something to put out there and share with the world.”

  “Sounds good,” he smiled.

  Their glasses were empty again, and Monica knew they had both already had too much. But she was enjoying his company, and all she wanted to do was have a fun night before the real work truly began.

  “And you?” she asked him as she let her leg graze against his again. “What is it that you do up here on this mountain?”

  His eyes were so dark and deep, she felt as if she could stare into them forever and never get bored.

  “I work the land,” he said with a wry smile. “I have a cabin up on the mountain and I have a few things going on up there.”

  “Oh yeah?” she asked him.

  He nodded his head and rested his arm down on the bar. It brushed up against hers and the little tiny hairs on the back of her neck seemed to tingle and stand on end.

  She smiled back at him.

  What the fuck are you doing, Monica? She cursed herself as she realized that she was turning her flirting up a notch.

  “Okay, you two,” Jack said. “Maybe it’s time you called it a night?”

  He was laughing, and it was clear that he didn’t truly mean it, but it only seemed to spur Evan and Monica on more.

  “No way!” she said as she slapped her hands down on the top of the bar and cheered. “More drinks! More drinks! More drinks!”

  The group of mountain men that were watching the sport on the screens behind them all cheered with her and started to clap and clang their glasses together.

  “Hell yeah!” one of them shouted! “More drinks! Give the woman what she wants!”

  Jack threw his head back and laughed, and then he looked at Evan and shrugged.

  “Well, Evan, it isn’t often we get you down here for the night, so if this all gets out of hand then I’m blaming you.”

  “I’ll gladly take that responsibility,” Evan laughed as he rapped his knuckles on the counter top in anticipation of his next beer. “Call me a bad influence all you want, I’ll wear the badge with pride.”

  “Really letting your hair down,” Monica smiled. “Is there any particular occasion?”

  Evan breathed out deeply and reached down to the edge of the seat part of her stool and pulled her closer to him with one big heave.

  She felt her breath catch in her throat and her heart r
aced a little. He was so strong and powerful, and he was so handsome… she almost couldn’t believe he wanted to spend all this time with her and get to know her.

  She felt her face flame red, and she bit her bottom lip, trying not to smile too wide as she stared into his eyes.

  She wanted to kiss him, but she also wanted to kill him.

  He was driving her mad in every way imaginable, but it was so much fun she didn’t care.

  “Well, it’s not every night a stunning stranger like you appears here on Grey Mountain…” Evan whispered. “And I’m not going to let the time pass me by…”

  She wanted to reach up and take hold of him.

  She wanted to run her hands through his hair and plant a kiss right on his lips, to feel the rugged wire of his beard against her soft skin as he pulled her close to him and she would be cocooned in his muscular arms.

  “Well,” she whispered demurely. “That sounds like as good a reason as any…”

  He smiled back at her, and on the bar behind them, Jack placed down two more drinks that Monica could already tell would be her undoing.

  Evan reached down and picked one up in each hand, and then he held one out to Monica without breaking her gaze.

  “To new friends,” he said this time.

  “To new friends…” she grinned as they chinked their glasses together and they downed them both in one.

  She was so fucking screwed.

  In every way imaginable…

  But she had to admit, it felt great.

  5.

  The light was so bright it made her head pound even harder as she tried to shield herself from it all. Her eyes were cracked open slightly, but her vision was blurred, and she felt full of pain, her whole body aching from the uncomfortable position she had been sleeping in.

  She had a crick in her neck, and her mouth was so dry she could barely open it.

  What the hell… she thought as she rubbed her eyes and tried to turn over.

  But everything was so uncomfortable, and with each movement, she felt a new sharp pain in her side.

  “Where am I?” she groaned as she rolled onto her back and kept her eyes clamped shut.

  It felt as if she were lying on the floor, and the room was so bright she knew she couldn’t be in her bedroom at home. None of this made any sense.

  She couldn’t remember anything.

  Suddenly, the images from the previous day started to creep back.

  She had left her home and traveled to Grey Mountain.

  She must be in her hotel room.

  She reached up and rubbed her eyes slowly, trying to prepare herself for the bright light that would attack her all over again once she had the nerve to open her eyes.

  She had to be sleeping on the hardest mattress in history.

  She was for sure going to be making a complaint.

  She pushed herself up and wrapped her arms around her knees as she pulled them to her chest. She still couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes, and she felt as if she were wobbling on the spot. It was as if the ground beneath her was jelly and if she moved her head too quickly, she would lose her balance and find herself flat on her face.

  Suddenly, next to her, she heard the groan of a man, and she opened her eyes wide in shock and felt her stomach flip.

  She wasn’t in a hotel room at all.

  She was on the dirty floor of a bar, huddled up next to some long benches, wearing the clothes she had gone out in and stinking of booze.

  Her jaw sagged open.

  What the hell was happening.

  She looked down next to her, and around two feet away was the big brute of a mountain man.

  What was his name again?

  Emmett?

  No, Evan!

  Evan.

  He was fast asleep and looked even bigger than he had done the previous evening.

  She crunched up her face and shook her head. She had no clue what was happening, but she had obviously gotten so drunk she had passed out before she had the chance to get home.

  Behind her, she heard a swing door open and close and she jumped quickly to her feet.

  Evan barely stirred, but he turned onto his side and continued to breathe slowly and deeply. It was then that she noticed someone had made a bow tie and had fixed it to his neck.

  She shook her head.

  He looked so ridiculous.

  Footsteps started coming closer and she spun around to see Jack walking toward her carrying a crate of empty glasses and a look of amusement etched on his face.

  “Oh, there she is,” he laughed. “The bride lives!”

  The sound of his voice sent a splintering pain right down the middle of her head and she had to reach up and cradle it in her hands. It was then she felt that something had been put in her hair and she pulled at it. It was long and floaty, and it had been pinned in place on the top of a headband.

  “What the hell happened?” she croaked.

  It was then that she pulled the thing on her head into her line of sight and she could see what it looked like… but it didn’t make much sense.

  “A veil?” she croaked, with a look of confusion on her face.

  Jack covered his mouth with his hands and threw his head back and laughed.

  “Please tell me you remember what went down last night?” he asked her with wide eyes and an even wider grin.

  “Not a thing,” she said, her voice felt like a million splinters in her throat.

  “Oh Jesus,” Jack half laughed.

  On the floor, Evan rolled onto his back again and slowly opened his eyes. They were bloodshot and red, and Monica could only assume that hers looked exactly the same.

  He looked momentarily confused, but then he pushed himself up and looked around with bleary eyes and as much confusion as Monica had woken up with.

  “What the fuck am I doing here?” he asked as he reached up and touched his own forehead.

  She could only imagine he felt exactly the same as her.

  “You two are completely insane,” Jack said as he laughed and shook his head. “Please tell me you both know what you did?”

  Monica felt herself step away from them both a little and she wrapped her arms around herself.

  “What the hell do you mean?” she said protectively.

  She looked down at herself and made sure that each and every piece of clothing that she had been wearing was still intact.

  It was.

  And she certainly didn’t feel as if she had done anything physical with anyone…

  But why was she waking up on the floor of a goddam bar in the middle of a mountain town she barely knew? With two guys she knew even less!?

  “Oh man,” Jack said.

  Evan reached up and pulled at the handmade bow tie around his neck, and as he looked at it, his eyes slowly grew wider, as if it was all coming back to him and he was piecing it all together.

  “Oh God,” he said as he looked up at Jack in panic. “We didn’t, did we?”

  Jack bit his bottom lip and smiled.

  “You sure did,” he mused.

  “We did what?” Monica asked furiously as she crossed her arms over her chest and threw the ratty piece of fabric she had pinned in her hair down onto the floor. “Would someone, anyone, like to fill me in!”

  Evan looked at her and she looked at him.

  The veil, the bowtie… the empty champagne and wine bottles that were scattered around the room.

  It looked like the aftermath of, well, a wedding…

  “Oh my God,” she whispered. “We didn’t…”

  “I’m afraid you did,” Jack smiled, and then his face cracked widely, and he let out a roar of laughter.

  Monica couldn’t get one thought together, and she sat down on the nearest chair and cradled her pounding head in her hands. She was probably still drunk, but everything hurt her all the same.

  She had slept on the floor, with a big uncomfortable hairband in her hair, and she had clearly not been in the best position w
hen it had come to being in a peaceful slumber. She massaged her neck and felt a wave of nausea rise up in her.

  “It was a joke, though, right?” she managed to croak out.

  She had no memory of this supposed wedding, but she was sure that even if they had play acted and done that, then it wouldn’t be real. How could it be? They were in a bar in the middle of nowhere? What priest would just so happen to be wandering around in that type of situation?

  Jack looked sheepishly at the floor and scratched the back of his neck.

  “Well no, not so much,” he said. “I mean, you really don’t remember?”

  Monica wanted to try and force the memories to come back to her, but at the same time, she knew it was only going to cause her to feel worse. She already felt as if she could throw up, and now that she was having to talk to people and try to piece together what the hell was going on, she felt on the verge of death.

  “He’s ordained,” Evan finally said in an incredibly deadpanned voice.

  “What?” Monica asked as she looked over her shoulder at the mountain man.

  Even hungover, he was handsome as hell, but this wasn’t exactly the time when she should be thinking about things like that.

  “It’s true,” Jack said with a shrug. “You guys were so wasted, and then the other guys started getting involved, and the waitresses from over the road. We were all drinking and we shut up the bar and had a lock in. I think it was around three am… and we got on the topic of me being ordained and how I was going to conduct the ceremony at my brother’s wedding next Spring… and you guys offered to be the practice run.”

  He looked incredibly embarrassed all of a sudden, as if he felt wholly responsible for what had happened.

  “Oh God,” was all Monica could manage to say.

  The details were flashing back to her, a sentence here, a sentence there… she remembered one of the waitress girls ripping up her scarf and pinning it to a hair band before she slid it onto Monica’s head.

  “We all tried to stop you,” Jack shrugged. “But you both were so insistent.”

  Evan was looking up at Monica and she didn’t dare return his gaze.

  She had gone and married a complete fucking stranger in a drunken haze.