Page 1 of Single-Dad: The Mountain Man

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WILLOW

Ireally don’t want to be here.

I don’t care what Cassie says, being here tonight doesn’t feel right, especially with whatever harebrained scheme she has planned tonight. She sent a barrage of texts today, insisting I get out of the log cabin or more specifically the treehouse. Why? God knows. And once Cass gets an idea into her head, it’s literally impossible to get it out.

“To a new era of our dating life.” Cassie lifts her glass to toast with the pack and we clink glasses. “No more shitty boyfriends.”

“Well said,” Courtney agrees.

Griff’s Tavern is jam-packed tonight and the air is thick with chatter, laughter, and alcohol. Stella Sullivan plays from the speaker and serenades the bar.

Our quartet of girls nestled at a table include Becca and Courtney, who were always part of the cool crowd in high school that would never have deemed me and Cassie to be worthy of their attention. So, imagine my surprise when I got here to discover they were friends with my best friend, Cassie.

A lot can change in four years.

“Tonight is about a lot more than loser exes. To Willow’s homecoming,” Cassie says with a vibrant smile.

There’s a second round of toasts before I sip some bubbly, uncomfortably aware that the spotlight’s on me.

I definitely feel that I’m being left in the dark about something when Becca pipes up.

“So, we hear you’re a virgin,” she says with glee in her tone.

“Twenty-two is a little old to be a virgin,” Courtney says.

“And you don’t want to die a virgin,” Becca says.

I side-eye Cassie, who sends me an apologetic glance, and a sinking feeling fills my gut. Instant regret washes over me for coming out tonight

I should be up in Thunderpeak Mountain, especially since I’ll be moving back to town in the next three days. Back to civilization and away from the man who makes my pulse flutter with a mere glance.

Shane Faulkner.

I’d been home three days after graduation when my apartment flooded and Shane was the only person I could call for help. He’s my brother’s best friend and the one who’s looked after me since my brother got locked up.

He put me up in the treehouse he built for his children at the back of his cabin. Cassie thinks I must be bored out of my mind living in the mountain, but nothing could be further from the truth.

After three weeks on his mountain, I feel more at home there than my four years in the city. I want to support the twins, whose mother passed away six years ago, and be there for Shane, despite his resilience so far.

I bite my lip and tryhardnot to think too deeply about what Iwant.

Because if the past three weeks are anything to go by, my body definitely knows what it wants even if my head is muddled up and confused.

“Ready to punch your V-card?” Courtney’s question brings me crashing back to reality.

Three heads and six pairs of eyes turn in unison like velociraptors locked onto prey.

“I guess so.” I shrug.

The girls cheer and whoop, breaking the tension and I glare awhat the fuckat Cassie who mouths anI’m so sorry.

They share their scheme and I immediately feel ill.

“You want me to hook up with a random guy?” I blurt out.

“Cassie,” Becca says in an exacerbated tone.

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