Page 1 of Mountain Man Savior

ONE

LAUREN

“Rain,rain go away. Come again some other day.” I chanted in the hopes the sky would quit dumping buckets of water. But the further I drove up Pineville Mountain, the rain began blowing sideways. Yeah, a north Idaho special had dropped in.

And to top off the cluster I found myself in, a flash of lightning, followed almost instantly by a crack of thunder, made me jumpier than a cat in its eighth life. Okay, so maybe my decision to drive the catering van instead of my SUV for this meeting hadn’t been my best idea.

Appearing professional mattered even if nerves had me biting my nails. My mom had put her faith into me after I received my business management degree and handed over the reins of the business last fall. Proving I can handle negotiating a contract to provide the Triple R Lodge with meals for their guests had been all I could think about for a week.

Unfortunately, the van didn’t have four-wheel drive. But I thought our newly wrapped logo on the early 2000s vehicle, which we needed to replace soon, would be a good selling point.If Full Plate Catering snagged this contract for the soon to-be-open retreat for former military personnel and first responders, it would be a boon to our business and fulfill a request from my stepdad, Beckett, to work with veteran owned businesses.

Knowing I should have checked the weather like a good north Idaho resident, and doing were two separate brain functions, but if I had, I would have known that my future was to include mud. Lots of mud.

According to my mother, stubborn is my middle name, unlike my twin Dylan who followed every printed direction, posted rule, and most of the unwritten ones only hyper self-aware people seemed to be tapped into. Which made her recent decision to thumb her nose at all of her well-laid plans and just before our twenty-sixth birthday, she went off on a “self-discovery” adventure.

Lord, I missed her. The twin connection was real. We’d never been separated for more than a week, and texting once a week wasn’t cutting it.

One wiper flew off, bringing me back to reality. The other one valiantly tried to keep up with the pouring water. The decision to turn around came too late as a rush of debris filled water rushed at the van from the bend up ahead. Panic took over and going against everything I’ve learned about defensive driving; I slammed on the brakes, causing the van to fishtail.

With shaking arms, I fought to stay in my lane. A scream lodges in my throat, then chills spread through me as the right front wheel dips, then sinks into the soaked soil. Rocking to a violent stop, the van was now half in, half out of the culvert.

Fumbling for my cell, I pray I had service this far up the mountain. Pausing, I take in several deep breaths until I no longer feel like I had a peach pit in my stomach. But the calm didn’t last as I looked down.

No service. I thought that the new cell tower on the peak was up and running?Dammit.

The rain didn’t show any signs of ending and from what I can see through my windshield, the road is no longer visible beneath what I hope is only a couple of inches of water.

Do I ride this out until the conditions improve? Or do I try to hike the rest of the way? Yeah, not in these shoes. Darn it why’d I go for cute instead of functional?

Decision made, I put the van in drive, thinking I could power it out, when a shadow catches my eye. I scream as a large hand pounds on the driver’s side window. Shouts rang out, but I can’t make out what he’s saying. Placing a hand over my beating heart, I push the button to lower the window. I’m immediately drenched. Spitting water, I sputter out a gargled response, not that it made any sense.

“What the hell are you doing? Get out now!” The man’s full-throated command rolled through me. A full body shiver chased away the fear laced chills as I rapidly blinked to clear my vision to make out the owner of that panty-melting voice.

But it’s no use. The man standing outside my car wasn’t some sleep deprived hallucination nor was he a knight, or prince charming there to rescue me. Barking another order, water dripped from his trucker hat, a deep frown now locked on his chiseled face.

Dazed, I clocked his broad shoulders, beefy arms, and his biceps straining against the soaked black t-shirt which outlined every muscle on his wide chest. I may have drooled. Just a bit. And he had the darkest brown eyes, almost black, that I’d ever seen. Eyes that were now narrowed and filled with disbelief and frustration. Releasing a sigh, I was so out of my element, both with the weather and him. All I could do was nod. The movement made me wince.Had I hit my head when I slammed on the brakes?

“Do you understand me? The van is going to get swept away. Out, now!”

Looking beyond him, the water that I’d thought was just a couple of inches had now risen and flowing faster than before. “I do, yes.” Struggling to release my seat belt, the mountain man, because of course that’s what he is, reaches through the window to help me with my seatbelt. Once it’s free, he backs up and yanks my door open.

For a moment I felt like I was watching a movie as he stabs the window switch to go back up, leans across me, then grabs and dumps my purse into my hands. He then tugs me out of the car, makes sure my feet are flat on the ground, then pushes me back a step.

“Hey. I’m not totally helpless, you know.” But I’m speaking to his broad back as he snags the keys, slams the door, and with a disbelieving snort as he glares at my sandals, lifts me up and carries me to his truck. “Wait, I’ve got food in the back. I need it for a meeting.”

“No time. It can be replaced. You can’t.”

I should complain loudly at his manhandling, but the feel of his large hands on me has ignited nerve endings I had no clue were connected to my body’s erogenous zones.Whoa, how had I never once experience…this?

Up close and personal, I take several deep gulps of air then get hit with a nose full of man. Notes of freshly cut wood and musk. His scent wrapped around me, calming me, and all I can do is hold on tight as he jogs to his truck parked behind the van. After he opens the passenger door and sets me down gently on the bench seat, I no longer feel like I’m a spectator in my rescue.

How could I when my body was rioting from his touch, his smoldering gaze as he ran it all over my body looking for something? An injury? Or did he like what he saw? I knew men with a taste for a curvier woman were out there. I’d dated a few,but why was I suddenly wishing as if I’d just been handed a magic bottle with a genie in it, thatthisman liked what he saw?

Because I certainly liked what I was seeing, despite his intense scrutiny. His entire length, a good bit over six feet, is beyond rain soaked. He’s drenched, and I found it incredibly sexy. His long legs were encased in tight-fitting jeans. And I couldn’t help but notice how the denim was molded over his heavily muscled thighs as he straightened. Then, of course, my gaze zeroes in on his zipper. Because of course it does, and I’m no shrinking violet when it comes to admiring a man physically. And oh my. My mind didn’t have far to go in wondering what was hidden behind the denim in its, ahem, natural state. He was big there too.

Heat flushes my face, and I need to do something, say something, so he doesn’t notice me slobbering over his hot body.

Several things happened at once. I manage to say, “Thank you.” With water running down my face, instead of wiping it away, I shake my head, then let out a loud sneeze. What I hadn’t counted on was spraying water and my germs all over his face.

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