Page 24 of Honeymoon Phase
Wyatt shrugs. “Falling for the mother of my child was the best thing that ever happened to me.” His eyes soften as he blinks down into his beer.
“Dakota forced me to fall in love with her, so you can yell at her, not me,” Calder mutters and I cut him an accusing look. “She did! I’m no match for a woman who hates me. It’s like catnip. I go crazy trying to win them over. We’d been doing foreplay for seven long years. You and Addison have to be approaching that amount of time, too. But it still seems crazy to jump right into marriage. Are you sure you’re ready for that?”
They both stare at me expectantly as I wince and quickly bring my beer to my lips. “Isn’t it kind of the dream to marry your best friend?”
“I suppose so,” Wyatt answers honestly. “But if she doesn’t feel the same way, it’s also a real quick way to getting hurt.”
I nod slowly, absorbing his words. “I resisted her for a long time... mostly because of our pact. Told myself I liked our solo mountain life and I knew sleeping with her once would never be enough. Then I told myself I wasn’t good enough for her and she deserved better.”
“And now?” Wyatt asks, watching me thoughtfully.
“Now it feels like if I don’t give it everything I’ve got, I could lose her to someone else and will spend the rest of my life regretting it.”
I swallow the knot in my throat and look up at the grave, knowing looks they both share with me. They’re taking me seriously for once, which I appreciate. As the youngest of four boys, it’s real hard for my brothers to ever look at me like a man and not the annoying little brother who’s always messing everything up. But I’ve seen them in their darkest hours with Dakota and Trista. And I know damn well they’d go to any length to win them back if there was a chance of losing them.
Even if it meant becoming a fucking lumberjack.
I lick my lips and add, “And I’m tired of not knowing what we could be. And if that means I have to compete in a competition I’m completely unqualified for, then so be it. Her hope was to find a husband at Man of the Mountain... this is me tossing my name into the hat. If I need to pretend to be a lumberjack to get her tosee meas more than a friend, then so be it.”
The corner of Wyatt’s mouth tugs up into a smile before taking another sip. “And that is why we’re here to help. We see you, Luke.”
“And if she doesn’t see you after this, then she doesn’t deserve you,” Calder tuts defensively. “And we’ll buy our lumber supplies elsewhere.”
I smile as Judy brings our food over and we tuck into it like starved animals. It feels good. Like the old days. And as happy as I am for my brothers who have found the loves of their lives, I’ve missed when it was just the three of us on that mountain. We’d carpool into Boulder, work all day for our dad, grab drinks after work, and then head back up the peak. Wash, rinse, repeat. It was a good life. A simple life.
But things keep changing on us ever since Dad passed. First Wyatt started getting stir-crazy and talking about wanting to become a father. Then Calder started huffing about not wanting to work for the family business anymore and doing his own thing instead. Now he only works with me and Wyatt a couple days a week so he can devote more time to the custom furniture line that he works on in his shop behind his cabin. Wyattand I had to hire some extra crew which means Wyatt is often on the jobsites managing them while I’m back at the Fletcher Brothers Construction shop sending out proposals and doing the bookwork.
We’re all working separate jobs instead of building shit together side by side. It’s good work and we’re all happy because we’re doing what we love and what we’re best at, but we’re not as close as we once were. Our annual bonding trip that started after the whole Robyn thing hasn’t happened in two years now. Ever since Trista moved up onto the mountain, it’s been a thing of the past. So in many ways, this lumberjack training has brought us back together again, which is a fringe benefit.
Our dad would be proud.
Hard to believe it’s been three years now since he passed.
I feel myself tense up as the memories of the day he died needle to the front of my mind. I regret so many of the decisions I made that day. What I did wasn’t enough.Iwasn’t enough. I failed him and I failed my mother and my brothers, and now he’s gone. And no matter what anyone says, I will carry that guilt and shame with me until I’m cold in the ground with him.
With that heavy thought, I hold my beer up one more time and eye my brothers seriously. “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time.”
“Hell yes,” Calder confirms while Wyatt nods and joins me in a drink.
A sense of pride overwhelms me at the three of us. We’ve come so far in the past decade. We’ve become men, fathers, husbands, boyfriends, goat daddies, cat daddies, and cock daddies. It’s my turn to step up to the plate and do something that scares the shit out of me. And apparently that starts with a lumberjack competition.
Chapter 9
Fact or Fiction?
My best friend is hot.
Addison
Man of the Mountain should be renamed ManMeatof the Mountain because as I look around at the endless lumberjacks sauntering around Boulder City Park with contestant numbers stuck to their flannels, I feel a hunger that I have never felt before. Maybe it’s because I’m on a husband hunt and considering the potential for fringe benefits.God it’s clearly been way too long since I’ve been laid.Or maybe it’s because I’m pushing thirty and my hormones are surging, but my God, I want them all. Tall, short, wide, narrow, beards, and no beards... there are all types of rustic bros walking around for me to propose to. All I have to do is find one willing to give up a year of his life.
Easy pickings.
I scan the crowd for Ivan Morin. He’s a lumberjack from Nova Scotia that I saw on the docket and remembered hooking up with a few years back. He was good in bed, and I recall him loving weed more than anything, so I feel like a temporary marriage would be no big deal to him if I manage to find him.
“Addie May,” a familiar male voice croaks from behind me and I turn on my heel to see my dad walking toward me.
“Hey, Dad!” I walk over to his giant six-foot-four frame. I cross my arms and smile as we stand in front of each other awkwardly.
