Protector of the Mountain (The Mountain Men of Fox Hollow Book 2) Read online

  Protector of the Mountain

  Frankie Love

  Copyright © 2020 by Frankie Love

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Protector of the Mountain

  1. Reed

  2. Rainey

  3. Reed

  4. Rainey

  5. Reed

  6. Rainey

  7. Reed

  8. Rainey

  9. Reed

  Epilogue

  More!

  About the Author

  Protector of the Mountain

  by Frankie Love

  I didn’t think it was a hook-up… I thought it was forever.

  I may be a tough ass man living in the woods, but when Rainey — the woman of my dreams — leaves after just one night, I’m all torn up.

  When a baby boy is dropped off at my doorstep nine months later, with nothing but a note, I fear the worst.

  But I refuse to give up hope.

  I’ll protect this baby the same way I’ll protect the love I found with his mother… I just have to find her first.

  Dear Reader,

  Fox Hollow has a new mountain man in town! Reed is a rugged man on a mission: to find his way back to the woman he loves. Because one night with Rainey wasn’t nearly enough. He’s a dirty-mouthed alpha who needs her in his cabin where he can properly lick… errr, I mean, protect her!

  xo, frankie

  THE MEN OF FOX HOLLOW:

  Heart of the Mountain

  Protector of the Mountain

  Soul of the Mountain

  Man of the Mountain

  Reed

  As I drive down Fox Hollow Mountain, the rain pours down. Turning on my windshield wipers, I peer up into the darkened sky covered in thick gray clouds. This rain isn’t going anywhere tonight.

  Parking in the gravel lot of the one and only dive bar in town, Hollow Hole, I turn off the ignition and shove my wallet in the back pocket of my worn jeans. I spent the day in the barn, working on some custom pieces for my online shop, and am hungry as hell. I make cutting boards of all shapes and sizes and send them all over the world. After getting featured in a home and garden magazine last year, my sales exploded. It’s good, honest work, and I love it. But sometimes, it’s lonely. Working in a shop all day, alone. Coming home to an empty cabin at night. It’s why meeting my buddy is important. Keeps me sane.

  At the bar, I order a burger and fries and the darkest beer they got. When my buddy Jasper walks in, he sits next to me, ordering the same.

  “You just get off work?” I ask him. He owns the auto shop in town and we meet up for a drink half the nights of the week.

  “Yeah,” he grunts, running a hand over his beard. “You hear about James? Got hitched.”

  “No shit?” I take a long pull on the beer, considering the rough-around-the-edges man named James who lives up the mountain not far from me. “Good for him.”

  Jasper raises his eyebrows. “You looking for a woman? Because damn, boy, it’s about fucking time,”

  I shrug. “The right woman, sure.”

  Jasper laughs. We grew up here, in Fox Hollow. He’s my oldest, closest friend. And he knows my dirty secret. I’ve never once been laid.

  “You do you, man,” Jasper says. “But I’m never getting tied down to a wife.”

  I chuckle. “Never say never.” The bartender Jodie brings out my order and I thank her before digging in.

  Jasper looks around the bar. The women here are all ones we know. Mostly ladies looking for a ride to someplace else. That’s not the kind of girl I want. I want a woman who wants to stay put. I love this mountain, and don’t plan on leaving. Ever.

  “No one here tempting you?” Jasper presses.

  “Damn, why do you care?” I ask, frowning. “Focus on finding your own woman.”

  Jasper laughs. But I know his reputation. He’s the opposite of me in every way. The popular one. Me? In high school, I took care of my dying mother instead of running down a football field. If I had free time, I chopped wood and sold it. Didn’t have time for girls back then.

  Now, I have a shit ton of time but no one to spend it with. Except Jasper, who doesn’t count. We may have a good time shooting the shit, but I want a woman to come home to. To stay home with.

  Jasper doesn’t understand that.

  “So, any plans tonight?” I ask him.

  He nods. “Nothing exciting, though. Gonna help my dad lay some new flooring. Had a leak over the weekend and ruined what he had.”

  “Shit, it’s still coming down hard. The leak get fixed?”

  Jasper nods. “Yeah, I was there yesterday working on that.”

  “If you need any help, I could come with.”

  “Thanks, but I need to talk to my old man. Try to convince him to sell his place.”

  “Yeah? Where would he go?” Jasper’s dad has a cabin out in the woods not too far from me. Lived there for as long as I’ve known him, which is all my life.

  “He keeps forgetting to take his meds. He’s retired military and there are some homes where he could get better care.”

  “Damn, didn’t know it was going downhill.”

  Jasper shrugs. “Thing is, my dad wants to die in that cabin, says it should be the thing that kills him.”

  “Stubborn fucker, like you,” I joke.

  “Like you’re one to talk.” Jasper laughs. “You’re pretty stubborn yourself.”

  “Me?” I shake my head.

  “Hell yeah, you are. Won’t even get your dick wet unless it’s with your one and only.”

  I shake his comment off, refusing to let it rile me up. Hell, some guys I might pin against the wall, but Jasper knows me too well. I’d never do that to a buddy.

  Just then, a group of three bikers enter the bar, two women with them. The men are in leather, growling about getting drinks, hands grabbed tight to the women as if they are their property. Their jackets are all wet, and I’m guessing they stopped here to get off the slick roads.

  We don’t see folks like this in Fox Hollow too often. When it comes to trouble, we’re usually dealing with meth heads who think these woods are good for cooking up their trash. They’re wrong.

  These bikers are wrong too if they think Fox Hollow is a place where they should be doing anything other than passing through. The way they hold their women possessively close to them is strike one. Strike two is how they talk to Jodie, demanding drinks. I don’t like it, and neither does Jasper. We both size the men up, seeing what we’re really dealing with.

  “What are you staring at?” one of the men growls at me.

  “I’m making sure we don’t have any problems here,” I say, my voice flat.

  “You don’t,” he says with a laugh. “We’re not here for trouble. We’re here celebrating.”

  “Celebrating what?” Jasper asks.

  The man sticks his thumb behind him, pointing to someone I can’t see. Her back is to us. “It’s her twenty-first birthday.”

  Jodie frowns. “I need to see some ID.”

  As the woman turns toward Jodie, I see her face.

  And my heart fucking stops. She’s in a pale pink dress, to her knees. Dark brown hair, long and wavy, to her hips. Eyes the color of a thunderstorm. Dark grey with flecks of light. Lightning striking through a cloud.

  Hell, she’s striking something w
ithin me, too.

  “It’s your birthday?” I ask, stepping toward her. Captivated.

  She lowers her eyes, lifts her chin. Gives me the softest, sweetest smile I’ve ever seen in my whole damn life.

  “Yes, it is,” she says with a voice airy and light, as if it might slip away. There are a few men and women around her, clearly a group intending on celebrating.

  “Can I buy you a drink?” I ask, knowing I cannot let this woman walk away without trying. Jasper coughs, clearly surprised. He’s never seen me make a move in my life. It’s not that I couldn’t — it’s that I wouldn’t unless I knew it was meant to be.

  The woman looks over at the man she’s with. “Can he?”

  I clench my jaw, not liking the way she asks this man for permission.

  Then he shrugs. “It’s your night, Cinderella. But come midnight, you better be at the carriage.”

  The woman smiles. I can’t get a read on their relationship.

  “You better not touch my sister, understood?” he says, looking at me.

  The woman’s smile turns down, her eyes darkening. “It’s my birthday, Tim. I can do what I want.”

  Tim grunts. “Midnight. The clock’s ticking, princess.” Then he takes his beer from Jodie and grabs the other woman by the hips.

  This woman turns to the girl I want and blows her a kiss. “Don’t be stupid.”

  “I won’t be, Carly-Anne.”

  Then Tim, the brother, pulls Carly-Anne over to the shitty ass dance floor.

  And I’m alone with Jasper, this woman, and Jodie.

  “I’m Reed,” I say as she fishes something out of her purse.

  “I’m Rainey. That’s my brother and his girlfriend.” She starts to hand her ID to Jodie, then decides against it. She looks up at me with eyes filled with longing. “Actually, I don’t want to drink.”

  “No? What do you want?”

  Biting her bottom lip, she looks at her watch, then over her shoulder at her brother and his biker gang. “I have a few hours of freedom,” she says. “How about we get out of here?”

  Rainey

  Reed is big. Bigger than my brother Tim, which means something. It means if my brother tries to take him, it will be a good, honest fight. But Reed is also belly flip-flopping, heart-pounding, pussy-melting, core-achingly handsome.

  The kid of handsome I’ve read about. Written about, too. Though, it’s probably pretty bad. When I’ve attempted to write, it is mostly my pent-up fantasies after devouring one too many romances on my Kindle. It’s my one and only luxury in this world, a device slim enough that I can fit it in a coat pocket, but big enough to make my mind race with possibilities. Besides, Tim refuses to let me have a phone. He says since he is the club president, and I’m his only family, I don’t need to be setting a bad example. Besides, who would I call? The cops? Everyone pledges to the club, not looking back. And considering everything we’ve done, there is nowhere to go but forward.

  Sounds more like a cult than a brotherhood, but I’m only along for the ride. Literally. I spend my life on the back of a bike and God, how I wish I never had to get back on one again.

  I want to be here, on solid ground, looking at a man like Reed. Or just Reed. Because oh, my heart, is he sexy.

  And instead of cowering like a kitten, I told him what I wanted. It’s my birthday after all, and Tim is already feeling generous, letting me have the night to myself. He probably figured I’d sit at the bar with my Kindle, reading about a love I’ll never find.

  Instead, I’m using this opportunity to take a chance on myself.

  After I tell Reed I want to ditch this dive bar, he doesn’t ask questions. Doesn’t say a single word to me. He gives his friend a look that says something, but I don’t know either of them at all, let alone enough to actually know what their wordless conversation might entail. I don’t ask.

  Reed takes my hand and leads me past the bar, down a hall, toward an exit sign blinking in green.

  He pushes through the back door and then we’re outside, in the pouring rain.

  “Oh!” I shriek, surprised though I’m not sure why. We’d been caught in the storm on our ride. We had to get off the road because of the rain.

  Reed still has my hand in his. It’s calloused, strong, holding onto me tight. “My truck?” he asks, and I nod, following. My heart skipping and mind racing and hope rising. I don’t care if it’s reckless or crazy or crass. I want to be swept away by a stranger. I want to enjoy this night like it’s my first and my last.

  You only turn twenty-one once.

  He opens the door of his Chevy, white with navy blue stripes. He shuts the door for me, and runs to the other side. I lick my lips, looking around the worn leather interior. It smells like cedar and pine needles and a little like leather. But not the sort of leather the bikers wear. This kind isn’t black, it’s dark brown, and instead of silver grommets and spikes, the kind of leather in this truck is the type that slowly drives up a mountain with the windows down. The kind of leather that is buttery soft, the kind of leather that has never been in a gun fight, never threatened a man’s life. Never hit. Never hurt. The kind of leather that heals.

  I breathe it in and I know it’s crazy. Foolish. Naive. But it’s also here. With me. Because as Reed gets in the truck and slams his door shut, the rain pounding on the windshield the same way my heart beats fast, faster, faster still, I realize this smell is Reed personified.

  “What are you thinking?” he asks, starting his engine then looking at me, the glow of the overhead lamp shining down between us. As if it’s the only light in the whole damn world, illuminating him and me.

  “If I told you, you’d think I was unhinged.”

  “Try me,” he says. His voice low and gravely, making my mouth water. His beard thick, his eyes dark.

  I exhale. “I was thinking about the smell of your truck.”

  He leans in, close. I swear to God he breathes me in and I press my knees together because what I really want to do is crawl into his lap and kiss him. Which is probably a bit fast, all things considered.

  “And how does my truck smell, Rainey?”

  “Like the home I’ve never had but always wanted.”

  He chuckles. “Lines that like might get you in trouble.”

  “I don’t want trouble,” I tell him.

  “What do you want?”

  I look out the window. “I want to dance in the rain.”

  He runs a hand over his jaw, eyeing me as if whatever he might say next could change everything.

  God, I hope it does.

  “Even with this downpour?”

  I nod, licking my lips. “With you? Yes.”

  “Well, damn, Cinderella, let’s get you to the ball.”

  Reed

  It’s a bad idea for a hundred different reasons, yet I’m putting the truck in reverse and driving her to someplace better than this gravel parking lot. If she wants to dance in the rain, then we can fucking let loose. But I know five minutes later she’ll be shivering, cold to the bone, and will need to warm up.

  “Where are we going?”

  “To my secret hiding place.”

  She lifts her eyebrows. “Should I be scared?”

  “You’re the one who left the bar with a stranger.”

  “You friend and the bartender didn’t seem worried for my safety,” she says.

  “You read people pretty well then, huh?” I smirk, running a hand through my wet hair.

  She says, “When you live with a club like I do… it’s part of survival.”

  The truck is climbing up the mountain and I turn to look at her out of the corner of my eye. “Are you safe there? With them?”

  She nods. “I’m safe. They’re just protective.”

  “That’s not a bad thing,” I say. “Better than careless.”

  “I’ve never been pressured to date any of the guys, or do anything I don’t want to do. They respect me.”

  “That’s good,” I say. “I respect you too
. For saying what you want. But I gotta warn you, Rainey. I’m not Prince Charming.”

  She laughs softly. “Are you more of a beast?”

  “I’m not used to company.” I pause, looking for the right words. “I’m loyal to a fault, have a little too much hair, and protect what is mine.”

  “You sound like a Golden Retriever.”

  I chuckle. “Well damn, that’s not what I’m going for.”

  “No?” she asks, a lilt in her voice as I turn on the blinker, headed to my private road. “What are you going for, Reed?”

  I put the car in park, turn to her. “I’m trying to figure out how in the hell I can make a move without scaring you away.”

  “And why would I be scared?” she asks, her voice catching, her eyes wide.

  “Because once I start, Rainey, I won’t want to stop.”

  “Maybe you’re more like a beast than you know.” She licks her lips, and my cock is damn near ready. I’ve been waiting for this girl my whole fucking life.

  “No,” I say, leaning in, growling in her ear. “I’m your mountain man.”

  I kiss her, in the truck that smells like home, in the woods that feel like heaven. I kiss her lips, soft pillows of perfection, and I want so much more. She does too. I feel it; when she parts her mouth, her tongue finding mine. A kiss meant for more than just one night. A kiss that means forever.

  “We gotta dance before this rain stops,” I say into her ear and I feel her smile against me. I get out of the truck, then open her door, taking her hand as the rain falls.

  “You sure this is what you want?”

  She laughs. “Yes. It’s like a scene from a book.”

  I take her hand and lead her down the steps behind my cabin, toward a secluded spot on my property. On the slate patio, I shrug off my coat and she sets down her purse, and I pull her close. There is no music, only the beat of our hearts, and fuck, when I draw this sweet thing to my chest, I can more than hear it… I feel it. She does too.