316 Rose Rd. (A Cherry Falls Romance Book 11) Read online

  316 Rose Rd.

  A Cherry Falls Romance

  Frankie Love

  Contents

  316 Rose Rd

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Epilogue 1

  Epilogue 2

  More Cherry Falls…

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2021 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.

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  316 Rose Rd

  A Cherry Falls Romance

  By Frankie Love

  Harper Higgins is way too sweet for a mountain man like me.

  But when she shows up at my campgrounds, renting herself a cabin for some “me-time,” I can’t help but want her.

  When I ask her why she needs this alone time… she gets pink in the cheeks and clams up.

  This girl has a secret, and I intend to figure it out.

  When I do, all hell breaks loose. I need her. Now.

  Trouble is, her father’s the preacher in Cherry Falls and I’m the surly man in the mountains who will never be good enough for his little girl.

  It’s time I change everyone’s mind.

  Because losing Harper is not an option.

  Cherry Falls is filled with returning characters and iconic destinations that will begin to feel like family. When you leave the city, and drive into Cherry Falls, it’s like you’ve finally come home.

  The cherry on top? Each book delivers a swoon-worthy romance!

  So welcome to Cherry Falls, we hope you stay awhile!

  Chapter One

  Cliff

  It’s been a long ass winter and I’m glad to see the snow has finally all melted. The early morning rain has passed, and the sun is actually shining through the big pine trees towering above me, which is a good omen. And one I could use. After all these months holed up in my cabin I’m ready for some blue skies. And while I won’t admit this to most anyone – I crave some human connection, too.

  I know, most folks consider me a grumpy ass mountain man, but I’m also just a regular guy with needs. As familiar as I am with the basics of taking care of myself, I’ll admit that right about now I wouldn’t mind a woman in my bed to care for too.

  Damn, maybe I was alone for too long this winter. Since when do I wax poetic about taking care of a woman?

  There’s a chill in the morning mountain air and I rub my hands together to ward off the cold as I look around the picnic area that I had my maintenance guy Charlie clean up. I hope the weather holds for the folks who reserved this area for tomorrow.

  It’s my favorite time of year out here in the Wild Ridge Mountains. In early spring there aren’t many other guests around, just a couple of booked-out cabins on the outskirts. Warm enough not to freeze your ass off when you come outside, but still cold enough to keep the summer vacationers away.

  I spend the next few hours tracing my usual path along the outside of the picnic area, up toward the Wild Ridge waterfall, my favorite place in the goddamn world. It’s my job to keep this area safe and protected, and I take it seriously. I may be a little rough around the edges, but I understand the value of something precious. This mountain range is just that. And until I meet the right woman, I suppose it’s the only treasure I got.

  As I make sure that everything is as it should be, I notice something out of the corner of my eye, along the dirt path that leads up to a hiking trail into the mountains. I crouch down to get a closer look.

  Cougar tracks. The rain we had this morning has almost washed them away, but I’ve seen enough since I started working here to know them on sight. I straighten up, cupping my hand over my eyes to get a better look up the trail, where the sun is pouring down with a cheerful brightness. Nothing on the horizon, but I should still call it in. Tempting as it is to let these city folks deal with it on their own, I know that if something bad happened, I’d never forgive myself.

  I head back towards the reception area. Once inside the small cabin outfitted with a desk and check-in table, I grab myself a coffee from the machine, and then dial up Miles at the fire station. He’s the one who deals with anything like this, and I know that he’s going to be irritated that he has to come all the way up here to check things out.

  "Hello?" he greets me after a couple of rings, curt and to the point.

  "Hey, Miles," I reply. "Got some cougar tracks up at the campsite. Thought you oughta know about it before any weekend guests arrive."

  He sighs, a rush of static down the line. "Can you handle it?" he asks.

  "You know, if you hate your job so much, you can just quit," I joke.

  He chuckles, giving in to my point. "I’ll be up to check it out as soon as I get the chance," he replies. "Make sure that coffee machine’s working, all right? I want something hot when I get up there..."

  "Will do," I reply, and I hang up the phone just as the front door opens. The woman who walks in is wearing high-heeled boots that are terribly impractical and a fluffy pink sweater that hugs her full chest tight. But that isn’t what has my attention. It’s her smile – bright as the sky – and her eyes, sparkling like the rushing water at the falls.

  I run a hand over my jaw, wondering what this woman, all alone, is doing out here. There isn’t another soul for miles. Just her and me.

  Damn, my cock twitches at the thought. Like I said, it’s been a long ass lonely winter.

  She flashes me a broad grin as I meet her gaze. She brushes a strand of her fiery-red hair back from her face, her freckled features like the icing on a goddamn cake.

  "Hey!” She greets me brightly. "Do you work here?”

  "Depends," I reply. "What do you need?”

  "Someone to get me checked into my cabin," she explains. "I have it booked over the next few days. Harper Higgins?”

  I furrow my brow at her as I make my way around the desk and check the bookings that Charlie keeps scribbled down in the notebook. Sure enough, there it is, Harper Higgins, in black and white.

  I lift my gaze and eye her again. Nothing she’s wearing looks even close to suitable for this part of the world, and I wonder if she has any idea what she’s in for.

  "You look pretty comfortable back there for someone who might not work here," she remarks, smiling. She has a slightly crooked smile, warm and genuine.

  I shrug. "Do anything enough times and you figure it out," I reply, and I go rooting under the desk for the keys to the cabin that she has rented. She watches me as I do so, and I can feel those piercing blue eyes on me as I try to get this done.

  "Thank you for helping me out," she tells me as I put the keys down in front of her.

  "You’re going to need all the help you can get," I reply before I can stop myself. She tips her head to the side, pouting playfully and raising her eyebrows.

  "And what’s that supposed to mean?” she demands. I could have just stopped right then, told her to forget it, but I’ve never been good at keeping my mouth shut when I should.

  "Don’t see many girls like you marching around here this time of year," I explain. "And the ones who
do don’t last long."

  "First off, I’m a woman, not a girl," she shoots back good-naturedly. "And second – maybe if you all were a little more welcoming, more of us would come up here."

  "Maybe," I remark, and I find she is still smiling at me.

  "So, where exactly is the cabin?” she asks.

  "There are signs outside, you just have to follow the path that comes out of here down to the stone marker, and then take a left, and–"

  I can see from the expression on her face that all of this is falling in one ear and straight out the other. I know that I shouldn’t rub it in, but I can’t help it.

  "Don’t tell me you already need my help," I remark.

  She pulls a face at me. "I’ve just never been good with directions, and I don’t want to end up wandering the wilderness when I should be relaxing," she explains.

  "You want me to walk you down there?" I ask.

  She nods, relieved. "If you don’t mind."

  "Sure, I can see my way to that," I agree. If she took a wrong turn, after all, she could end up in cougar territory. And not even her high-heeled boots could save her then.

  But if I’m being completely honest, it’s not the cougars that have me offering to lead the way. It’s the fact I am not ready to let this woman out of my sight.

  Chapter Two

  Harper

  "Wait, so, I have to take another turn here?” I ask Cliff as he leads me down the narrow path to the cabin where I’m going to be spending the next few days.

  He nods. "It’s not hard once you’ve done it a couple of times," he replies.

  Honestly, I am not as bad at directions as I have made myself out to be, but I just want a little time alone with this burly, bearded mountain man. He is broad-shouldered and looks like he was born in these mountains. There’s a feral look in his eyes. A hunger. One I don’t fully understand.

  And I admit to wanting to hear more of his gravely, deep voice for a little longer before I step into my cabin and my me-time can begin. He even sounds like a real man.

  A man who can wield plenty more than an axe.

  "Whatever you say," I reply, and I tug my jacket a little closer around me and hope that he doesn’t notice how much the cold is bothering me. I don’t want him to think I’m any more of an amateur at this mountain retreat thing than he already does. Though, if it means that he keeps helping me out like this, maybe I can see my way to indulging his preconceptions a little further...

  "Oh!" I squeak as I step on a loose rock and my heel skids. Cliff flashes round in an instant and catches me, hands on either side of my shoulders. There’s a confidence to the way he moves, and it’s clear that he has been up in these parts for a long time now. His hands are strong, and I wonder just what the arms he has hiding under that heavy jacket might look like, too.

  "You good?" he asks gruffly as he quickly lets go of me, as if I’m fire.

  "I’m good," I reply, and I consider slipping on another rock just to get him to grab me again. How many times do I have to do it before it starts looking deliberate? I’m willing to find out.

  But, before I can think about doing anything else stupid, we arrive at the cabin that I have booked for the next few days. Honestly, I’m truly glad to be here right now; the cool air seems to whip away the cobwebs that have been clinging to me lately, and I am more than happy to let this just unfold the way it wants to.

  "Here you are," Cliff remarks, thrusting his hands deep into his pockets once more, as though he knows it’s the only way that he’s going to be able to keep them off me. I can still smell his skin, close to mine, the scent of the fresh mountain air mixed with something masculine. Something him.

  "Thanks for bringing me down," I tell him. "And if I need help with anything else, I know where to find you, right?"

  "Yeah, sure," he agrees, and he glances around. "Stick to the cabin for a while, though, and keep your eye out for cougars. There’s some wild animals on the mountains right now."

  "Hey, that’s no way to talk about me," I joke, and he eyes me for a moment. I feel my stomach drop, and realize how flirty that must have come off.

  A wild animal? Me? Yeah, not really.

  Not with the whole daughter-of-a-preacher thing. He has to hold back a smirk, and I wonder if he is cringing at how cheesy I am. My toes curl in my shoes.

  "I should... uh, get inside," I blurt out, and I hurry in before I can say anything else that’s going to make me look even more of a fool than I already do. I fumble the key into the lock and push the door open, and, when I glance around again, I see Cliff standing there, a grin on his face.

  I’m sure he’s just amused to think that my terrible joke would ever have been enough to entertain him. Ugh, why can’t I just keep my mouth shut sometimes? I pull the door to a close behind me and wonder just what he makes of me.

  I run my hands through my hair, and take a look around the cabin that Cliff just brought me to.

  The rustic one-room cabin is as nice as I’d hoped it would be. There’s a comfortable couch in the corner, a queen-size bed, a simple kitchen with a wood-burning stove.

  Would be even nicer with that mountain man to keep me company, but hey, this is meant to be about me, right? Not anyone else.

  Not even if I can still feel the imprint of his hands on my shoulders, like a brand that has been pressed against me.

  As I make my way around the quaint little log cabin, I wonder how long it has been since I have actually been in contact with a man I don’t know. Back in Cherry Falls, given the job that my father has, it feels impossible to meet someone new.

  Everyone is the son of one of my father’s parishioners, the high school boyfriend of one of my old friends – no more than a couple of degrees of separation between all of us, and at a certain point, a girl just needs something new, right?

  Exactly why I have come all the way out to the Wild Ridge Mountains to find it. Because back in my real life, I can’t help but feel a little... trapped.

  I feel guilty even thinking that word in my head, but it’s true. Ever since Mom died, I have been doing my very best to look after my father, to make sure that he knows that he will always have me there to take care of him, and to be certain that he is back on his feet after he lost her. But I’m starting to get the feeling that he’s getting a little too darn used to having me around these days.

  I’m twenty-five years old, for goodness’ sake! I need some space to myself. And while working as a receptionist at The Manor House Hotel has given me a bit of freedom, it’s more than that.

  I’m a woman, with needs, and those needs will keep going completely and utterly unmet as long as I am still sleeping in my childhood bedroom with the marks on the walls where my pony posters used to be.

  It’s not even that I want a husband, exactly. Though I wouldn’t say no to one if the right guy came long. I just want to finally get rid of my virginity and start my journey to the satisfying sex life that I know I deserve by now.

  I’ve never been able to make myself orgasm before in my life, and I’m tired of wondering what I’m missing out on – but it’s hard as heck to get in the mood when I know that my dad could knock on the door and ask me if I want a hot cocoa before bed.

  Hence, the escape up here. Somewhere to get my mojo back. Or hunt the darn thing down in the first place. I even went out to this little adult store in Syn City and picked up a little purple vibrator that has three separate power settings and buzzes like a swarm of wasps when I turn it on. I’ve been thinking about it for the entire drive up, and I can hardly wait to find out just how well it works.

  But honestly, right now, I can’t stop thinking about Cliff. Maybe it’s just the frisky reasons that I took this trip in the first place, but my first sight of him at reception was enough to make me feel a little twisty in my stomach. He’s handsome, tall, with a strong jaw, heavy dark stubble, and slightly messy brown hair tucked under the hood of his jacket. He suits the mountains, exactly who I would picture if I had to describ
e a man who lived in the wilds like this.

  The very same man that I just made that wildly cheesy joke to about being a feral animal myself. Yeah, that’s what men like, isn’t it? When you talk about yourself like you’re a grizzly bear?

  Anyway. It’s been a long day and I need to change into some fresh, comfy clothes. I head through to the bathroom and put on the water, glancing out of the large window that looks out onto the windswept mountain beyond me. The view really is beautiful. I feel like the only person in the world right now – or I would, if I didn’t know that Cliff was just a few hundred feet away.

  As I begin to peel off my clothes, I can’t help but think about how good it might be to feel his big hands doing it instead. No doubt they’re callused, marked with the work that he has to spend his time out here doing – he didn’t look comfortable behind that reception desk, and it’s clear that he’s far more used to being out and about, living his life free of the constraints that the real world places on him.

  I can almost imagine his hand brushing the strap of my bra down from my shoulder, letting it slip from my arm, the way his fingers might trace down my skin. How would his breath feel against my neck? Mmm, I can almost imagine it, the heat of it against the cold of the air that has been washing over me since I arrived.

  And soon, I find myself wondering if I am going to need that vibrator at all. Because, right now, the thought alone of that man is enough to get me feeling all hot and bothered.

  Chapter Three