Mountain Man Cake (Mountain Men of Linesworth Book 2) Read online

  “Sorry, babe,” she says. “I was just playing. The truth is you deserve a man who realizes how amazing you are.” She turns back to the bar to order something and I let my body sway with the crowd around me. I

  t is so busy here in Linesworth this time of year, and it’s fun to change the pace a bit. And I bet all these tourists will have horrible hangovers tomorrow, which will bode well for our shop, the Two Sister’s Bakery. Greta and I will be selling coffee and donuts at the crack of dawn.

  Which will be here soon enough. We might as well enjoy the night while it’s here.

  “Hazel,” I call out. “Let’s just go dance.” I want to have a good time with my sister and our pregnant sister-in-law. And I want to stop thinking about Charlie and the life with him I’ll never have.

  “Perfect.” Hazel returns, giving me a big grin. Then she surprises me by offering me a double shot of something with whipped cream.

  I take it gingerly. “And that is?”

  “A buttery nipple,” Hazel says, biting back a laugh.

  “This is the most action I’ll get all night, is that what you’re saying?” I ask, cracking up. “God, this is depressing.” I take the shot quickly, then begin to zip back to the bar. That was delicious. And I need more delicious in my life.

  “Slow down, girl,” Hazel says. “You’ve had plenty of alcohol in a short amount of time.”

  She’s right, the alcohol burns my belly and I should get on the dance floor to sweat some of it off.

  Maybe I’ll go grind up against a stranger. I don’t care. I’m so sick of this same conversation about Charlie. If he doesn’t see how amazing I am, then forget him. Even Hazel could see straight away that I was awesome.

  Apparently, my desire for Charlie was pretty obvious to the new girl in town because she called me out on my crush day one. And if it’s that obvious, how can Charlie be so oblivious about it?

  As we wind our way through the crowded bar, I can’t help but think about what she’s suggested. That I pull on my big girl panties and tell Charlie how I actually feel. On the dance floor, I focus on my terrible dance moves--we’re talking the helicopter and the moonwalk.

  And for a second, I am lost in the moment. The music and the lights and the people all around, but then I catch sight of Charlie over by the bar. Charlie with his massive biceps and dreamy eyes. The jeans that hug his ass just so, his cocky smile that tells everyone he meets that he knows just how hot he is, and the beard he knows gets women all over this town hot and bothered.

  And it isn’t just the way he looks that turns me on. I remember being eight years old and my kitten was stuck in a tree and Charlie climbing it without being asked and saving Petals. He saved my cat. How could I not have fallen in love with him? He was always there, a constant in my entire life, always at the house hanging out with Luke and Clive.

  And if I do say so myself, I did a pretty good job keeping my unrequited love on the down low.

  But at some point, some other woman is going to realize how amazing Charlie is. They’ll see what I’ve always known. That underneath his man cake façade, he’s actually a guy who saves kittens from trees. Some other girl is gonna sweep into town and realize what a catch he is.

  And then what will I be left with?

  Maybe I should do it. Just like Hazel said. Man up and say what I want.

  Him.

  I look over at the bar and see a group of 21-year-olds in booty shorts and crop tops hanging on his every word.

  Why should one of those girls go home with him tonight? I‘m the one who has known him forever.

  If Greta can grind against a stranger on the dance floor, then I can make a move on the man I’ve known for practically my entire life.

  I start power walking over toward him, but then my head starts to spin and it’s not the alcohol. I can handle my liquor. This dizzy spell is the fact that I am actually gonna go ask for what I want.

  Charlie.

  I spin back to the bar to order a glass of water but then know I am getting too rational. “Actually,” I say. “Another round of beers.”

  I need to lose my inhibitions if I want to get where I want to go.

  With a few shots in hand, not-exactly tipsy AF, but definitely power walking to the man I’ve always been head over heels for.

  I pass the dance floor where Greta is wiggling her ass. “Where have you been?” she hollers as I pass her.

  I just smile and raise my stein. “Prost!”

  The bar hollers along with me, everyone seeming to be looking for a reason to let loose too. The full moon isn’t out, but it feels like we are howling to something. Needing something.

  I know I am.

  “Hey,” I say to Charlie and Clive. I push my way past those booty-short girls. This is my stomping grounds and my Oktoberfest more than it is the out-of-towners’. They scowl and walk away, air-kissing Charlie as they leave. Good riddance.

  I hand Charlie a beer. He takes it with a devilish grin. Damn, his smile gets me all hot and bothered, and that is not just the booze talking. “To taking a chance,” I say.

  We clink glasses and chug them like we’re college kids.

  Clive butts into my moment. Not that Charlie seems to notice this was when the stars are supposed to align. “Where’s my shot of something good?” my brother asks.

  “Out on the dance floor,” I tell him, wanting to get him away.

  He grins. “Gonna go find my woman,” he says.

  With him gone, I look back at Charlie. Pulling up any seduction skills I may have garnered over the years, I go for the kill.

  “It’s hot, wanna get some fresh air?”

  He cocks his head, and for a split second, I think he is going to say no, that he is going to grab a co-ed and take her outside. But he surprises me.

  “Do you have the keys to your bakery on you?”

  I raise a brow. “Yeah, why?”

  “After all this booze, I’m dying for a cupcake.”

  I bite my bottom lip, nodding. This is going better than planned. “I have some frosting you’ve never tasted before. Want to come to try it?”

  He jumps off a barstool; his hand is on the small of my back as he leads me outside. He doesn’t know the plan I’ve baked up--but I’m hoping it gets a rise out of him before he realizes what I’m up to.

  Chapter 3

  Charlie

  I don’t know what it is, but Maggie is acting differently tonight. I mean, she’s usually the person throwing the party, getting people to hang out, outgoing with everyone.

  So, when I take her outside and see her face brightened with a secretive smile, I get turned on. She looks sexy when she’s biting her bottom lip, not meeting my eyes. It’s almost like she’s coming on to me.

  Maybe we’ve both just had a lot to drink. Maybe she isn’t looking at me that way at all. But damn, the idea of being with her suddenly becomes real as we walk down the crowded street of the town--it’s all been blocked off for cars for the month’s festival.

  People are everywhere, and the women who’d I’d usually stop and say hello to aren’t on my radar. “Charlie,” Becky, a woman I know from school, whines. “Come have a drink with us.” She’s with a big group of friends, and I run my hand over my beard, knowing I’ve slept with half of them.

  I just wave and say I have somewhere to be. This pull toward the bakery is strong as hell, and for some reason, I just keep thinking about Maggie, her toast to taking a chance when we clinked our glasses together.

  I want an excuse to be closer to her and my hand rests on her shoulder. I tell her it’s because I don’t want to lose her in the crowd, but I know the truth. She is turning me on. I can’t help but watch her trim little ass as she walks a foot in front of me. Why have I never noticed the way her waist narrows above her curvy hips before?

  When we stop at Two Sisters, she turns to face me, under the awning. She looks up into my eyes, appearing so small, so vulnerable suddenly. Not the face of the jubilant Maggie I usually se
e.

  No, right now her eyes are filled with a longing I don’t understand but want to.

  “We’re here,” she says as if she’s been waiting for this moment her entire life.

  “You made me wait long enough,” I say, hoping I said the right thing and fuck, I don’t know what is happening because I’m never self-conscious, especially around her--a woman I’ve known since she was a little girl, fussing over her kitty cat and making mud pies.

  And right now, I don’t want to get this wrong. I’m buzzed and so is she, but we were both walking in a straight line to the bakery, and neither of us is slurring our words.

  Besides... Fuck, I’m assuming all sorts of things about the girl next door. Things that have me getting hard as hell as I stand out here.

  “I won’t make you wait anymore.” Then she whips around and unlocks the door to her bakery. I know this shop well, I come here for morning coffee and afternoon sweets most days. But I’ve never been here at night, alone with Maggie.

  The shop feels different now. The lights are off, the door is locked behind us. And she isn’t wearing an apron that I’m realizing now covers her curves.

  “It’s strange, isn’t it? being here alone?” she says as if reading my mind.

  “Are you uncomfortable with me here?” I ask, following her to the back room.

  She looks over her shoulder at me, her features hidden in the dark, and I feel a need, a longing even, to bring her to the light. To undress her and taste her and be with her until the sun comes up.

  “I’m not uncomfortable. Besides, I love that you like my cupcakes.”

  There she goes again, biting her bottom lip.

  Damn, my cock is suddenly growing as fast as my appetite.

  “I don’t just like your cupcakes,” I tell her pulling up right behind her.

  “No?” she asks in barely a whisper. I swear she pushes her ass ever so slightly against my groin. I want to grab her pretty hips and pull her to me... but damn, I could be reading this all wrong. Hell, she’s my best friend’s sister.

  But then, before I can overthink this another damn minute, she moves away, toward a fridge and pulls it open. Actually, it’s a standing freezer, and she sticks her head right in it.

  “What in the hell are you doing, Mags?”

  “Just cooling off,” she groans dramatically. “You’re just a lot of man, you know?” She says this with her head still buried and her ass sticking out.

  I smirk. Okay, sounds like she is interested in me.

  “When you say a lot of man, what exactly do you mean?” I cross my arms, leaning against a high prep table watching her little butt wiggle as she tempts frostbite.

  She pulls herself from the freezer and shuts the door, leaning against it, then crossing her arms to match mine. Hair falls in her face and she pushes out her lower lip, blowing the strands away. A gesture I’ve seen her make a thousand times, but until right now I never thought of it as sexy.

  Now, I see it as downright filthy. I know something else she could blow on.

  “I mean, look at you, Charlie.” She throws her arms in the air, waving me down, head to toe. “You know what kind of man you are.”

  I run a hand over my beard. “The kind of man you’d like to get to know better?”

  Her cheeks redden as heat rises to her face. I had no idea I could have this sort of effect on her.

  “You have no idea,” she says under her breath. She turns again, reaching for a covered cake plate. She lifts the lid and offers me a cupcake.

  “Thank you,” I say swallowing my desire for a minute. She takes one too and slowly peels the paper from the treat. I want to peel her clothes off her just as slowly. One article at a time.

  Damn, that Jager must have been fucking strong. I’ve never thought about Maggie like this before.

  “Are you just gonna watch me eat it?” she asks with a smirk.

  “Just how drunk are you, Mags?” I ask setting down my cupcake so I can focus on the sweet thing in front of me.

  “Not very. Tipsy. But not impaired.” She runs a finger over the frosting and pulls it to her mouth, sucking the sugary layer off. My balls are tight as fuck watching her. “I know what I’m doing if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Do you, though, Maggie?” I step toward her, and pick her up, sitting her down on the high table. I take the cupcake from her hand and take a bite. “That’s fucking delicious,” I tell her.

  She grins mischievously and I hope she knows what she’s gotten herself into. “There’s more where that came from,” she teases.

  I take another bite of her confection before setting it down.

  “Good,” I say. “Because I have a sweet tooth.” I reach for the hem of her sweater, suddenly needing to strip her of everything.

  “I know,” she says. “I know what you like.”

  “Oh, yeah?” I raise a brow, pulling off her sweater and taking in her tits, round and full, her lacy bra more decoration than support. Her breasts are perky and I don’t think she needs a bra at all. Her skin looks so soft and delicious and I want to run my tongue over all of her.

  Before I can taste her, though, she tells me what it is she thinks I like.

  “You like... well, any woman with a pulse, pretty much.”

  Her words are harsh, but I can tell that’s not how she meant them. I look into her eyes and see something soft; the same way she looked outside the bakery. Vulnerable.

  “You’ve watched me around other women?”

  She picks up the cupcake again and takes a bite, licking her lips. Her breasts tease me, but her soulful gaze is getting all my attention. “Everyone in this town has seen you, Charlie. It’s your MO.”

  “And what do you think of that?”

  “I don’t know if what I think matters, Charlie.”

  The blush rises to her face again, and she lowers her chin, then raises her eyes. She looks so perfect in this moment. Pure, innocent, and so filthy-sweet it makes me ache for her. Maybe if I had a woman like her I wouldn’t need casual sex. A woman like her would be more than enough. I haven’t even kissed her, but suddenly a lifetime of memories washes over me.

  She isn’t like other women. She’s singular.

  “What you think does matter, Maggie. Tell me. Should I stop sleeping around?”

  She laughs. Shaking her head as if the idea is ludicrous. Then she says something more honest than I expected to hear, “Just don’t change your mode of operation until after you’ve had your way with me, Charlie. That would be...”

  “It would be what, Mags?” I press, knowing now, without a shadow of a doubt that she wants this as badly as I do.

  “It would be a waste of a perfectly good dessert.” She smiles then, reaching behind herself and unclasping her bra.

  Damn, she is right about that. There is no way I’m giving up my man cake ways before I have had a bite of her something sweet.

  Chapter 4

  Maggie

  When Charlie took off my sweater, I knew he would sleep with me. And when I unclasp my bra, I give him the permission he is looking for. I don’t know how much he’s had to drink tonight, but I’ve had just enough to allow me to lose my inhibitions and to take what I want.

  Am I taking advantage of him? Maybe. I don’t want to know the answer to that. But I do know that I might never get this chance again. A chance to give myself over to the boy that has unknowingly had my heart since I was a little girl.

  “You’re fucking beautiful,” Charlie tells me as his hands move to my breasts, cupping them. “How did I never notice that before?”

  I inhale sharply, trying to not let his words hurt me because the past is really the past. This is the present. And in the present, he does notice. It’s still a little impossible to believe that this is really happening.

  But it is. His strong hands hold my breasts like they are something precious. He’s looking at me as if I am something he wants to take care of.

  Even though this isn’t real. E
ven though it’s not forever, it is real right now.

  And that’s enough.

  He still hasn’t kissed me, and for some reason, that is what I’m most nervous about. Yes, I’m a virgin, but Charlie doesn’t know that and I don’t intend on telling him. Still, it’s the kiss that seems most intimate. That would reveal more to him than my body will be able to.

  I know that when he kisses me he will understand how badly I’ve wanted him and for how long.

  “I’m gonna need to get you out of these pants,” he tells me.

  I nod, grateful I didn’t turn on all the lights back here. I need the low lighting because if he saw all of me, every flush of my cheeks, as he unknowingly took my virginity, I don’t know if I could take it. For Charlie, this is just a one-night stand, but for me, it is the culmination of everything I’ve ever wanted.

  And right now, I’m grateful for his expertise because he’s able to set his strong hands on my hips and pull me to my feet. He drops to his knees and tugs down my jeans, sliding my boots from my feet.

  “That’s better, Mags,” he tells me.

  “Now it’s your turn,” I tell him, having fantasized about this exact moment for years.

  He looks at me expectantly, but I’m scared to touch his body, to run my hand over his chest and tug at his belt loops. My hands will shake, and for him, I want to be steady.

  “Are you nervous?” he asks.

  I don’t want him to know I’m a virgin because if he does, I know he’ll stop.

  And I don’t want to stop. I couldn’t bear it. Not now, when we are cresting the hill. I want to ride this roller coaster with him. I'm not backing down because of nervous jitters.

  “What makes you say that?” I say coyly, feigning confidence.

  He laughs, and Charlie’s warmth envelops the space otherwise filled with cool stainless steel. His laughter helps my shoulders relax and my breathing to slow. Charlie is as familiar as anyone I’ve ever known. He might not have ever considered me in a romantic way, but I know he’s considered me in a friendship way. And even if the heat of this moment were to evaporate, I know we have enough common ground to keep us steady.