Claimed by the Mountain Man
Then follow those handsome as sin men as they fall faster than you can yell Timber with more dating app antics!
Our Lone Mountain Mates has it all – hunky mountain men who are broody and territorial and the curvy heroines who set them on fire!
The reception was winding down, and I was maybe a little drunk.
Not sloppy drunk. Not dancing on tables drunk. Just enough champagne to make everything feel soft around the edges and my brother’s happiness seem less like a miracle and more like something I’d actually pulled off.
Which I had.
I’d matched my grumpy hermit brother with the perfect woman, lied about an inheritance clause, manipulated them both into marriage, and somehow—somehow—it had actually worked.
I was a genius.
An evil genius, sure, but still a genius.
I wandered away from the main party, glass in hand, needing a minute alone. The sun was setting behind the mountains, painting everything gold and pink. String lights twinkled in the trees behind me. I could hear laughter, music, the sounds of people celebrating.
And here I was, hiding at the edge of the meadow, watching everyone else’s happiness. And honestly, feeling just a little sad.
When had I become that person? I spent my days trying to right wrongs and feeling a purpose in life. Now, a heretofore unnamed sadness had started creeping in around the edges of my existence.
I took another sip of champagne, blinking back tears I absolutely was not going to shed. This was ridiculous. I was fine. I was always fine.
Except I wasn’t. Not really.
I’d spent so much energy orchestrating my brother’s happiness that I’d forgotten to consider my own. Forgotten that maybe—just maybe—I wanted what he had found.
Someone to look at me the way Thorne looked at Maddie.
Someone who saw past the sharp edges and the control issues and the need to manage everything.
Someone who—
“There you are.”
The voice came from behind me. Deep. Rough. The kind of voice that made you pay attention.
I turned.
And looked up.
Way up.
The man standing there had to be six-foot-five, maybe more. Broad shoulders that strained against a button-down shirt. Dark hair, darker eyes, and a jaw that looked like it had been carved from stone. Cliché sounding, but true.
He was looking directly at me, and I had no idea who he was.
“I’ve been looking for you,” he said.
And continue the adventure on Lone Mountain with our next Collab Release out on March 30th!
Poppy and the Mountain Man
Poppy
I had spent my whole life taking care of everyone else — until the day my mother's surprise announcement left me without a home, a plan, or a single reason to stay.
So I got in my car and drove.
I hadn't meant to stop in Lone Mountain, Montana. I hadn't meant to do a lot of things lately, but there I was, sitting in a diner with no plan, no home, and a very kind stranger telling me about a seasonal job up the mountain that would be perfect for someone with my skills.
I told her I had a green thumb.
I mean, I'd kept a cactus alive for three weeks once. That counted.
The job was at a nursery — except calling it a nursery felt like calling the ocean a puddle. This place moved seedlings by the truckload. It was run by a man who, as far as I could tell, had never smiled in his entire life.
He hired me anyway. Questionable decision on his part.
I told myself this was exactly what I needed — a little fresh air, a little hard work, a little time to figure out who Poppy was when she wasn't busy taking care of everyone else. A fresh start. A new beginning.
Cordell
She said she had a green thumb.
I should have pushed on that. I should have asked follow-up questions, requested references, done literally anything other than look at her for thirty seconds and realize I wanted her to stay on the mountain. My mountain.
I didn't do complicated. I did seedlings, soil, silence, and solitude. Poppy was none of those things.
She was chaos.
She was, apparently with no effort, the most interesting thing that had happened up here in longer than I cared to admit. Not that I was admitting it. Not that I was thinking about it.
I should have asked more questions at the interview.