Rough Mountain Man (Seduction Summit Trails #4)

Chapter 1

GENNIE

M y best friend was in trouble, and I had no idea what to do about it. So, I was…shopping?

That weird thought occurred to me as I wandered around the charming shopping enclave at the base of the mountain. Some part of me was sure I’d run into her here. We loved little boutiques, and there was the perfect one at the entrance, just across from a pancake restaurant called Short Stack Shack.

“Damn it, Vanessa,” I said as I passed a bakery.

I looked down at my phone—no response to my text.

I’d driven all the way up to the top of this mountain and back down again.

I looked in driveways for her car and even checked out the parking lot of the ski lodge that was the main attraction in this town.

It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

“You need some moonshine?”

The voice pulled me out of my thoughts, and my head whipped up. I was prepared to give a curt no. I was in no mood to deal with cheesy sales pitches. But the woman was around my age and had a huge smile.

I didn’t know why I was so surprised to see someone in her early twenties in this mountain town. Of course, the people working here would be younger. I just assumed it would be all tourists and reclusive dudes with long beards and grumpy dispositions.

“I’m looking for someone,” I told the curvaceous brunette. “Maybe you can help me.”

The brunette looked back over her shoulder. Behind her was a shop filled with liquor bottles. In the center was a long bar with only one person standing behind it. A hot, hot, hot guy.

I pulled out my phone without taking my eyes off him. The screen was already on, and Vanessa’s picture was still up, so all I had to do was turn it and show her. I held my breath, hoping for signs of recognition.

To her credit, the smiling employee tilted her head and seemed to give it a serious examination. Then, slowly, she straightened her head and shook it.

“I’m new to town, though,” the woman said. “My uncle opened this place. He’s training me on handling the tastings, but I’m not quite ready yet. You might ask him. He’s lived here for a few years. He’s right there, behind the counter.”

“Thanks,” I said, pocketing my phone.

A couple was trying to get around me, so I needed to make a decision. It couldn’t hurt to ask the guy. I just hoped I didn’t have to taste any moonshine. That sounded disgusting.

So, taking a deep breath, I headed in, comforted by the fact that the couple behind me would probably join me. I’d ask my question and move out of the way.

As I approached the long counter, I got a good look at the guy standing behind it and nearly tripped over my own feet.

He was beyond gorgeous. He was, without a doubt, the most handsome man I’d ever seen.

But he looked completely unfriendly and unapproachable, which was surprising for someone who worked with the public.

Oh wait—the employee mentioned her uncle owned this place. Maybe he was training her to do the tastings because he didn’t want to deal with them anymore.

“I’m looking for someone,” I said, trying to be quick.

He probably had paying customers. Hell, I’d pay a massive fee if he’d just tell me where my best friend was.

“My friend came to town to work. She’s staying in a rental cabin up in the mountains. She met a guy, and now I can’t find her. I’m worried she’s in danger.”

His expression didn’t change as he took all that in. I couldn’t read what he was thinking at all. He looked like someone you wouldn’t want to mess with. Someone who would punch a guy in the face for looking at him sideways.

But somehow, I wasn’t scared like I normally would be. No, if I had to put a word to what I felt when I looked at him, it was intrigued.

He said nothing. He was silent so long, I started getting nervous. I was one of those people who had to fill the silence, even if it meant sounding like a blabbering fool.

“She’s my age,” I said. “Really pretty. And she said the lumberjack she met was super-hot. All I know is he lived next door to a rental cabin. They just met over the weekend, and it’s been four days, and I haven’t heard a word. I think he might have kidnapped her.”

Ugh. Now that the words were out, I realized how ridiculous they sounded. My friend had gone off the radar for a few days—that was all. She’d met a guy and fallen in love, that was all.

But it wasn’t like her to go off the radar for days at a time. Even hours at a time. It was unprecedented. I was right to be worried. I just wasn’t sure that what I was doing about it made any sense at all.

“I came up here looking for her,” I said, pulling out my phone again. I unlocked it and turned it to show him her picture.

To his credit, he did lower his gaze to it and stare at it for a long moment before shaking his head. “Nope. Never seen her. I’m going to need to see some ID.”

That threw me for a second. He needed to see my friend’s ID? Or my ID? Was he also a police officer? Would showing my ID be part of questioning?

But then it hit me. He was asking for an ID for the moonshine tasting.

I hadn’t broken the news that I was only here to ask about my friend.

And worse, the couple that had followed me in hadn’t come to the tasting counter.

They’d snatched up a bottle and headed straight to the checkout, where the woman who’d greeted me was now ringing up their purchase.

That meant I was the only taster this guy had.

There was an easy way out of this. I could just say I had to go look for my friend.

Or that I didn’t drink. Or that I had no way to get back to the hotel where I was staying if I was drunk.

When it came to alcohol, I was a lightweight.

Moonshine was pretty strong, from what I knew.

It also tasted like kerosene—or so I’d heard.

But I hadn’t expected the array of bottles in varying colors that lined the walls.

Clearly, there was more to moonshine than what I thought I knew.

It would be easy enough to get out of this, but I didn’t do that.

In fact, I reached into my purse and pulled out my wallet, flashing my driver’s license as requested.

I winced at the realization that he was taking a look at my ugly-ass photo.

Probably the worst picture ever taken of me, and I never liked pictures of myself.

“Twenty-three,” he said. “That’ll do.”

I didn’t know what that meant, because he didn’t even look at me. He went straight from checking my ID to setting tiny glasses in front of me. Ten of them. Even those thimble-sized glasses would be too much for me. Ten, and I’d be on my ass.

“Do you have a ride share in this town?” I asked.

It wasn’t even close to being a joke. I had probably a three-minute drive back to the hotel. Pretty darn close, but too far to walk, especially if I had a hard time standing.

“Don’t know,” he said. “Probably.”

“If I drink this much liquor, I can’t get behind the wheel.”

“You don’t have to drink all of them.”

He took a deep breath and let it out. Was that a sigh? Yeah, this guy definitely wasn’t good with the public. But as much as I wanted to dislike him, I couldn’t. Every time he looked at me, I felt something stir. There was a heat in his stare that cut straight to my core.

“This will be the strongest,” he said. “We start out there and go all the way to the end, which are more dessert options. Peaches, cherries, that sort of thing.”

Cherries. I was in.

“Just tell me which ones you want to skip,” he said. “Since you’re the only one here, I won’t open those. It’s five dollars, no matter how much you drink. But you’ll get a five-dollar credit if you buy anything here.

He hadn’t taken payment yet. Should I point that out? But looking around, it was clear they hoped to make tasters fall so much in love with one of the flavors that they bought a bunch at the end. That wouldn’t be me.

“That’s fine,” I said.

“Good.” He clapped his hands and wiped them together, then grabbed a bottle filled with a clear liquid. “This is Thunderbolt. It’s the purest form of moonshine. This one’s best when you can mix it with other things or drink it straight with a chaser.”

The guy was no salesman. His delivery was pretty flat.

He definitely needed to train his employee to take over this part.

But it didn’t really matter. As he spoke, his eyes blazed through me, going straight to my soul.

It was like he could see straight through me.

When he looked at me, it felt like I was the only woman in the world. The only one who mattered, anyway.

He probably did that with every woman he met. That was what I told myself to keep from falling under his spell. I was even able to lie to myself and say it wouldn’t work on me.

I wasn’t comfortable taking a drink until he reached the halfway mark, and that was mostly guilt over wasting his time. But things got sweeter from there. Peach, cherry, apple pie—all the later flavors sounded delicious.

I wish I could say they tasted like they sounded.

The alcohol overpowered everything. But by then, I didn’t mind as much.

I was starting to feel that subtle tingle that loosened me up and helped me relax.

I’d always been one of those people who was wound a little too tightly, so a little alcohol never hurt.

“So you’re looking for someone,” he said.

I was still sipping the final shot. Was this one delicious, or had the previous shots just numbed my tastebuds so I couldn’t tell?

“I can help you find her,” he said.

His words nearly had me spitting out my most recent sip. I swallowed and stared at him, trying to make sure I’d actually heard him correctly.

“You can?” I asked.

He nodded. That was a good sign that I hadn’t imagined it. But his expression hadn’t changed one bit, and that confused me. He looked far from helpful. If anything, he looked bored.

But there was still that underlying heat that had me thinking—delusional or not—he might actually be interested in me. I sure as hell was interested in him.

I didn’t have time for that right now. No, I needed to find my friend—the one who’d been kidnapped by a guy who was probably not all that much different from the one standing in front of me.

Oh crap. My friend had been won over by one of these guys. Maybe this was their game. Sadly, I could see how it might happen. But I couldn’t fall for it. I had to keep my wits about me. Even if this guy was just too tempting to resist.

Still, it was all about finding my friend. And that was why I found myself accepting his offer.

As I set the final glass on the counter between us, I said, “Let’s do this.”

Was it the alcohol? No. I was here on a mission. If he could help with that, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity. But I had to admit—I didn’t mind the thought of spending more time around this guy.