Chosen By The Mountain Man (Ozark Mountain Men Temptations #4)

Chapter 1

Avery

Where are you, Marlene?

There was something about bringing order to chaos that always made my anxiety ease. And Bookish was the perfect quiet, controlled environment for me.

Nothing ever changed here, except for the arrival of new books, which I considered treasures to be explored and shared with others.

I liked that about this place, knowing that it would always be the same, no matter what craziness was happening in the rest of the world.

So my boss going missing was throwing my safe little sanctuary into chaos.

Not that she was really missing. Not yet. But Marlene never missed a shift without texting me, and when I arrived at work this morning, the store had been dark and empty.

I was in the middle of texting her again, a little knot of worry in my heart, when the bell on the front door jingled.

My eyes shot to it, hoping it would be Marlene bustling through with a new tan and tons of stories to share about her vacation week.

But that thought disappeared as a man stepped through the door, looking like he was dragging the wild woods inside with him.

The man was feral. And built. Tall and broad in a way that made the doorframe look narrow.

He wore a flannel shirt rolled up to his elbows, revealing forearms thick with muscle.

His shaggy hair almost brushed his shoulders, and his beard framed a jaw that looked like it had been carved from the mountain itself.

His gaze swept across the bookstore before finally landing on me, burning me up from the inside out.

I forgot how to speak as his eyes locked onto mine.

“Morning.” His voice was a low rumble that I felt deep in my body.

He was the hottest man who’d walked through this door in years. Maybe ever.

I swallowed hard, then forced my lips to move.

“Good morning.” Too breathy, I cleared my throat and tried again. “Welcome to Bookish. Where worlds await. Can I help you find something?” I imagined he might have gotten lost on his way to the hardware store. It was just a few doors down.

The man studied me with an intensity that made heat bloom between my thighs.

“You’re Avery,” he growled, as if my name already belonged to him.

My heart stuttered in my chest. “I… yes. How do you know who I am?”

He stepped closer to the counter, and I caught the scent of fresh air and pine, as if he’d walked here straight out of the forest that surrounded Red Oak Mountain.

“Marlene told me.”

Marlene. My worries rushed back.

“How do you know Marlene? Is she okay? She was supposed to be here this morning, and she didn’t call, and that’s not like her at all.”

Something shifted in his expression. Not quite softening, but close.

“She had an accident,” he grunted.

“An accident?” All the possible worst-case scenarios swept through me. “Is she okay?”

“Windsurfing.”

“Windsurfing?” The word came out strangled. “Marlene was windsurfing?”

She’d gone down to the Bahamas on vacation for a week. But I couldn’t imagine my sixty-nine-year-old buttoned-up boss windsurfing. I’d imagined her sipping cocktails and lounging by a pool cabana all week long, spouting book quotes at anyone who got too close.

“Apparently,” the man’s mouth twitched, almost a smile. “She’ll be out for the next month.”

Relief flooded through me at the same time panic built. A month.

My mind raced through the implications.

Gwen had worked her last day this weekend, and Marlene had a slew of interviews lined up for tomorrow to replace her.

Until someone new was hired and trained, the store couldn’t keep its hours of operation in place. With Marlene out, this place was a one-woman show.

“Is she going to be all right?”

“Yup,” he said as he glanced around the bookstore, his expression tightening again. “Just broke a leg. But evidently busted it up good. She’s in traction.”

“Is she in pain? Does she need anything? I should call her. I should—”

“She’s fine,” he growled, his voice rolling over me like gravel dipped in honey. It sent thrills down my spine every time he spoke. “Stubborn as hell, but fine. I’m running the store until she’s back on her feet.”

I stared at him while his words filtered into my brain.

Running the store.

This man was going to be here? Every day. For a month.

And he was in charge?

I’d never even seen him before. And he hadn’t stepped foot inside Bookish in the entire six years I’d worked here. How could he be in charge?

“Who-who are you again?”

“I’m Flint,” he rumbled. “Marlene’s nephew.”

Flint. The name suited him. Hard and sharp and capable of starting fires.

“Oh,” I managed to say. “I didn’t know Marlene had a nephew.”

“Well, she does. And it’s me.”

He glanced around the store again, and his gaze caught on the mismatched chairs in the reading nook, a frown forming on his face.

“She’s told me about you,” his eyes flicked over to me, dipping down and back up again.

I flushed as his gaze skimmed my body, skating over my curves.

I wonder what Marlene told him?

“Says you know this place inside and out.”

That was true. This store was the one thing I understood completely. It was the only place where I felt like I fit.

And now he was standing in the middle of it, taking up all the air.

He was exactly the kind of man I’d sworn off.

Older. Rugged. Confident in a way that made my knees feel unreliable. The kind of man who probably had women falling at his feet without even trying.

I’d promised myself I’d never fall for a man like him again after my heart got beat up the last time.

I wouldn’t be anyone’s secret Friday night fling ever again. Especially not a rugged, older mountain man with a deep voice and a steady gaze, and a mouth that looked like it could eat me right up.

Flint was watching me, and I realized I’d been silent too long.

“Right,” I said, straightening my spine. “Well, there’s not much for you to do. Marlene had interviews set up for tomorrow. I’ll handle those for her. I need to hire two new employees.”

He let out a scoffing chuckle. “Naw. Marlene already told me about the interviews. I’m doing them.” His gaze locked on mine. “All I need from you is to show me how everything works. After that, I’ll take care of the rest.”

My mouth dropped open as I studied him more closely.

He was leaning against the local books section with his arms crossed and a flat line where his smile should be.

Flint acted like he owned the place.

An uncomfortable thought flew through me. Technically, he almost did. It was his aunt’s business after all.

But that didn’t mean I had to like it. Marlene had always acted like I was her right hand. It was true I didn’t have the title of manager, but I felt like one.

This man looked like he’d crawled out of the woods, feral and hungry. He’d scare off the customers!

And he wouldn’t be able to give good book recommendations. I could tell that just by looking at him. Don’t judge a book by its cover? That advice didn’t apply to people. I’d learned that first impressions were often the right impression.

“Do you even read?” I asked, my tone way snarkier than I normally spoke.

A divot formed between his brows as he frowned at me. “Sure. I’ve read.”

“Something more than lawnmower manuals?” I muttered quietly.

Flint’s lips curled up into a dangerous smile, and his gorgeous hazel eyes turned into tight little daggers.

“Marlene said you were a sweetheart. I think she’s wrong. You might look like an innocent little Alice in Wonderland, but there’s a viper hiding in your heart, isn’t there, darlin’?”

His assessment of me stung. I always stayed professional, even when Mrs. Burkowitz came in and tore up the romance section like she had yesterday, pawing through every book before deciding which one to buy.

But he was right, I was being downright nasty to him, all because he reminded me of Sawyer.

Swallowing hard, I said, “I’m sorry. This all caught me by surprise. Can we have a do-over?”

“Yup.” He kept the same amused glint in his eye, arms still crossed over his chest.

I stepped out from behind the counter, keeping a careful distance between us as I gestured toward the shelves.

“The store is organized by genre, mostly. Fiction along the left wall, nonfiction on the right. Children’s books in the back corner.

Romance has its own section near the reading nook. It’s our biggest seller.”

He followed me, and I was painfully aware of how close he was.

Too close.

His presence seemed to fill the narrow aisles, making the space feel smaller than it ever had before.

“The register is straightforward,” I continued, my voice steadier than I felt. “Card reader’s a little old, but it works. Weekends are our busy times, and shipments come on Fridays.”

I could feel the heat of him behind me, and when I turned to point out the storeroom, I bumped into his chest.

“Oh!” I stepped back quickly, my hip catching the edge of a shelf.

“Careful,” he growled, and his hand came up to steady me before dropping back to his side. A tidal wave of sparks flew through me where we’d touched.

My cheeks burned. I was always running into things, but I sure hadn’t wanted to run into this mountain of a man. He was making me feel frazzled by his presence. And I was usually frazzled just fine all on my own. I didn’t need him here, making it worse.

“Marlene’s office is through there, along with the stockroom.” I pointed down the hallway at the back of the store. “That’s where we hold the book club meetings.”

“Book clubs?” he rumbled.

“We have book clubs six days a week. They’re held in the stockroom.”

His eyebrows rose slightly, but he didn’t comment. Just nodded and looked toward the door leading to the back.

“Let’s start with the basics,” he rumbled. “Show me how to work the register.”

“Sure.” Taking a deep breath, I headed over there, the beast of a man shadowing along closely behind me. “Have you ever used one before?”

“Naw.”

“Done customer service?”

“Naw.”

“Stocked shelves?”

“Naw.”

Great. Marlene’s nephew might be the most unqualified person on Red Oak Mountain to help me run this bookstore while she was gone. But he was the only help I had, evidently.

I snuck a glance at his faded flannel shirt and the way the muscles in his arms filled it fully. He looked like he belonged at the sawmill. Or out in the woods wrestling a bear into submission.

That was a sight I’d like to see.

When we got there, and I started showing him the register, his hand settled on the counter beside mine, close enough that our knuckles brushed… and he didn’t move away.

Being this close to him felt electric, like a summer thunderstorm, lightning flashing between us every few seconds. My poor, neglected pussy fluttered back to life, asking when we were going to have some fun.

I smoothed my hair back and started training the man. I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive a month in this man’s presence. I was already coming undone.