Loving the Mountain Man

Chapter One

“Dammit guys, just get out of my bar!”

Two of the burliest bear-like men you could imagine decided to have a fight right in the middle of Mack’s place. She’d come out from behind the bar to get in between the two of them.

“Awe come on Mack; we didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, you did Lester and it’s the second time this week. I’m still making repairs after you trashed the place a month ago. I can’t afford to have you guys in here.”

“We’ll pay for the repairs, honest.”

“Gosh, where have I heard that before Joey?”

Literally every time they’ve broken something, they’ve offered to pay but she never has seen the money. It’s as if they don’t remember anything they do or say when they are drunk, which is pretty much everyone’s MO when they get drunk at a bar.

“Please don’t kick us out, we love your bar. Nobody else makes our nachos like you do.”

Mack really hated to be the bad guy, but constantly fixing the bar was getting expensive. Glasses break all the time, not to mention replacing tables and chairs isn’t cheap.

“I’m sorry…no, actually I’m not, I’m not sorry at all. This is the last chance for both of you, hear me? Do it again and I’ll boot both your asses out that door with my own foot. Then I’ll hire a bouncer to keep you out for good.”

Mack needed to get a check on her emotions before she showed a side of herself no one here would like or understand for that matter.

“Okay, okay, we’re done, promise.” Both men held up their hands in surrender. “We’ll sit and behave the rest of the night. Can we still get our nachos?”

She laughed on the inside. These guys were pretty amazing humans. It’s just the guys in them that one had to be better than the other and it always led to fights. They were funny and loyal but also the epitome of drunks if there ever were any/. They did love their food though.

“I’ll make your nachos, but from this moment on, you are on probation. I will be watching you very closely so don’t even step a single toe out of line, hear me?”

They both agreed, nodding their heads profusely.

“Okay, go sit back down, be nice, and I’ll bring them out when I’m done.”

As they walked away, she wondered about who these two guys were on a personal level.

Were they just friends, and did they have wives somewhere?

If she was making their dinner just about every night, then she imagined there were no significant others, but she really didn’t think it her place to ask that kind of personal question.

As was usually common with people being chatty at bars, those two men were not.

She knew deep down that they meant well.

Mack walked back behind the bar and into the kitchen area to start making the nachos when she heard a deep voice coming from the bar.

He wasn’t asking for anything unusual, but the voice gave her goosebumps.

All over her body. She took a chance and peeked around the corner of the doorway to catch a glimpse of the owner of that baritone.

She waited for her bar server to move one direction or the other and then he was there, in all his godly glory.

She could tell he wasn’t from around their town; he had the look of your typical tourist but damn he was handsome, and big.

His hair was dark and cut short, which was normal for a guy, and his beard was there but not nearly as full as some she’d seen.

It was the same shade of deep brown as hers.

His shirt was tight across his chest, showing defined pecks when he stretched to take his jacket off.

“Good lord above.”

She was drooling. Wouldn’t that be a lovely thing for anybody out there to see.

She would be more than embarrassed. Mack was the owner of the place, and a bear.

She had a reputation to uphold. When she’d decided to go back to cooking the food, it was the exact moment he chose to lock eyes with her.

She couldn’t move out of his line of site fast enough.

Standing back in front of her prep counter, she tried to calm herself. Hundreds of men came into the bar on a weekly basis; this one was no different. Just a stranger. She’d never let any of them bother her before and she didn’t need to start now.

Mack ran the plates of nachos through the hot rollers to melt the cheese then after a few minutes, put salsa and sour cream onto the plates, steeled a cheeky grin on her face and walked right by the stranger to deliver the food.

When she sat the nachos on the table, she was surprised to see the men were drinking water. Or at least she thought it was water. They’d never been vodka drinkers, so it was the logical answer anyway.

When she returned to the bar area, one of her bar servers, Becca, stopped her.

“Hey, if you’re looking for a bouncer, that guy at the end seems pretty large and capable.”

“I’m not sure If I’ll go that route yet or not. Did you already say something to him?”

“No but he did hear you talking to Lester and Joey and asked if you were looking for someone to handle the heavy lifting.”

“Hmm, I suppose I could talk to him. It was just an idle threat, so I hadn’t put much thought into actually hiring anyone.”

Becca walked back to the bar and Mack took her time to head that way.

It wasn’t like Mack under normal circumstances, but she was surprisingly nervous to stand in front of that man.

Weird really. She’d never been shy about anything before.

Maybe it was the fact that just looking at him elicited a mini orgasm through her entire body.

She couldn’t avoid it forever though; it was her bar after all. Probably wouldn’t be acceptable to shift and growl at him. She’d send every single customer running right out the front door. Mack rubbed her damp hands on her jeans and went to face the beast.

“Hi, I’m Mack, and you are?”

***

Straight forward. I like that.

“Hey, name’s Damon. Nice to meet you.”

She had a firm handshake too. Guess her sexy body wasn’t all she had to offer. He wasn’t looking to score though. Just some work to keep him busy while he was in town. A place to stay wouldn’t be turned down either.

“I hear you’re looking for work as a bouncer?”

“Yeah, any work’ll do but I heard you talk about hiring someone for crowd control and I have experience in that so figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.”

“You’re right, just not sure I have it in the budget right now. I’d have to do some figuring. I was only half serious when I threatened those guys.”

“So, you were just trying to scare them?”

“Yeah, they’ve busted up my bar a few times and it’s getting expensive to fix.”

“If it helps, I’ll do the job for free.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I don’t need the money.”

Just then a big party of women came in the door distracting Mack from their conversation.

“Can you hold on…don’t go anywhere.”

She pointed a finger at him with a smirk, then walked out from around the bar and went to hug the women. Must be friends of hers.

When the bar server stopped in front of him, he asked to order some food. She handed him a menu from under the bar and said she’d be back in a couple minutes. Mack beat her to it though.

“I see you decided to try some of our bar food?”

Mack situated herself in front of the man again.

“Yeah, I’m sure it won’t be a problem. I have an iron stomach these days. Not much bothers it.”

“Alrighty then, but it’s not that bad. What can I get for you?”

He looked at the list one more time. It wasn’t like a regular restaurant menu, only had a few things listed but at least there were items he liked.

“Can I have the platter with the wings, mushrooms and potato skins?”

“You bet, how hot on the wings?”

“Make ‘em hot.”

“Any sauce? I’ve got ranch, blue cheese and even liquid beer cheese if you like that kind of thing.?”

“You have ranch?”

“Sure do, I make it myself.” She smiled, proud of the food she provided her customers.

“Perfect.”

Mack disappeared through the door, so Damon took the opportunity to look around the bar a bit, get a feel for where things were and the general atmosphere.

She hadn’t agreed to take him on as bouncer, but she didn’t say no either so there was still a chance.

If he didn’t find something to do in town, he wouldn’t know whether he’d like being there for longer than just a visit.

Before he left the bar, he’d inquire about a place to stay.

She seemed proud of her establishment and deservedly so.

Damon had been to his fair share of watering holes on his travels across the country and while this one was definitely a country bar, it was well kept and seemed like a popular place.

She had a steady stream of traffic in and out the door.

She was right though. The wrong kind of drunks breaking up the place would take up her profits quickly. In that regard, he could help.

“Knock, knock.” Mack softly tapped on the wood top in front of Damon.

“Oh, sorry.”

“You looked to be far off somewhere. Hope it was a nice vacation spot.”

“Truthfully, I was just thinking about your bar. You have a good business going.”

“Yeah, it does pretty well.”

She set a food platter down in front of him and grabbed a set of utensils from under the bar with extra napkins.

“Thanks Mack, it looks good.”

“It’s one of our most popular. Hope you like it.”

He took his first bite of the breaded mushroom and his eyes proceeded to roll back in his head. They were flavorful and juicy. This woman knew what she was doing.

“By that look, I’d say you’re happy with it?”

He was speechless, all he wanted to do was shove more food into his mouth. He could only shake his head in agreement with her.

“Well since your mouth is full and you can’t argue back, I have an offer for you.

If you are still interested in the security for this place, I’d love to have you.

The bar is open at four in the afternoon and closes at two in the morning during the week, four on the weekends.

Before you say anything, I can’t have you working for nothing in return, whether you need anything or not, so I’m prepared to offer you all your meals in exchange. ”

“I’ll take it.”

He didn’t have to think twice. The less he had to cook, the better off he would be.

“I do have one question though.”

“What’s that?”

“Is there somewhere in town I can stay? I haven’t been anywhere to see if there are hotels.”

“Oh, yeah, I didn’t think about that. We do have a few places, but I think I can help you with that too.

There’s a twin bed in my office in the back.

There’s a small wardrobe as well for your things.

I know it’s not much, but you’re welcome to it.

There’s also a private bathroom attached with a shower. ”

“That would work great.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, it’s a bed, I don’t need much more than that.”

“Okay then, it’s yours. I guess I won’t need to hunt you down when it’s time to work.

There’s a back door you can use to come and go, with limited parking behind the building and obviously the kitchen area if you need anything there.

I think I have an extra key I can give you. Remind me before closing tonight.”

“Thanks boss lady.” He put on his best cheesy grin, hoping he wouldn’t offend her.

“You can call me Mack, everybody does.”