Mila’s Mountain Man (Daddies of Whiskey Mountain #2)

Chapter 1

MILA

Nerves run through me as I stare at my phone. When will they be calling me? Would it be today, or is it going to be another day?

“You’re okay,” I whisper to myself as my leg starts bouncing.

I’m really going to do this. It’s about time I put myself first, but am I really going to go to Whiskey River Mountain Lodge?

My friend Aiden, who’s a doctor, told me to come up and visit him. To get away from everything in life and relax some. When was the last time I took time to relax?

Ring. Ring. Ring.

I jump in my seat, my eyes zeroing in on my phone buzzing on the table. Aiden’s name appears on the screen. People in the coffee shop look toward me.

“Sorry,” I whisper as I bow my head in their direction before picking up my phone.

“Mila, you’re still coming, right?”

I open and close my mouth several times, trying to find the words. Yes, I am. No, I’m not.

I shouldn’t be going. I’m almost forty years old. This place was a kinky place, and I hadn’t been to one in years… Twenty years.

“Mila?” he calls my name. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yes,” I whisper.

“You aren’t backing out, right?” Aiden asks. “We haven’t seen each other in five years. I really want you to come to Whiskey River Mountain Lodge and see where I work. I want you to have a little vacation and get away from the stress in life. You need it. Especially after the call I just got.”

“You don’t need to talk about that,” I mumble, closing my eyes and leaning on the back of my chair.

He raises his voice. “Yes, I do! How long were you going to keep it from me? From everyone?”

“Aiden,” I say gently.

“No, Mila. It’s serious. The nurse called me… your emergency contact. How could you not be taking care of yourself?” he asks. “What have you been doing? How has your boss been treating you?”

I suck in a breath as he mentions my boss. After that incident, he gave me two options: be fired or leave so it wouldn’t be on my record.

But no one knew about it.

No one could find out about it.

“I swear if your boss doesn’t give you time off to come here, then I’m going to fly down there and have a talk with him,” Aiden grumbles. “How many hours have you been working a week?”

“Sixty,” I whisper.

Looking up at the ceiling, tears threaten to spill down my face.

I’m so exhausted and have been for years, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

I needed to work. I needed to keep my mind off the guilt eating me up inside, and Chad took advantage of it.

He saw how eager I was to work and just kept piling things on my plate, even if they weren’t in my job description.

“SIXTY?” Aiden yells, and I pull the phone away from my ear. “Unacceptable. Did he grant you the time off?”

“Yes,” I lie.

“How long did he give you? After all those hours you worked—and I have a feeling this has been going on for over a year—you have at least two weeks of vacation on top of your sick days and the PTO you start with,” he rambles.

“Two weeks, but he said if I needed a third week that I could have it.” I feel like shit lying to Aiden like this. If he knew, I would be in big trouble. My bottom cheeks clench at the thought.

No.

Aiden isn’t going to find out about this. He can’t.

“Perfect. It starts right away, right?”

“Yes.”

I rub my forehead as I lean my elbows on the table.

“I’ll book you a flight right now. The earlier, the better. We’re expecting to get some snow in the next couple of days and I don’t want your flight getting cancelled,” Aiden explains. “If I can find a flight today, will you have enough time to go home and get your clothes?”

“No.”

“No?”

I know he is bunching his eyebrows up right now. It’s been over five years since I’ve seen him, but he is the same… Always the same.

“What do you mean you can’t?” he asks. “Will tomorrow morning be fine? I see a flight leaving at six in the morning.”

“No.” My voice shakes this time.

“Mila, what’s wrong?” he asks. “When can you leave?”

“I can’t.” Tears flow down my cheeks now.

“Are you still afraid of flying?” he asks.

I can’t find it in me to say yes. Just the thought of flying has me shaking like a leaf.

“I don’t want you driving twelve hours to get here. It’s not safe, and I know you would do it in one trip without taking breaks,” he says slightly scolding me. “Can you fly for me this one time?”

“I can’t.” I shake my head.

“Mila,” he gently says. “I need you to work with me here. I can buy you a first-class ticket so you don’t have to be near anyone. If you want, I can buy all the plane tickets so no one else but the pilots and stewardesses are there.”

“Aiden, I can’t,” I repeat. “I won’t even make it to the airport before I pass out.”

He sighs, and the guilt inside of me forms a tight ball in my stomach, growing bigger and bigger with each passing minute.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t come,” I say quickly. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine here at my apartment.”

“No, I don’t want you in the same city as your work. You’ll be tempted to work or find another job to work while you take time off. It’s not happening.” His voice is hard. “Give me one second. Let me ask Thorin something.”

I know who Thorin was: the owner of Whiskey River Mountain Lodge. Aiden had sent a picture with him before, and he looked just like his name would suggest.

Massive. Muscular. A beard. Scary.

“Are you still there?” Aiden asks.

“Yes,” I reply. “Aiden, I really can drive there. You don’t need to worry about me. I can make sure that I take breaks. You can even call me to make sure that I do.”

“That won’t do because you could just pull off to the side of the road while I’m on the phone with you. I want you to take proper breaks and stop somewhere for the night.”

I hold in a groan. Of course, he would know what I planned on doing.

“You wouldn’t be able to hide it anyway when you arrived hours and hours earlier.” He chuckles. “I need to talk to someone real quick, but I’ll give you a call in a minute when I get some things figured out. Stay where you are.”

“What if I wanted to leave?” I ask.

“I’ll transfer you some money so you can get another drink,” he says. “Be a good girl and stay at your usual coffee shop.”

“H-how di—”

“You always go to this coffee shop when you are anxious. You told me that when I was there the last time,” he reminds me. “Now, do as I say while I go talk to someone.”

He hangs up and not even a minute later my phone pings, letting me know he transferred enough money for two drinks.

“Of course he would,” I mumble. “He probably knew I would devour the first one and regret that I didn’t savor it.”

I leave my bag at the table and walk up to the register, telling the cashier my order before scanning my phone and walking back to my table. Who is Aiden talking to? What sort of plan is he coming up with?

I take a shaky breath in and slowly let it out, trying to calm myself down. Aiden knows I don’t like it when he does things like this. I want to be in the know.

“Here are your two cups of coffee. Let me know if you need anything else,” the server gently says as she places them down. “And I mean anything. We can slip you out the back.”

My eyebrows bunch together. “B-back?”

She nods and looks around before leaning in to whisper. “If you are hiding from someone, we can sneak you out the back. Just let me know and we will take care of everything.”

With an awkward chuckle, I rub the back of my neck. “It’s nothing like that.”

She searches my face. “I know it can be hard to leave an abusive relationship, but I want you to know that I’m here for you. You obviously don’t know me, but I’ve been where you are and I don’t want you to think you are alone.”

“I promise I’m fine.” I raise my hands in the air. “I’m just waiting for my friend to call me back. He’s buying me plane tickets.”

Another lie.

How many am I going to tell this month? I push the thought to the back of my mind.

“I’m telling the truth. I just got fired, and he wants me to come visit him,” I say honestly.

“O-okay,” she says hesitantly. “If you change your mind, just let me know and I’ll help you.”

I watch as she leaves, my mind whirling with so many thoughts. Do I give off the vibes of someone who is in an abusive relationship? Does everyone in the coffee shop think that?

Picking up my cup, I take a huge gulp and lean back in my chair.

“Everything is going to be okay,” I whisper.

Everything has to be okay. I look out the window to see the dark, gloomy clouds rolling in. Shit. I forgot my umbrella.

Groaning, I lean my head back and take a deep breath. Nothing is going my way. Of course it wouldn’t. Never in my life have things been easy.

In no time I finish my first cup of coffee and start bouncing my leg, trying to calm the nerves running rampant inside of me. But nothing seems to work, no amount of deep breaths, shaking my leg, or slowly drinking my second cup of coffee.

I can still feel the anxiety rolling through me like a freight train, ready to go off rails and crash into a million pieces.

I shouldn’t go to the lodge, not if I’m going to see Aiden. He’s going to take one look at me and realize that something is wrong.

“Mila?” a deep voice calls out my name, pulling me out of my thoughts.

Flinching, I look up to see a blond-haired, blue-eyed male staring right at me. From the way his clothes tightly hug every part of his body, I can tell he works out.

“H-how do you know my name?” I ask as my eyes dart around the coffee shop.

“Fro—”

My phone rings and I look down, seeing Aiden’s name pop up. I quickly answer it, my gaze finding the man standing in front of me once again. Anxiety rolls through me as he continues to just stand there.

“A-Aiden,” I whimper.

“Mila? What’s wrong?”

“Man,” I manage to get out.

“Man?” Aiden repeats. “Who? Does he have blond hair and blue eyes? About five foot five?”

My eyes widen. “Y-yes.”

“That’s Tobias. He works at Whiskey River Mountain Lodge and is going to drive you here,” Aiden says. “You can trust him. I promise nothing is going to happen. I trust him with my life.”