Snowed in with my Best Friend (Montgomery Ink Legacy)

Chapter 1

CULLEN

If there was one thing I knew about attending a Montgomery holiday party—or rather any of their events—it was that bringing cheese to the occasion would smooth the way of any awkward introductions or personalities.

Mostly because I was the awkward personality.

I looked down at the basket of cheese in my hand, and then at the red wine the lady behind the counter had said would match nicely with it. “Insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting it to have a different outcome.”

“Are you talking to the cheese and wine or yourself?”

I looked over at my friend and boss, Lexington Wilder Montgomery, and snorted. “Which would be the gentlest answer for you?”

Lex held out his hand and took the wine before giving me one of those deep hugs that we gave one-handed. “Good to see you, Cullen. I wasn’t sure you were going to be able to make it.”

I shrugged, feeling awkward once again. It was practically stamped on my forehead at this time. “I don’t leave until tomorrow for my parents’ house. And it’s not like I had other invites.”

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to take that,” Lex said with a laugh as we walked into the large home his parents had built. We were up in Fort Collins, rather than in Denver where I worked now, but honestly, with I-25 the way it was, everything was one big city.

I had started working for the family over twelve years ago now.

Which seemed insane because I had to be only twenty-one, right?

At least, that’s what I told myself whenever I said I had plenty of time to settle down and figure out what I wanted for the rest of my life.

Except I wasn’t sure that was going to happen anytime soon.

Not with the person I had on my mind, nor with anyone else for that matter.

A woman with a kind smile and bright eyes leaned forward. “Oh, you brought cheese, that’s fantastic, thank you. Did you talk with Jessa at The Market?”

I didn’t know which Montgomery had spoken other than I thought it was one of Lexington’s aunts on the Fort Collins Montgomery side, but I still needed them to all wear name tags.

It didn’t help that a large number of the family members each held businesses of their own and invited their employees.

So there had to be over a hundred people milling about inside and out, all laughing and eating and drinking and acting as if this was a normal occurrence.

Except with the Montgomerys it was.

I shouldn’t feel too out of my element though, considering I had eight brothers and sisters. I was also the oldest and hadn’t settled down yet.

Hence the next day’s long drive up to the family ranch.

I cleared my throat. “You’re welcome. Thank you for inviting me. And yes. I love the Market.”

The older woman smiled, laughter in her eyes. I had to wonder if she could read the confusion on my face. “I’m Annabelle, by the way, Lexington’s aunt. Not all of the siblings and cousins are here, so you don’t have to be worried about being too overwhelmed.”

“This is Cullen, Aunt Annabelle, you do realize that he has more siblings than you?”

She grinned then, her eyes brightening. “Oh yes, I remember that. We’ve met a few of them, right?”

I nodded, sticking my hands in my dark jeans pockets since I didn’t know what to do with them.

I wasn’t usually this antsy. In fact, I was usually the easygoing guy, who was good with his hands, could make any conversation, and was just the good guy.

However, somebody that I was trying to keep off my mind was going to be here tonight, and I had to pretend that I was clearly not falling in love with her.

Because that made sense. After all, we were just friends, and I was fine with that.

And I wasn’t sure I’d be able to push down those feelings any longer.

But I wasn’t going to do anything to force her to want me.

She didn’t, and that was just going to have to be it.

I would get over my feelings eventually.

“Cullen?” Annabelle asked. “Is everything okay?”

I cleared my throat. “Sorry. Wool gathering.”

Understanding filled her gaze, though she was the only one who understood. I sure didn’t. “Well, let’s get you a drink and something to eat, then you can mill about. Do you know a few people? Or I can introduce you?”

Lex squeezed my shoulders. “It’s okay, Aunt Annabelle, I can help Cullen here.”

“No, you need to go fix something. You know what,” she said. Whe narrowed her gaze at my boss, and Lex sighed.

“Okay, I’m throwing you to the wolves. Sorry.” And with that, Lex scampered off into the crowd, and I lost him.

I blinked after him, confused. “What just happened?”

She rolled her eyes, though her smile was genuine. “Family. We’re fun, but we’re loud. Come on, let me show you around.”

In the end, I met another six Montgomerys and found myself standing in a corner with Crew, who was engaged to Aria Montgomery, one of Lex’s cousins, and Dash, who was also a cousin, but Lex’s real cousin, and not a second cousin twice removed or something like that like most of these people were.

I knew Crew because I had helped build a couple of his properties, considering I was the master plumber for Montgomery Construction, and I worked with Dash.

The kid was over a decade younger than me, and yet we got along just fine.

In fact, he was sometimes my boss on a few properties.

And thankfully, the Montgomerys didn’t make it weird.

“I’m glad you came,” Dash said as he grinned at me. That was Dash, always happy and bubbly and looking as if he had a few secrets to share. He also got shit done. He was the main foreman for Montgomery Construction, just like Lex was an architect.

They were an offshoot of Montgomery Builders, which was the Fort Collins branch, and Montgomery Inc.

, the Denver branch. Instead of the next generation trying to figure out which branch to join, they had just made their own, combining everything into one trust. I was still shocked that anybody could make all of that work, but if anyone could, it was this family.

“I’m glad I could come too. I brought cheese and wine.”

“I suppose you’ve learned how to work with the Montgomerys after a decade,” Crew said as he lifted his beer bottle to his lips.

My lips quirked into a smile. “I try. Although I swear these parties are getting bigger and bigger.”

“People are getting married, and we’re adding more staff that we actually like hanging out with.”

“I’m going to take it as a good thing that you’re saying it in front of me?” I asked, teasing.

Dash blushed. “Sorry. I mean, you’ve been working for my family longer than I have.”

“Considering I don’t think you were even in high school when I started working for the Montgomerys, albeit your uncle’s company, yeah, probably.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot that. Well, I bet Lex was glad to get you considering you’re the guy who can pretty much do anything when it comes to plumbing.”

“I should really put that on my business cards. Or my dating profile,” I said dryly.

Dash’s brows rose. “You’re back on the apps? A glutton for punishment, are you?”

I mentally winced. “Not right now. They don’t really work with the holidays. But eventually I’ll get out there. Find someone.”

“I’m sure this one has a cousin or four,” Crew added, pointing his thumb over at Dash.

The younger man beamed. “And one that doesn’t work with us. Plus, Lex has a whole other set of cousins that live in other states. I mean, we aren’t as big as your family, but we’re getting there.”

“That statement scares me,” Crew said dryly.

Honestly, the sibling and cousin math made my head hurt.

“I may have more siblings than you do, but I think we have the same number as at least one of the generations in this group did. Either way, both of my parents each only had a single sibling and they didn’t have kids, so it isn’t like I have any cousins. ”

Dash put a hand over his chest, his face mock surprised. “No cousins? How does that work?”

“I’ll tell you all about it when you’re older,” Crew said as he tipped back his beer. “And on that note, I see the person I was looking for.”

Crew didn’t even bother to acknowledge us as he pushed past us and set his beer bottle near the other empties. He grinned down at his fiancée as Aria beamed up at him. And he put both hands on her face and kissed her soundly on the mouth.

Some whistled, a few groaned, and another even threw a balled-up napkin.

“Whoever threw that better clean up after themselves!” a woman’s voice shouted as the entire room broke out into laughter, her included.

I joined in before taking a sip of my beer. “You guys know to how to throw parties.”

Dash began to talk about the project we were on, invested in the number of growing enterprises the Montgomerys were working on.

I listened with half an ear, but I couldn’t help but think about the one person who had been on my mind for far too long.

We hadn’t seen each other in forty-eight hours, which, considering Posy never left her house as she worked from home, it made sense.

But I liked having coffee with her at Latte on the Rocks and going for walks because she had said we both needed the fresh air.

She told me she would be here as she and her friend Mercy had been invited by Lex’s mom, so here I was, wondering again why I was stressing out about seeing a woman that I saw often.

Then the group parted, and I saw her.

I swallowed hard, trying not to choke on my beer as I studied the woman who had me up late at night.

She wore a forest green dress that was straight across the collarbone, but otherwise sleeveless.

It tucked in at the waist with a little belt, and it flared out past her knees.

She had on red chunky heels, and gold and glittery jewelry. But it was her hair that always got me.