The Mountain Man’s Curvy Bride (Mountain Man Sanctuary Season 2)

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Ember

“Wait, she has the special edition release? Tell me she has the entire trilogy.”

“Even better. She has the prequel, too. And it’s in this gorgeous box.”

“Oh my God! I’ve wanted that set for so long. It was a limited print!” My best friend and fellow book lover, Dottie, gushed on the speaker phone. She loved romance while I was more of a thriller type gal. But my sister- hardcore romantic.

“I’ll put it aside for you. She has so many. I didn’t realize she bought so many in hardcover.”

“There’s nothing like the smell of a book. Can’t smell your kindle now, can you?”

I chuckled. “Thanks for making me feel better, Dot. You always do.”

“Of course. I should’ve canceled my plans and came with you. My parents are driving me crazy.” Dottie whispered the last part before muffling the next few words.

“What?”

“Never mind. I thought someone was coming. The coast is clear. So how long do you have to clean out the storage unit?”

“Until the end of the month. It’ll probably take me just as long. Seems like she has a lot more stuff than I anticipated.”

I took a deep breath and blew it out as I looked around at all of the scattered boxes.

When my younger sister Elena died in a car accident two years ago, my whole world turned upside down.

I was never close with my family, my parents the kind of folks who distanced themselves from most others including their own children.

But Elena and I were like glue, close while growing up and still close after.

After my sister and I graduated high school, they moved across the country, neither one of us wanting to go.

We stayed behind, and I took care of their house while Elena moved into an apartment a few towns over to be closer to her job at the local hospital.

We talked every day and had dinners together often. So when the fateful call came two summers ago that she was gone my world fell apart.

I’d never forget the headlines in the Appleridge paper.

A young life taken too soon. A drunk driver and a wrong way crash caused the death of a local, beloved nurse.

My parents moved back home, but their grief and mine together were too much. I moved out a few months later and into an apartment with Dottie.

Life hasn’t been the same since.

For a long time, I ignored the notices about my sister’s storage unit. I remembered filling it up with her before she moved, her apartment too small to store anything. But when the auction notice came, I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

Two years later and it hurt like hell still.

“We all seem to gather a lot more crap than we like to.” Dottie agreed.

“Ain’t that the truth. Every time I clean out my closet, I ask myself where I got half the shit in there.

” I blinked a few tears away as thoughts crowded my mind and picked up a leather-bound book, the cover reading My Passwords.

I cracked it open. Dust tickled my nostrils.

“I found Elena’s book of passwords. Maybe there'll be some secrets in here.” I joked as I thumbed through the book.

It looked like lists of websites with usernames and passwords, nothing too interesting.

But then I read one listing a website called Mountain Mates. Username- Spicysugar. Password- Findahusbandb4mysis.

My mouth fell open and a tsk sound emerged from my throat. Wow.

“What? What did you find?” Dottie asked impatiently.

I snorted, thinking of my sister with a look of glee on her face as she set the password. “Have you ever heard of a website called Mountain Mates?” I put the book aside and grabbed my phone off the nearby box. Moving out of the phone app, I opened the Google app and quickly typed in Mountain Mates.

“No, what is it?” Dottie replied, curiosity etched in her voice.

My eyes scanned the words, and my hand flew over my mouth as I let out a chuckle. “No way.”

Mountain Mates- the number one dating website in America!

Find your own mountain man and start your love story today!

Or are you a mountain man looking for love?

Make a profile and wait for the messages to come pouring in.

You can even score your very own mail order bride.

All for the low price of nineteen ninety-nine a month.

A dating website. For mountain men.

And mail order brides.

What?!

“Dottie, you won’t believe this, but I found a username and password to a dating site in my sister's book. But not just any dating site- one to find a mountain man.”

Dottie snorted. “I’m sorry, what? That exists? And your sister was on it?”

“Yep. Guess what her password is?”

“Oh God. Do I want to know?”

“Find a husband before my sister. What a bitch.” I joked, my words only coming from a place of love.

“That’s amazing. Good one Elena.” Dottie laughed and laughed and I joined in, unable to help myself.

My sister was pretty witty when she wanted to be. Damn, I missed her.

“I wonder if she actually had a profile on here. Or if she dated anyone.”

“You should do some research and report back. Maybe find someone for yourself even.”

“On a mountain man website? No thanks.” I laughed.

“Why are you laughing? That’s all there is around here.”

“Exactly my point. Maybe I should move to the city.”

“Excuse me? You are not leaving me in this town.”

“You have Jerry. Soon you’ll move in together, get engaged–”

“Whoa, whoa, slow down there, crazy lady. No one is moving in together and who the hell is going ring shopping? Not Jerry. Have you seen that man’s wardrobe?”

I laughed, Dottie’s teasing sense of humor always lifting my mood. After two failed engagements, it didn’t surprise me she wanted to go slow but teasing her was fun. “My point is you found a mountain man.”

“And you will too. So go on there, surf around, you never know.” Static and muffled voices crossed over the phone line. “I got to run, love. Call me later. And don’t overwhelm yourself. Love you, bye.” The line clicked off.

Dottie knew me better than anyone and always knew the right thing to say. I shouldn’t overwhelm myself with Elena’s belongings.

I loaded my car with a few boxes, things of hers I wanted to keep, and headed home as the sun began to set, the sky a mix of pink and orange shades.

With Dottie still at dinner with her parents, the empty apartment greeted me with silence as I brought in the boxes. I stored them in the corner of my room, except for the book of passwords, which I held tightly under one arm while grabbing my laptop.

Settling on my bed, I logged onto my computer and navigated to the website, Mountain Mates. I flipped the book open to the page with Elena’s username and password and typed them in.

Instantly, I was logged into the page. My eyes darted around quickly, taking it all in.

My sister had a profile. A cute one at that. I clicked through her pictures and read her short bio, as tears pricked my eyes.

Oh how I miss her.

My breath caught in my throat and my fingers tingled as more tears threatened to spill over. A sharp pang of grief hit me square in the chest.

I moved away from her profile, unable to swallow past the waves of sadness and clicked on her inbox where multiple messages waited.

Damn. She had a lot of men in here.

I clicked through a few, some she talked to, some new and never opened.

As I scrolled down, one caught my eye. A handsome guy, with the kind of smile that turned your stomach to straight goo and made your heart race.

All from his picture alone.

His username read ITBeastMan.

I laughed. ITBeastMan? That was what he came up with?

Without even reading his profile, I opened his message.

ITBeastMan: Hi. How are you? You intrigued me so I thought I’d say hello.

Spicysugar: Hi. You’re pretty intriguing yourself. How’s your day going?

My stomach spun as I hit send.

Here goes nothing.