Wild Mountain Man (Seduction Summit Lumberjacks #2)

Chapter 1

1

TEAGAN

T his logging truck was ruining my life. The speed limit was forty going up the mountain on the main road through Seduction Summit, but apparently this guy missed the memo on that. He was going just under thirty for no reason whatsoever.

“How do you know he’s a guy?” I asked myself.

But try as I might to picture a woman driving this monstrosity stacked with what looked like tree trunks in the back, I couldn’t. Of course, it was a man. And, of course, this particular man was a pain in my backside.

But if that wasn’t bad enough, another truck came up behind me, lights blaring directly in my rearview mirror. Ugh.

I reached up and flipped the lever to block out the glare, then glanced at the clock again. It was after seven. My plan had been to be at the hotel and checked in with plenty of time to get dressed for the welcome reception. The judges would be there, as would all the other aspiring bakers in this national baking championship—a competition that offered a prize of fifty thousand dollars and help with setting up a bakery.

I took a deep breath and tried a visualization exercise. I’d learned that in college—right before I dropped out after failing a class freshman year. Some people weren’t cut out for university life, and I was one of them.

A loud bang jolted me out of my thoughts, and suddenly the steering wheel began jerking left. I tightened my grip on the wheel.

“What the hell?”

What just happened? Had the guy behind me gotten angry and shot out my tire? No, that was ridiculous. But something was definitely wrong, and I had no way to pull off the road.

I slowed to a stop, glancing at the truck behind me. I waited for him to lay on the horn, at which point I’d shrug and maybe even give him the middle finger. That was definitely out of character for me, though. Road rage wasn’t my thing.

I looked ahead to make sure no one was coming as the logging truck disappeared over the hill. Only as I stepped out of my white coupe did I notice flashing. The guy behind me had flipped on his hazard lights and his driver’s door was open too.

“Get back in your car!”

The male voice cut through the night air, bringing an immediate frown to my face. Who the heck was talking to me that way? I did not like being bossed around by anyone, let alone some tailgating, truck-driving whack?—

My thoughts cut off as the guy slammed his door shut and started walking determinedly toward me. My mouth actually fell open. I thought of something my grammy always said when I was a kid.

“Better shut that mouth, Teagan,” she’d say. “You don’t want to catch any flies.”

I immediately clamped my mouth shut. He was getting closer, and as impossible as it seemed, he was even hotter from a few feet away.

“It’s not safe,” the man said. “A car could come over that hill any second.”

I turned and looked, and my breath caught. He was right. I was standing on the road. Someone wouldn’t see me until it was too late.

“I need to check out what’s going on,” I said, pointing toward my car.

At the same time, I was already heading around the front of my car to the other side. The side that wouldn’t have me standing in the road.

“It’s still not safe there,” he said. “If someone comes along and hits my truck and pushes it into your car?—”

“You’ll be dead too,” I interrupted.

“Yeah, well, I’m willing to take that risk. What’s the problem?”

“Back passenger tire,” I said, pointing. “I get free roadside assistance. It came with the car warranty. I’ll just make a call…”

He narrowed his eyes at me, and those eyes were his best feature. They were brown, but a light-colored brown, not a deep chocolate brown like mine. His skin was rough, like he worked outside a lot. And he looked so big and strong. No wonder he didn’t fear a car coming over that hill. As strong as he appeared to be, he’d probably do more damage to the vehicle than it would to him.

Okay, that was an exaggeration. I was truly worried for his safety.

“You’re safest in the driver’s seat,” he said. “Buckled in. I’ll take care of the tire. Do you have a spare?”

“A spare what?” I asked.

He closed his eyes, then opened them again. “Never mind. I’ll take care of it. Just pop the trunk once you’re buckled in.”

He could lift the trunk without me doing anything, but I didn’t argue. I started toward my driver’s seat, looking both ways as I went around the front of my vehicle.

I did feel a little safer once I was inside and buckled in. And that was when I researched the word spare, along with the word car, and realized he was talking about a spare tire. A lot of cars had the spare in the trunk.

“Oh, shit,” I said, looking in my rearview mirror.

The trunk was open. He’d obviously figured it out on his own without me doing anything, and from the sound of things, he was rummaging around in there.

That was where I’d put the boxes of truffles I’d spent hours making before leaving my tiny apartment in Charleston. It was part of the competition. We had to bring samples of our baking. If he destroyed those, I wouldn’t just be late for the cocktail reception, which was starting in less than half an hour, but I’d also be missing the one requirement to enter. I might even be kicked out.

I looked to make sure no vehicles were coming and unfastened my seatbelt, preparing to get out. But the trunk slammed shut at the same time my fingers landed on the door handle.

He was already changing the tire, but he’d no doubt put the damaged one back after he was finished—at least that’s what the website I visited said to do. So I took a deep breath and got out, heading to the back of my car and looking inside the trunk.

“What are you doing?” His head popped up all of a sudden, his eyes narrowed at me. “I told you it wasn’t safe.”

“I have something back here that’s even more important than my life.”

“Doubtful.”

Was that a compliment? No, he’d probably say that to anyone. A human life was always more important than truffles, at least in most people’s eyes. My future was riding on this baking competition, though, so I wasn’t really on board with that.

“This is precious cargo,” I said. And then my gaze lowered to the trunk. “Oh no.”

That seemed to be enough to get his attention. He set down whatever he was holding and came around to the back, joining me as I frantically opened box tops.

“I have to save these,” I said as a swishy sound alerted me that a vehicle was about to crest the hill up ahead. “I’ll bring this around to the passenger side. Can you open the back door?”

The panic in my voice must have been noticeable because this burly guy did exactly as I asked, stopping to prop up the spare tire against my car so I could easily get around it. Then he opened the back door for me and watched as I set the boxes on the back seat, arranging them so they wouldn’t slide around.

Not that it mattered at this point. I doubted there would be enough uncrushed truffles to distribute among the judges. I’d made exactly enough for the eight of them.

“Did I do that?” the guy asked. “I had no idea. I’m sorry. I should have paid more attention to what was back there.”

I’d set the candy boxes to one side, with my luggage taking up the rest of the trunk. My suitcase now sat on the ground next to the trunk. I assumed he’d done his best to get the tire out without having to remove everything from the trunk.

I shook my head, backing up and looking at him. “You couldn’t have known. You’re saving my bacon here. If I don’t make it to the reception in time…well, I don’t know what will happen. They said it was mandatory.”

A gigantic truck whizzed past us, and I saw the guy tense. He wanted me in the car.

“I’ll grab the rest of the boxes and put them back here,” he said. “Just belt yourself in again. Please?”

He added that last part at the last minute, probably sensing I wasn’t too fond of being bossed around. I knew his bossiness was for a good reason, though. He was trying to keep me safe. He didn’t want my candy being the only thing that was crushed out here today.

That was a morbid thought. I shook my head at myself as I walked around to the driver’s side and, as I’d done before, stopped to look both ways. I noticed a couple of vehicles behind his and figured I’d better get in the driver’s seat before they decided to rush around us.

“What am I going to do?” I asked myself as the guy walked around and settled the boxes in the back seat. He ran out of room on the floorboard, so he settled them on the seat.

Oddly, as stressed as I was right now, that one move comforted me. The guy was changing my flat tire, for God’s sake. But him taking care of my chocolates touched me in a way I hadn’t expected.

Suddenly, all I could think about were the people who said they fell in love with their husbands when they saw them as fathers. Right now, my chocolates were my babies. Opening a candy shop was all I’d ever wanted to do. And this man—this hero —was helping me. He was doing everything he could to save them.

Too bad I was only going to be here for a few days, because for the first time in my life, I could see myself falling in love with this hot mountain man in a bomber jacket who knew how to change a spare tire. They didn’t come any better than him.