“How can you guys even be talking right now? Aren’t you terrified?” Harley shakes her head, causing a few strands of bright pink highlights to fall loose from her platinum blonde ponytail. “The car won’t start.”
“The gunshot probably scared away any wild animals,” I say. “I think we’ll be okay.”
“Okay?” In the rearview mirror, I see Piper roll her eyes. “There’s no cell service, we’re in the middle of nowhere, and we’re stranded. How is this going to be okay?”
“We can’t be that far from town,” I tell them, trying to remember the route from when I was here last, which was years ago on one of my rare visits to see my grandma.
After my grandfather died, coming back here was difficult. I never really got over my guilt of being the reason why he was out in the woods in the first place. I’d always assumed my grandmother secretly blamed me as well, which was why it was a surprise when her lawyer called and told me that she’d left everything to me.
“What are we going to do?” Kate asks, squirming in her seat. “Not only are we lost, but I’ve had to use the restroom for the past two hours.”
I sigh. “Then go behind one of those trees.”
“And risk being eaten by a bear? No fricking way.” She throws her hands up exaggeratedly. “I’m still trying to figure out how you managed to get us lost, crashed into a tree, and attacked by not one, but two freaking bears. And all in the same day. I’m starting to think this whole Alaskan-life-makeover”—she makes air quotes—“isn’t just a bad idea, but a suicide mission.”
“This isn’t all Adelaide’s fault,” Piper defends me. “It was Harley that told her to turn right instead of left.”
“It wasn’t my fault the GPS stopped working once I figured out we were going in the wrong direction.” Harley crosses her arms. “What kind of place doesn’t have satellite?”
“Alaska,” the three of us say in unison, and despite all the tension that’s mounting between us, once one of us breaks into laughter, the rest follow.
After a few moments of hysterical, tension-filled laughter, I wipe the tears from my eyes and take a deep breath, trying to come up with a plan. “We can hike back down the way we came, toward the highway.”
“And hitchhike?” Kate asks like it’s the craziest idea she’s ever heard.
“There are four of us. We’ll be fine. Once we get to town, we can get someone to tow the car.”
“So, we walk and get eaten on the way,” Harley says, shaking her blonde ponytail. I can hear the hint of hysteria in her voice, and see the tears welling up in her expressive brown eyes.
The long plane ride to get here, and the trouble we had at the car rental office after we landed would have been enough to make all four of us cranky and our nerves frayed. Mix in getting lost, crashing the car, and being attacked by two bears, it’s no wonder she’s on the edge of losing it.
“Oh sweetie, I promise we’re going to be safe.” I squeeze her hand and silently pray that it’s true. After all, I’m the one who convinced my girlfriends to move to Bear Valley after learning that I inherited the bookstore & cafe. A business that has a four-bedroom apartment attached to it. It seemed too good to be true.
Of course, not if we don’t get there in one piece.
“We’re going to be okay.”
“How can you promise that?” Piper asks.
I bite my bottom lip and try to think of something that can ease their fears. I feel so responsible for all of them, considering they all took this crazy chance with me. Each of us gave up our old lives and jobs to come here.
I say a silent plea to whatever god is listening, and when I look out the window, I see the answer to my prayer.
Oh.
My.
God.
Well, maybe not a god, but the impressive creature that’s parked his truck on the opposite side of the uneven dirt road and headed our way is pretty close to what my imagination would come up with for an Alaskan god.
The rugged man with a beard and an unbuttoned flannel shirt exposing corded abs and a massive, bronzed chest is more of a mountain than a man. The evergreen forest surrounding us is impressive, but his build is even more startling. He’s tall, muscular, and walking with a purpose, dark, intense, and a slightly pissed off gaze focused on me.
“Holy hell,” Harley giggles, slapping my arm. “I know everyone jokes about bearded hotties in Alaska...but they weren’t exaggerating.”
Harley’s right. This man is a quintessential mountain man, the kind women make memes about.
“I know how he could use that beard,” Piper jokes unabashedly, obviously forgetting the dire situation we were in moments before, and may still be in considering we don’t know the man’s intentions.
As he approaches I bite my bottom lip, desperate to ignore the way my body is responding to his. I need to remain in control. I need to get my friends from Point A to Point B without another bear -or wild mountain man - attack.
So, I get myself in check. Keep calm. Act totally chill. At least that’s what I tell myself as I call out to him. “Hey, can you help us?”
He walks up to the car with his shirt still unbuttoned and leans down, his ladder of abs directly in my line of vision. The edges of what look like deep scars are slightly visible, but the rest of his shirt hides them. I can’t help but wonder what it would feel like to drag my fingers over each corded muscle.
My body temperature increases and I find that I’m literally licking my lips. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear I swallow, desperate to think of something sexy and witty to say.
He looks at me and I realize I’ve got nothing. No game whatsoever. No clever banter to make me unforgettable. Just a racing heart and a quivering...well, everything.
“Looks like you ladies need a tow truck,” he says, his shaggy hair falling in his eyes. When he flicks it away, my heart practically explodes. His eyes burn into mine and I know he feels it too, at least I want to think he does.
There’s something broody about him, a conflict of emotions seems to race across his handsome features. But all I can think other than how hot he is, is that I know this man somehow.
There are collective sighs from the rest of the car when he leans closer and I can smell his male, earthy scent.
Lust. It’s not a feeling I’m used to, but this man has me hotter than a Carolina Reaper.
“We...uh...” I stutter. “Do I know you?”
“I...” He looks away, and I wonder if I did something wrong, but then he clears his throat, runs a hand over his thick beard and tries again as if now in control of his senses. When he looks back at me, I see the tops of his cheeks are red, as if he might be flustered like I am.
“A wild bear jumped on the car,” Piper says, interrupting our awkward exchange.
“All bears are wild,” the man says stoically, but there’s a flicker of annoyance in his words, in the way his jaw clenches.
“Right, but like, it was really wild,” Harley says. “And then another bear came out of nowhere and they were fighting. Rolling around and getting into it. It was like Animal Planet, only real life.”
Kate reaches around the seat and smacks her. “Don’t joke right now.”
“I’m not joking,” Harley laughs. “It was insane. You should have seen it.” She wiggles her eyebrows in a weirdly suggestive way.
He nods, frowning. “And you’re okay?” he asks, looking directly at me, and again, I can’t read his expression, but the intensity of it has my core clenching.
“I...” I swallow past the enormous lump in my throat. “I think so, just shaken up.”
“Makes sense considering you just tried to shoot a bear!” Harley is being obnoxious, but I’m guessing it’s just the weird adrenaline rush. Heck, I feel it too...but every time I glance back at the stranger who is staring at me, I feel more than adrenaline. It’s like endorphins shooting through my bloodstream.
“Why don’t you all get in my truck and I can drive you to town.”
Relief floods the car, and my friends and I all express our gratitude to this stranger. “You headed to Bear Valley?”
I nod, as he opens my passenger car door. “Yeah, we’re moving there.”
He lifts his eyebrows, looking down at me. The smile on his face is unmistakable. “Really?”
“Really!” Harley announces, pushing herself out of the backseat, her platinum blonde hair with hot pink streaks now tumbling around her shoulder. She offers him her hand and introduces herself. “I’m Harley, the loud one.” She gives him a big grin, then nudges the quietest of my three friends. “This is Kate, she’s always carrying a book.” She gives an exaggerated eye roll when Kate hits her with a novel she’d been reading just before we crashed.
“And I’m Piper.” She holds out a hand, which he shakes.
Harley places an arm over her shoulder. “She’s the one who always has a plan. Except right now it’s actually Addie with the plan. She’s the reason we’re all here.”
“And I take it you’re Addie?” he asks, turning his attention back to me.
I nod, wishing I were flirtier like Harley, or more assertive like Piper, or at least a little mysterious like Kate. Instead I’m the twenty-three-year-old virgin who can’t come up with anything cute to say.
“I’m Adelaide. But people call me Addie.”
“That’s cute.” He gives me a warm smile. I get the feeling he doesn't give them out all too often, because he shakes his head as if surprising himself.
I blush. Guess I said something cute after all.
“And you are?” Harley asks.
“Gunnar,” he says, dark eyes never leaving mine.
Again, with the butterflies. They flutter around my stomach like I’m a thirteen-year-old girl with her first crush. And that’s when I realize who he is - Gunnar Koleman.
I’d had a crazy infatuation with him when I was a kid. He was three years older than me, so I’d never actually had the nerve to talk to him. And the last time I’d seen him was ten years ago. Before the tragic event that took my grandpa’s life.
A small trickle of blood rolls down his cheek from under his hairline.
“Are you okay?” I start to reach out but pull my hand back. “You’re bleeding.”
He grimaces when he touches his ear. “Must have caught a branch. It’s just a scrape.” Then, taking charge, he claps his hands. “Now let’s get you ladies somewhere safe. Sounds like you’ve had a hell of a day.”
We grab our bags and let him lead the way to his truck. As he helps me into the front seat, I glance over my shoulder. I’m safe now, in this moment. Looking back toward the forest, I wonder where the bear I tried to shoot ran off to, knowing if I find the beast a second time that killed my grandfather, I will aim better.
I will shoot to kill.
It’s one of the reasons I came back here. To make amends any way I can. And now that I know the creature is still alive, I know exactly how I will do it.
Chapter 3
Gunnar
Pulling up to the bookstore that’s been left abandoned since Harriette Spencer passed away last winter, memories start to flash so visibly in my brain that I slam my foot a little too hard on the brake, causing my truck to jerk to a stop.
I should have recognized those eyes. Even all those years ago, when she was just a child, they’d seen me. Or at least I thought they had. So much is a blur from that fatal day, but the only clear thing I remember is her.
“You okay?” Addie asks me, brows shooting up.
I swallow hard. “So...you’re moving into the bookstore?”
“Yeah.” She twists her hands in her lap and looks out the window. “My grandma left the place to me. She started it years ago when she and my grandfather got married.”
I suppress the racking shudder that threatens to race through my body, because I know exactly who her grandfather was.
Marvin Spencer.
The man who killed my father. The man who mutilated my body. The man who I killed in a blind rage.
To say it complicates things is a goddamn understatement. Her family has had a vendetta against the bears in this valley for as long as I can remember. I clench my jaw and try not to focus on the fact that her scent makes me wild with want. And I can’t help but consider that our histories are more entwined than she knows.
God, I wish it weren’t the truth, but it is.
And no matter how hard that truth is, I can’t help the emotions that stir inside me, or the way my bear paces, ready to claim this woman.
Mine, mine, mine. Those words beat an unsteady rhythm in my chest.
After I call a tow truck for their wrecked car, I try to think of a reason to stick around and get to know Adelaide a little better, but I can’t concentrate enough to come up with an excuse. All I can think about is her sweet scent and how I need a hell of a lot more of it in my life.
She’s staying here. That’s a good start.
“So,” Piper starts as she picks up her bag and studies the building with the simple red painted letters that spell out, Bear Valley Cafe & Books. “Does this place get any business?”
“Piper,” Harley says, like a warning.
“What? I can ask. We need to know our market.”
I keep my gaze on Adelaide who runs a hand over the old worn railing, with a look of nostalgia, and answer, “Main street is touristy this time of year, candy shops and a general store.” I nod toward the other buildings that line the street.
Everything is painted white with cherry red trim, making this place as American, and as Alaskan, as they come.
“We take care of our own here, and the people who visit in the summer want to stay forever. But Alaskan winters come early and stay late, you have to be a real survivor to make it through our harsh climate.”
I look at the four women standing before me, wondering if they have what it takes to make it here for longer than the summer. I hope so, this town needs fresh blood, new energy - and I need Adelaide.
“We’re all survivors,” Adelaide says, turning to me and holding my gaze, and I see the strength in her. But I also know what she survived. “We’ll be fine.”
That old feeling of guilt that never really goes away rises up in my throat.
I cough. “Good. Well, if there’s anything else you might need, you know who to call,” I say, managing to string a few words together. I help unload the rest of the women’s bags, handing Adelaide hers last. When my fingers brush against the back of her hand, I feel the connection in every nerve ending of my body.
She chews on her bottom lip and her cheeks turn a soft shade of pink. Her gaze drifts down to the ground, hiding her expressive eyes from me. I want to cup her chin, tilt her face up to mine and read what’s going on inside that pretty head of hers.
Does she feel the connection too?
Is she as terrified and intrigued and completely overwhelmed as I am?
Or am I hallucinating this whole thing?
“So, I...” Her scent is intoxicating and making me stumble all over my thoughts and words. “I work down the street at the Bear Valley guide shop. Anything you need...”
“Thanks,” she says, then lets out a shaky breath. “My grandma’s lawyer is meeting us here this afternoon so I’m sure he’ll be able to help us out too.”
I notice Harley roll her eyes at her friend’s comment. “This nice man is offering to help you. Just get his number in case there’s an emergency?”
Addie frowns, and I see the look of warning she gives her friend. “If there’s an emergency I’ll call 911.”
At that, Harley groans and reaches into Addie’s purse, rooting out an iPhone. “On behalf of all of us, thank you, Gunnar. Why don’t you just enter your number here just in case something comes up.”
“Right,” I say, realizing Addie isn’t exactly outgoing, or maybe she isn’t as into me as I thought. I take the phone that Harley waves at me. “This okay with you?” I ask Adelaide.
Her cheeks turn bright red. “Um, yeah
, totally okay.”
I type in my information, then text myself on her phone so I have her number too.
Harley seems to notice what I’ve done because she lifts her eyebrows and gives me a small smirk of appreciation. I’m guessing Adelaide isn’t someone who makes the first move. And even though I know I should probably stay away from the shy, beautiful woman who keeps glancing up at me under long, thick eyelashes like she’s not sure if it’s safe to make eye contact, I know it’s an impossible task. Already my bear is pacing inside of me, and I wonder if he senses what I initially did - that she’s my potential mate.
A myriad of emotions swells inside me. I must stand there awkwardly a little too long because one of the women coughs, and another giggles under her breath.
“Okay, well, I want to see this place,” Piper announces, clapping her hands and breaking through the silence. “So, you two can do you later. But right now, I’m going to take a tour of my new house.”
The girls all laugh, offering me their thanks and saying goodbye. I hate to leave, but I know I’ve worn out my welcome.
As I reach my truck, Adelaide bounds back from the front steps and calls out to me. “Gunnar.”
My name on her lips makes my chest squeeze. Damn, what has this woman done to me? I’ve heard about the effects of mating, the whole imprinting process that some call the blessing, and others the curse, of our kind, but it’s usually something that happens after a first kiss. Not just from a glance or a touch. Maybe all it is, is plain, old lust.
But as she reaches me and her scent wraps around me once more, I know whatever it is, it’s not something I can walk away from.
Twenty-six years I’ve waited for my mate. Many of them were dark years where I believed that I was unworthy. Still do. But unlike my brothers, I didn’t taste half of the Alaskan female population trying to find the one my bear would choose.
Maybe that’s why my animal paces so restlessly now.
“I, um...” Adelaide fidgets nervously. “I just wanted to say thank you again.”
“I’m glad I was there to help.”
Mine, mine, mine. My bear growls low as if it’s already marked her, even though I haven’t pressed my lips against her soft, full ones.
Untamed Virgins (Mountain Men of Bear Valley Book 1) Page 2
