The phone rings. I answer it. “Hello?”
“Everly?” a woman’s voice asks. “This is Monique. I heard your message; I can’t believe what you’ve been through, dear.”
“Well, we’re alive. We flew into Anchorage, and thankfully Silas was able to stop the fire from spreading. But his place is completely charred.”
“Sounds like your mountain man saved you.”
I can feel her warmth though the phone and it annoys me. “Speaking of mountain man … Monique, you told me that your clients were loaded. That was one of the selling points of your entire offer. But Silas is not that guy. You should see his house.”
“I understand things can be difficult at first when you’re a mail order bride, but the good news is that I was right to match you up. Your desire to be a writer somewhere serene, coupled with your inexperience, compliments Silas and his easy going attitude. He can talk to just about anyone, sweetie, and you said you always jumbled up your words.”
“I suppose. Silas is really easy to—”
“Listen, I’m sorry about the fire, and it’s been good catching up, but I have a meeting to attend.”
Before I can say anything more, she hangs up.
Looking at the phone in my hand, it’s impossible not to feel mildly offended. My willingness to play along as her mail order bride is the reason she has business at all.
I hang up, missing my friends and annoyed with Monique, but mostly wishing Silas were back here, so I could tell him what Monique said about our compatibility. I wondered how she thought he and I would be a good pair—but the way she put it, so concise, made sense.
Silas and I are a good pair. Sure, I don’t have much to offer him in the way of survival skills, but I can learn. And sure, maybe he doesn’t have the money I originally thought my husband had, but I’ve never cared that much for money anyway. It makes me proud of Silas, knowing he works the land and provides for himself, that he wants to provide for me.
I stand up, and look through the Target bags. When I was getting myself bras and underwear, I grabbed something I thought he might think was sexy. It felt like a strange, last-ditch purchase, but in my heart I knew he would like to see me in the skimpy lingerie.
I want him to see me in it.
And more than that, I know I just plain wanted him. He’s the man for me—heck, he’s already my husband. He’s been all of my firsts.
And he’s forgiven me in ways I still need to forgive myself.
I started the fire because I was careless, but I’ll learn how to live in the woods—off the grid and off the land. I’ll be a good wife, and a good partner, and I need him to get back here so I can tell him.
I strip out of my clothes and put on the tiny negligee. When my husband returns, I’ll show him that he never needs to leave my side again.
I need him to get back soon … because just looking at this lingerie is getting me excited. I’m going to put on this thong, only to have him tear it off. His strong arms will part my legs as I grab hold of his chiseled chest.
I close my eyes, feeling at peace—and pretty dang horny—knowing that I am not going anywhere that Silas isn’t.
Realizing that a life with my husband is the only life I want to lead.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Silas
With a folder in hand, I make my way back to the hotel room. The meeting went better than I expected. And I need Everly to know that I’m willing to give up anything to be with her—after all, she gave up everything to be with me.
I knock on the door to let her know I’m coming in, but when I swing open the door I do not expect to see her like this.
She’s lying on the bed, legs parted, her hand darting out from where it’s been buried.
“Am I interrupting something?” I ask, dropping my coat on a chair, and setting the folder on the table. Everly sits up, her tits pushed high on her chest in the bright red, strapless corset. She looks like a minx, a dirty version of the sweet Everly I’ve gotten to know.
“I’ve been waiting a long time for you to get back, husband,” she says, licking her lips, and running her hands over her thighs as she sits up on her knees, on the edge of the bed.
Smiling, I walk toward her. The tears from earlier are gone; she seems lighter, more relaxed. At peace. Decided.
Also, she looks ready to be fucked. I wrap my arms around her shoulders, looking down into her eyes.
“You okay, Everly? When I left, you were so upset.”
She takes one of my hands from around her neck, and presses it to her pussy. I groan, feeling how wet she is, loving that she was touching herself before I came in the room.
“I’ve been thinking a lot,” she says, kissing my neck. “I’ve been thinking of what I really want.”
My hand is on her juicy folds, and I want to fuck her so bad, but I need to tell her something, too.
“I have something to tell you first, Everly,” I say.
She shakes her head. “No, I want to go first. I need you to know what I want. What I need from you.”
I swallow, withdrawing my hand from her soft pussy.
“Put it back there, husband. That’s part of what we need to talk about.”
Doing as she asks, I plunge two fingers into her opening, causing her to eke out a moan, completely surprised at my force. “Your little pussy likes it hard, Everly.”
“I know.” She lowers the cups on the corset, letting her tits spill out in their round and voluminous glory.
Fuck, her nipples are hard and tight. I run my free hand over one of them, my cock straining in my jeans as I touch both her clit and a nipple.
“Silas,” she says. “I only want one man. Ever. I only want one man to have known my body, only one man to know my pussy. Only one man to know what it means to fuck me.”
“You’re talking so dirty, Everly,” I tell her. “What has you so hot and bothered?”
“Thinking about you. About my life with you, baby. About our forever.” She unbuttons my jeans, tugging them down, so she can touch my hard, thick cock. My cock is so ready for her, ready to plow into her. It’s a cock ready to take its woman and never let her go.
“You want forever with me?” I ask her, knowing I told her I loved her, but not knowing if she’ll ever feel the same way.
“I want everything with you,” she tells me, looking into my eyes with sincerity and desire and meaning. “I love you, Silas. I love that you’re everything I’m not, that you’re the man I need, and the man I want. And right now I need you. I need you to take me.”
She strokes my shaft, and dammit, I can’t take it anymore.
I need her now. On my cock.
I pick her up, and sit on the bed, her on my lap.
“Don’t go slow,” she begs. “I’ve been waiting hours for you to get back. I need to come so bad.”
“Where do you want to come?” I tease her, setting her down on my massive rod.
“I want to come on your cock. I want to be filled with your big, hard, cock and I want to come all over it.”
“Oh, I’ll make you come so hard you’ll never forget.”
“I’ll never forget you.” She sinks on top of me, her pussy stretched as she takes me fully. “I don’t care where we live or how we live, I just want to live with you.” She rocks her hips over me, moaning as her head falls back in pleasure.
My cock pumps into her, loving the warmth surrounding it.
“Even in the middle of nowhere?” I ask, fucking her good and hard.
“With you protecting me?” She smiles, kissing my lips before answering. “Yes.”
“Even without neighbors or doctors, or friends?”
“I would give it all up if it means I can have you.”
“Damn, woman, you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
She swivels her hips as I thrust deep into her core, her pussy tightening around my length.
“Oh, baby,” she moans, her thighs shaking as she falls back, my arms h
olding her up.
My cock shoots come into her, hot and hard.
“Oh, yes,” she cries, as the orgasm consumes her.
When she stops coming, she wraps her arms around my neck, and I hold that girl so fucking tight.
“So even if it means I rebuild us a cabin like the one that burned down, you’ll still stay with me?” I ask.
She runs her hands through my hair. “Silas, even if it means we live in a shitty cabin, yes. I’m not leaving you. You gave me a ring and you made me your wife. I am yours.”
I grin, knowing I’m going to make that girl come all over again the moment she sees what I have for her.
“Then be a good little wife, and bring me that folder.” I point to the folder I dropped on the table.
She steps away from me, her round ass so creamy and sweet, I just want to press my face against it. And now I know that I’ll get to forever.
And that was before she knew what I got her.
She hands me the folder. “What is it?”
“A few things. I had to get my wife a new house. That’s where I was this afternoon, meeting with my lawyer and an agent.”
Her eyes narrow in confusion. “I thought you were building one?”
I shrug. “Open it.”
She opens the folder, and starts reading the printouts. There are half a dozen housing options for her.
“Silas,” she says, shaking her head, confused. She stands before me stark naked and so fucking hot, and so completely out of the loop. “These aren’t cabins.”
“I built that cabin out in Denali for myself. I was an ass to ever bring a woman there and expect her to be happy. Pick one of these places, Everly. You deserve it.”
“Silas, these listings are for ten-million-dollar homes.”
“These homes are all still remote enough that we’ll have the best of both worlds. Plenty of property, but with a real house you can call your own.”
“You have the money to do this?” she asks.
“Monique is no liar. Her clients are legit, and I’m one of them. I just like knowing you love me for who I am, not for what I have.”
She shakes her head, stuffing the listings in the folder and shoving it back to me. “I don’t need all this.”
“I know. But that doesn’t mean you can’t have it.”
“I did not see this coming.” She walks toward me, wrapping her arms around my neck.
“I’m not taking the folder back, wife,” I tell her, unwrapping her arms and putting it in her hands again. “And you have to pick soon. We literally have no place to go.”
“Because I burned down your house.”
“Pretty much.” I grab her ass, run my hand over her silky skin.
“This is insane,” Everly says. “I really thought….”
“That I was broke?”
She snorts. “Yeah, sort of.” She bites her lip, suppressing a smile. “I hope you know I meant what I said earlier. I love you for you. Shitty cabin or mansion, I’m yours.”
“I know you are, Everly Now look at the last piece of paper in the folder.”
She flips through the listings and comes to the last sheet of paper. She holds it up, then her eyes meet mine in surprise.
It’s a voided pre-nup.
“Really, Silas?” Her eyes glisten at the realization that I am completely committed to her. Now and for always.
“Damn straight. I’m your mountain man, Everly, until the day I die,” I tell her, pulling her face to mine, kissing her lips, claiming her all over again. The same way I plan to do for the rest of my life.
Prologue
Grabbing the Prosecco from the fridge, Everly finds three mason jars, pops the cork, and divvies up the bubbly. The goal tonight is to forget the reality of the situation she and her two best friends have found themselves in.
Homeless. Jobless. Boy-less.
Champagne will certainly help the cause.
“Is that the last bottle?” Delta asks, as Everly balances all three glasses in her hands and walks back into the living room.
Everly moans as she delivers the drinks. She’s wearing her hair in a messy bun and her nerd-girl glasses contribute to her low-key appearance. But tonight she isn’t acting low-key. Tonight she is dramatic and drunk.
A dangerous pairing for any twenty-two-year-old woman.
“The state of my checking account was so depressing I was like, eff it, and bought two more bottles,” she says.
“That’s what I love about you, Everly,” Delta snorts. “You’re just so damn responsible.” She takes the glass from Everly’s hand and sets it on the coffee table before screwing the cap back on a bottle of eco-friendly nail polish. She’s just painted daisies on her big toes, as if declaring herself the ultimate flower child. Her long hair and boho dress complete the look. She’s a vegan, through and through, and living in Portland, Oregon makes her lifestyle easy.
Clinking the rims of their glasses, Everly takes a long sip. “I know, it’s hard to be such a put-together adult, but somebody has to do it.” She smirks, knowing she’s anything but put-together.
“No, but like, for reals, what are we going to do?” Amelia, who is braiding her hair, asks. She’s in ratty sweats and a tank top, but she gets a pass considering Derrick, her boyfriend of four years, just broke up with her. “I mean, all of us were legit counting on staying at Derrick’s summer house for the next three months. Now we’re going to get kicked out of here in a week. Then what?”
“Calm down. It’s all going to work out,” Everly tells her, not believing the words herself, but knowing Amelia needs the affirmation—considering she’s the one recovering from an unexpected break-up.
Everly falls onto the couch, squeezing between her two best friends. They all take drinks of the bubbly, each lamenting their own personal hell.
They aren’t exactly on top of the world. And they feel deceived. The entire universe led them to believe that if they went to college they would be grown-ups. But here they are, all three of them a week out of Oregon State College, with no job prospects, no boyfriends, and—apparently—no housing.
“This sucks,” Amelia says, her head falling on Everly’s shoulder. “Why didn’t a career counselor ever mention the fact that a Fine Arts degree wouldn’t help me? All it did was teach me that I’m more of a hobbyist in terms of creating visual masterpieces. Like, I can legit scrapbook, but that isn’t a job.”
“Um, sweetie,” Delta says, “my degree is in Hospitality. There are literally no jobs for me.”
“You can be a hotel desk clerk,” Everly suggests.
“Yeah, except I didn’t need a degree for that, and it won’t offer me health insurance or pay my student loans. It’s not realistic.”
“I know,” Everly says. “Even if I sold a story to some magazine, I’d make what—fifty bucks if I was lucky? And I can’t afford to sit here and write the next great American novel. That won’t pay any of the bills.”
Everly thought a degree in English Literature would help her become a writer, but so far she’s only completed a few short stories about her life as a college student. Not exactly inspiring.
“At this point I would do anything to stop feeling so out of control. I just want a plan,” Amelia says. “I feel desperate.”
“I’m not desperate, I’m just horny as hell. I haven’t been with someone in like, three months,” Delta moans. “I want a husband, someone to keep me warm at night and fuck me all day long.”
“Then we should have gotten MRS degrees, not BAs,” Everly says, sighing into her champagne. “Not that I’m exactly ready for marriage.”
Delta and Amelia both look at Everly, giving her puppy dog eyes. It’s no secret that she’s a virgin, and if anyone needs a man, it’s her.
“What?” Everly shrugs. “I’m not holding out for Mr. Right. The problem is, I’m just never going to meet a guy who is okay with taking it slow.”
“You don’t need to take it slow,” Amelia says. “You need a man who is
n’t going to take no for an answer.”
“I don’t need to take it slow, either,” Delta says. “I just want to take it, if you know what I mean.”
Amelia shoves a pillow in Delta’s face. “Yes, we get it. You want to get laid. But on a more serious note, maybe there are new apartments on Craigslist?” Amelia suggests. “You know, since we’re getting evicted.”
“Not evicted,” Everly reminds her. “It’s just we’re in campus housing. We have to go.”
“Like, in a week.” Delta sighs. “This is dumb. Let’s do something bananas. Like, move to a commune. Or become Amish.”
Noticing the now-empty glasses, Everly returns to the kitchen and brings back some more champagne. “I just want a nice house and a normal life. Nothing crazy, just something regular.”
“With good sex,” Delta adds, winking. “And on that note, let’s look in the Help Wanted section with an open mind.” She opens her laptop. “At this point we don’t have many requirements.”
“I just want to get out of this college town,” Amelia says. Forgoing a glass, she grabs the bottle from Everly’s hand and takes a swig. “I can’t handle it here,” she says, wiping her mouth. “There are way too many memories of Derrick and me in this town, and I need to move on. Stat.”
Delta scrolls through the housing pages, and it’s more of what they’ve already seen. Tiny studios or massive houses requiring three months’ security deposit.
“Hmmm.” Delta keeps clicking, but there are no new listings. Eventually she takes the bottle from Amelia and drinks before passing it to Everly.
Everly follows suit, then sits between them once again, starting to feel more than a little tipsy.
“There’s nothing,” Amelia moans.
“Even if there were,” Everly adds, “it doesn’t matter. None of us have jobs. That’s priority number one.”
“Tell me again why none of us have parents who can help out?”
The three of them were roommates freshman year, and instantly bonded over the fact they’d all been raised by their grandparents. It was such a coincidence—it felt like destiny, and they had to stick together.
BY THE MOUNTAIN MAN: The Complete Collection Page 10
