Mountain Man's Price (Mountain Men Book 3)

by Ava Grace

  I sighed. “I just don’t think that you’d be the best person for me. That’s all.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’re you,” I said as if that explained everything. “I mean, everyone around town knows what you’re like, Luke. You’re a womanizer.”

  “Shit.” He glared at me then scrubbed a hand over his beard. “I thought we’d settled this last night. But as you clearly either didn’t hear me or what I said didn’t get through to you, I’ll say it again. I am not a player and I don’t cheat. Is that gonna sink in this time?”

  “How would you even know that?” I countered. “Have you ever even been in a relationship? And I’m talking about a real relationship now, in which you see a woman for longer than a couple of dates!”

  “I know what a relationship is and it’s irrelevant. Do you think I don’t know my own mind?”

  He checked his watch and then got up from the chair. “I haven’t got time to discuss this with you now. I need to get back to work. We can talk about it tomorrow night, over dinner, okay?”

  When he headed for the door, I got up from the table and rushed after him down the hall. “What? No, wait! We’re not—“

  He opened the front door and stepped outside only to come face to face with my ex. I groaned inwardly. Really? Now?

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Luke asked, his tone snippy and his expression severe.

  I glared at him. “Luke! This is none of your damn business!” I turned to Adam and asked, “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Luke chuckled.

  Adam looked from me to Luke and then back again. “Can we talk please, in private?”

  “Hell no,” Luke answered for me. “She’s got nothing to say to you.”

  He was stealing all my lines, damn it!

  I couldn’t decide if I was angrier about that or the fact that he was being an overprotective, overbearing jerk.

  “She’s my wife,” Adam snapped, looking down his nose at Luke.

  “Soon to be ex,” I corrected.

  Luke eyed him with disdain. “And you’re soon to have a broken nose if you show up here again, bothering my woman.”

  “Your what?” Adam and I said in unison.

  I glowered at him.

  I didn’t like that we’d had the same thought.

  Luke rounded on me. “Oh, I’m sorry. Must have been some other woman I was balls deep in last night. My mistake.”

  I sucked in a sharp breath, feeling heat rise in my cheeks. “Jesus, do you have to be so crude?”

  “You’re sleeping with him?” Adam asked, eyeing Luke as if he was something he’d just stepped in.

  Luke got up in his face again. “Yeah, she is. And let me tell you something for nothing. I didn’t hear any complaints last night when she was screaming my name.”

  Adam sniffed, ignoring the last comment then smoothed down the front of his tailored suit jacket. “I can see that you’re busy, Violet, so we’ll have that talk some other time, okay?”

  He turned on his heel then strode back to his car.

  “Yeah, I don’t think so!” Luke shouted after him. “Hell will freeze over first, buddy!”

  I was so angry, my entire body shook as I watched Adam drive away. I mean, I would have sent him on his way myself, but that was my right. He was my soon-to-be-ex-husband. What business was it of Luke’s?

  I glowered at him.

  “How dare you!”

  He leaned in and when he spoke, it was in a quiet voice—so quiet I had to lean in even closer to make out the words.

  “If you think for one minute that I’m going to let that asshole come around here bothering you, you can think again. Now, I got a job to get to. I’ll pick you up tomorrow. Seven sharp. Wear something suitable for a motorcycle, ‘kay?”

  He leaned in then kissed me full on the mouth, thrusting his tongue inside like it belonged there. When he pulled back, he strode to his motorcycle without a backward glance. My mouth was still hanging open as Luke put on his helmet, threw his leg over the seat of his bike and started the engine.

  Then he rode off down the street like his tail end was on fire.

  I stood there inside the front door for several long moments, wondering what the heck had just happened.

  I’d spent countless nights fantasizing about what it would be like to have sex with Luke Chase, but not in any of my fantasies had he brought me lunch the day after or told me he was taking me out to dinner, before calling me his woman and scaring off my ex.

  I couldn’t decide if I was impressed by the size of his balls or completely horrified by his arrogance.

  I decided on an even split between the two.

  Either way, the old adage, be careful what you wish for, had never been more pertinent.

  Chapter Six

  Luke

  I checked my watch as I strode into the clubhouse and scowled when I noted the time. I only had an hour to get home and shower before I had to pick Violet up for dinner. I’d worked out that she was going to fight me at every turn, but I was convinced we were a good match so I was going to do whatever it took to get her on board with my plan to get her not only in my bed but on the back of my bike.

  Trouble was, Violet was skittish about the idea of a relationship.

  For some bizarre reason, she had it in her head that I was some kind of man-slut, but I wasn’t. I hadn’t been with any more women than any other man of my age and I intended to prove to her that I was ready to settle down. I hadn’t suddenly woken up one morning and decided I wanted that and wanted her—it was more of a gradual thing. Plus, seeing how happy my friends were now that they’d found someone to love and protect made me crave to have that in my life too. And I wanted it with Violet. She was sassy and feisty and beautiful and she wouldn’t take any shit. Who wanted to be with a pushover? I didn’t. Violet was perfect for me.

  I realized, now, however, that I might have to be creative. If she thought I wanted a full-on relationship she was going to run a mile so I’d decided to pretend that I wanted some kind of casual deal with her. I didn’t, naturally, but I suspected she might be more open to that and as I was determined to win her affection then I was going to have to resort to underhand tactics.

  Whatever worked, right?

  Coop had been right when he’d said I needed to bring my A-game. If he’d have been a fly on the wall for some of our exchanges, he’d have been laughing his fool head off, I had no doubt about that. But what Coop and even Violet didn’t know about me was that I was a persistent SOB. When I wanted something, I went after it single-mindedly until I got it.

  And I wanted Violet.

  I’d been thinking about our date all day so, I wasn’t too happy to have to take a detour to the clubhouse. Ian had called me and asked me to meet him there and he’d sounded agitated so I’d hightailed it over there straight from work.

  If the fucker changed his mind and didn’t show up, I was going to kick his ass from here to Timbuktu. But as soon as I walked inside, I saw him slouched over the bar in the far corner of the room.

  I headed over there.

  “This had better be important,” I said as soon as I reached him.

  He looked over his shoulder and met my gaze.

  I whistled.

  Wow, someone had done a number on his face. His right eye was bruised and swollen so much it was half closed. There was another bruise on his cheek beneath his left eye and his lips had been split.

  “Jesus, what the hell happened to you?” I asked. “Did you trip and fall into someone’s fist?”

  He looked around the room as if checking to see who was in hearing distance then asked, “You mind if we talk outside?”

  I shrugged. “Sure. Whatever.”

  He got up from the bar stool and as we headed back out the front of the building, Ian was walking awkwardly, favoring his left leg and clutching his stomach, no, his ribs.

  When we were finally alone, I nodded to where he was holding himself
. “You had a doctor check you out?”

  He shook his head. “Nah, I’m okay.”

  I cocked a brow, unconvinced and he barked out a laugh. “Well, maybe not so okay, but I’ll live.”

  “What’s going on, Ian? Who did this to you?”

  “A couple of heavies paid me a visit yesterday.”

  “No shit.” I narrowed my eyes. “Did you know them? Who were they working for?”

  He scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck, his eyes darting around but not focusing on any one thing. “They work for a man named Steele. A dealer. Ryker was buying his drugs.”

  “For fuck’s sake. What does he want?”

  “Money.”

  “You owe him money?”

  “No. I don’t owe him shit!” Ian said, getting defensive. “But Ryker did. And the way Steele sees it, now that Ryker is in prison, his debt belongs to the club.”

  “Bullshit!” I spat. “We don’t owe him a dime. Whatever Ryker was up to, he was doing it on his own back. How much was Ryker in for?”

  “Fifty grand.”

  I closed my eyes and massaged the bridge of my nose. “Fuck. You told Coop?”

  Ian shook his head. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Coop is your friend. Can you speak to him about this? Just, sound him out?”

  I frowned. “Why can’t you do it?”

  He heaved a sigh. “Look, I didn’t vote for Coop. He knows I didn’t want him as President. He won’t listen to anything I have to say.”

  “Coop is a fair man. He won’t give a shit about anything that happened in the past. You need to speak to him about this. Trust me. Talk to Coop.

  “Tell him what you know. You’ll get more respect out of him if you talk to him yourself instead of going through me.”

  “What do you think he’ll do?”

  “No clue, but whatever it is, I can assure you we won’t be giving fifty grand to a fucking drug dealer.”

  Ian glared at me. “What? We’ve got to pay him!”

  “We ain’t gotta do shit.”

  “Look at my fucking face,” he retorted. “This was just a warning. What do think they’ll do to me if we don’t give Steele what he wants? Or maybe next time it will be someone else. You’d better start looking over your shoulder until this shit has been resolved.”

  “Talk to Coop,” I said again. “I’m sure he’ll come up with something.”

  Ian cursed under his breath. “Yeah, right. Brother ain’t gonna do shit. He doesn’t like me so what better way to get rid of me than to do fuck all and let me deal with the consequences?”

  “You’ve got Coop all wrong,” I assured him. “He isn’t like that. He doesn’t hold grudges and he wouldn’t want to see any brother in the firing line. Just trust me on this, okay? Talk to him. For your own good.”

  Chapter Seven

  Violet

  I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth as I eyed the clock. It was something I always did when I was nervous, but I wasn’t sure why I was nervous right then. It might have had something to do with the fact that in less than ten minutes time, Luke would be arriving to take me out to dinner. I’d been checking the clock every five minutes for the past half an hour, which was a pretty pointless exercise considering I wasn’t going out to dinner with him. No way.

  The fact that the jeans and boots I had on were suitable attire for a motorcycle was completely coincidental.

  Naturally.

  When the annoying ringtone on my cell phone that I’d been meaning to change for ages started chirping, I grabbed it off the coffee table then checked the screen.

  Adam.

  I groaned and ignored the call.

  A moment later, a text message came through.

  Vi, we need to talk. Please call me.

  Why was he bothering me all of a sudden?

  What the heck did he want? Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to get it. I didn’t want anything to do with him ever again. He’d get the message eventually.

  Hopefully.

  And if he didn’t, well, that was his problem.

  I grabbed the television remote and began flicking through channels, but I didn’t find anything that held my interest for more than a few seconds. At seven on the dot, there was a knock on my front door.

  My breath caught in my throat.

  I was uncharacteristically tense as I went to answer the door, even though I had nothing to be nervous about because I was definitely not going out to dinner with Luke Chase.

  When I pulled the door open, Luke greeted me with a wide, beaming smile that was as disarming as it was captivating.

  “Hey, beautiful lady,” he said before dragging me in for a long, passionate kiss.

  It was so intense, it made my knees shake.

  I was so stunned I hadn’t even had time to object.

  He leaned back then looked me over with what appeared to be appreciation. Naturally, I ignored the warm happy glow that gave me and rearranged my features into a scowl.

  “Good, you took my advice and wore something sensible,” he said. “Which also happens to be sexy as hell. You look great.”

  “I always dress like this,” I said offhandedly.

  It was mostly the truth.

  Jeans were a staple in my wardrobe. The form-fitting top I was wearing with them was a little tighter than I might usually wear, but I’d only grabbed it because most of my other go-to tops were in the wash.

  Luke’s mouth twitched. “Sure you do. Well, let’s go. Rossella’s won’t hold our table if we turn up late.”

  My eyes practically bugged out of my head. “Rosella’s?”

  He nodded. “Is that okay?”

  I gawped at him. “Rosella’s is my favorite restaurant.”

  “Yeah?” His grin widened to epic proportions. “Admit it. I did good.”

  I would admit to no such thing.

  “Come on.” He took hold of my arm then started to pull me outside. “We need to leave or we’ll be late.”

  “Wait.”

  I quickly grabbed my purse and cell phone before sliding my arms into my jacket.

  “This isn’t a date,” I informed him as I stepped outside then turned to lock the door.

  Luke nodded solemnly. “Of course it isn’t.”

  I’d go out with him, but only for the Pollo Parmegiano.

  It would have been a crying shame to lose out on a table at Rosella’s because they were always booked up weeks in advance.

  But it still wasn’t a date.

  Definitely not.

  Twenty minutes after roaring off down the street, Luke pulled his motorcycle to a stop in the parking lot of the restaurant which was situated in the next town over. I threw my leg over the bike and got off. I loved riding on the back of a motorcycle. It was exhilarating. My high school boyfriend had a bike, but we’d split up when I was seventeen and I hadn’t ridden on the back of one since.

  I was surprised to realize how much I’d missed it.

  I hated to admit it but Luke looked amazing. He had on black jeans, a smart blue shirt, and a really nice black leather jacket. It had to be the first time I’d seen him without his cut and if I was being honest, I kind of missed it because it was like it was part of him—an extension of who he was as a person and as a man.

  “I thought the brothers in a motorcycle club weren’t allowed to ride without their patch,” I said as Luke grabbed hold of my hand and lead me to the door.

  Luke barked out a laugh. “You’ve been watching too many television shows that turn MC clubs into some sort of romantic fantasy. Our club isn’t like that.

  “I’m not a kept man, you know. I wear whatever the hell I want to wear. I like wearing my patch to support the club—it makes me feel proud and like I’m part of a big family, but I don’t have to wear it, not all the time.

  “Besides, this is a fancy restaurant. I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable while you were here with me.”

  I stopped dead, pulling Luke to a stop.


  He turned to meet my gaze. “What?”

  “Uncomfortable? Do you think that I’m ashamed to be seen with you?”

  He shrugged.

  “I’m not,” I said with feeling, annoyed that he would think that. “I like the way you dress and I like you in your cut.”

  Luke got an intense look in his eyes right before he pulled me to him then kissed me soundly. I’d never have told him how much his long beard scratching against my chin turned me on. I was all worked up by the time he let go and more than a little flustered. I was tempted to ask him if we could skip dinner and head back to my place instead, but I thought better of it.

  “This is still not a date,” I said as we headed for the restaurant door.

  Luke’s laughter followed me all the way into the building.

  We were shown to a table near the back of the small room. It was in a dark, quiet corner and there were candles flickering softly on the table. I looked at the set-up then narrowed my eyes.

  “How did you manage to get this table at such short notice, anyway?”

  Luke pulled out my chair then waited for me to sit down before taking a seat himself. “The owner is a customer of mine.”

  I did a double take at that.

  “A customer? What sort of customer. Do you mean at the garage?”

  Luke shook his head. “I do some work on bikes as a bit of a sideline. Building them, customizing them, that kind of thing.”

  “Wow, I didn’t know that.”

  He shrugged. “It’s a hobby more than anything, but it does give me a nice little second income.”

  “I can imagine.”

  A moment later, the owner of the restaurant appeared at our table. He was a wide, portly, Italian American man in his late fifties. He had an expressive face, but he still talked with his hands.

  “Luke,” he greeted, in a warm, friendly manner. “Welcome to my restaurant.” He glanced at me then said. “And you can come back any time you please if you bring this beautiful woman with you.”

  Luke got up then shook the owner’s hand. “Paolo. Good to see you again. How’s the bike?”

  “She rides like a dream,” he said with a swish of his hand. “Perfetto. I bring you the wine list?”