Property Of The Mountain Man (Montana Mountain Men Book 1)

Glaring menacingly at Beau’s brothers that are all congregated in the lounge room, I stride straight towards the front door. “You’re all assholes and you should be ashamed of yourselves,” I say, turning around and looking at them each in turn. “Your brother carts a woman in here who’s shouting for your help, and you don’t even question if I’m okay before you let him cart me off into his bedroom. Your mama would be disgusted with you all,” I hiss angrily, as I throw the front door open and leave before any of them have a chance to speak.

Beau’s truck is parked just a little way from the front door and I stomp over to it, climb in the driver’s door and then shut it behind me, clicking the door lock button, before I finally exhale a shaky breath. I’m not scared, I wasn’t at any point, not even when I was in Beau’s bedroom with him. I know he wouldn’t hurt me or do anything I didn’t want him to. But this day from start to finish has been absolutely insane.

The man I’ve been crushing on for almost a decade kissed me today. He called me his. He acted like him manhandling me and barging into my home was the most natural thing for him to do in the world, and no one apart from me seems even slightly bothered by it.

He kissed me.

He kissed me!

That’s something I’ve been fantasizing about for years, and… It. Was. Epic. The way it felt to have his mouth on mine was so much more than even my imagination could produce, and butterflies jump to life in my stomach just thinking about it.

I should be excited about this, and if today had just been a normal day and Beau had asked me out and flirted and then kissed me, I would be. But instead, he went from ignoring me for a year, to ordering me around like he had the right to tell me what to do, to kissing me and telling me I’m his in a millisecond.

In less than twenty-four hours he’s destroyed the romantic fantasy I’ve had of him and replaced it with this pig-headed neanderthal.

Turning the key in the ignition, I thank god that our neighborhood is safe enough that everyone leaves their keys in the car, rather than risk losing them. The truck’s engine bursts to life and I move the seat forward so I can reach the accelerator, and I peel off down the drive, leaving a shower of gravel in my wake.

I drive quicker than I should, but I don’t want to give him time to recover and come after me. I just stole his truck, so at some point he’ll have to come get it back, but right this second I just need to get away from him. Pulling onto my drive, I veer off to the right instead of heading for the main house, and a few minutes later I pull up at my brother and sister-in-law’s home.

Their house is a cute log cabin, and I slow to a stop, abandoning Beau’s truck behind Maggie’s SUV and make my way to the front door. My brother and I have a tempestuous relationship, but I have nothing but love and affection for his wife Maggie and my nephews.

Lifting my fist, I knock on the door, and a moment later Noah opens it in a dirt-streaked football jersey and pants. “Hey Auntie Bon,” he greets, pushing the door wide and letting me step in before he pulls me in for a hug. Noah’s only sixteen, but he already tops six foot and towers over my much shorter frame.

“Hey Noah,” I say, leaning into him for a brief moment before my nose wrinkles. “Jesus, dude, you stink, go take a shower,” I cry, playfully pushing away from him.

“I just got back from football practice, coach made us do suicides in all our pads,” he says, lunging forward and trying to stick his armpit against my face.

“Ewww,” I cry batting him away. “Where’s your mom.”

“I’m in the kitchen,” Maggie calls.

“I’m gonna go get washed up before dinner,” Noah says still laughing. “Are you staying to eat with us?”

“Nah, I have mine and Grandpa’s dinner already done. I just wanted to visit with your mom for a little while,” I tell him.

“Okay, I’ll see you later. You’re coming to my game next Friday, right?” he asks.

“I’ll try, it just depends on work,” I say, waving him off as I head toward the kitchen.

“Okay, love you,” he calls, as he turns and runs up the stairs.

Maggie and Caleb’s house is warm and homely. Since Mama died and Caleb started being a douche, I don’t come here that often, but I try to catch up with Maggie and the boys at least once a week before my brother gets home from work.

“Here.” Maggie hands me a glass of wine the moment I step into the kitchen, and I take a sip as I walk straight up to her and into her familiar, comforting arms.

Hugging me back, she presses a kiss to the top of my head before pulling back and looking at me with those sisterly eyes she’s been using on me for as long as I can remember. “What’s the matter?” she asks, knowing something’s wrong just from one glance.

“It has been one hell of a day,” I tell her, stepping back and plopping my butt down onto one of the stools at her island counter.

Lifting her wrist up she glances at her watch. “Cal won’t be back for at least an hour, so why don’t you start with whose truck that is you drove up here in and go from there.”

“That is Beau Barnett’s truck,” I say, lifting my wine to my lips and taking a healthy gulp.

Her eyes go wide for a minute, but she doesn’t ask any questions, waiting for me to continue.

“I told you that Beau comes into the shop most days, right?”

She nods.

“He gets there the same time as me and waits while I get everything set-up, he has a coffee, then leaves. On a night, he gets there thirty minutes before close, he has coffee and a pastry, then waits for me to close up and leaves. Same thing every day.”

“He does that every day?” she asks.

“Every day that I’m there, at least for the last year anyway.”

“Why would he drive all the way down into town for coffee twice a day? His crew are logging further up the mountain than us, he’d be going in the wrong direction,” she says, placing a lid on a pot, then coming to sit on the stool next to me.

I shrug. “I don’t know. We don’t talk. He asks for coffee, then sits and either plays with his cell or just sits and drinks.”

“It’s just the two of you and you don’t talk at all?”

“Nope. I tried talking to him a few times, but I get nervous and ramble and he just grunts, so I gave up.”

“But you’ve had a crush on him for years, you need to use the time to get to know him as adults—”

Lifting my hand up into the air I interrupt her. “Oh, I’m not done,” I tell her.

Her lips twitch into a smile and she gestures a zipped lips motion.

“So yesterday a really cute out of towner came into the shop, we flirted a little, and then when Beau turned up at his usual time just before closing, he started glowering at us. He interrupted and he was all snarly and weird. At bang on eight thirty, he tells the guy the store’s closed and practically kicks him out.”

“What?” Maggie gasps.

I tell her about Beau telling me off for flirting with the guy and me accusing him of keeping an eye on me for Caleb.

“Beau and Caleb aren’t friends,” Maggie says. “They hated each other in high school, and to be honest I don’t think they’ve said anything more than polite hellos in the last twenty years.”

“Dad said the same,” I confess. “Anyway, this morning he turns up and straight away he’s trying to tell me what to do, saying he needs to look out for me, then he told me he wants me.”

“What?” Maggie shrieks.

“Yep, no explanation, just I want you.”

“Oh my god,” she bounces excitedly. “He wants you. Why aren’t you more excited? You’ve been half in love with Beau since you were thirteen.”

“Oh, I’m not done telling you about my day yet,” I say, my smile forced.

Lifting her wine glass to her lips she nods for me to continue, her rapt attention all focused on me.

Taking a drink of my own wine, I savor the flavor for a moment before I start talking again. “Okay, so sexy out of towner came back into the shop today, he asked me out and we flirted a little. He was still there when Bay Barnett came in for a coffee. He overheard us talking, then five minutes later Beau comes barreling into the shop.”

“Oh, my, god,” Maggie breathes.

“He barged straight behind the counter and picked me up, carried me into the kitchen and kissed me. He was going on about me having a free pass for flirting with that guy because he didn’t make it clear that I was his.”

“His,” she whispers.

“Still not done.”

“This is better than a tv show,” she giggles.

“I’m home, making bread, and there’s a knock at the door. Dad goes and then comes back a few minutes later with…” I trail off and look at her expectantly.

“Beau?” she asks on a shocked gasp.

“Beau. He kissed me right there in front of my dad, then he slung me over his shoulder and carried me straight out the house and daddy didn’t say a word, he just let him take me.”

“He slung you over his shoulder,” she sighs wistfully. “Caleb used to do that to me.”

“This isn’t sweet, Mags, he kidnapped me. He locked me in his car and took me to his house, to his bedroom.”

Her expression sobers. “He didn’t hurt you, did he? He didn’t do anything you didn’t want him to?”

“He kidnapped me,” I cry indignantly.

“But did he hurt you?”

“No of course he didn’t hurt me,” I admit quietly. “Apparently he’s decided that I’m his, and I’m just supposed to be grateful and go along with it now he’s decided that I’m his girl.”

“But you want to be his girl. You’ve wanted to be his girl since you were too young to even understand what being his meant. I don’t really see the problem,” she laughs.

“The problem is, that he’s ruined my fantasy of him. He’s supposed to be sweet and romantic and swoony, not growly and alpha and obnoxious. He doesn’t get to just decide I’m his when he hasn’t uttered a word to me except ‘can I have a black coffee and a bear claw please.’”

“So, what happened at his house? Why are you in his truck?”

“I kicked him in the balls, then I stole his truck,” I tell her matter of factly.

“You did what?” she asks on a burst of loud laughter.

“He was being a dick. I told him to stop manhandling me, I told him I didn’t want to go to his house. I told him I wasn’t his, and he wasn’t listening, so I kicked him in the balls and I left. I wasn’t going to walk all the way over here, so since he kidnapped me, I kidnapped his truck.”

“Jesus, Bonnie,” she says, shaking her head, laughing.

“I told off his brothers too. They were all there, I asked them for help and they just ignored me, so I told them their mama would be disappointed in them, right before I marched out the house.” Maggie dissolves into another peel of giggles, so I roll my eyes at her and stand up, heading for the bottle of wine she left by the refrigerator.

Filling my own empty glass back up, I top hers up too, then place the bottle next to us on the island counter.

“So what are you going to do?” she asks when her giggles have finally subsided.

“Nothing. I banned Beau and his brothers from the shop and I don’t see him any other time. I have a date with Dan tomorrow night.”

“Who’s Dan?”

“The sexy out of towner, he asked me out and I said yes.”

“But you never say yes,” she says, visibly shocked.

“Yeah well, I’d already decided it was time I got over this stupid crush I have on Beau and moved on. Dan’s cute and he looks damn good in a suit,” I say a little shyly.

“But what about Beau?” she asks.

“What about him? He can’t just decide we’re a couple without asking me, or speaking to me.”

The back door opens and Caleb strides in, silencing us, as Maggie turns to watch her husband, love beaming from her.

“Hey honey,” she calls.

“Hey,” he says, eyeing me curiously as he strides over to kiss his wife. “Bonnie, what are you doing here?” he asks, when he looks up at me.

“Caleb Elijah Williams, that’s no way to greet your sister,” Maggie scolds him, angrily.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he says, instantly cajoling her. “It’s just been a while since you’ve been for a visit is all,” he says, a coolness filling his eyes when he looks back to me.

“I just popped up to say hey, I should get back, Daddy will be ready for dinner and he won’t eat without me,” I say, sliding from my seat and placing my wine glass in the sink.

“No,” Maggie cries, “Olly hasn’t even emerged from his room yet. Why don’t you stay and eat with us, Cal can go get your dad and we can all eat together.”

“I already made dinner, but thanks, maybe another night. Tell Olly I said hey.”

“You could stay, if you want,” Caleb says.

“No, like I said, I already cooked. See you later, Mags,” I call, as I hurry to the front door and leave, listening to Maggie berate my brother as I close the door behind me.