Page 197 of Mountain Men Heroes

Falling Hard for Her Mountain Alphas

One

Clara

Isank into the worn, plaid chair across from my soon-to-be sister-in-law, careful not to spill my wine as I went. “If my family toasts you one more time, I’m going to need a designated driver.”

Trinity raised an eyebrow and nodded toward my glass with a playful smirk on her lips. “You mean that ain’t grape juice?”

She knew better, but I played along and examined my glass then took a sip before giving it another long, considering look. I shot a grin at Trinity. “Not even close, babe. I went for the real good stuff.”

She pressed a hand to her chest. “I’m utterly shocked,” she quipped dryly. “I can’t believe your family seems to think you stopped aging sometime around the time you turned twelve. I thought for sure at some point tonight one of them would have swooped down and snatched your glass from your hand before a drop of alcohol could touch your pure lips.”

Trinity’s sarcasm held a note of truth that burned though I knew she didn’t mean it that way. I clutched my wine glass closer to my chest and shot her a hard glare. “Never! It would be my cold, dead hand they’d have to peel it from. You can hold me to that, too.”

The two of us fell into a fit of laughter. Not for the first time, it hit me how happy I was to have this new addition to the family. As Sawyer’s soon-to-be wife, she was as much part of the family now and someone who I could count as an ally.

And she was one of the few people in my family—scratch that, maybe the only member of my family—who saw the real me instead of who they wanted me to be.

“I’m glad you can laugh about it,” she said when we could breathe again. “I think if I were you, I’d have strangled all of my pesky brothers by now and be an only child.”

I shrugged. “No one believes me when I point out they’ve been this way my whole life…”

Before I could finish my thought, Sawyer, my oldest brother, sank next to Trinity throwing an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close.

I hid my smile by taking a big gulp of the red liquid in my wine glass. Sawyer’s inability to keep his hands off his woman had become a running joke in the family. All mountain men were possessive with their wives, but Sawyer took it to a whole new level.

“What are you two talking about?” he nosed in.

“The way you all treat Clara.”

Oh boy. I kept my cringe hidden behind another swallow.

Trinity snuggled into him, being just as bad as Sawyer when it came to the need for constant contact.

Before he could answer, my phone beeped with an incoming text message. I fished it out of my jeans pocket—again careful not to lose so much as a drop of my wine—and swiped my thumb over the smooth glass.

“Everyone you know is here, Clara. Who on earth could be texting you?”

I sighed, looked up from the message from one of my bandmates, and stared daggers at Sawyer. “It’s one of my many many lovers, nosy. He wants to know if I’m available for a quick booty call later tonight.”

Ha. The look on his face was priceless. It went from bossy know-it-all to what-the-fuck in a flash.

But the shock was short-lived. Sawyer’s face quickly hardened after it turned a few nasty shades of red and purple. “You better be fucking kidding.”

Trinity poked him hard in the side. “That right there! That’s what we were talking about. Your sister is a grown-ass woman. She’s entitled to her privacy. You don’t get to ask her about whoever is texting her, let alone lecture her on her sex life.”

I couldn’t quite fight my smirk at Sawyer’s horrified expression at the mention of my sex life from Trinity’s mouth. How dare his baby sister actually grow up. It almost made me want to laugh.

Then he glanced down at Trinity and his face instantly softened. Poof. Like some kind of magic, I swear. My overbearing, overprotective pain-in-the-ass brother melted in a blink. And so did Trinity. Hell, my own insides turned to a puddle of goo at the sight of my big, badass brother totally melting at the sight of his true love.

“Sweetheart, Clara hasn’t had to take care of herself the way you have. I’m only trying to look out for her. It’s nasty out there like you already know.”

The look on my brother’s face as he explained his side to Trinity almost stole my breath away. He was so obviously proud of how she’d made her own way in the world since she was a teen. The mixture of admiration, love, and tenderness in his eyes squeezed at my heart. And somewhere deep down, I knew he meant well toward me. But damn a girl could only take so much.

“We just want to make sure she doesn’t get hurt. She hasn’t had to learn that not everyone is as sweet and innocent as she is,” he offered.

“Well if you ask me, Clara here has everyone and everything in her life under control. Even that damn mean cat over there falls under her spell the second he gets close. I don’t know what the hell you’re so worried about. Men!”

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