Page 99 of Ten Mountain Men

The sandwiches couldn’t have disappeared quicker if the Björnssons were magicians, towering plates emptied in the blink of an eye, and glasses of tea we’d set out drained and refilled and drained again.

“And now, we’d better get back to that roof,” Ash says, wiping his mouth with a napkin. “It’s gonna rain tonight, if not sooner.”

“Are you sure about that?” I tease.

He pauses, clearly thinking. It’s so cute how I can almost see his thoughts loading, like an internet site back when dial-up was a thing and things didn’t just pop up instantaneously.

“What about a little bet?” he asks, finally, a daring glint in his piercing green eyes pinning me in place and sending a burst of chills throughout my body.

“Accepted.”

Hunter puts his arm around me on the back of my chair, his hand on my shoulder. The gesture feels equal parts protective and possessive and I like it. I like it a lot. “Don’t you want to find out the terms first, sunshine?”

“Nah, because this sunshine knows there’s not gonna be any rain. I’m gonna win.”

Ash strokes his shiny black beard. “Alright, then. I win, you use your mouth on me. You win, I use my mouth on you.”

The flush that spreads through me is both fast and furious. He isn’t talking about kissing, obviously. Spontaneous orgasms are a thing, right? Because I feel like one is definitely within the realm of possibility at the moment.

“Deal,” I say, lifting up out of my chair a bit to reach across the table and offer him a handshake. “Because either way I win.”

I blow him a sassy little kiss and there’s a tremendous amount of catcalling and hooting.

“Alright, alright,” Luke interrupts, his voice firm but not grumpy. “What you all do in your free time is your business. But work first, play later. Goldie’s gonna be cleaning up around here while she’s with us. And what she tidies, I expect you to keep that way. Don’t make her do it for nothing. And obviously, she’s going to need some help, because two weeks is not a lot of time.”

Brooks is the first to speak. “Two weeks?”

Luke nods. “That’s how long she’s going to be staying.”

The room goes still for a moment, all eyes flicking from me to Luke. I can’t help but notice that all of them wear slightly disappointed expressions when they look at me, and slightly annoyed expressions when they look at Luke. As if they think he made this decision, put a deadline on us.

I shake my head quickly. “I decided on two weeks. It gives us plenty of time. But then I need to get back to real life. But it was one-hundred-percent my decision.”

But then Luke adds, “Nash, Buck—I’d like the two of you to help her with the cleaning today.”

I start to say I don’t need help, because what I need is five minutes alone in this cabin, but glancing around, I realize I do need help. I need all the help I can get. The thought of giving these men an environment where they have room to move without tripping over a pile of something, a clean dwelling they can be proud of and comfortable in, makes me downright giddy.

“Couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do,” Nash says.

“And keep in mind, I said help with cleaning, not help with getting her pants off,” Luke adds.

“Work first, play later,” I echo Luke’s words, a teasing grin on my face as I glance between Buck and Nash. “Everybody keeps their pants on.”

“What I’m hearing is shirts are optional,” Nash says.

Clay looks like he might actually cry, but I know he’s faking it. “Topless cleaning? If those tits are gonna be out, I demand to switch. Bucky can gut the fish.”

“The tits are not gonna be out,” I tell him. At least not while we’re cleaning. But tonight, in bed…the girls would love some attention from Clay.

The rest of the brothers scatter, thanking me and Rusty for lunch as they head outside, each of them seeming to know exactly what their next respective chores are. There’s order in this chaos. Luke and Ash exchange a few words before making their way back to the roof, with Ash making sure I hear him doubling down on his prediction that it’s going to rain this evening. As most of them leave, the cabin feels quieter, though not by much. With Buck and Nash still here, the energy is…electric.

Buck cracks his knuckles, giving me a sweet grin. “So, where do we start, Goldie? Uh…it’s kind of overwhelming, ain’t it?”

“Is it even possible?” Nash asks.

“Is it going to be easy? No. But possible, definitely.”

I look around. I wish I could just rent one of those big garbage dumpsters, have it brought up here, and just get the boys to start gathering up stuff by the armful and hauling it out of the cabin and into the trash. I don’t even know how to broach the subject of what a knickknack nightmare this place is—they may have sentimental value and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I can’t breathe with all this clutter and I don’t know how they do, but…baby steps.

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