Page 3 of Protective Mountain Man

There were no ditches farther down the mountain. Not ones anyone could get stuck in, anyway. The guardrails stopped that. But that was neither here nor there.

“We don’t have local police here in Seduction Summit,” I said. “Not even a sheriff. Everything comes from Adairsville. But if the roads are closed, I’m guessing that’s something the state would have done.

“Well, then we have a problem.” The man pulled his wallet out and shoved his money inside. “Because this young lady says there are no rooms, and my wife and I need somewhere to stay tonight.”

He nodded at something behind me, letting me know that the woman from the front desk was back there. That meant my coffee was behind me. If I couldn’t have a shot of whiskey to get through this conversation, caffeine was the next best thing.

But when I turned, it wasn’t the prospect of coffee that had my mouth watering and my heart racing. It was Porsha. The desk had hidden her lower half from my view earlier, but the whole picture had me blown away. I had to force my eyes to stay on her face as I noted the generous curve of her hips that was only beaten by the size of her chest.

This woman was hot as hell. Had she been in this town all along and I’d missed seeing her? I definitely needed to get out of my garage more often.

“Thanks,” I said, taking the disposable cup she was holding out to me. She’d forgotten the lid—or maybe she didn’t realize it needed one.

“I couldn’t find the creamer,” she said. “But I can go back and get some if you need it.”

I shook my head. “Black’s fine.”

I lifted the coffee to my mouth and took a slow sip. I almost spit it back out. It was so bad, I couldn’t even pinpoint what hadgone wrong. It was clear she’d tried, so I didn’t want to make her feel bad.

After forcing down the rancid liquid, I stepped aside to welcome her into the conversation. “This man says you have nowhere for him to stay tonight.”

Porsha nodded. “We’ve been booked for more than a year. No one’s leaving, obviously, so there won’t be any rooms opening up until this is over.”

I frowned. “So what’s the plan? To have everyone sleep out here in the lobby?”

“My boss is on his way,” she said. “He’ll take care of everything.”

“Well, it’s going to have to be something besides sleeping in the lobby,” the man said. “That’s not a solution at all.”

“Let me make some phone calls and I’ll get back to you,” I told the man.

I had no idea how I’d become the problem solver here. I was far from a police officer, but keeping the peace was important, especially in a situation like this.

The bottom line was I wanted to help this beautiful woman standing next to me, even if she didn’t know how to make coffee. Sure, she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, but it wasn’t just that. Something was drawing me to her, and I couldn’t walk away without trying to pinpoint what it was.

But there was another factor at play too. My home was on the other side of this supposed barricade. If the road was blocked, I was trapped here like everyone else.

That didn’t bother me nearly as much as it normally would have.

3

PORSHA

This had to be the worst first day on the job for anyone in the history of ever. I didn’t even know what I was doing yet, and I had a lobby full of angry people and not a thing I could do about it.

I kept watching the front door, hoping my boss would come walking through. But nobody came in and nobody went out, leaving me standing at the front desk, manning my post with no work to do whatsoever.

But just as I was feeling down in the dumps about it all, the hunky guy returned, coming back from his brief visit to the bar and grill. He held a foam cup with a lid and straw, which either meant he drank all my coffee and had gone in for something else, or he hated my coffee and tossed it out at the first chance. Considering I had no idea what I was doing, I was leaning toward the latter.

“I have some good news and some bad news,” Brock said, setting his cup on the counter and standing directly in front of me.

God, he was gorgeous. His features had loosened up a little. He didn’t look quite as intimidating as when he first walked in.Maybe it was the situation we were in, but he seemed to have resigned himself to getting comfortable here, whether he wanted to or not.

“Good news first,” I said.

“The snow’s stopped.”

I was aware of that. I’d been staring out the front door so long, I was pretty sure I’d personally witnessed every step of it slowing down, then ending completely.

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