Page 5 of Mountain Boss

I try to smile, but I feel it fall sideways. “That’s me, uh, Courtney Kern. Reporting for duty.”

I swear his jaw clenches, then his head starts to shake.

Chapter 4

Sterling

“Courtney?”I say it again.

“Yes…” She nods, her brows knitting in confusion.

I shake my head again. “The application said Court.”

“Oh, um, that’s weird. Sorry about that.” She tacks on the second sentence when my expression doesn’t soften.

There is no fucking way Marty hired a woman.

No. Fucking. Way.

My eyes drop again.

And not just any woman. A woman cut from the exact type of cloth I crave.

A woman who looks like she could take anything I wanted to give her.

A woman I’d much rather have in my sheets than in my employ.

Long dark lashes blink up at me, flashing those bright hazel eyes.

“No.” I say the word out loud, but I still don’t release her hand.

Her half smile drops. “No, what?”

“No.” I keep shaking my head. “You can’t work here.”

Chapter 5

Courtney

Panic replacesevery other emotion fighting for dominance inside my body.

I must have heard him wrong.

He can’t fire me before I even start.

Can he?

“Sorry, but there’s been a miscommunication.” His fingers flex around mine.

“But…” All the reasons why I need to stay spiral through my mind.

I have my entire life packed into my Jeep.

I don’t have another place to go.

I have two hundred dollars in my bank account and twenty dollars in my purse, and no way to pay for a hotel for more than a single night before I’d be forced to live out of my car. With no way to even fill the gas tank.

“But I was told I got the job.” I struggle to keep the anxiety out of my voice.

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