Page 15 of Stuck with my Mountain Daddies

I closed my eyes and tried not to cry. Tried to remember how to justbewithout the noise, the likes, the constant feedback loop of validation and judgment.

It wasn’t working.

Then I heard it. The unmistakable crunch of tires on snow.

Someone was here.

I froze.

I didn’t know who. I didn’t know what kind of person drove through a storm to a cabin that was supposed to be mine and mine alone.

But I was freezing. And wet. And one more drip away from a breakdown.

So, whoever was about to knock on that door?

Dang, I hoped they were the rescue I didn’t want to admit I needed.

Before I could figure out my next move, a truck pulled up outside. Not just any truck—some massive, growling beast of a thing, tires thick with snow and a body that looked like it belonged in a lumberjack calendar.

The headlights cut through the falling snow, blinding me for a second.

I scrambled to my feet, heart thudding, soaked socks squishing in my boots. I had no weapon, no cell signal, and nowhere to hide unless I felt like drowning in the kitchen.

The door creaked open.

And then I saw him.

Him.

Asher.

The one-night stand I hadn’t stopped thinking about since he snuck out of that hotel room like a cliché. Same messy dark hair. Same smug smirk. Same body built for bad decisions.

My stomach flipped—half dread, half a wild intensity that I couldn’t even begin to grasp.

He stood in the doorway, eyes sweeping over the room before landing on me.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he said.

That made two of us.

“You?” I blurted. “What areyoudoing here?”

His brow ticked up. “Was about to ask you the same thing.”

I crossed my arms, ignoring the squish of wet denim and the fact that I probably looked like a drowned rat. “I was invited. Lucy said I could stay here while she’s stuck in the city.”

Surprise shifted behind his eyes. “You’re the friend?”

“Yes?” I said slowly, like maybe he’d had a head injury on the way up the mountain.

He let out a short, incredulous laugh and shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

“What is?”

“I’m Lucy’s brother.”

Silence.

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