Page 1 of The Mountain Man's Mysterious Bride
CHAPTER ONE
Axel
As I walkedin the door of my cozy, quiet cabin, I tossed the mail, my keys, and my wallet on the entry table and slid off my work boots. I desperately needed a shower after a busy today underneath car after car after car. Grease covered me from my arms to my fingernails, down to my dirty work jeans.
My muscles ached, reminding me I was no longer a young guy in my early twenties but a guy approaching his forties.Quickly.
As I tucked my phone into my back pocket, a sparkle caught the corner of my eye and I reached for the sparkly envelope, my stomach sinking when I saw my cousin’s name.
My mom warned me last week my aunt had sent the invitations, and they expected everyone to bring a plus one. Which left me shit out of luck.
How had all of my younger cousins got married before me? I was the oldest of the bunch and let’s just say, love didn’t work out for me. At least not in the way I wanted it to.
Love came with…complications.
Most of them I wanted nothing to do with.
I liked my quiet, peaceful, solo adventure.
Unless family events came up and a spotlight shone on me.Axel is single! Axel is single! Alert the masses!
What’s so wrong with choosing to do life alone?
I opened the invitation, scanned the details, and tossed it back down on the table. I’d deal with it later. Hot water and soap first.
My phone buzzed in my back pocket as I climbed the stairs.Momflashed on the screen and somehow, I already knew what she wanted.
“Hey Ma, can I call you back in a bit? I was just about to take a shower.”
“Hi honey! This will only take a second! We received our invitation today, did you?”
“Yep, sure did.”
“And have you found someone to go with? Because I have a friend from Bingo whose beautiful daughter is single, and I think she would just be perfect for you! Want me to set things up?”
I sighed. Why she wanted me married so badly made no sense to me. My younger sister was married and already pregnant with her second child. Couldn’t she focus her attention on them instead of me? “Nah, that’s alright. I found a date.” I lied, while instantly kicking myself in the shin.
“You have?” Mom squealed into the phone, and I pulled it away from my ear, the high pitch sound traveling through my head. “Tell me all about her! I can’t believe you haven’t told me yet!”
“It just happened today, Ma.” I lied again. “I’ll fill you in on the details this weekend at Sunday dinner. Gotta go, love you.” I quickly hung up before she could say more. I loved my mother more than anything, but she could be quite the pest when she wanted to be.
I tossed my phone onto my bed and stripped my clothes off, dropping them in the hamper on my way to the bathroom. I turned the shower on and cursed at myself in the mirror while waiting for the water to warm up.Why did I lie? I made everything worse.
I should’ve been honest. Now I needed to find a date, and fast.
How the hell was that gonna happen?
After showering and eating dinner, I sat on my back deck with my phone and did the one thing I never thought I would. I searched for a dating website.
Several popped up on the screen and I scrolled through them until I stopped at one, I’d heard the guys in the garage talk about before. It was called Mountain Mates and had high ratings.
I clicked the link, and the website opened, which led me directly to a mobile app for it, the website better for those on computers. I followed the prompts and created a profile within minutes.
When clicking to the next screen, a message popped up.New and improved matches! Mountain Mates now guarantees a match in thirty days or your money back! Click here for more details!
My finger hovered over the button, but I clicked onto the next screen instead. A match was one thing. Keeping the relationship going was another. Besides, I was on here for a one-night date, a mail-order bride, so to speak, a woman who expected little except for a nice night out.
Matches and new messages popped up on my screen as I scrolled through profiles, nixing the looking for marriage types, or any type of long-term commitment.
