Page 1 of Christmas Hike With The Mountain Man
Chapter 1
Boone
I was leaning against the counter at Ozark Outfitters, the camping supply store that outfitted most of Red Oak Mountain, when my whole life changed.
Every cell in my body went on high alert the second she walked through the door.
Soyou’re Katie Hill.
My lips parted, and my pulse quickened while I studied every inch of her.
She had chestnut hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and the bluest blue eyes I’d ever seen.
She was wearing leggings,tennisshoes, a synthetic puffer jacket, and gloves that looked suspiciously like a fashion accessory instead of suitable outdoor survival gear.
We’d been waiting for our last Christmas Snow Hike participant to show up. And this must be her.
Jameson, my partner on these trips, was already lecturing her for being twenty-two minutes late. Seven a.m. meant seven a.m. in his world.
I tuned his voice out while my cock hardened in my pants.
She was a plus-size diva with curves that made me ache with need. But there was something in the shy, pained expression on her face that made me want to step in between her and the tongue-lashing my partner was giving her.
When he was finally done, she took her place next to the other hikers, a light flush creeping onto her cheeks.
Her pretty blue eyes skittered nervously across everyone, including me. I averted my gaze the second we made eye contact.
The last thing I needed was to get caught checking out a client.
Jameson and I had one rule. Don’t fuck the tourists.
At least not the paying ones.
And Katie Hill, along with the others who had gathered here this morning, were the paying ones.
Everyone here had paid three hundred dollars for a three-day Winter Snow Hike experience deep in the Ozarks.
We had nine participants, so the total take was twenty-seven hundred dollars. But we were paying for all the food and general supplies, which cut into the total by a couple hundred. Then, of course, we split it in half, both of us getting our share.
It was a lucrative deal, but there was a downside to it.
We’d be spending our Christmas with strangers instead of at home with family.
I hated missing my grandma’s turkey. No one could roast a turkey like her.
It would be worth it, though.
My pops was having financial troubles, and his house was teetering on the edge of foreclosure. Plus, he hadn’t paid his taxes for two years. This hiking trip would fix both of those problems for him.
It would be ahellof a Christmas gift. One that he deserved. He’d sacrificed a lot to raise us kids.
My gaze wandered back over to Katie as everyone filed out the door.
She didn’t even have a hat on. And was that the pack she planned to bring?
Fucking hell.Tourists.
I shook my head, grabbed a wool hat, scarf and gloves off the rack and rang them up at the cash register real fast while everyone was lining up to leave. Then I thought about it and added a set of wool base layers in her size along with two pairs of their thickest socks.
