Page 5 of Romanced By the Mountain Man

“He’ll check out the mountain man and make sure he’s not a religious weirdo or worse, one of those people who don’t eat sugar.” I can practically hear her shuddering. She has a major addiction to her sweet treats.

“It’s fine. He’s fine. I’ll only be here for two days,” I reassure her. I haven’t told her the real reason I’m in town yet. I didn’t want her thinking I’m crazy or feeling sorry for me.

“You’ll still make it to the taping, right?” She asks. In just a few days, I’m supposed to be featured onMornings with Maddy. It’s the most popular daytime talk show in the country, and Maddy is going to be interviewing me about my books. I’ve written two dozen wolf shifter romances. They’re books about humans that can shift into wolves. Usually, it’s the hero that’s the shifter. But sometimes, the heroine is one too.

“I’ll make it to the taping,” I reassure her. I started self-publishing my books, just putting my books online for fun. Slowly, they became popular and last month, I signed a lucrative movie deal, one of the largest in recent history. There are already predictions my series is going to be the next big thing, and my agent is fielding calls for foreign rights, merchandising options, and more.

“And you have your pills,” she prompts.

“Yes, I do.” Thyroid disease means not only do I have a curvy figure, but also that I have to take daily medication to keep my hormone levels balanced. Zoey worries about me. She’s the one who noticed I was getting sluggish and acting moody all the time. She insisted I see an endocrinologist. Thanks to her prodding, I feel better than ever.

She sighs. “Alright, I want you to check-in by text every few hours. If you miss even one check-in, I’m having my big, sexy husband send in the FBI and CIA and maybe even the SWAT guys. They’re hunky too.”

I seriously doubt that a small-town sheriff holds any sway with the national agencies but before I can point this out to her, I hear a low growl in the background.

“Oops,” she murmurs, and I already know what happened. Brock overheard her describe the SWAT guys as hunky. He’s possessive in the best way and won’t even let another man glance in her direction. I love that about him, the way he’s so determined to keep my bestie safe. He lives for her and their daughter.

I wish her good luck and tell her I love her before ending the call. I use the bathroom then check my reflection in the mirror, grimacing. I look so damn disheveled. Good thing I’m not meeting Landon just yet.

I wonder if the owner of Hotel Grump knows who Landon is. Ooh, maybe he does. Maybe they’re good friends and he’ll introduce me to Landon in a totally not obvious way, so I don’t look like a crazed stalker.

When Landon does learn who I am, we’ll have a good laugh about it. That will be the story that the mountain man tells at our wedding. Yep, that will be a much sweeter ending. But if I want to have my happy ending, first I have to get to know the bossy grump outside.

After I leave the bathroom, I sign a few sheets of paper for Gabby and give her my credit card number. Then it’s not long before I’m on the road with the grump himself.

“Where do you live?” I ask after we’ve been in silence for a few minutes. Why is this man so quiet? Doesn’t he have all these words bubbling up inside of him that just have to be shared or he’ll explode?

“The mountains.”

I wait for him to ask me a question because that’s what you do in polite conversations. The other person is at least supposed to feign interest in you, except that I don’t think this man will even bother pretending. “What’s your name?”

He hesitates for a second too long. It’s the tell that he isn’t being truthful with me. “Blade.”

“That’s not really your name,” I scoff.

“And you didn’t really have a boyfriend,” he reminds me. “So, why are you here in a little place like Courage? It’s not like we’re a huge tourist attraction.”

I can feel my cheeks flush. At least, it’s dusk outside so the cab isn’t very light. “The GPS unit in my car is malfunctioning again.”

He makes a noise of disbelief in the back of his throat. “Is there anything truthful you can tell me?”

I huff out a sigh, surprised by how well Blade can read me. It’s Landon that’s supposed to be able to do this. It’s Landon that should know how to read my moods and figure out how I really feel. “My name is Gwen, and I’m here to find my soulmate.”

4

BLADE

“Your soulmate?”I repeat in the too small truck cab that now smells like her. My heart is pounding. How could my Gwen be here looking for her soulmate?

“You don’t have to say it like that,” she argues, but there’s a quiet note in her voice. She doubts herself or at least, this mission. Good. I don’t want her with some other man. No one else should get to touch those luscious curves or kiss her cherry red lips.

“You believe in that non-sense?” I know she does. She has to if she spends her days writing about women that find their very own happy endings. Fuck, I want that for her. I want her to be happy and to know love and desire. But no one around here is good enough for her.

“I’m a romance writer. It’s one of the side effects of the job. I always believe in the happy ending.” Her cat meows beside her as if confirming what she said. He’s in a carrier between us on the seat, a plushy one with comfortable cushions and what looks like a fluffy blanket.

“Yeah, but why are you looking for your soulmate here? Do you just move from place to place in search of him?” I’ve watched her videos. She lives in Charleston. She lives in a sunny little beachfront property, and she writes regularly at a café down the street from her home. She’s never mentioned travel in the videos. But surely, she’s not here for me. She can’t be.

“Can I tell you a secret?” She asks before continuing on anyway, “You’re going to think this is really dumb. But there’s this guy. He narrates my books, and I think—no, I know—we’re meant to be. We’re soulmates even though I don’t know all that much about him. I do know he lives here. Any chance you know a Landon Shaw?”

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