Page 5 of Stepbrothered by the Mountain Man

Not that I would let them.

“You know she wants to buy that property?” I ask Beau.

“The one you’ve been eyeing for the past three years since I bought it? Oh yeah, I know. She’s already asked me about the price and everything. Should I have kept it a secret?”

We all wanted to buy property on the mountain several years ago, but we were all short individually. So when the idea for the lodge came up, we invested together. Three years later and we were in the green. Beau was in the best position financially, so he bought up half the mountainside, including the lots Grant and I were interested in. He said they were ‘holds’ until we were ready to buy them from him without a price increase, as lots were being sold fast. Now that our investments had paid off, Grant already claimed his. Until last week, I had no idea that out of the three properties Beau still owned, Maya was vying for mine.

Apparently, she did a title search after finding the place at the land registration office to see who owned it. When she found out it was Beau, she was practically jumping out of her skin. He didn’t have the heart to tell her it was off-limits. He wanted me to do it, but I couldn’t. Not after I’d seen her sketches and that heart-melting smile of hers when she’d walked me through her planned layout.

I shake my head no. “You should’ve seen her last week. She wants it more than I do.”

Grant raises a brow in disbelief. “You hand-picked it. You and I nearly brawled over it, but then Beau told me you found it first. Otherwise, I would’ve claimed it for myself.”

“It is special, isn’t it?”

It was the place I dreamt about raising my family. But I couldn’t see that vision for myself anymore.

“You know what I think?” Grant says after a long pause. “I think you want it just as badly as she does, but there’s something else you want even more.”

Beau just stares at me.

Neither of them elaborates, but I’m not stupid. I know my brothers have picked up on the fact that I have feelings for Maya. I try to hide it, they leave it alone, but we all know there’s an elephant in the room I can’t let out.

“There are other properties,” I say finally. “Have you sold the other two, by the way?”

Beau shakes his head. “Everyone who’s contacted me has the same vision as Maya. They only want that property, even offering an additional ten percent.”

My stomach plummets, but Beau looks me dead in the eye. “Family first. I promised it to you after you helped Grant and me get the lodge going. It’s yours, or Maya’s if you insist.”

I release a breath at that, but my mind’s already combining his last words. Mine and Maya’s.

“But I would be lying to you if I didn’t say I’m hoping to get one sold soon.” He holds up the paper. “These margins are good, but not great, and I’ve really been thinking about extending the lodge.”

Grant nods in agreement. “With my cabin almost done, I’m soon ready to reinvest too.”

I couldn’t say it hadn’t crossed my mind, either.

“We’re always booked out months in advance. With the Cliffton restaurant and a few more businesses opening up, more city folk are looking for weekend getaways. I think we’d be fools to not extend the lodge or add a few cabins in the back. The demand calls for it, and it has for over a year now.”

“I know,” I sigh. “It feels like we were already outgrowing the space. Maya’s already making wait lists for Father’s Day and that’s over nine months away. She’s already reserved Christmas and the holidays since June, and we’re always turning down walk-ins left and right.”

“These margins just don’t allow for any additions. Even with us doing most of the labor. Neither does my savings,” Beau says. Grant nods in agreement. “I have a meeting with another potential buyer tomorrow. Let’s hope he bites on one of the other properties.”

Beau was a good brother and a heck of a stepbrother, but how long could he wait on Maya? I did the bookkeeping, and Grant wrote the checks. We both knew how much she made and the reality was, she was years away from saving the other half. Beau’s loyal, but I couldn’t say he had the patience of steel, especially when he was getting offers over the asking price.

“I’ll talk to Maya. We’ll figure something out,” I say finally, though I do not know how that’ll go over. Maya’s as stubborn as a bull and just as prideful. She barely let me pay for lunch if we were running errands in town, and if she did, she always scrambled to pay me back the next day. I’d thrown every dime in a jar beside my bed, refusing to spend it. I didn’t want it, but my protests fell on deaf ears. If I offered her the rest of the money to secure the property, I knew for a fact she’d never take it.

“Good luck with that,” Grant says as Everly coos.

“I think Everly’s going to eat your shirt,” I say as Everly tries for the third time to latch onto an invisible breast, leaving a wet spot on Grant’s red flannel shirt.

“Let’s go find Mama,” Grant says, getting to his feet before they leave the office.

“Duty calls,” Beau says, finishing the last gulp of his coffee before following Grant out.

I release a sigh and turn back to Maya. I could watch her all day. The sway of her full hips. The bounce of her breasts. Her thick thighs that would never save my life but kill me instead because I’d let her smother my head between them.

No!

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