Page 1 of Cody (Maine Silver Foxes)

C ody

I had just finished up for the day and was heading toward my truck when King motioned me over.

I had a feeling I knew what he wanted. Earlier, he’d mentioned something about doing some minor repair work on Dotty Simpson’s back deck.

He took on small jobs like that just to give him something to do, but these days he preferred to spend his free time with Mia, his new wife, so he passed the jobs off to one of the guys on his crew.

I couldn’t blame him. Mia was a real sweetheart—and a knockout—and after the shit he’d gone through with his bitch of a first wife, King deserved what Mia brought into his life.

Hell, the man was going to be a dad again, and after he’d gotten over the shock of learning this news, he was on top of the moon.

Especially now that he knew he was going to have a son.

“What’s up?” I inquired when I reached the spot where he was leaning against his truck, wiping the sweat off his brow with a stained handkerchief.

He grinned, tucking the cloth into his back pocket. “Gotta job for you, if you want it.”

I ran my hand over my lower jaw, feeling the length of my beard and realizing that I needed a trim. “Dotty’s place?”

He nodded. “Yup. As fussy as she is, I wouldn’t trust anyone else to handle it.”

I snorted at the bullshit, but didn’t call him on it.

He trusted everyone on his crew to do the job right, or we wouldn’t be working for him.

I gave him a smirk. Lincoln, Cramer, Max, and I had served with him in the Marines for twenty years, so he knew what kind of men we were.

We were more than friends. We were brothers.

We were also big, tough, mean sons-of bitches, which probably explained why none of us were married, with the exception of Cramer, and now King.

I, for one, never wanted to get married.

“What the hell are you grinning about?” King asked in his usual gruff tone.

I released a heavy breath. “Been expecting you to ask after the others turned you down.” King knew that I liked to spend my weekends working on my own property, a sweet little isolated cabin deep in the woods. I liked being alone.

He laughed. “Cramer has a family thing with his wife. Lincoln’s gonna handle the crew up on Stoney Ridge, and Max has a root canal in the morning.”

“On a Saturday morning?” That didn’t surprise me. It wasn’t like the old days when businesses closed on the weekends. Doc Peterson kept his office open one Saturday a month for the folks who couldn’t make it in during normal work hours. I nodded thoughtfully. “What about King?”

We both snorted a laugh. “King has family plans, too.”

“Maybe we should hire a few locals for these little projects that pop up.”

King didn’t hesitate. “Nope. I don’t mind taking on the occasional odd job here and there.

” Coldwater was a small town, and King had a problem saying no to the folks he’d known all his life.

He mostly took the jobs to keep us busy, perhaps because he felt guilty about talking all of us into following him to Maine when our service was up.

“Do a little logging to stave off the boredom,” he continued, “but more men mean taking on more work, and we’re supposed to be retired. ”

He was right about that. King was the only one of us who was originally from Coldwater, and he’d convinced the rest of us to move there.

One of the main draws had been all of the hunting and fishing we’d planned to do, but it hadn’t taken us long to realize there was only so much of that we could take.

We weren’t used to relaxing and being idle.

Before long, we were all bored and getting fat.

While Cramer still had what they called a dad-bod going on, thanks to his wife, who was an amazing cook, the rest of us were back in peak physical condition.

“It’s bad enough I’ve got a full crew up on Stoney Ridge Mountain now.”

King owned a logging company and ran it because no one else in his family wanted to. He intended to sell it once the jobs they’d already committed to were complete, but that was still another couple of years away.

I finally huffed out a breath of resignation, realizing that I was going to do it. Not because I needed the money, but because King needed me, and I wouldn’t let him down. With any luck I might get a home-cooked meal or two from Dotty. “Give me the deets.”

“Dotty expects someone there first thing in the morning.”

I raised my brow because he knew better than that.

He grinned. “Whenever you get there is fine. She’s got some rotten wood that needs to be replaced. She also wants a new ceiling fan put up. The materials and tools you’ll need are already on site.”

I frowned. “That’s it?”

King nodded. “Yeah, well, I’m sure she’ll tack shit on once you get there. We’ve agreed on a price for the labor though, so it’s up to you how you want to handle that. You know how she is.”

Yeah. Dotty was a sweet lady that used her age and the fact that she lived alone to her advantage. She could be a pain in the ass about some things though.

“Alright. Got it.” I turned to head back to my truck. “Say hi to Mia for me,” I said as I walked away.

I pulled myself up behind the wheel and sat there scratching my head for a minute. Damn. I thought about the work I’d planned to do tomorrow. My cabin had been in rough shape when I’d purchased it, which had been good for me because I’d gotten it for a steal. It needed a lot of work.

Four years later, I had all the electrical done, a new well-drilled, and the windows replaced, the roof just needed a little patching, and the rest of the structure was weathered and grey, yet solid.

The inside was going to be the biggest challenge, but before I could start on that I’d had to build a workshop for storage and a place to keep my bike when I wasn’t riding.

From the outside, it looked like a rustic getaway surrounded by towering white birch and balsams. I kept the grass tall because I liked the unkempt look, and the abundance of wildflowers that grew throughout made the whole area look like a Thomas Kinkade painting.

It wasn’t unusual for wildlife to get comfortable in my sanctuary.

Many evenings I could sit out on my small porch with a beer and watch the deer amble on by.

Damn things weren’t around during hunting season though.

As I neared the turnoff to the barely visible drive that led to my house, I came up to a car that was parked on the shoulder of the gravel road.

The first thing my gaze zeroed in on was the rounded, denim-covered ass bent over the open trunk.

Whoever it was seemed to be digging around for something.

My gaze went back to that mouthwateringly sexy ass.

“Holy shit,” I muttered beneath my breath as she wiggled that thing back and forth.

“I wouldn’t mind getting my hands on that.

” I slowed and pulled up a few feet from her car.

She must have heard me approach, because she straightened and turned around, her long, black hair falling over her shoulder with her movement.

Our gazes locked, and I fell headfirst into a pair of the prettiest blue eyes I’d ever seen.

Her beautiful face was flushed, but there was a sparkle in those smiling eyes that held me captive.

Almost as much as the full tits that were stuffed into a t-shirt that read, “What’s better than sex? ” and below that, the answer—“Coffee.”

I had serious doubts about that, but it gave me a legitimate reason for keeping my gaze on her chest.

Shit.

She was a keeper, and I didn’t do keepers.

Maybe she was just driving through the area. Maybe she was married with a half dozen kids. Maybe, if I was lucky, she played for the other team. Because one thing was certain—if she was a local, I was in trouble.

Big trouble.