Page 1 of Wanted by the Mountain Man (Mountain Man Summer #12)

PEPPER

T he guy was seated at the counter again. The tall, super-hot guy with reddish-brown hair and a strong, stubble-covered jaw.

Dang, he was gorgeous. And he was always watching me. The way he looked at me made me feel like the only woman alive. The only one who mattered, anyway.

His name was Rourke Donovan. I’d grabbed that from his credit card the first time he came in. It was a name I couldn’t forget, no matter how hard I tried.

“Do you need a refresh?” I asked.

I held up the carafe. I’d gone out of my way to grab it and bring it over to him, mostly as an excuse to stand in front of him for a few seconds.

He gave a nod and slid his mug toward me. He didn’t take his eyes off me as I lifted the carafe to pour. My hand was very visibly trembling, and I kept my eyes on the liquid. Even though there was no danger of the cup tipping over, I worried I’d slosh it over the side and make a big mess.

Somehow, I managed to land all the liquid in the cup. Then I set it on the counter to steady it—and myself—and returned my gaze to his face.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“There’s a party at Lumberjack Cove. You ever go there?”

Lumberjack Cove? I’d lived here all my life, and I’d never heard of it. But for some reason, I didn’t want to tell him that.

“Never been.” I shook my head. “What kind of party?”

I wasn’t much of a partier. Never had been. I’d helped out at my mom’s diner from the time I was about eight years old—maybe before, if you counted rolling silverware and causing trouble.

When I was growing up, this place had been a tiny tourist town with very few locals. In the past few years, I’d watched it grow as military guys like this one moved to town to work on the logging crews and live in the new cabins being built up and down the mountain.

“Just a bunch of loggers and their wives,” he said. “I don’t have to bring a date, but pretty much everyone else will have one. I’ll definitely be the fifth wheel.”

Did that mean only four people would be present? Two couples plus him? No, I had a feeling this would be a big party, and I wasn’t a fan of crowds—not after working in the diner all day.

But he hadn’t said when this party was. For all I knew, it was on my day off. Besides, no way could I pass up the opportunity to spend time with the man seated in front of me. Especially not if he was asking me on a date.

But wait, he hadn’t asked me to go with him yet. I was definitely getting ahead of myself.

“Sounds fun,” I said.

“So you’d be up for it?”

My eyebrows arched. Yes, he was definitely asking me. Whether it was an official date or not was anyone’s guess.

“Sure,” I said. “When is it?”

“Tonight. After work.”

It was Friday, and I’d have to be here pretty early in the morning to prepare for the breakfast rush. But I’d give up sleep to spend time with Rourke Donovan.

“Awesome,” he said.

And that was when he broke out that smile—the one that made every woman who worked here, including my mom, blush a little.

At first glance, the guy was like the other mountain men around here—quiet, brooding, only opening up to the women they loved.

But this guy could pull out the charm when he needed to. Just a smile did it.

“Why don’t I give you my number, and you can text me your address?” he asked. “I’ll swing by and pick you up.”

Everything in me froze up at that thought.

I didn’t want him to see my tiny apartment in the shabbiest complex in the area.

It wasn’t even in Seduction Summit. This town was hot property these days, which was why I had to settle for a bargain basement apartment that was a good twenty minutes from work.

I’d lived in my childhood home as long as I could, but I needed my independence. And having my own place had made a big difference, even if it was nothing fancy.

“Why don’t I just meet you there?” I said. “What time?”

His expression changed slightly. Nothing dramatic, just a slight flicker. A normal person wouldn’t have noticed, but I was pretty tuned in to this guy. Something about him had grabbed me from the beginning, and those brown eyes seemed to haunt my dreams.

“Whenever the workday finishes,” Rourke said. “But I think the girlfriends are meeting us at seven. So around seven.”

“Do I need to bring anything?”

It seemed like the polite thing to ask. I had no idea if this was a get-together where everyone would just drink and not eat. If so, I’d have to grab some dinner before I went. But even then, it seemed polite to offer to bring something. In Seduction Summit, you always offered to bring something.

“Maybe a gallon of your mom’s sweet tea, if you can,” he said.

My mom’s sweet tea. Everyone thought she made it. She actually had it shipped in from Alabama in an unmarked truck.

We always took the label off. It cost too much extra to get the manufacturer to do it so that any part-time employees didn’t realize it wasn’t homemade.

Although the fact that there were shelves full of unlabeled plastic gallon jugs should’ve tipped someone off, even after we perfected the art of removing the label off without leaving any sticker residue.

“We’ll have food,” he blurted.

It took me a second to process what he just said. Food. I wouldn’t need to grab dinner first. That would give me extra time to get ready and pace around my tiny apartment. Maybe even rest a little.

Oh, who was I kidding? I’d be pacing nervously around my apartment until time to leave.

“Bring your swimsuit,” he said as he set his credit card on top of the check I’d placed face down a good twenty minutes ago.

I gave him a confident smile, grabbed the card, and walked away.

But that smile promptly turned to a frown.

Swimsuit. This guy hadn’t even seen me out of my uniform yet, and I’d be wearing nothing more than a swimsuit in front of him?

Sure, men had seen me in a bathing suit before.

But it was a completely different matter when it was your first date.

Was it a date? Maybe not in the traditional sense. But it meant I’d get to spend more time with this gorgeous lumberjack. And no woman in her right mind would pass that up.