by Kate Tilney
SILAS:
Camp Mountain Man #2
by Kate Tilney
Copyright © 2020 by Kate Tilney
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.
Cover Photos by
pngstudio/ depositphotos
vovan13/ depositphotos
fxquadro/ depositphotos
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
SILAS (Camp Mountain Man, #2)
Chapter One | Violet
Silas
Chapter Two | Violet
Silas
Chapter Three | Violet
Silas
Chapter Four | Violet
Chapter Five | Silas
Chapter Six | Violet
Chapter Seven | Silas
Epilogue | Violet
Also by Kate Tilney
Violet
I don’t know how I let my best friend talk me into spending my hard-earned vacation time in the middle of nowhere Alaska. She has some crazy idea about setting me up with one of the guy’s at her fiancé’s lodge. Or, as she likes to call it, Camp Mountain Man.
But after being burned by the opposite sex more than my fair share, I have zero interest in hooking up with anyone.
That is until I have an awkward confrontation—involving my unmentionables—with the hottest man I’ve ever seen.
Silas
Every woman I’ve loved before has left me. So I’ve made a life for myself here in the Alaskan wilderness. I never needed anyone else.
Until I get into a tug-of-war match including a gorgeous, curvy lady and a bright red bit of lace. Then, I can’t think about anything but her.
Yet I know once I have her, I won’t be able to let her go again. I just have to make her see that she can let her guard down with me.
Camp Mountain Man is a series of steamy and short standalone romances about curvy city slickers and the hunky mountain men who protect them in the Alaskan wilderness. Read SILAS if you like fresh starts, adventure, and a romance full of heart. No cliffhangers, no cheating!
Chapter One
Violet
“Remind me again why I let you talk me into this,” I shout as we bump and sway on our descent toward her fiancé’s lodge in the middle of nowhere Alaska.
“I promise you, it’s worth it.” My best friend, Jules, flashes me a bright smile. “When you see the land . . .”—she covers the mouthpiece of her headset and leans toward me—“not to mention the super sexy mountain men waiting for us. You’ll wish we’d come up soon.”
I just shake my head. Clearly falling stupidly in love with a bearded, Brawny-man mountain lodge owner has made Jules lose her mind. I won’t deny that my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I met Noah a couple of weeks ago in Seattle. They happy, newly engaged couple had come down so Jules could properly quit her job and pack up her adorable apartment in the Queen Anne district.
Though I’d never tell her this, I can’t believe she completely changed her life in a matter of weeks. Especially for a man. Then again, Jules hasn’t walked in on two of her boyfriends cheating on her. For her sake, I hope Noah is the real deal.
Which is part of why I agreed to come up to stay with Jules for a couple of weeks. She’s promised to set me up with my own mountain man—no thanks—and show me the plus-size outerwear company she’s building. While I’m curious to learn more about her new company and see her home, I’m mostly here to make sure she hasn’t been recruited for a cult.
Sure, Noah had been every bit a gentleman while he was in Seattle. And I’d be lying if I said my heart hadn’t pitter pattered when I met Hank, the lodge’s cook/pilot. But, in my experience, if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.
In another couple of minutes, the plane hops and bumps to a stop. I release a breath—and my death grip on Jules’s hand—and wait for my stomach to settle.
“Come on.” She unbuckles herself and reaches over to help me with mine. “Let’s go. I can’t wait for you to meet Silas.”
I roll my eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”
“I swear. I wouldn’t have said anything about him if I didn’t think you two would hit it off.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me. “He’s the strong silent type. Ex-military. Tattoos. Gorgeous.”
“And you think that’s my type?”
“Isn’t it everyone’s?”
I mean, she’s not wrong about that, is she? “Fair point.”
“I swear I won’t force anything. The time you spend here is yours. Who you spend it with is up to you. But if you happen to decide you’re ready to leave your marketing job at Lady of Leisure so you can come work with me and marry a mountain man of your own . . .”
I give her an affectionate shove and grab one of my bags as Hank pulls open the airplane door. Gratefully, I take the hand he offers to step down. Jules told me about face-planting after her first flight, and I have no plan to follow in her footsteps. Glancing around at the mountains and the large wooden lodge ahead of us, it’s exactly like Jules described it.
I’ll be curious to see if they make any changes with a woman’s touch around here. Not that it needs much. Nature has given the lodge a gorgeous enough setting. I start to tell Jules my first impressions, but she flies by in a blur. My eyes widen as she jumps up into Noah’s waiting arms. I gape for a moment. But who wouldn’t? Noah really is one of the sexiest men alive.
Good for Jules.
Leaving the two lovebirds to—ahem—get reacquainted, I follow Hank toward the lodge. As we walk, I take in the sound of the chirping birds and the rustle of the wind through the leaves. Everything here seems so vibrant. The trees are greener. The sky is bluer. The mountains are taller. I’m not saying the Cascade Mountains back home are any slouch, but this place is really something.
We step inside the rustic lodge and Hank leaves my bags and heads off with little more than a wave. Man, he is ALOOF. Next to him, Noah seems like a regular chatterbox. I reach for one of my suitcases just as someone else does.
“Ooh!” I gasp. Releasing the suitcase, I glance up and into another hard-jawed, bearded face.
Our gazes meet, and my breath catches. His eyes are a rich, velvety brown. His gaze is serious and steady. I wonder what they look like when he laughs. Not that he seems like the laughing type, with his mouth set in a straight line.
Though I know it’s rude, I can’t help but check out the rest of him. Dark hair, cropped short enough, it’s just longer than a buzz cut. Broad shoulders and strong arms that look like they could carry just about anything. A flannel shirt rolled up to the elbows, revealing a hint of tattoo sleeves.
Tattoo sleeves. Could this be Silas?
It’s then I realize my suitcase has fallen over. And popped open, spilling the contents over the hardwood floor.
“Oops. Sorry.” At the same time we turn to scoop up the clothes. My cheeks flush as I reach for a red, lacy bra. Our hands meet on the strap. I glance up again. This time, I’m met with the full heat of his stare.
Despite my embarrassment, a warmth spreads through my belly. Oh boy. If this guy keeps looking at me like this, I a
m going to be in trouble.
Silas
Lifting the lacy, red bit of fabric, it’s impossible not to imagine the bra hugging the full chest of the buxom beauty kneeling across from me. It’s not a stretch of the imagination to think about how it would look against her smooth, creamy skin as I removed it to cover her with my hands.
My cock thickens in my jeans. Swallowing hard, I hand her the bra and pull back to pick up some less sexy clothing. That’s easier said than done. Because even a pair of black leggings looks sexy if you imagine peeling them down this blonde woman’s hips.
She’s not just any blonde woman. She’s Jules’s guest. And after Noah put the fear of God in all of us to make sure she has a good visit, I know I’d better be on my best behavior.
Besides, the last thing I need is to hook up with another woman who’s just going to leave. I’ve been that down before. It only spells one thing: disaster.
In another minute, all of the clothes are shoved back into her bag. I pretend not to notice her flushed cheeks. Even though it’s cute as hell to see a grown woman blush.
Standing, I offer her a hand to help her up. She places her soft, small hand in mine and a jolt of electricity shoots through me. Whoa. Our eyes meet briefly. She must have felt it too. Once she’s up, I shove my hands in my pockets and lean back on my heels.
“You must be Violet.”
She nods. “And you must be Silas.”
I arch an eyebrow at that. Jules must have given her the rundown on all the guys here. I wonder how she described us. Maybe by the color of our beards? Otherwise, we’re all pretty much big guys with beards and flannel shirts.
“I’ll show you to your room then.”
“Don’t I need to check in?”
I shake my head. “You’re here as a guest of Noah and Jules.”
Her cheeks flush again, and I fight the wave of lust that runs through me. Damn. I don’t know what it is about this woman that has me so hooked in just a couple of minutes. Sure, she’s adorable as hell with that mess of blonde curls falling over her shoulders. Then there’s the dimple in her chin when she grins, which she seems to do a lot. My hands clench in my pockets just thinking about those curvy hips and that luscious round ass of hers.
It also doesn’t hurt that she has the most fucking beautiful eyes I’ve ever seen. They’re so blue, they’re almost purple. It makes sense her parents named her Violet.
Clearing my throat, I clench my jaw as I fight the dull ache in my groin. When I’m able, I bend over to pick up her bags.
“So what do you do around here?” she asks as we go up the stairs.
“I’m kind of a handyman, I guess.” Because with the exception of Hank, who’s appointed himself pilot and cook, the rest of us kind of pitch in to do whatever needs doing. “We all take turns taking out excursions.”
“And Jules tells me you mostly cater to city slickers looking to have an Alaskan frontier experience.”
My lip twitches at that. “Pretty much.”
Some of the guys who come out here—and it is mostly men, to Jules’s dismay—know what the hell they’re doing. The rest are suits who barely know their way around a fishing pole, let alone a bear or moose. Not that the inexperience stops most of them from trying anything. We have this one dumbshit named Kevin staying now. He’s here with a few of his friends, up from San Francisco. They way he talks, you’d think he was fucking Paul Bunyon. But I bet he’d crap himself if he ever came head to head with a bear.
He’s not the first of his kind, and he won’t be the last. It’s a wonder we’ve never had any major injuries.
When we get to her room, I hand Violet the key. She pushes the door open. Then, turning to look at me over her shoulder in a way that’s oddly distracting, she arches a pale eyebrow.
“Aren’t you coming in?”
Shaking my head at myself, I follow her inside. With any other guest I would’ve walked in with no problem. But there’s just something about this pretty city girl that makes me feel like I need to scrape my boots on a mat and bow or some shit like that.
Man, I’ve got to get a grip.
Setting down her bags, I’m back out the door.
“Hey, Silas,” she calls out.
I stop at the entrance and turn back and find her sitting on the edge of the bed. “Yeah?”
“I’ll see you around.”
I have another vision of her wearing that red number, and nothing else but skin, sitting just like that with her legs crossed. Cursing at myself, I pull the door closed and head outside to chop some wood. I need to work up a sweat to get thoughts like that out of my head. Nice as they are, I’ve got to get through the next two weeks without tearing this woman’s clothes off and making her mine.
Chapter Two
Violet
Okay, so maybe Jules is onto something with her Camp Mountain Man idea. This place is crawling with men. I’m not just talking about the totally hot bearded beefcakes who run the place. (Though, daaaaaaaammmmmmnnnn.) But with a full house of guests in the lodge and the cabins, and Jules and I the only women on the property, a lady could clean up during a couple of weeks in this great wilderness.
Not that all women want a happily ever after like Jules. Though she and Noah are so sweet, I’ll probably need to visit my dentist to check for cavities when I get back to civilization.
Still, some of us who have been burned by love, fairy tales, and la-de-da wouldn’t mind a week of sexual exploration with one of the mountain men or mountain men wannabes.
A lady would certainly have some options. And, I don’t mind saying, I’ve been scoping out some of my options. There’s an investment banker from New York who can fill out a flannel shirt like he’s a lumberjack. There’s a bachelor party from the Bay area. Their ring leader, Kevin, was pretty flirty with me at dinner last night. Granted, he reminds me of the first boyfriend who cheated on me. But, as mentioned, I’m not looking for a long-term commitment. Just someone to scratch an itch.
Then, of course, there’s Silas. Though we’ve barely said two words to each other since that first day, I find my attention drawn to him often. Those broad shoulders. The scruff on his hard jaw. The hint of tattoos. (Yes, the tattoos. What can I say? Jules had my number.)
There’s more to it than that, though I can’t quite put my finger on it. I’m drawn to him. But while I’ve caught him keeping an eye on me, I can’t tell if there’s anything more to it than curiosity or duty. Still, every time I see that dark gaze, I have to squeeze my knees together.
While Jules and Noah are in Anchorage for a meeting, I’m joining a group of my fellow lodgers for a hiking excursion. Which . . . is not my strongest suit. Ezra, who owns the lodge with Noah, took one look at my fresh-from-the-box hiking boots and shook his head while he muttered words I couldn’t understand.
So, I may be a novice at this, but I’ll always be one until I take that first step and try something new.
At least that’s what I told myself in the mirror this morning when I was checking to see if this leggings and puff vest combo make my hips look too big. Based on the catcalls I got stepping out of my room (jerks!) I’d say they look just fine.
While Ezra finishes his safety briefing, I notice Silas walk through a line of trees. Again, his gaze falls on mine. I can practically feel my panties twisting.
Kevin draws my attention. “Want to be hiking buddies?”
“Sure.” Because, really, why not?
Falling into step next to him, we start out on the trail. My thighs are burning within ten minutes, and I’m having to focus on each breath I take.
“These high altitudes take some getting used to.” Kevin offers me a bottle of water, which I accept gratefully. “In a couple of days, you’ll be an old pro.”
“We’ll have to see about that.”
He gives me a playful nudge. “I’d always be glad to give you a few private lessons.”
Based on the way his green eyes are sparkling, I’d guess he’s not offering up
hiking lessons. I wait for a flicker of interest, but it doesn’t come. I feel nothing, just winded from the walk.
Behind us, Silas clears his throat. “You’ll want to be careful going around this bend up ahead. It’s a pretty narrow path.”
“We’ll be fine,” Kevin says.
I turn over my shoulder to look at Silas. Which is a mistake. I take my next step without looking and feel the earth shift below me. Turning forward, I see that I’ve stepped to the edge of the walkway.
I wiggle and wobble. I hold out my hands to grab onto something. Anything. But I only find air.
Someone calls my name as I lose my balance entirely and tumble backward.
Silas
Heart thundering in my ears, I shove Kevin aside to look over the edge.
“Oh thank God.”
Violet is only a few feet below us. She’s pushed herself upright and is wiping dust away from her eyes. Though, in the process, she manages to smudge more dirt over her face. I’d grin if I wasn’t so eager to get down to her and make sure she didn’t break a bone or sustain any internal bleeding.
Grabbing onto a rock, I lower myself down and am at her side in another second. Carefully cupping her face between my big hands, I gaze into her eyes. My breath catches. They’re every bit as stunning as I remember. But they’re also clear. That means she hopefully doesn’t have a concussion.
“Did you hit your head?”
She starts to shake it, but I hold her steady. “You probably shouldn’t move, honey, until we’ve given you a full examination. Is it okay if I look you over?”
She gives a shaky breath. “Okay.”
Tearing my stare away from hers, I run my hands over the rest of her face and feel around the back of her head to make sure there aren’t any bumps or scrapes. My heart pounds like thunder in my chest the whole time. Then, I move to run my hands over her arms. She winces when I touch her left wrist.
I hold it up to inspect it more closely.