Loved by the Lumberjacks:
An MFMMMM Reverse Harem Romance
Copyright © 2018 by Sierra Sparks; All Rights Reserved.
Published by Sizzling Hot Reads.
This book is a work of fiction and any portrayal of any person living or dead is completely coincidental and not intentional. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from the author, other than brief excerpts for the purpose of reviews or promotion.
Credits
Cover Design by 11 Online
Published by Juliana Conners’ Sizzling Hot Reads.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1:
Lila
Chapter 2:
Ash
Chapter 3:
Oak
Chapter 4:
Lila
Chapter 5:
Elm
Chapter 6:
Alder
Chapter 7:
Lila
Chapter 8:
Teak
Chapter 9:
Lila
Chapter 10:
Lila
Chapter 11:
Lila
Chapter 12:
Ash
Chapter 13:
Lila
Chapter 14:
Lila
Chapter 15:
Lila
Chapter 16:
Lila
Epilogue:
Lila
Two Billionaires for Christmas: An MFM Menage Romance
SEAL’s Virgin: A Bad Boy Military Romance
Twice the Fun: A Bad Boy MFM Menage Romance
Please, Boss: A Bad Boy Office Romance
More, Boss: A Bad Boy Office Romance
Perfect Fit: A Modern Day Dirty Cinderella Fairy Tale with a Fake Royal Marriage Twist
Brother’s Best Friend is Back
Bound by the Billionaire
Unwrap Me, Boss: A Bad Boy Christmas Office Romance
Wife Wanted: A Billionaire Fake Fiancé Romance
Mountain Man’s Baby: A Billionaire And Virgin Romance
Chapter 1:
Lila
I was lost. Probably in more ways than one, but the way that was important was the direction I was going.
Long story short, I was starting over. I needed a new life and a new job. My funds were on fumes, just like my hatchback. A waitress at the base of the mountain told me there was a resort hiring up in the mountains. It was seasonal work, but I figured why not? Maybe it would be one of those places that people work for a season but make enough money for the year, ya know?
The only down side was that resort season wasn’t for a couple of weeks at least. I chose to look at that as a positive. I could get there early and apply at least. Maybe even get some training. But as soon as I started driving up the mountain road, I knew I made a mistake.
It was October at the bottom of the mountain, but up here, it was December. Snow and lots of it. Guess the waitress rarely got up the mountain.
After about a mile or so, I wanted to turn around and go back. There seemed to be nothing here. There was no guarantee I could get a job at the resort anyway. It would be just another dead-end job like all the others I’ve had over the years. At least maybe I could find at dead-end job that wasn’t on the top of a mountain.
“My God, how did I end up here?” I said to myself.
But I knew the answer. My life had unraveled, pure and simple.
When I was a kid, my mother left us. Dad tried to raise me as best he could, but he had crazy ideas about short-cuts and get-rich-quick schemes. His last one was to rob a bank, he told me later, “so you could go to an Ivy League School.” Not sure that would’ve worked even if he had gotten away with it. I ended up waitressing after high school. He ended up in prison, and shivved in the yard by one of the other inmates.
I kind of just drifted from job to job. My best friend, Annie, kept me sane. We had gone to high school together and shared everything. Then I met Bradley and well, you can probably see what’s coming. I fell for Bradley, hard. He was my world for almost a year and during that time, I thought I’d never be alone again. Then I came back to the apartment and found him in bed with Annie.
Annie was always into whatever I was into. Guess that included my boyfriend. I should’ve seen the signs. The more I fell for Bradley, the more I had to push Annie away. She had almost no life of her own. In some respects, my life had been her life, fussing over me and obsessing over me. I didn’t red flag it, I just assumed she always had the best things in mind for both of us, like I did. That day I was coming home I was thinking about talking to Bradley about setting her up with one of his friends.
And Bradley? Well, love is blind. Bradley was just in our relationship for himself. Sure, we ate together, did things together and had sex, but really it was all about entertaining himself. Towards the end, I knew he was getting bored. Kept talking about how “this scene” or “that scene” was “so played”. It was so clear to me the moment our relationship was over that I should’ve never gotten involved with him.
Things kinda went blurry after that. I just snapped, I guess. Threw my stuff into the car and drove.
Now, days later, here I was, creeping up a snowy mountain with tires that were mostly bald and on brakes I really needed to get checked. Part of me just didn’t care. Maybe the car would just careen down the mountain at some point and I’d go out in a fiery wreck. Who would care? There was no one left to care about me.
As I said it, I hit an ice patch and started spinning. You think I would’ve just let go the wheel and kissed the world goodbye, but no. I struggled and fought, turned into the skid and finally found some traction. Gunning the engine, I pushed back up the mountain faster.
“You wanna kill me, mountain?” I shouted. “C’mon, kill me. Betcha can’t! You can’t do any worse than Annie and Bradley.”
I got past the ice this time. Up ahead there was a pull off under an overhang of trees. There was a park bench and a trashcan. I wondered who emptied it all the way up here. I figured I’d pull over, make sure there wasn’t any damage to the car.
The car looked good and I could see the valley below. Guess people stopped here for the view or a picnic lunch or whatever. Bet it was nice when there wasn’t so much snow. Although, with the snow, it was really nice. It’s just that when it’s snowing you always have the pressure of being trapped. It didn’t bother me. My whole life was one big trap. What’s a little snow at this point?
I thought about going back down the mountain, but it honestly looked more dangerous going down. I didn’t like the incline or the snow but screw it. Maybe at least the people of the resort would have more sensible advice about driving around here.
Getting back in the car, I felt myself starting to tear up again. I fought back the tears.
“No!” I said determinedly. “Not here! Not now! No!”
It was my way of toughening up in hard times. There’d be plenty of time to cry later, probably in some dingy motel room. If I was lucky, a dingy resort room with a promise of a job.
Slow and steady I crept up the mountain. Now I was getting out of the range of the radio stations. My CD player didn’t work, so I had no music. Made the ride even more lonely, if that was possible. I kept giving myself pep talks.
“Okay, okay,” I assured myself. “You hit one ice patch, but now the snow seems to be providing traction. Just slow and steady. Up the mountain, you can do it. You won’t even hav
e to use gas to get back down. Just put it in neutral and roll to the bottom.”
At the very edge of the curve, at the top of the mountain, I could see lights. That had to be the resort.
“See that?” I said. “There’s the resort. Now just calm your shit down. They have to give you credit for even driving up here, right? I mean, that shows determination. Who wouldn’t want to hire someone THAT determined to get to work, right?”
As I crested the top, the road actually dipped back down a little before it rose to what looked like a large log cabin. If it was a resort, it was a small one. It didn’t seem to have enough parking for a lot of guests. There was a lot of snow, however, so I figured maybe I couldn’t see everything.
I found a parking space and approached the cabin. I guessed that it was one of those rustic resorts. Maybe it was supposed to be smaller. Didn’t look like anyone was around, but there were a few trucks. Someone had to be here because the lights.
“Maybe they have the lights on a timer,” said the nagging, negative voice in my head. “Maybe they won’t be here for weeks and you drove up here for nothing!”
“No.” I said aloud, determined. “Someone is here. The trucks have had the snow cleared off of them. Ha! Stupid voice.”
I tried the door. Locked. I knocked.
“Hello?” I said. “Anyone here? Hello?”
Silence. I looked back down the mountain. It looked like a long way down. I knocked again. It was lonely up here. Maybe it’s just they weren’t listening for knocks.
“Hello? Hello!”
I heard someone on the other side of the door unlocking it. I straightened myself out and prepared to sell myself like never before.
The guy that opened the door was rugged, handsome with a beard, maybe 29. He was wearing a flannel shirt, jeans and work boots. I figured he could be part of the maintenance crew.
“Hi, sorry to bother you,” I started. “I’m Lila Rhodes. I heard from someone in town that you might be hiring for your resort. I’m a good worker. I’ve cleaned rooms before for a couple of different motels. I was also hoping you had staff quarters up here because it is a heck of a drive up the mountain!”
I thought the last part might get him to crack a smile, but he just kind of started at me, confused. He seemed nervous in front of me. I needed an ice breaker.
“Like I said, I’m Lila and you are…”
“Oh, uh, we don’t usually sell direct,” said the man. “Is that what you’re here for?”
“No,” I said slowly. “I’m looking for the ski resort. This is a ski resort, right?”
“Oh, ski resort, That’s a few mountains over. You must’ve taken a wrong turn.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No. This is definitely not a ski resort,” he chortled. “I’m Alder, by the way. I live here with my brothers. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure, if you can tell me an easy way to get down this mountain.”
“Well, there isn’t an easy way, really,” he admitted. “Not in this weather. But how did you get up here?”
“Oh, my car’s over there,” I said pointing in the general vicinity of my parking space and not looking.
“Where?” he asked, confused.
I turned and looked. My car was gone.
“Oh, my God,” I said.
I looked around, down the hill from the cabin, my hatchback was skidding out of control. I went running after it. Alder chased after me. I skidded and fell. Alder helped me to my feet.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I have to get my car! Everything I own is inside it!” I panicked.
“You’re not going to be able to stop that car until it lands against a tree or something,” Alder assured.
I chased after my car a few more steps and watched it careen into a guard rail.
“There. It should stop now,” said Alder.
Helpless, I saw my car spin off the guard rail, hit an ice patch and twirl off the edge of the road, down the mountain. It must’ve missed every tree large enough to slow it, because after countless silent seconds, I finally heard the crash. I rushed to the edge and looked down. My hatchback lay firmly wrapped around a tree about 200 feet down.
I started to laugh. This was the moment. Rock bottom. I often heard about addicts hitting rock bottom and turning their lives around. What about people with just bad luck?
Suddenly, I was hit with memories of that last visit in prison with my dad. He was a bad planner, not even all that great a father really, but he tried. He tried despite all the hardship life had thrown at him. I was in my waitress uniform, on my way to work. It was a good excuse if I had to cut the visit short. He’d been in prison before and described it as mostly drudgery. Any visit from me he would extend as long as he could. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him, just that I had little to report. Still, he loved my visits.
The guards brought him in. His orange jumpsuit blazed against his salt and pepper hair, which now included a salt and pepper beard. There wasn’t much point in shaving. Who are you shaving for in prison, right? But somehow, dad found a smile for me.
“How are you doing, princess?” he started, as always.
“I’m fine, dad,” I said. “Working. On my way actually. How are you?”
“Good-good,” he assured. “Made a few friends. People aren’t all bad in here. Some of them are just like me. Just on hard times.”
“Dad,” I reminded. “You did try to rob a bank.”
“Yeah, but I did that for you,” he said, as if that justified it. “The court system really should take that into account.”
“Robbing banks are still illegal, dad,” I pressed. “No one cares why you tried to rob them.”
“Well, ya know, mitigating factors,” he insisted. “I think your mother would’ve understood. She was like that.”
On that point, I had to agree. Mom pretty much supported him in every crazy scheme dad had come up with over the years. That was, until she couldn’t take it anymore and left.
“So, you seeing anyone?” he asked. “You gotta get yourself out there. You’re young, beautiful. Plenty of young men looking for that.”
“I’m not looking for a man to take care of me,” I said. “I can take care of myself. I got a job.”
“Waitressing,” he said sadly. “That’s my fault. I should’ve– I should’ve provided more. I’m sorry.”
“I know you tried, dad,” I said.
“Still trying,” he assured. “I made $17 this week. Sent you the check.”
“Dad, you keep that. You need it in here,” I said.
“Nah,” he assured. “People steal it. You buy things. They steal that. Better you have it. Something’s better than nothing. Buy yourself something nice with it.”
“Thanks, dad, I will,” I smiled. “Sometimes I don’t know how you stay so optimistic.”
“It’s not so hard,” he said. “What else are you going to do? Lie down and die? We have to look to the future.”
I got sad then. Dad was unlikely to get out until he was 76.
“There’s still plenty of things for me to do at 76,” he assured me. “For one thing, I’ll be in great shape! I’ve been working out. That’s mostly what guys do in here.”
“Yeah, but you’ll be so old, dad,” I said, voice shaking.
Guilt flooded me. I was already trying to engineer our visits to be shorter. I couldn’t imagine 20 years of this. What if I got a job far away? What if a relationship took me away from the area?
“Guys have gotten out early for what I did,” he said, too brightly. “Florida let out a whole bunch of non-violent felons once. I didn’t even use a gun when I robbed that bank. And then there’s parole. They might give me that.”
“You’re kind of amazing sometimes, dad,” I said, laughing a little.
“Well, you just have to keep trying,” he assured. “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life puts you in prison, make license plates!”
W
e laughed. Dad could always make me laugh.
I thought of all this as I giggled, mad on the mountain, looking down at my crashed car. Alder had caught up to me. His head swiveled back and forth between me laughing and the wreck below.
“Lady, are you okay?” he asked carefully.
“Oh, sure!” I couldn’t hide my bitterness. “Everything I own is in the car. My best friend stole my boyfriend. I’ve got no family, no money, no prospects! Ya know, when life gives you lemons!”
During my rant I noticed Alder’s large clear eyes blinking and fluttering, even though the light was dimming. I guess I was coming across as pretty crazy. Still, he could see my pain right? I mean, any regular human could, right?
“You want me to call you a tow truck?” His words emerged slowly.
Suddenly, the hatchback burst into flames. That was the last straw. My laughter turned into a howl. It was a howl against the terrible shit storm my life had become.
“Oh, shit,” breathed Alder running back to the cabin.
I watched the fire. It started to consume the car and the tree that had finally killed the hatchback. I couldn’t imagine with all this snow that the fire would be a problem, even in the woods. But as I watched, fire quickly spread up its trunk. It caught on some of the lowlying branches and started to spread.
Wow, I said to myself. That’s crazy.
Suddenly, an alarm sounded and that its wall of noise cut through me. It was loud. I guess it was meant to be heard around the mountain. I spotted a speaker on top of the cabin and the vibrations from the noise knocked down all the snow. I had to put my hands to my ears and I thanked God I wasn’t standing near the cabin when it went off.
Alder and four other large men came rushing out of the cabin. All were dressed in appropriate winter gear and what looked like waterproof overcoats and hats. Guess they had to deal with fires on the mountain before. Is that what they were? Firemen for the mountain? We have things like that in this country?
Loved by the LumberJacks_A MFMMMM Reverse Harem Romance Page 1